SPFBO Author Interview: DANIEL MYER
What inspired you to write your SPFBO entry? Is there a particular story, personal experience, or idea that sparked this book?
I didn’t really get inspiration the usual way, where you see something or hear something and inspiration strikes. What I do clearly remember is one day I was standing in my living room and it occurred to me I’d like to write a story about a wizard in high school. It took a long time to become the book that was eventually published, but that was the start of the process. Lots of other things inspired it along the way: The Dresden Files, movies like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Indiana Jones and John Wick, TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Banshee, and Veronica Mars, and a whole bunch of random ideas I’d amalgamated for years.
How would you describe your writing process? How did it evolve during the creation of this book?
It’s disorganized. I’m trying to get a more organized system going. I try to write a thousand words a day, though I’d like to increase that. The hard part is when I have to do rewrites, because I have to do lots of thinking instead of just letting the words flow. One thing that evolved was learning to work from an editor’s notes. That was a major learning curve; it took me five months to do revisions, which was longer than I’d ever spent writing a draft of a book. I tried to generally default to taking my editor’s advice. I learned to pick out why my editor (Sarah Chorn, who I wholeheartedly recommend) wanted to make a certain change. Conversely, I learned that it’s okay to go your own way if you disagree. I sort of learned how to tell the story I wanted to tell while still taking her advice. And it greatly improved the book. It also taught me how easy it can be to solve a story problem just by adding or subtracting a few lines, or how it’s okay to just delete something that’s never quite worked. The stereotypical image of a writer is one who agonizes over cutting anything from their manuscript, and that can be true, but sometimes it’s a real relief to just kick something out.
What challenges did you face during the writing or publishing process, and how did you overcome them?
I’d say my challenges were the usual suspects. The stuff that’s really hard is the behind the scenes stuff, like website business, marketing, formatting, etc. The stuff you have to do as a writer that has nothing to do with actual writing. The amount of hoops I had to jump through prior to publication, the ones I never thought of when I was just typing away in my little writing hole, became incredibly exhausting.
I suppose the way I overcame them was to just keep hammering away, and slowly I saw my to-do list start to shrink.
Who are your biggest literary influences and how have they impacted your writing style?
I’d probably say my biggest influences were Jim Butcher, Pierce Brown, and Bernard Cornwell; I love their action sequences and their fast pacing.
How do you approach world-building in your fantasy novel? What elements do you think are essential for a compelling fantasy setting?
With Sam Adams, I did a lot of worldbuilding early on, but I’m not sure how much of it will end up in the finished product. Originally, Sam wasn’t exactly a wizard, but one of a long line of supernatural warriors, so I did lots of worldbuilding based on history, how magic was involved with various historical figures and events, stuff like that. That premise never quite worked, though, so I stripped things down to their simplest and made him a wizard (which had been my first impulse). Since then, a lot of the worldbuilding, how magic works, the spirit worlds, what other wizards are up to, has come about organically as I wrote the story. You’ll get hints of that kind of thing in these early books, and slowly learn more as the series progresses and it gets increasingly relevant to the plot.
I’m not sure what would be considered ‘essential’; it arguably varies from story to story. I do think authors should go past the bare minimum though. Working in worldbuilding gives the story some color; I certainly love a book with good lore.
If you could give a piece of advice to the main character in your book at the start of their journey, what would it be?
“Run for your life!” probably sums it up pretty well.
As a self-published author, how do you navigate marketing and promoting your work?
Not well. I feel like I’m still learning, and I wish I’d had a lot of the knowledge I have now before I published my first book; I think it would have given me a bigger boost. Mostly I just shout about it on Twitter, and try to hustle for reviews and interviews. I’m trying to get better at it; in the near future I’m going to get Credible Threats on more venues besides Amazon, and don’t tell anyone, but it may be getting an online book tour…
What made you decide to participate in the SPFBO competition? How do you think this experience will benefit you as an author?
It was simple: I figured I had potentially a lot to gain and certainly nothing to lose. I’ve already seen benefits from it. For one, I’ve met so many other authors and there’s been so much positivity. And I’ve seen bumps in engagement in other ways; I’ve lined up interviews, seen an increase in Goodreads adds, made a few sales, sent out a review copy, things like that. So this has really been a great experience so far, and one I’d wholeheartedly recommend.
If you were to win SPFBO, what impact do you think this would have on your writing career?
Haha, I’m afraid to think I might win. I’m trying to keep from getting my hopes up, though of course I do anyway. I can only imagine the impact would be good. We’ve certainly seen past winners get a major boost in their careers. I think winning would give me a sense of relief, sort of reassuring me that what I’m doing is working, and make it easier to get the word out.
What’s next for you after SPFBO? Are there any upcoming projects you can share with us?
Certainly! My current focus is Rising Shadows, Sam Adams book two. After that, it’s on to Sam Adams book three, Mysterious Ways, as well as the first book of a new epic fantasy series (and hopefully a future SPFBO entrant) tentatively titled The Shattered Throne, book one of The Voice in the Mist. I’m also a contestant in the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Awards, which is fun. I’m looking forward to seeing where that takes me. And like I said earlier, I’m not done promoting Credible Threats yet…
https://www.danielmeyerauthor.com/
