Author Interview with Amanda Meuwissen
I’m interviewing Amanda Meuwissen today, author of YA M/M paranormal romance Life as a Teenage Vampire. Thanks for visiting!
When did you know you wanted to be an author?
I forget the exact age, 15 I think. I had written a fanfic dealing with suicide – an alternate ending to someone else’s fic that ended in tragedy, with the author’s permission. An anonymous reader confessed to me that I had helped them beat the desire to end things one night, and that has always stuck with me. I can only hope to affect even one person with my stories each time, and that alone is worth it.
What inspired you to write Life as a Teenage Vampire?
Several things from my own teenage years made their way into this book, so old friends of mine will recognize alot. It is also set in Minnesota, where I’m from. But the real inspirations came from several other pieces of fiction – MTV’s Teen Wolf, the Rainbow Boys book series, the 80s movie My Best Friend is a Vampire, and a little bit of Bucky Barnes, AKA The Winter Soldier.
What is your editing process like?
I am obsessive about rereading and tweaking, but the most important thing is to then have a professional editor look at your work. Just having another set of talented eyes on things helps reveal elements you might not have realized on your own. We’re too close to our work; we need outside readers before we share our stories at large.
What do you find the most challenging about being an author?
Finding time. To write. To edit. To promote the work I’ve already done. Life is busy, and being an author is a full time job, even if you’re not making a full-time salary. Setting aside the time you need is the most important thing.
Are you working on something now?
I am really excited for NaNoWriMo this year, because I’ll be starting edits on a new book series. It has a superhero theme, which I haven’t done before, and is an ‘enemies to lovers to true love’ sort of story, with a very personal depiction of dealing with depression. When they say ‘write what you know’ it doesn’t mean write ONLY what you know, but the little things that can be interjected into a story that are personal often ring truer.
About the Book
Title: Life as a Teenage Vampire
Author: Amanda Meuwissen
Genre: YA M/M Paranormal Romance
The last thing Emery expected at the end of his senior year of high school was to become a vampire and fall in love with his best friend… Emery Mavus just wants to survive his senior year of high school. Becoming a vampire complicates things. So does a bizarre mentor, a group of vampire hunters, and an unexpected, new attraction for his openly gay best friend, Connor. An occasional uncontrollable hunger for blood might be the least of his worries.
Author Bio
Amanda has a Bachelor of Arts in a personally designed major from St. Olaf College in Creative Writing, and has been posting content online for many years, including maintaining the blog for the digital marketing company Outsell. She spent a summer writing screenplay script coverages for a company in L.A., and is an avid consumer of fiction through film, prose, and video games. Amanda lives in Minneapolis, MN, with her husband, John, and their cats, Helga and Sasha (no connection to the incubus of the same name).
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