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GRNW Interview - Astrid Amara
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Have you always been writing? What pushed you to take that step to write to publish?
Yes! I wanted to be a writer in kindergarten and have worked on fiction my whole life. But what finally pushed me to stop writing only for myself and attempt to get published was the need for cold hard cash (see above Porn for Ponies campaign). I know that doesn’t sound very romantic, but hey. If you can make a few bucks doing something you love, why not give it a shot?
Many writers, especially in m/m, have to balance writing and other parts of their lives (like work or family.) How do you fit writing in? Do you have a routine that you like to do?
It’s changed in the last few years. One lesson this year has been that I can’t write as quickly as I used to. In 2008 I got four novels out because I was doing little else. Since then I’ve gotten married, a naughty horse, four dogs, two goats, and am doing quite a bit of volunteer work with greyhound rescue. Plus three of the four dogs are lap dogs, which turns out not to be compatible with a laptop. So my new routine is that I set aside several hours a week where I go to a café or bookstore or other location, order a coffee, and do nothing but write. Seems to work better when I’m away from the chaos of home, and besides, I’m supporting the local economy!
Can you talk to us about some of your upcoming works? What can readers look forward to?
As I mentioned before, I’m working now on a new Hanukkah romance for this year titled Sweet and Sour, which will be set in a pickle shop and involve lovers in a pickle of their own. In 2014 my historical fantasy The Devil Lancer will come out through Blind Eye Books. It’s a historical fantasy set in 1854 during the Crimean War and includes men possessed with daemons, cavalry battles, forbidden love, and mystery, all set in the backdrop of one of history’s most horrific wars.
I’m going to steal one of Andrea Speed’s comic convention questions: If you were a kitchen appliance, what kind of appliance would you be and why?
I wish I could say blender, mixin’ it up, but lets face it. I’m a bread machine. I sit around, stay warm, and then puff up with yummy carbs.
This might be too personal of a question…WHERE DID YOU GET THIS ADORABLE HAT?
2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, baby! It’s Miga! A killer whale/bear thingy that was one of the official mascots: http://www.kidzworld.com/article/2250...
It’s also redonkulous.
Last question (from me. GRNW followers can jump in after this.) We’ll have a lot of readers at the September GRNW Meet-Up in Seattle, and it’s always interesting to hear what authors like to read and would recommend. What gay romance titles are some of your favorites?
I have a confession to make: I’m EXTREMELY picky about my gay romance. Which means I read little of it. If the romance doesn’t have a compelling story line or believable characters I drop it like a dead rodent with guts coming out. (ew)
That said, I just finished Sean Kennedy’s Tigerland series and I LOVED it. His characters are so real and honest. I of course love Josh Lanyon’s books, and even though there isn’t a lot of erm… sex… I really liked Diana Gabaldon’s Lord John Grey books. I’m also a big fan of Manna Francis’ Administration series for reasons I can’t really fathom…. I am not a fan of S&M but damn, those characters are brilliant.
Thank you, Astrid, for sitting down with us! It was wonderful to talk with you. I cannot wait to check out your new book!
July 25 - GRNW Reading Event - Seattle
And for those around Seattle, you can see more of Astrid on Thursday, July 25 at the University Book Store for our first GRNW reading event, "Zero Gravity's Rainbow: Four Writers who blend Science-Fiction, Fantasy, and Gay Romance," which will feature Astrid Amara, Angela Benedetti, Ginn Hale, and Laylah Hunter. Learn more at our website: http://gayromancenorthwest.wordpress....
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If you have questions for Astrid, please feel free to ask here. This thread is open to questions. :D
Hey all! Thanks for reading! I'll be checking the site today and tomorrow so if you have any questions or comments, feel free to add them and I'll respond. Thanks GRNW for organizing, and I look forward to seeing some of you July 25 in Seattle!
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Astrid, what do you think about doing a giveaway of your new ebook? Could be fun!
ttg wrote: "The rainy GRNW savannah is very quiet today. I wonder if we can...demolish that peace??Hell yeah! Let's do it! First 2 folks to respond will win free copies of my new novel Demolished. Whoopie! Let's see who is awake and not desperately slumped over their fans trying to avoid the heat...
Let's see who is awake and not desperately slumped over their fans trying to avoid the heat... "My room is actually surprisingly cool, given it's 91 degrees out right now (plus humidity). Though I'll take it over the rain & storms we've had the past month or so. Sunlight: I have missed it.
