K. Aten

I grew up poor in a rural area, but I had a large extended family of storytellers. They give me inspiration even today.

I was inspired by Xena fanfic. I wrote an original piece with a different take on the main characters and I had so much feedback telling me to publish, it took off from there.

All the time. I practice writing polygamy. If I'm stuck on my current WIP, I either need to do more plotting, or I'll simply jump into another WIP and work for a while. Sometimes it will trigger ideas for my primary which will kick off my creativity.

Amazed and honored. But I was shocked when I actually won the Sci-fi/Fantasy Goldie award with one of those finalists. One of the peak points of my career. I've gone on to be a finalist every year since I started publishing but sadly the first year is my only win.

There are no rules for writing fantastical stories...other than to keep it believable on a world level. Stay consistent with your world and characters.

There were a number of authors who published Sapphic superhero fiction in the same year and it seemed like the "cool" thing to do at the time. I like powerful women and comic books so I contributed my own story.

The Arrow of Artemis series was based on the Xena fanfic. The challenges with that series in particular was finding information about land, flora, fauna, social practices, etc from about 30 BCE. The thing that makes any series difficult is world building. Keep a lot of notes and a good information retrieval system. Be consistent, not just with land, words, events, and continuity, but with character personalities. Do they have a favorite saying or tic? Make sure you reflect that in each book. Also be sure to grow your stories and characters. Develop as you go and record everything.

Some may say the difficulty lies in research but I happen to like that part. I've been told I write heavy sci-fi with real or near-real science. That can be tricky to get correct without overloading the reader. Make your science comprehensive and deep, but believable and easy to understand.

I write what I like to read. My favorite books will make me think, feel or want to talk about it with other people. Those are also my goals for every book I write, to make people #think, #feel, or #discuss.

The two main characters in Rules of the Road are both a mashup of me. The book is about breaking through stereotypes and finding a healthy relationship, despite having baggage from a toxic past. Moving on with someone new rather than wallowing in hurt.

I think it's pretty important but it's also difficult to get right. My favorites are ones that the reader gets to a point in the book and has a lightbulb moment where they suddenly realize the origin of the book title.

I'm inspired by my fellow writers. I see folks writing in genres that I love but haven't tried yet, then I want to write a book in that genre too. I'll use the cafeteria plan to build my characters. Taking different traits from people I know to build a character.

Awards are great but there is something special about getting an email, a message, or other form of contact letting you know that you've really touched a reader, that you've made a difference. I love that.

There are many things that make writing hard. When the world is busy, bad things happening, fighting with my spouse, being sick or tired, all of those contribute to writer's block and lack of motivation. I think the important thing is to ALLOW yourself to take some time for mental health. Cut yourself some slack and you'll come back better than before.

I'm really not sure. I've been using the service for a number of years and love all the features here. I appreciate the care shown by staff and the constant improvement.