Author Bio:
L.S. Engler writes from just outside Chicago, in the company of two cats and three rowdy roommates. Ever since she was young, she loved weaving exciting tales, usually of the strange and unusual, a habit that she decided to try to make into more than just overactive playtime. She particularly enjoys magical realism, fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction.
What inspires you to write?
I find even the smallest thing a great inspiration. Everything from the mundane to the fantastical…there’s a story embedded deeply into everything, several stories in most things, so inspiration is all around us. Just as the White Queen believes in five impossible things before breakfast, I’m inspired by five marvelous things before I even crawl out of bed.
Tell us about your writing process.
More often than not, I pants around a plot, putting it together as I go along, though I have on occasion benefited from an outline. In general, I do most of my scribbling in the morning and a little bit during the slow bits at my part-time job. I can’t go a day without writing something, or else I tend to go insane, even if it’s just a page, and I tend to write a page at a time. I wish I had more of an attention span, to just be able to sit down and write for an hour on end, but that rarely happens.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
My characters all tend to have minds of their own. I think I know precisely what they’re going to do, and then they go and turn around to do something else entirely. A lot of my characters actually develop through sketching. I like to draw, but I have no great talent for it, so very few of them see the light of day, but wonderful stories have been brought up because of them. Characters jabber in my head all day long; I rarely response, though. Instead, I just write it out.
What advice would you give other writers?
My most frequently given advice to other writers is simply to just KEEP WRITING. So many authors get caught up in the minute details and rigor morale of a perfect draft, and that’s why so many authors get stuck. A rough draft is rough for a reason. Blaze through to the end, and then go back to refine it. The sense of accomplishment in writing “The End” is one of the best feelings in the world, but you do actually have to get there first.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Ideally, I would like to dabble in both types of publishing, independent and traditional. I know not all of my books would appeal to the traditional method, but I would still like to pursue that path for some of my other books. Right now, until I have more works under my belt so that I can start shipping to traditional publishers and still manage some indie titles while waiting, I’ll be exploring the independent path. I think both methods have their benefits and their downsides, so, naturally, I want to experience both!
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
The future of book publishing will be a strange, new world, one that I’m excited to see, especially as there will always be bibliophiles like me out in the world, hungry for more.
What do you use?
Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?
Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Historical Fiction, contemporary, magical realism
What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
L.S. Engler Home Page Link
Link To L.S. Engler Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
http://www.facebook.com/ellis.engler
http://twitter.com/lsengler
