How long have you been writing?

I scribbled out stories as a child and teenager, but I never finished any of them. It wasn’t until 2012 that I actually sat down with the intention of writing a complete novel. Since then I’ve taken classes, read books, and submitted to contests to get better. To date, I’ve written five novels and seven short stories, and I have outlines for many many more that are just waiting for me to get around to them.

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?

I start with a set of essential characters, but new characters are popping up all the time. Sometimes they come completely out of the blue, filling some hole I hadn’t even noticed in my story, and sometimes I create a small character for a single roll, but that character morphs into someone who gets fleshed out and integrated into the larger story.

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?

I do most of the world building before I ever start writing, but for fantasy a lot of that comes straight out of my head. Since I set A Drop of Magic in a fictional version of a real place, I did make sure I was familiar with all the areas Alex would be visiting.

Beyond that, I do research as it becomes necessary, sometimes taking hours out of my writing time to track down a particular piece of information. I’ve had to research things like how long it takes before rigor mortis sets into a body and when it fades, the death rates and record homicides for various areas, gun types and ammunition counts, what happens to an unclaimed dead body, how to mail human ashes… Huh. Apparently I spend a lot of time researching stuff about dead people.

Do you see writing as a career?

Yes and no. While I’m definitely pursuing writing as a career, I’m not in it for the money. Even if no one buys my books, I will still keep writing them.