Samantha wrote: My room is actually surprisingly cool, given it's 91 degrees out right now (plus humidity).Luckeee! In any case, congratulations! Send me an email at my website and I'll be in touch for your free copy of Demolished! :) http://www.astridamara.com/contact/
Lou wrote: "I wonder what you studied in college. :P Also, how much research do you do? Do you read lo..."Ha! Actually I studied Middle Eastern History so I've got a thang for historical settings. In terms of research - I do a ton for certain books, but read little nonfiction otherwise. That's probably why I enjoy the research. I pick a topic I'm interested in, decide to write about it, and then read everything I can about it. :)
Since you are poster #2 today, would you like a copy of Demolished? If so please email me at my website. http://www.astridamara.com/contact/
Thanks, and happy reading!
Astrid wrote: "Samantha wrote: My room is actually surprisingly cool, given it's 91 degrees out right now (plus humidity).Luckeee! In any case, congratulations! Send me an email at my website and I'll be in tou..."
Oh, cool. Thank you! email sent. ^_^
Lou wrote: I'm really curious what it takes to write epic stories. How detailed..."In the two really big projects I've undertaken I've had very detailed plots planned out ahead of time. They usually change as I write them - I realize a fatal flaw, or something that needs to be added, etc. But I think the bigger the project the more prep work you need to do in advance to keep focused. It's easy to get off track when you are trying to do 10 things at once in a novel, so I have to do the work of plotting out each separate story arc.
And yes, I do get overwhelmed, especially round the middle. In The Devil Lancer I have one fight sequence that wasn't in the original outline but needed to happen, and I swear it took like 2 months to write that one chapter. It killed me, trying to block it out, get all the characters in the right places, and figure out why the guys with magic weren't just like... you know. Killing everyone in a second. It was hard. :)
Read with Pride Northwest
Books mentioned in this topic
Demolished (other topics)Holiday Outing (other topics)
Carol of the Bellskis (other topics)
Miracle of the Bellskis (other topics)
Love Ahead: Expect Delays (other topics)
More...
Please feel free to join in and ask your own questions for the authors!
GRNW interviews Astrid Amara - Part 1!
Here we interview Astrid Amara, author of The Archer's Heart, Holiday Outing, Half Pass, and other works.
GRNW: Congratulations on today's release of your new novel Demolished! Can you tell us what this book is about? And where did the ideas for this story come from?
Astrid: Thank you! The story follows a journalism major, Calvin Quarry, who tries to fulfill a fantasy of having anonymous sex with a stranger after arranging a meeting online. The problem is he recognizes his partner as Felix Bracks, a boy he went to high school with and who was involved in a car crash that killed Cal’s best friend.
As Cal learns more about Felix’s side of the story, he recognizes certain elements that tie in to the experiences of his younger cousin, who has gotten involved in drugs and a dangerous group of people who are willing to do anything, even murder, to keep their secret safe. As Cal and Felix work together, they both must learn to trust each other, before their relationship, and their families, are demolished in the process.
The idea should be credited to a conversation with Ginn Hale. She and I were discussing story ideas late last year, and we started brainstorming various books we’d like to write. I wanted to do something contemporary after spending all of last year working on a historical fantasy, and I’m a sucker for angsty plot lines. Demolished fit the bill.
You’re well known for your “Hanukkah romances", including Holiday Outing, Carol of the Bellskis and its sequel Miracle of the Bellskis, and the road-trip romance Love Ahead: Expect Delays. What drew you to writing holiday romances? (And will we see any more?)
The first year I started writing e-books for Loose Id, there was a call for holiday romances and almost all of the submissions were Christmas stories. As a Jew I felt under-represented and thought it would be fun to tackle the challenge of writing something that would be lighthearted and upbeat as well as romantic, so I wrote Holiday Outing. That was so much fun I went ahead and did another one for the next three years. Last year I skipped a holiday romance since I was still working on The Devil Lancer, but I’ve got one planned for this year and have just started on it this week! (This year Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving so it will be coming out in November instead of December).
You were nominated for a Lambda Literary award for your fantasy epic The Archer’s Heart. Can you tell me more about this book, and what inspired it?
Ever since I read the Bhagavad-Gita and the the Mahabharata in high school many years ago, I fell in love with the stories and moral and cultural battles that the characters struggle with. I tried many times over the years to write a retelling of the story that would appeal to modern, non-Hindu readers, and finally settled on this approach. While influenced by the Mahabharata it ended up being its own, very different story.
