Ask the Author: Michael W. Layne
Answered Questions (3)
Michael W. Layne
My most recent book is tentatively called "The Curse of Paxton Manor." It was inspired from a date I had close to Halloween of 2014. It was a fun evening with a great woman that involved us chatting on a stone bench inside a historic Methodist graveyard.
Close to midnight, we decided to try out a local haunted house at Paxton Manor--an ancient manor that is really supposed to be haunted.
She and I were the only people on the last tour of the night...until this lanky guy wearing a cowboy hat appeared and wedged his way into our otherwise private night. The story just kind of took off from there, and it represents my first pure horror novel, although it also has a dash of sword and sorcery flavor mixed in with it.
Close to midnight, we decided to try out a local haunted house at Paxton Manor--an ancient manor that is really supposed to be haunted.
She and I were the only people on the last tour of the night...until this lanky guy wearing a cowboy hat appeared and wedged his way into our otherwise private night. The story just kind of took off from there, and it represents my first pure horror novel, although it also has a dash of sword and sorcery flavor mixed in with it.
Michael W. Layne
I am fortunate enough to have so many things I want to write, that I can't even remember the last time I had writer's block. In the worst case, if I am not feeling up to working on a given book, I just switch to another one. Usually, that's the piece I'm supposed to be writing anyway. But even that is rare. I think that because I outline, even if I'm not feeling super creative, I still know what the next chapter I have to write is about, and I just start putting words onto the screen. That helps a lot.
Michael W. Layne
First off, thank you for the question. In general, I was inspired to write the Science of Magic series because I was having a hard time finding fantasy books I could really get into. There were definitely some great authors out there, and there still are, but I prefer fantasy tales with fast moving, adventure-driven plots. And those are hard to find. So that's what I set out to create. Dune was an inspiration, of course. The way Muad'Dib and the other characters use sound as weapons always fascinated me. I also wanted to write a story where there were reactions to actions and repercussions for using magic. Makes the story more interesting that way, I think. :-)
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