About P.M. Amaras and Paul Driggere:
We've been writing together almost 25 years, but usually for other people. For a while, in the 1990s, we ran the gamut on writing, editing, and research and our company was the talk of the World Wide Web. Of course, nowadays we're not so big anymore and a lot of companies have passed us by. With work slowed down, we started writing our own things. We have 7 non-fiction books published through various companies, and one fiction novel in 2010 called "Exiles of Dal Ryeas". "Shadows in Light" is our first real joint-effort in fantasy-fiction.
What inspires you to write?
Dreams, reading other peoples' works, childhood memories, observations. Creativity can really spark at any time.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
Jane Austen, Homer, David Eddings, Piers Anthony, Stephen King, Dean R. Koontz, J.R.R. Tolkin, C.S. Lewis, Neil Gaiman, Gabriel Kay.
Tell us about your writing process.
Normally, we start with ideas, or an idea file we keep, and then flesh those ideas out into a lot of words. Sometimes we outline, but it's really difficult to stick to them, especially if we come up with better ideas as we go. We DO however love to world-build and in fact we teach world-building to other writers at various conventions.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
We probably go a bit further than that, since we both have taken film classes. We love to picture our writing as a movie set and actually "see" for ourselves how our characters should act and how they should speak. It's a great way to interact.
What advice would you give other writers?
We guess we fall back on the old Nike ad: "Just do it". Nothing is going to write for you, so just jot it down, even if it's just segments, scenes, a few lines of dialogue, get it down. Then it'll be in your head and you'll have some excitement and enthusiasm to pick it back up again and add to it. Always end your writing session on a high note – when you are most excited. Store that excitement up for next time you come to the document.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Well, for our non-fiction books, those were actually paid assignments. We wrote books on spec and the publishers were pleased and asked us to write. We say here and now, this is NOT how you want to write books. We HATE deadlines. This was just for the money. For "Exiles of Dal Ryeas", that was published through small-press, but we'd like to revisit this book, and re-publish. "Shadows in Light" we decided to self-publish under our own publishing company – simply because it's our baby and we can do a better job of marketing than most publishing houses.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
We're seeing it. People writing books and self-publishing and not having to worry about proceeds or percentages. The publishing houses know they are doomed to extinction eventually. Soon, everyone will just self-publish and put it out on their own. And if they know enough people, or have a large enough following, they'll be sensations.
What genres do you write?: Honestly, we write just about anything.
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
P.M. Amaras and Paul Driggere Home Page Link
Your Social Media Links
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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.
