About Sam Muller:
Sam Muller loves dogs and books. Ideal? No, for some of her dogs also love her books. Page edges and spines of old hardbacks for preference – a mystery she hopes to resolve, someday.
The dogs in her stories never chew on books. Spooky, the daemon-dog in her first book, helps his human partner Allii uncover the killer of her beloved stepmother. Spooky also gives the novel its tagline: How dangerous it is to live among humans, even for humans.
Sam believes words can help or harm. The choice is ours. Pegala, the world she created, has its share of bad happenings and characters you wouldn’t want to spend a second with, but in the end, animals are saved, children protected, the worst is prevented, and the underdog has a fighting chance. In between finishing her first novel and writing its sequel, Sam also penned many short stories along those lines and even got several published.
What inspires you to write?
My grandmother introduced me to the universe of stories. Storytelling is an art and she was a virtuoso in it. She could make characters and their worlds come alive. I fell in love with stories listening to her. From loving stories to imagining them to writing them was a logical progression.
I get inspiration from life, myths, fairy tales, anything really. It's unpredictable. The idea for I will Paint the Night, my first novel, came from Snow White, with a bit of Agatha Christie thrown in, Tuppence Beresford to be specific.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
Favorite authors have changed with age. In terms of fiction authors I return to again and again: Phillip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Ursula Le Guin, E Nesbit, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Albert Camus, and JRR Tolkien, among others. And Enid Blyton’s Faraway Tree books. They can still enchant.
Tell us about your writing process.
I don’t do outlines. I tried that track but no luck. I let the story go where it wills. Sometimes I imagine both the beginning and the end. But in between, the storyline belongs to the story itself.
Often the image of an character comes before the idea for a story. But the image is a fuzzy one. It grows with the story.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I think I think with them and feel with them.
What advice would you give other writers?
Read, read, and read again. And write every day. Even if it’s nothing more than a diary of your doings or a journal of your reflections. And find some good critique partners, ones who will tell you the truth unsparingly but with kindness. Finally, give your mind a free rein. Let it roam.
Above all, don't give up. Make writing a joy and not a chore and it will help you get through many a bad patch in your life.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I knew I could never manage to self-publish my book. I'm in awe of authors who self-publish not just one book but many. I wouldn't know where to start. So finding a publisher was the only available option.
I was lucky that I came across Fractured Mirror Publishing early on in my search. It's an all female press and they are all animal lovers. They have been amazinginly understanding about my nervy demands and near-meltdowns.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the imminent demise of the book publishing industry has been grossly exaggerated. So long as there are humans, there will be books.
What genres do you write?: Fantasy, young adult, murder mystery
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Link to Author Page on Fractured Mirror Publishing
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
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.
