Tag: Fiction
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Candace Johnson, author of The Kitchen Isn’t Where You Cook

What inspires you to write? I’ve never asked myself if I should write. I have to write. Just like reading has always been an escape for me, so is writing. It relaxes me, it gives me joy and there are times when my fingers take on a life of their own. Sometimes ideas pop into…
Berneta L. Haynes
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Janet Constantino, author of Becoming Mariella

What inspires you to write? The urge to say something about a strongly held value or moment of experience, or emotion inspires me to put words to paper. To tell that character’s, or my truth, even if it’s momentary. When did you first consider yourself a writer? I wanted to be seen as a writer…
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Next Newsletter Issue Coming Sunday…

Happy new year! I’m excited to announce that the next issue of my newsletter will be dropping this Sunday. To welcome us into the new year, I’m offering my book, Eve and the Faders, for free to those who subscribe before the release of the next newsletter. So don’t miss this opportunity to add another…
Berneta L. Haynes
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Raymond Parish, author of The Last Step

What inspires you to write? I created the Hank Anderson mystery/thriller series in the pen name Raymond Parish at the intersection between my years of writing nonfiction as a mental health professional and my lifelong love of mysteries. As I was completing the first Hank novel, Overnight Delivery, a second plot came to mind. I…
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Asha Nyr, The Mistake and the Lycan King

What inspires you to write? My novels are exposure therapy for the physical abuse, psychological abuse, and sexual assault I survived when I was a child. Years into therapy, I learned about exposure therapy, which is when you gradually expose yourself to the element of your trauma in order to desensitize yourself. For example, if…
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Annika Pampel, author of Death of a Nightingale

What inspires you to write? I tend to gravitate toward true stories or tales with a core of truth. The stickier the better for me. If it’s something that challenges my own moral codes or questions of ethics, I tend to be intrigued. I just want to know more, and that usually leads me to…
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Enid Langbert, author of All Shook Up

What inspires you to write? I write to understand and to remember. Thoughts pass quickly. At least, for me. Even if I try to “ponder.” It is not until I begin to explore an idea on the page, wrestling with it, re-writing it, re-thinking it, that I begin to reach any real clarity. When I…
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Elizabeth Harlan, author of Becoming Carly Klein

What inspires you to write? In a word, LIFE inspires me to write. Early on, I discovered that expressing in writing my impressions and feelings deepens and enriches my experience. I’ve always wanted to make living and writing companion pieces of my existence, and becoming a professional writer enabled me to forge this alliance. When…
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It’s a Black Queer Thing: Four Black Queer SFF Novels

Happy Pride Month and Juneteeth! If you regularly follow Waking Writer, you know that I’m an indie author of fantasy, paranormal, and sci-fi novels that center queer Black women. I’m hyper aware of how invisible Black queer authors are, whether indie or traditionally-published. But we’re out here, y’all, if you look hard enough. The fact…
Berneta L. Haynes
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Calen Walker, author of Frost Rising

What inspires you to write? I started out writing after I came back from deployment overseas. I would write short stories and change certain characteristics or certain decisions so the outcome would be something different than what really happened. It was a coping mechanism. Only a few very close friends were ever allowed to read…