Author Interview: Dana Bell

1. What inspired you to write? I’ve been writing since I was a young child. I started with fanfiction, which is great for practice, and eventually started writing original work.
2) Are you a reader? What are some of your favorites? Yes, I read. My favorite authors are Andre Norton, just about every book she wrote & Anne McCaffrey Pern series.
3) What is your newest work, and what is going to happen in the future? My newest work is Bast Chosen Ones and other cat adventures. A collection of cat short stories I’ve written. In the fall my first paranormal romance will be released under my pen name Belle Blukat. 4) Do you have advice or tips for Indie Authors? Don’t expect your first book to be a smash hit. It takes time to develop a readership and they may not discover you until several books later. As I love to share, it only took George RR Martin 30 years to become an overnight success. 5) What influenced you as a writer? My whole life which is sprinkled throughout my writing. As I was always told, write what you know. Plus every thing I write is written for an audience of one – God. Sending cover & Amazon link. Only copy I have of the completed product.
https://www.amazon.com/Basts-Chosen-Ones-Other-Adventures/dp/1942450982/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3A55DVJ2UB2LD&dchild=1&keywords=bast%27s+chosen+ones&qid=1621616324&sprefix=Bast%27s+Cho%2Caps%2C207&sr=8-3

Author Interview: E.L. Haines

1. My novels were inspired by my character, Sparrow. He’s a con artist, and he resolves nearly all of his conflicts with clever bluffs, or unbelievable facts. Although he started as a fantasy character, he travels (somewhat mysteriously) into other genres, such as historical mysteries, westerns, and contemporary thrillers.
The idea of an itinerant protagonist is not new. Many other “heroes without a home” are quite popular. But Sparrow is unique because he doesn’t simply travel to new locations in each book, but also to different time periods.
2. I try to read about four times as much as I write. I read established fiction, to learn how to improve; I read indie fiction, to learn from others’ mistakes; and I read non-fiction, to make my books more believable and immersive. And then sometimes I just read what’s fun, easy, and popular.
Some of my favorite popular series are Jack Reacher, who influenced my own main character’s itinerant behavior, and Harry Dresden, who influenced his magical mystique.

3. My recent novel is a portal fantasy adventure called ‘Stranger Back Home.’ My protagonist, Sparrow, travels back to his fantasy world origins to discuss his inheritance from his father’s will, and gets caught up in some deadly political intrigue. This book begins a trilogy, so there are two more books on the horizon to look forward to!
4. I wish I could give advice about how to market your books, because no matter how great an author you might be, you’ll never make it big without the right book marketing strategy.
But if you want to be a great author, I recommend that you read. See my answer to #2.
5. I think my two favorite authors, and the ones most influential on my own writing, are Michael Crichton and Lemony Snicket. I love the in-depth research that Crichton puts into his novels; I laugh out loud at the snarky literary humor in Snicket’s books.
As an author, I was also influenced by the role-playing campaigns that I’ve played. I think tabletop RPGs are a great way to learn to be a writer – you learn about characters and their motivations, and how to inspire them into action. You also learn about how to maintain a consistent setting and a logical plot progression.

Author Interview: Kristin Moran

1. What inspired you to write?
I’ve been writing for as long as I remember
2) Are you a reader?
YES (though I read less now because I write more
What are some of your favorites?
Harry Potter books (I wasn’t even ALLOWED to read them), JD Robb/Nora Roberts, James Patterson
3) What is your newest work, and what is going to happen in the future?
Currently working on a sequel to my first published work, Out Of The Darkness
4) Do you have advice or tips for Indie Authors?
Don’t get caught up in “writing/publishing rules,” market BEFORE you publish, and don’t forget why you started writing in the first place!!!
5) What influenced you as a writer? LIFE

Author Interview: Jelia

1. I made a discovery that could help people, called ‘The Gift of Harmony’. It let’s people turn off their negative, critical inner voice, permanently.
2. My favourites are Elidor by Alan Garner and The Vein of Gold by Julia Cameron
3. My newest work is a how-to book about how to do the discovery I made. In the future, other healers could use it to also do the healing process I discovered.
4. Advice for indie authors? Look up your proposed book title before publishing, on Amazon, to make sure it sits in the right environment of related authors and books.
5. I remember my glee at learning to write! I was very influenced by fairy stories, witch stories and Enid Blyton, whom I loved.

