What inspired you to become a writer?

Actually, it’s a wonder I ever became a writer…even the pipsqueak writer I am. I’m dyslexic and was convinced I couldn’t read until I was in fourth grade. I “looked” at pictures and comics.

My sixth grade teacher started my writing career when she assigned the class to write a short story. Other kids wrote 3 to 6 pages. I wrote an unfinished 28 pages of a Nancy Drew pastiche and got a C because I didn’t finish it. [I did finish it the next summer and typed it on my mother’s typewriter.]

While I wrote bits and pieces of stuff, I didn’t write seriously until I started writing short non-fiction when an adult. I didn’t start writing fiction until I retired. At this point, writing is like an itch. Not writing bugs me.

What are you passionate about?

Politics, but the less said about that the better, in many cases.

But, my views do bleed into my fantasies. My whole Far Isle Half-Elven world was developed on the question: What happens politically to a land when genetic drift influences an elf/human hybrid population.

What is your username on the different social media platforms? (do you want this information to be published

I don’t seem to have enough time for social media. The one place I go to regularly where people can contact me is on Facebook as M. K. Theodoratus, Fantasy Writer. That is if I can ever figure out how to get rid of the Portuguese. I only speak English.

What’s your favorite genre to write/read in and why?

Fantasy has been my thing since I was three years old when an imaginary friend played with me on our gated front porch. My brother still blames me for our mother naming him Jerome after my friend. [Don’t ask where I got the name Jerome.]

I discovered science fiction and fantasy paperbacks at a used hardware/junk store, and I deserted comic books for the likes of Andre Norton, A. E. Merritt, and C. L. Moore. Of course, I’m a little strange in that I consider Regencies [Georgette Heyer] and mysteries [Lee Child] fantasy.

Why fantasy? Well, the mundane world is so pedestrian. I need a little magic in my life.

Some writers have something playing in the background, do you and what?

I always have music of many different kinds in the background, though I tend to prefer folk music, including Tana Tuvan throat music. I currently am listening to Welsh harp music as I write. Maybe you should add light classical music to my playlist. If I don’t battle stuff, I tend to drift to heavy metal. I really like complicated guitar riffs.

What’s the inspiration behind your books?

I write in two worlds: Andor where demons prey and the Marches of the Far Isles Half-Elven. I have free short stories available in both worlds as well as two books about The Demon Wars of Andor.

The Far Isles Half-Elven got me started writing fantasy again after I retired. — I was recovering from surgery and napping. I woke to a Technicolor vision of a tall, sad woman standing on a cliff overlooking a turbulent sea with the wind blowing her unbound hair away from her head. My first thought was Mariah, and I wrote a short story [actually a prequel for my WIP, Dark Solstice] called Vengeance. Well, since then, I’ve drafted over 500,000 words about Mariah, her family, and the Marches of the Far Isles Half-Elven. A few of the short stories are available published and available for free.

I am currently working on a YA novel, called The Pig Wars for which I discovered the complete copy edits when I moved. The novel focuses on Renna, a friend of Mariah’s, during the formation of the Marches after the Rebellion. Renna’s greedy neighbor plots to take over her lands

The Demon Wars of Andor developed entirely differently. I wrote a short story about an overwhelmed gargoyle when I attended a writing workshop. It was later published in a British ezine, but I couldn’t let the idea rest. Britt Kelly, the hero of There Be Demons, is mentioned in passing in the story, but I kept wondering if Britt was one of the reinforcements Gillen was promised. I ended up with two novels as I wondered about how alien beings might be viewed and how the demons might react to being left behind in an alien world.

What advice would you give any newbie author or anyone that wants to pick up writing?

The first thing is to keep writing…even when things seem hopeless. Chose an subject/area that interests you and learn your craft as well as jotting down every idea you get in a notebook. You never know when this info will come in handy.

Then, listen to critiques about what you wrote. No draft is ever perfect. Sometimes, the tenth revision still needs more copy editing. Once you’ve built a supportive team, listen to their advice. I usually do about three major revisions plus I’m constantly editing as I write.

The most important thing is to get endings on what you write. You can’t really edit until you know where the article or the story went.