Amanda Times 2

Amanda Lyons
Down and Dirty Questions:

1.      If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
A gothic lady in a mysterious library, all catacombs and age. I am always there, looking for answers, stories and personal truths.
2.      What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
Relationships, of all kinds. Also fear. What makes them work, what lengths do they go too and how they affect a change over time.
3.      Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Mateo from the Shades of Midnight series, there is a hell of a lot going on with that man, he is broken, monstrous and often cruel all because it’s how he sees the world around him. There’s more to him than that though, a great deal of heart, imagination and passion. A lot of it comes up in Cool Green Waters and Hollow Black Corners of the Soul where we learn about his past before he met Becca or even Marie Gaston.
Wendy in Wendy Won’t Go she’s a very brutal monstrous being and she does awful things to her family over the years, but it’s all about anger, unresolved regret and the cost of family and loss. I really like what I managed with her and story in general, I like to think that it’s haunting for many reasons.
4.      Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
Cool Green Waters, it really captures the conflicted elements of Mateo’s nature in that cover, his face is divided between dark and light, there are clear influences around him, it jut suits the book so well. Michael Fisher did that one as well as the cover for Water Like Crimson Sorrow. I had a really hard time coming up with what I wanted to do with it and I scrambled around trying to find images and scenes to pick among for that cover. The first two came from a book that I had worked on for year so I knew what I wanted to reference.
 This one I had less clearly in mind and there are so many elements to touch on, Mateo, Katja and Raven’s conflict, the introduction of some villains old and new, the changing dynamic of Zero and Michael’s relationship and self interpretation. Eventually I settled on handling Mateo as a character and I was able to find one strong image of a man that worked there along with referencing the color indicated by the title, Fish is excellent at taking elements and putting them all together, also calling you on if something won’t work. I really got a great cover for this one.
5.      What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Publishing is complicated and ever changing, it doesn’t stop after you get published. You have to promote that book, promote yourself, and work on branding once you get it published. Authors are doing a lot of this work for themselves now, even more than they did even a few years ago. Networking with other authors is important, making sure that you are respectful, that you put out quality work, all of it is very important. You have to get to know your potential readers, not just advertising to them, but showing them what they like about you through your discussions and body of work. It is hard but it pays off in so many ways and once you have the groundwork in you can see signs of things taking off.
6.      In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
I want them to think back to certain scenes in my writing, to appreciate the imagery of a scene or the memory of how they felt reading it in that moment. Imagery is an important device to me and the emotional landscape as well. I like to make an impact in those areas and for people to reference that is such a big compliment to me.

" get to know your potential readers"

7.      Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
I love word like Labyrinth, piquant, the complicated little word that don’t get used as much as they used to be. 
8.      What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
Funny, hmm, maybe writing “Frankentop” I don’t do humor because I don’t feel solid in it, but that was a lot of fun. It’s about a cat AI who sets out to build a bigger body to fit her ego, there’s humor in that one, some silliness and a touch more toward the end. I wrote it for an antho of Kaiju stories by Essel Pratt called Kaiju Rising. 
9.      How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
Some things I have the title first, while with others it comes from the story itself, it all depends on what gets my mind going first. Usually it’s a reference to a scene or element in the story. 
10.   What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I am not a bragger…I like to think imagery is one, characterization and emotional elements as well? Those are the things I focus on the most when I write and I work very hard to get them across the right way. 

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Name: A.J. Coleman

Titles: Undead Season and Rebirth

Down and Dirty Questions:

1.      If you had one image/idea to represent you, what would it be?
Brains. That’s the image that comes to mind. Not only is the human brain what makes function and be who we are, but they are synonymous with zombies, which is what I write about. Also, they’re pink (one of my favorite colors!)
2.      What s one theme you cover and explore within your writing?
CHOICES.  I think it is interesting that we have so much power within us just by making decisions. What would have happened if your mother didn’t go to that party, where she met your dad. You wouldn’t exist!
Maybe. Maybe not.
My zombies were created by a choice that they made. I love that they have the power to decide whether or not they’ll fall into temptation or turn away.
3.      Give us one (or 2) character (s) (tell us the book(s)) and tell us why you admire/hate/ love that person.
Ben, who is one of my main characters, turned into one of my favorites! He is more like me than any of the others. He thinks a little outside the box and is very curious. I imagine that Ben, as a child, watched The Wizard of Oz and wondered what made the witch so angry! He wondered what would have happened had Dorothy followed the RED brick road that was swirled in the Yellow Brick Road. (Okay, maybe that is just me!)
We know for a fact that when Ben went into thrift shops or flea markets, he would come up with stories about the previous owners of whatever knick knack he would be touching. He couldn’t resist an interesting find. Basically, Ben loves a good story and he loves to tell a good story. When Ben narrates, he notices different things than his sister does in my books. He is always looking for more, even when there’s not much more to be found.  
4.      Pick one of your covers and tell us how that represents your book. Who did the cover? How was the experience? What was the planning like?
The process for both of my books’ covers was very simple. I knew I wanted brains and I knew I wanted certain colors. I wanted lime green for Undead Season- to show something infectious had happened to the brain. Then I wanted bright red on Rebirth to show that lots of blood and gore would be experienced.
5.      What is publishing like? Is it difficult? Easy? Why?
Publishing with JEA was not necessarily an easy or difficult task. It was a bit scary for me at first though! It was scary for me to submit my work that I had put a lot into. I was terrified of rejection. That was the hardest part.
No. I lied. The hardest part was editing!
I am not the best with “the grammar” and I hardly ever put a comma in the correct place, so my precious editors have fun with my writing. Also, I’m kind of lazy so it takes me forever. 
6.      In 10 years, what do you want readers to say about your work/you?
“She loved to tell a story and it shows when you read _______.”
7.      Do you have favorite words to use in writing? What are they?
 I have lots of favorite words. Some of them come from me living in the south and using these words every single day.
y’all and precious  are apparently the words I use the most!
8.      What is the funniest writing experience you’ve had?
I don’t suppose this happened as I wrote, but it happened after I wrote. Once at a book signing, a lovely young lady asked me if it was morally wrong to fall in love with a zombie and if it was religiously wrong.
I didn’t know how to answer her, so I did the only thing I could. I laughed really hard like she was joking and changed the subject.

 

 

9.      How do you title a book? Where does it come from?
I chose Undead Season as a title because of the time period of my books’ apocalypse. It only lasts a season. Now, is that a season as in winter, spring, summer, fall? Or is it a season as in just for a small part of a lifetime? That will be revealed in the final part of The Undead Season series.
10.      What are your strongest abilities in writing?
I think I’m able to make people feel what my characters are feeling or experiencing. I try to write what I know.  Actually, that is the best advice I was ever given. I was given the opportunity to meet one of my favorite writers and storytellers, Katherine Tucker Windham, who is well known in the south.  After she did a story telling event with a group of high school students, she was going to leave. My favorite teacher asked her to please stay and talk with me. She agreed and we had a private and personal conversation. I told her I wanted to write and she told me that if I wanted to write, to write. She told me a delightful story about her childhood and her father. Then she told me, “See what I did? I just made up a story. But it was about something I know all about. My advice is to write and to write what you know. You can do it!”