About David Andrew Crawford:
My name is David Andrew Crawford and I was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada but moved to Ontario when I was a child. I studied psychology at Carleton University and then went in pursuit of a degree in Computer Science at Algonquin College until finally settling on web designing and development as a career choice.
Shortly thereafter, my father passed away and I delved back into one of my passions, reading fantasy novels, to help take my mind off the loss of my father. Several years passed and in a passing conversation with my mother, I was urged to write a story about the character I had made as a child playing Dungeons and Dragons. I dreamed of being an author and bringing to life all the crazy things my mind could come up with. So, I (lost my mind) decided to leave my fulltime job and began writing the story of Dark Solus in my little mobile trailer that had an indoor waterfall (the waterfall being a huge hole in my roof).
On January 27, 2011 my novel Dark Solus An Assassin’s Tale, the first novel in the Dark Saga Series, was published. My novel has now won 3 awards in the Fantasy genre in contests held in the United States. In February 2012 I won 2nd place in the Written Art Awards and in August 2012 I won Bronze in the Readers Favorite. I got notification April 15, 2013 that I won 1st Finalist in the Beverly Hills Book Awards.
I am working on my second novel in the Dark Saga series. I still live in Canada in the small hamlet of Innisville with my two dogs Ares, the friendly giant and Ariel, the little princess, both three year old Rottweilers. I am an entrepreneur and an environmentalist and for the next few months my job is writing my second novel.
What inspires you to write?
I have such an imagination and I am constantly coming up with ideas so I am constantly writing them down. I love to write and see what stories I can weave out of my imagination.
Tell us about your writing process.
I usually start out with an outline of the book that I am going to write. Sometimes I start with the first chapter or two and then do the outline. It varies from book to book. I also write down all the things that pop into my mind on any topic. More than likely I will use them in a book at some time or another. I have about 5 stories in my head at all times so I am never at a loss for a story.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I probably do more listening but I try to think what the character will do or say in any given situation. I also spend a lot of time thinking on how to describe a situation or a place or a character. I also like to give background stories in my book.
What advice would you give other writers?
I think you need to decide what genre you are going to write for and you have to have an imagination unless it is non-fiction. I find that is a problem for some of the writers today is they cannot come up with ideas to continue their books. We also see that today in the movies. There are so many remakes. Also I think you have to get the reader’s attention within the first few pages and keep them enticed throughout the entire book.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I went with a publishing company for the first novel but I would never do that again unless it was a well established publishing company. There are too many scammers out there and besides it is so easy to self-publish. After my father died I really missed him and I got back into reading fantasy to help take my mind off of the loss. In a conversation with my mother she suggested I write a story about a character I had made up as a child when I played Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. And as they say the rest is history.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
It seems that the market is being flooded with books because of self-publishing but hopefully the good ones will rise to the top. I think the established publishing companies are finding it hard to get good books but from what I have seen just in my short timespan, they do not seem to be able to relate to a good book unless it is the tried and true method. I am sure there are lots of good books that are being self-published but established publishing companies are not interested. A lot of them do not go beyond the writers they have had for years and I am sorry to say that not all these authors write really really good books. Sometimes they are on the New York Times best sellers list and I am not sure why they are there except for the fact that they are an established author.
What genres do you write?: Fantasy
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
David Andrew Crawford Home Page Link
Link To David Andrew Crawford Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