It’s a fantasy novel set in an ancient world where the society is heavily striated by class, and various kingdoms battle for dominance. Three brothers are at odds against their cousin to not only claim their kingdom, but to define the culture of their world. One wants radical reform, improving the lives of the lower class. Another wants tradition, believing it is the way God intended. In the midst of this turmoil, the youngest brother Jandu falls in love with Keshan, a wily, clever, radical prince, who also has great control over the magical weapons they use as warriors.
It’s got magic, battles, curses, good guys being bad, bad guys being good, and some hot sex. What else could you want? :-)
The Archer’s Heart is a massive book, at almost 700 pages for the (now sadly out-of-print) paperback. Thankfully for us, it’s also available as three ebooks. How long did it take you to write this? Was it difficult to manage such a long, involved story?
Yes! I have an entire book that’s just notes! :-) It took about a year and a half to write, and a ton of editing from Nicole Kimberling, and many long nights reworking parts, to get it where it is. The good news is, I love the amount of detail I can put in an epic-sized fantasy. The bad news is, it’s too costly to reprint, although I’m working with the publisher Blind Eye Books to see about developing a three-part print run for those that have asked for it.
I really enjoyed your novel Half Pass, which was a mystery romance set at a horse stable in northern Washington. I especially loved all the details with the horses and the work that main character Paul did. I sensed a good understanding of horses while reading it. Am I right?
The stable in Half Pass is pretty much a carbon copy of a stable where I had my horse for many years in Whatcom County, Washington. Horses are what got me into publishing. In 2008 my 28 year old horse Angus died, and I was devastated. When I realized I wanted to continue riding but didn’t have the money to buy another horse, let alone pay for his/her costly board and care, I considered getting a second job. Instead, I turned to writing romances. I called it my “Porn for Ponies Campaign” and I still do… because all the money I make off being a writer pretty much goes directly to my obsession with riding and the horse I bought three years ago.
To help pay for costs I usually work at the stables where I ride, so yeah. I got to learn a lot about horse care and stable management, and also what kind of colorful folk are attracted to horsemanship. If you think dog or cat people are weird, come meet a bunch of equestrians! We’re all lunatics!
You contributed stories to the excellent urban fantasy anthologies Hell Cop, Hell Cop 2, and Irregulars. What was it like to work on an anthology that shared the same world? (And even had overlapping characters?)
It’s really fun doing shared world anthologies with Nicole Kimberling and Ginn Hale because we work so well together. It’s probably no secret that we’ve all been friends for almost twenty years, and we were in a writers group that started in the nineties made up of book store employees. Since we’ve been reading and critiquing each others’ work for so long, we’ve got a good sense of how we all work and get similar joy out of creating multi-faceted fantastical settings for our independent styles.
The great part about Irregulars was adding Josh Lanyon to the mix. He is such a talented author and does a remarkable job developing realistic, engaging characters, and his dialogue really can’t be beat. I’m so glad I had an opportunity to work with him and hope I get a chance to do so again some time.
Your Irregulars story “No Life But This” was creative and very gripping as we followed young Deven who is reintegrating into the human world after years in another realm. Where did the ideas come from for this story?
When the idea of Irregulars first came about, I started thinking about what other realm or world I would want to play in. I knew next to nothing about Aztec and Maya culture but found much of its imagery and lore fascinating, and I love any excuse to pursue a topic of research to fuel a fantasy. As I read up on Aztec symbology and religious tradition ideas started firing through my head, and made it easy to develop the idea of the underworld of the Aztaw.
I also really like considering the challenges of someone stepping outside their cultural zone (probably from my early days of traveling around the world). I thought it would be interesting to see how a damaged youth coming from the equivalent of hell would integrate with modern society and try and be “human.” So with our angsty, suffering character, just throw in some hot sex, and whammo, you got an Astrid story. :-)
Your works range often between contemporary romance and speculative fiction. Do you have a favorite genre that you like to write in? Is there a genre that you wish to try someday?
Well, I love spec fic. I love the melodrama. I love it that you can have explosions and magic and kingdoms falling and death and healing powers. Contemporary is hard because you have to tackle similar themes but make it realistic and subtle. When a person is angry at the world, they can’t throw fireballs – they have to just sit down and cry a bit.
That said, I like changing it up regularly. I get easily bored and so every project has to be somewhat unique and present its own challenges. So when I get to mix it up and do a fantasy, then a contemporary, then something light and fun like a holiday romance, I get to experiment in all sorts of laboratories.
I would like to try writing a non-romance based fantasy story one of these days, but lets face it – it will still have to have romantic elements in there. Otherwise, why bother? :-)
On to the next post for Part 2 with Astrid!