About Erin Banks:
Erin Banks is a Northern German-born Specialist In Media & Information Sciences, Simultaneous Interpreter, Autism Advocate and writer with Scandinavian and American roots who currently resides in the UK. She used to own the CrimePiper WordPress blog and still helps manage it.
She has contributed chapters to French author Anne Cossé’s book, “Could YOU Be Autistic? How One Realizes They Are On The Spectrum,” and to her mentor Kevin M. Sullivan’s sixth book on the Ted Bundy case, “The Enigma Of Ted Bundy: The Controversies And Questions Surrounding America’s Most Infamous Serial Killer.”
“Ted Bundy: Examining The Unconfirmed Survivor Stories” is her first Kindle publication.
Her next book, a work of fiction, is loosely scheduled to appear in 2022.
What inspires you to write?
My father, though unpublished, was a prolific writer and instilled in me the love to read and write. There's no time in my life I can remember during which I didn't take my notebook with me everywhere I went. I started out writing poetry in German, Swedish and English when I was still a minor.
Later I moved on to short stories and blogging for many years. One of these blogs was CrimePiper (WordPress). Sometime last year I scrolled through the dozens of articles I had written, and I decided to go forth with writing "Ted Bundy: Examining The Unconfirmed Survivor Stories."
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
Kevin M. Sullivan, Susan Forward, Josephine Angelini & Charlotte Brontë.
Tell us about your writing process.
For my non-fiction I sit down and write down a general outline of what I want to address in each chapter and in what order the chapters should appear.
For my fiction – my first novel will come out next year, I estimate – I have no real process to speak of. I open a Word document and start writing, it just happens automatically, or perhaps intuitively. Sometimes I surprise myself with what I came up with.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I "become" them. I can alternate easily between my characters and their distinct way of thinking, feeling and speaking.
What advice would you give other writers?
Let it flow. I've wanted to force chapters in the past. I was convinced there were components I just had to add, but eventually I had to admit it just didn't work or didn't fit anywhere and had to let it go. Sometimes less really is more.
Keep your work and work progress close to your heart but once the time to publish is approaching, settle on 2-3 beta readers/"editors." You may trust them, but due to personal experience I would still set up a contract of sorts.
Don't be shy. Accept help, ask for help. No one can go it alone. Ask friends and family to help promote you, set up a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for your book, and hashtag the daylight out of your posts.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
My counselor kept bringing up Kindle during our meetings whenever we talked about the possibility of me publishing.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Publishing has become accessible to all, and I hope it will remain that way.
What genres do you write?: True Crime, Psychology, Fiction (Horror/Dystopian)
What formats are your books in?: eBook, Print, Both eBook and Print
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
YouTube
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