Author Interview: David W. Depriest

1. What inspired you to write?
My wife as she taught cancer

2) Are you a reader? What are some of your favorites?

I am an avid reader. My favorites are the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and The Deed of Paksnarrion by Elizabeth Moon

3) What is your newest work, and what is going to happen in the future?

First Legion is my first book. I have written six more books in this story. I have five other completely different stories that I am writing now, but I am not done with First Legion.

4) Do you have advice or tips for Indie Authors?

Write, write, write. If you are to me to be an author then it should be your lifestyle, not a hobby.

5) What influenced you as a writer?

My mother and father as well as all of the great and not so great books that I have read.

Author Interview: Dr. Kenneth Maswabi

  1. 1. What inspired you to write? I am a Lover and a dreamer…I write to share my Love to all of Humanity. My dream is for the world (Humanity) to be cured of its blindness and embrace their being. The substance of being is unconditional Love.
    2) Are you a reader? What are some of your favourites? Yes, I enjoy romance novels, espionage and thriller. Robert Ludlum is my all time favourite.
    3) What is your newest work, and what is going to happen in the future? I have just published a book called Love, Consciousness and Humanity: The Shadowless Dreamer – The Path of the Illuminated Silence. It is about us, me and you, inside the realm of the spirit/consciousness.
    4) Do you have advice or tips for Indie Authors? To write is a sacred calling, stay true and be original
    5) What influenced you as a writer? The Love of God and Humanity.

Author Interview: Simon Carr

1.what inspired you to write?
A: my wife was a huge fan of all books, she passed away in 2017 so I wrote my first book as a tribute to her, she dragged me to a few writing classes and was always nagging me to write a book but I was too scared to as I’m serverly dyslexc.
2.are you a reader?
Not really no, my dyslexcia makes reading difficult and uncomfortable.
3, what is your newest work, and what is going to happen in the future?
A: my latest published work is Sheeple’ it’s a satirical look at the world of conspiracy theories, I have just finished my next book, Noobs a young adults book about two freinds trapped in an afterlife of video games.
4.do you have any advice or tips for indi authours?
A: I would say work on your marketing just as hard as on your books, it’s very difficult to get your books visible, especially online.
5.what influenced you as a writer?
A: everything, I write about everything from conspiracy theories to internet memes, I follow the news and see what’s current and what people are talking about and if I find scope for comedy in it then I write about it.

Author Interview : Onaoluwa Abimbola

1. What inspired you to write?
I loved scribbling stories as a child but they were only for me and my family’s consumption. I did not think of publishing them.

2014, that changed as I went through a dark period of depression after I experienced malaria delirium. I lost a whole year of my life during the recovery period.

As I recovered, I started making notes about my experience and the desire to share with others led to the publishing of my first book – From Depression to Hope @ – Onaoluwa Abimbola ( available on Amazon etc).

2) Are you a reader? What are some of your favorites?
Yes , definitely, favourites have changed over the years from Enid Blyton’s Famous five series , Eze goes to school by Onuora Nzekwu , Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ‘s Half of a yellow sun to adult options like James Patterson’s Tell me your dreams, Francine Rivers …Jim Collins Good to great etc. I read a varied selection.

3) What is your newest work, and what is going to happen in the future? From a Fellow Wayfarer is my second book and I am working on a third.

4) Do you have advice or tips for Indie Authors?

Advice? Hmmm, stay true and authentic to yourself. Your tribe will find you.

5) What influenced you as a writer?

My dad and mum, I grew up around books they had a small library in our small house and encouraged us to go to the public library too.

Author Interview:Steve Heiman


1. What inspired you to write?
Reading and a joy of writing
2) Are you a reader? What are some of your favorites?
Vonnegot, Tom Robbins, All the greats of sci fi, Burroughs, Shakespeare
3) What is your newest work, and what is going to happen in the future?
Just about to publish my debut novel, Greetings, Planet Earth! Currently working on the sequel, Help, I Lost My Planet!
4) Do you have advice or tips for Indie Authors?
Always work on improving your craft, and work with others
5) What influenced you as a writer?
Other writers, social conditions, and circumstances of Covid.