Author Bio:
A longtime fan of horror and fantasy Ms. Lyons writes character driven novels that while influenced by her darker interests, can also be heavily laced with fantasy, romance, history and magic. Amanda M. Lyons has lived her whole life in rural Ohio where she lives with her fiance and two children. Eyes Like Blue Fire is her first novel.
What inspires you to write?
What doesn’t? I get inspiration from all sorts of things from watching my kids play to reading a good (or REALLY bad ) book or watching a film that gets my gears going. Some great music, a nice breeze and enough quiet space to write also help though.
Tell us about your writing process.
I’ve never been able to get much from outlining with my work. I think the closest I get to using any sort of planning is to jot down ideas and maybe a character sheet I can build from. Other than that it’s pretty spur of the moment. This is one of the bigger reasons I keep a writing journal. It makes it easier to keep track of what I was able to do and where I was thinking of going. I thrive on the inspired days. I can get as much as 12 or 16 pages in a couple of hours.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Not often actually. In many ways it’s as if a little movie is playing itself out in my imagination. I take the imagery and write it down as it comes to mind. In a lot of ways it’s like I’m receiving the story and translating it into words.
What advice would you give other writers?
1) Read! : Never stop reading everything you can get your hands on. You never stop learning how to improve yourself based on what another writer can teach you. Yes, even the bad ones.
2) Take Good Advice When You Can Find It. In Fact Seek it Out: Lots of good writers have blogs and social media accounts where they share advice on how to improve your work in all kinds of ways. They’re also very open to talking to readers as long as you’re not rude or too demanding. Make use of that. If you can find your favorite writers anywhere on the net look up what they have to say and utilize it.
3) Never Be Rude: Your reputation is one of the few things you can thoroughly hang yourself with as a writer. This goes for talking to anyone reader, writer or guy on the street. If you behave badly you make a bad name for yourself and you lose people’s respect. Once that happens it becomes a lot harder to prove you’re not the negative person they think you are. It also makes you a lot of enemies who can sway other people against you. Do your best to be courteous and respectful. it not only pays off it’ll make it a lot easier to get advice from other writers and solid, honest reviews from readers. Integrity is a large portion of your value as a writer.
4) Never Stop Trying!: It takes a LOT of work to get published and it takes a LOT of work to promote it once you have. That goes for major house publication and double for self publishers. No matter how hopeless it feels keep doing everything you can to get your work out there. If it needs improvement, improve it. If nobody seems to be buying it do all you can to promote it. If promotion ideas are running out go look for some more. There are always fresh ideas, new ways you can improve the piece and ways to find your readers. Don’t give up!
How did you decide how to publish your books?
From the moment I started writing I wanted to be a published author. I read all kinds of books on how to improve my writing, where to submit my work and how to market it. Well even with all of that information I was very afraid to submit my work. When I finally did I found it very hard to market my book Eyes Like Blue Fire because it’s honestly a bit cross genre. It’s true of all of my books thus far actually but none would be as hard to market (when they’re complete) as this one has been. As a result, and with the advice of my friend Susan Simone and Todd my fiance I decided I’d give Createspace and Amazon a shot. That’s what I’m doing right now, seeing how this book will do before I finish it’s sequel and working on my other books in the meantime.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think right now it’s a little crazy. There are a lot of authors out there going to small press and self publishing format and while some of are succeeding many others are getting eaten up in the mass push. The sad part is that a lot of those writers are just as good as the ones succeeding. In fact many of them are better writers than some of the ones getting published by the bigger houses. This means that everyone has to find a good way to market their book and get it out there.
As self publication and ebooking become more popular I think it’s going to get easier to get books out there but I do wonder if it’ll make it harder to make a living from it. As a new writer I have to consider that.
What genres do you write?
Gothic Horror
What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Link To Author Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7035440.Amanda_M_Lyons
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amanda-M-Lyons/357528661024257
https://twitter.com/AmandaMLyons
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