About Laura M. Drake:
Laura Drake is the youngest of five children and grew up in AR (that’s Arkansas, not Arizona) until she moved to Provo, Utah to attend Brigham Young University. She graduated with a degree in Elementary Education and worked as a teacher for a few years in Utah. She lived in Tokyo, Japan for two years, which is when she started the Japanese Hauntings series and her first completed trilogy, The Chronicles of Andar.
When she isn’t writing she enjoys reading, playing ultimate frisbee and board games, and spending time with her family and friends. She is passionate about time management and finances and loves helping people make budgets.
Laura is a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What inspires you to write?
Most of my inspiration actually comes from my dreams. I'll often wake up after a really cool dream and immediately start scribbling notes from it, trying to capture every detail I can remember. That's how The Move, Unexpected Magic, and Till Life Do Us Part (my current project) all came to be. (And yes, my dream for The Move was really more of a nightmare since it is a ghost story.)
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
Tamora Pierce
Shannon Hale
Karen Lynch
Tell us about your writing process.
I'm 100% an outliner when it comes to the overall story but sometimes the chapters end up being a 'by my pants' thing when they go an unexpected direction. But if I don't have a strong grasp on beginning, middle, end going into the story, I have to do way more revisions down the road. I'll write out as much of my story that comes naturally and then match it to the Saves the Cat beat sheet to see if I'm hitting the most important points to keep the pace flowing smoothly. I use googledocs for just about everything, and I love how easy it is.
I never sketch characters but sometimes I do sketch out scenes or animals to help me imagine them.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I don't talk to my characters, but sometimes as I am writing I am surprised by the direction the story goes. Or when I learn more about a character's backstory I often find myself saying, "I did NOT see that coming." It's pretty fun to see the ways the characters can surprise me.
What advice would you give other writers?
Just keep writing and keep reading other people's work. It's really helpful to have critique partners and beta readers and also to be one. Don't hesitate to share your work. It's scary at first but when you see how much it can grow, it's all worth it.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I decided to self-publish my books because a) I'm not patient enough to wait years (either to be accepted or rejected) and b) I wanted to crank out books as fast as I finish them and I love having control over things. I'm not against trying traditional publishing some day, but for now I'm content to keep plugging along as an indie author.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think that ebooks and online book stores are only going to grow more popular as we fall further into the digital age, and that indie publishing will continue to grow.
What genres do you write?: Fantasy and Paranormal romantic suspense
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Laura M. Drake Home Page Link
Link To Laura M. Drake Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on BookBub
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Instagram
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.
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