At what age did you first start making up stories and putting them down on paper?
I wrote my first book when I was in high school (16 or so). I started making up stories before that, but mostly they just got me into trouble.
What was the title of your first (or favorite) work, or name of your main character, or plot synopsis?
My most recent title is Salvation. The main character, Elwood, wakes on a frozen battlefield when a scavenging couple finds him among the dead. As they nurse him back to health, he is struck with the horrible realization he can’t remember who he is or anything about his past. Taken in by the kind pair, he begins helping with their farm. She even takes him to meet her family, especially her single sister. The ideal life offered in the high mountains of Winigh is shattered when he sees a transport bringing enemy monsters to the shores below. Cut off by high snow on the pass, their fate will soon be the same as the town his company failed to protect in the last battle, if this estranged soldier cannot help them fight off the next wave of invaders. Even worse, the people of the town don’t trust this Selene soldier. He has a strange resistance to their folk magic which some say make him as dangerous as the enemies preparing to destroy them.
Who is an author, or perhaps character, that inspires you? How so?
I love the work of Kurt Vonnegut. His books seem casual and fun as they progress, but they end with a powerful conclusion that never fails to blow my mind.
What keeps you motivated? How do you keep the words flowing when writers' block is more like writers' Hoover Dam?
I've never had writers' block. I have so many ideas that I have to choose carefully which ones I spend my writing time on. Ideas are never the limiting factor.
Do you believe in killing your characters and/or sparing your villains from the horrible death readers think they deserve?
Death doesn't come to those who deserve it in this life, but it is a fact of life. I don't save anybody from it, though. I let the characters choose their own paths, but they can't always escape the consequences.
How much of you do you inject into your characters?
There's a little of me in my characters, of course. Mostly, I try to remove myself from them. It's fun to explore different types of people in writing. So I tend to try and make them different from me, so the experience is more fun.
When you get that first inkling of a story idea, how do you polish it by developing characters, setting, plot, etc?
I usually start with ideas or themes. Once that happens, it leads me to a genre where I start world building. Usually I start dropping characters in after that point. Plot comes last because I'm a discovery writer. Once I set all the players in the world, I just let them run and see where it goes.
Is there a classic work (book, film, music, etc.) from which you can extrapolate your own original story? For example, Beowulf, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Think in terms of Stephen King basing his Dark Tower series from Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.
(This goes beyond the realm of mere fan fiction)
The story that I once felt is most like me is Notes from the Underground by Fyodr Dostoyevsky. Not that I lived through that exact plot, but the character in it has some things about him that shocked me and tuaght me much about myself.
Do you have a magnum opus?
I have a yet unpublished book which I think will be my magnum opus or my biggest failure. Not sure which yet. Currently it's called Elsewise and it's about a guy who wakes up one day to find all the barriers (space, time, minds, etc) are gone from his life.
Do the good guys wear black? Do they always win?
Good guys usually win. They don't always wear black. My upcoming book, Exacting Essence, has a Goth girl as the main character. So she wears black!
How do you deal with over-exuberant fans?
I appreciate them and try to reward their enthusiasm!
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