Ask the Author: A.E. Pennymaker
Answered Questions (4)
A.E. Pennymaker
Hi, Lilyyy, I see it has apparently been at least... 4 months (what?) since I looked at my Goodreads author page. I apologize. Life has taken another trip into crazy town, and I'm not sure where the next stop is. But I digress.
First, since Amazon has those pesky "thou shalt neither pay nor trade worldly goods or services for reviews" policies, I don't tend to take any offers for editing or reviewing that involve money changing hands. Not that you were offering! I just try to be up front with people.
Second, I don't remember when I decided I wanted to be an author. When I was ten, maybe, and started writing my first book? I've been writing and telling stories since I was little, but the audacity to Indie publish came much later.
Thank you so much for your interest and for taking the time to drop by! I hope you have a beautiful day.
Anna
First, since Amazon has those pesky "thou shalt neither pay nor trade worldly goods or services for reviews" policies, I don't tend to take any offers for editing or reviewing that involve money changing hands. Not that you were offering! I just try to be up front with people.
Second, I don't remember when I decided I wanted to be an author. When I was ten, maybe, and started writing my first book? I've been writing and telling stories since I was little, but the audacity to Indie publish came much later.
Thank you so much for your interest and for taking the time to drop by! I hope you have a beautiful day.
Anna
A.E. Pennymaker
I am currently working on Shadow War, the third book in the Shadows Rising trilogy.
And because I don't have enough to do, I decided to also write a novella that would technically be Book 2.5. My daughter dubbed it Shadow Army, so... why not? It should be wrapped up and published by the end of May, 2021. Shadow War will be coming out in June, 2021.
And because I don't have enough to do, I decided to also write a novella that would technically be Book 2.5. My daughter dubbed it Shadow Army, so... why not? It should be wrapped up and published by the end of May, 2021. Shadow War will be coming out in June, 2021.
A.E. Pennymaker
There are a few things I have noticed as a beta reader, and learned as an English major with a bit of writing experience under my belt:
1. Plot. Even if you pants most of your scenes, sit down for a day or two and plot something. Know where you're going ahead of time, and what milestones you need to hit in your story. It will help keep your pace up and your arcs cohesive, and your readers will thank you for a story that doesn't stagnate or end with a fizzle.
2. This also applies to world building. Resist the urge to world build entirely on the fly. I have seen writers with great imaginations get bogged down in explaining this or that thing they just came up with (i.e. info-dumping), or worse still, have their concepts change as the story goes on because they didn't take the time to nail their elements down. This is especially true for fantasy and magic. Get some of the basics settled, make notes, do a little of the legwork up front. You won't be sorry you did.
3. Don't give up. If you hit a wall, try opening a window. If you're struggling to write a particular scene, find another scene that's more interesting and draft that. Half the time, working on the easier scene will kickstart something for the scene you're struggling with, and you'll find you've solved your problem. The added bonus: you're still getting work done.
1. Plot. Even if you pants most of your scenes, sit down for a day or two and plot something. Know where you're going ahead of time, and what milestones you need to hit in your story. It will help keep your pace up and your arcs cohesive, and your readers will thank you for a story that doesn't stagnate or end with a fizzle.
2. This also applies to world building. Resist the urge to world build entirely on the fly. I have seen writers with great imaginations get bogged down in explaining this or that thing they just came up with (i.e. info-dumping), or worse still, have their concepts change as the story goes on because they didn't take the time to nail their elements down. This is especially true for fantasy and magic. Get some of the basics settled, make notes, do a little of the legwork up front. You won't be sorry you did.
3. Don't give up. If you hit a wall, try opening a window. If you're struggling to write a particular scene, find another scene that's more interesting and draft that. Half the time, working on the easier scene will kickstart something for the scene you're struggling with, and you'll find you've solved your problem. The added bonus: you're still getting work done.
A.E. Pennymaker
I don't actually know. I was sitting in a hospital waiting room in November, 2017, waiting for my mother to come out of an MRI scan.
That MRI would tell us whether my mother's cancer had metastasized or not. There is a whole host of emotions and thoughts that run over you when you're waiting for the end of that test, none of them pretty, with hope a poor, scraggly little thing that is all too easy to trample.
So I really, really needed a distraction, and I had brought my iPad. I just started writing. The scene started out with a single line that, in hindsight, hit everything on the head: "All is lost."
As I kept going, the speaker turned out to be a girl named Bren, writing to her aunt about losing everything in a fire. Bren was just sort of jumping off the page to say hello, so I kept writing after I got home. It would be a few days before we found out the results of the MRI, and it was a bit like standing under a falling anvil. What does one do while waiting for an anvil to drop? Something – anything – other than think about falling anvils.
Anyway, as one scene led to another, and doctors visits turned into chemotherapy treatments instead of a mastectomy, I finally decided I would actually start plotting something official. Now I've got a first and second book written, and I'm drafting the third.
After three years of fighting stage 4 cancer, my mom passed into the arms of her Savior at the beginning of 2020. This story was my momentary escape from saying a very long, slow, painful goodbye. It wasn't exactly a shelter from the storm, but it did give me a place to deal with things. A place to scream. A punching bag.
I would like to say Mom would have enjoyed Shadow Road if she read it. She might have. She would have been happier that I finished it, I think, and poked fun at some of my sillier typos.
So there it is. That was how Shadow Road started.
That MRI would tell us whether my mother's cancer had metastasized or not. There is a whole host of emotions and thoughts that run over you when you're waiting for the end of that test, none of them pretty, with hope a poor, scraggly little thing that is all too easy to trample.
So I really, really needed a distraction, and I had brought my iPad. I just started writing. The scene started out with a single line that, in hindsight, hit everything on the head: "All is lost."
As I kept going, the speaker turned out to be a girl named Bren, writing to her aunt about losing everything in a fire. Bren was just sort of jumping off the page to say hello, so I kept writing after I got home. It would be a few days before we found out the results of the MRI, and it was a bit like standing under a falling anvil. What does one do while waiting for an anvil to drop? Something – anything – other than think about falling anvils.
Anyway, as one scene led to another, and doctors visits turned into chemotherapy treatments instead of a mastectomy, I finally decided I would actually start plotting something official. Now I've got a first and second book written, and I'm drafting the third.
After three years of fighting stage 4 cancer, my mom passed into the arms of her Savior at the beginning of 2020. This story was my momentary escape from saying a very long, slow, painful goodbye. It wasn't exactly a shelter from the storm, but it did give me a place to deal with things. A place to scream. A punching bag.
I would like to say Mom would have enjoyed Shadow Road if she read it. She might have. She would have been happier that I finished it, I think, and poked fun at some of my sillier typos.
So there it is. That was how Shadow Road started.
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