Questions and Answers with authors Patrick Carlysle Walters and Renee Underdue Walters.
Q. What inspires you to write?
A. Renee – As far back as I can remember, my life experiences have always been unbelievable! And so as to have a reference to remember all of these phenomenal events, I write them down and apply them to our characters.
Patrick – As a child I used my family’s library cards to borrow nine novels at a time during our weekly trips to the library. All of those stories floating around in my mind had to go somewhere! 🙂
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Q. What is your writing process?
A. It depends on the stage of the project. The early stages are purely creative, when we entertain all ideas regarding the plot and the characters. The next stages are more structured, where plot and characters interact within a three act structure. The final stages are intuitive, where the characters say and do things that surprise us, while driving the plot towards an exciting conclusion.
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Q. Aspects of your novels read like screenplays. Why is this?
A. We spent years studying to be screenwriters before becoming novelists. We still see the story from the perspective of screenwriters.
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Q. Do you listen to or talk to to your characters? How do you interact with your characters while you are writing?
A. Our characters are like noisy next doors neighbours! There are times we overhear them talking, while on other occasions we’re in the same room. However, they talk to each other, but not to us.
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Q. Who are your favorite authors?
A. Renee – Maya Angelou and Joel Osteen.
Patrick – My favourite authors as a teen were Robert Ludlum, Issac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein. Nowadays, I spent more time studying the art of novel writing while following world and technology news.
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Q. What advice would you give other writers?
A. You often have to have faith in your God-given abilities long before there is external evidence for others to agree with your belief.
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Q. How did you decide how to publish your books?
A. We were determined not to let gatekeepers keep us from achieving our dreams! This is why we decided to self-publish. It requires you wear multiple hats, but the journey to self-actualisation is satisfying.
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Q. What do you think about the future of book publishing?
A. The trend towards the merger of the large publishing house will continue. On the creative side, AI chatbots will increasing be used support the writing process.
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Q. What genres do you write in?
A. We do espionage, science fiction and action-adventure. Renee is revising on a semi-autobiographical novel called Remembering To Forget.
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