Eric, your website gives us your writer’s story - a tale of a writer inspired by another writer, but life happens, and you put your childhood dreams aside. Then your daughter is born, and the passion for your writing dream reemerged.
Sounds like a kid’s book in the making...am I way off here, or is there something here that kids might resonate with like you did with the book Eragon?
Well, funnily enough, I made a children’s book for my daughter, and that was my first step back into writing.
I think this is a situation that really resonates with so many people, especially since the pandemic. Life has a way of pushing things to the back burner that aren’t a part of your immediate survival. I think a lot of authors have similar instances where an event kind of shook them out of their normal way of thinking, and it rekindled something that sparked joy for them.
What do you love about writing fantasy and science fiction?
So many things! I love that there’s no limit to what I can do within a story and the challenge of making the story as ludicrous as possible while also making it believable.
It’s a fun juxtaposition to think of a story where magic is real and to make that magic as solid and real as possible for the reader. I think if you can make your reader feel like they could flick and swish a feather into levitating, you’ve done your work as a fantasy author.
Why is there a raven on your writer’s website? What is the significance?
There are a couple of reasons I chose a raven for my logo. When I designed it, I was writing my short story horror series called, ‘Tales from Beyond the Veil’ and listening to Christopher Lee read Edgar Allan Poe. ‘The Raven’ is such a classic, and I enjoy how Lee reads it. If you haven’t listened, it’s free on youtube.
I also designed the raven logo with my roots in mythology in mind. I’ve always been fascinated by the Huginn and Muninn story in Norse mythology. Essentially, Odin traded his eye for the ravens Huginn and Muninn, who represent Thought and Memory. They fly across Midgard and gain wisdom for Odin. I feel that’s what we’re ultimately doing as authors.
We do our best to impart our wisdom and our stories to our readers, and we don’t even ask for an eye in exchange!
Some of your short stories have been bought by Dragon Soul Press. How do you submit? Should other writers do the same? Has it helped you with gaining readers?
Well, I came across Dragon Soul Press when they were recommended to me by a fellow indie author (shoutout to JM Williams). I looked through their submissions and found that they were looking for some horror stories. I’d just finished writing ‘Graveyard Shift,’ so I gave it a final polish and sent it in. They accepted it, and I was so excited that I wrote 4 more stories and submitted two for their anthology ‘Beautiful Darkness: Volume 1’ and they accepted those as well.
You can find a super helpful guide to submitting to Dragon Soul Press on their website here:
https://dragonsoulpress.com/shortstorycalls/
They’re an incredibly put-together publisher and have been great to work with. If you have a story that fits one of their many submission calls, or you want to tailor-make one, I highly recommend submitting.
I’m not sure if it’s helped gain readers, but it got me some publishing credits which I think will help me when it comes time to find an agent or publisher for my full-length novel.
Why should writers sign up for the Fantasy & Sci-Fi Writers Alliance?
We’re basically the coolest kids in the courtyard. But other than the gargantuan amount of street cred you get for joining up, you also get to be a part of a really great community with a thriving discord chat, and lots of group activities like:
-Short Story Contest
-Monthly Book Club (enter your book to be selected and reviewed by your peers in the Alliance)
-Online Reading Round Tables (helps hone your reading in front of others)
-Instagram Follow Trains and Twitter Writer Lifts (gain some followers)
-Support for book tours (a large community to share posts and your upcoming releases)
Do you think writers should participate in follow trains to grow their accounts?
There are few guarantees when it comes to social media. I think the more followers you have, the more likely the algorithm will take you seriously. The time you spend posting and interacting with others on Instagram has a significant impact on the relationships that you build in the writing community and the likelihood of people seeing your work. Follow for follow is a good way to get your follower count up to try and make a dent in that pesky algorithm.
Why do you write?
I write because it fills my heart with joy.
A weird thing to say when my stories tend to be on the grim side of the spectrum! I really enjoy the process of writing.
I love hammering out the first draft in a fit of smashed keys and typos and checking the word count at the end of it all to see how far I’ve come. I enjoy combing through and making sure things are as they should be and shifting things to deliver maximum emotion for the reader. I even enjoy sending the stories out so that people can read them, though that’s the part with the most nerves! This is something I all out enjoy, and I hope what I create entertains my readers.
Has having followers increased your readership or sales?
I don’t have a book out yet, and the anthologies where my stories have been published are relatively new, so I will have to get back to you on that one! I do know that I have more traffic to my site when I engage and post on my social media, and I would hope (one can ONLY hope) that the more followers you have, the more likely one or two will go read what I’ve written.
What has been the most difficult part of getting published for you?
Without a question, it’s conquering self-doubt. Getting past the feeling of hopelessness that comes from a mountain of rejections is tough to do, but it’s possible. I’ve found that I’m more secure with rejections the more I’ve gotten it. Kind of like iocane powder. You just need to build up a tolerance. Once you’ve befriended the fear of failure, that’s when you’ll be able to really fly. So, sweaty palms or not, I send out my work to any place looking.
What has been the most rewarding part of publication?
I think seeing my work in a physical book has been the best thing. It’s like seeing it for the first time, and I can almost imagine that it’s someone else who wrote it. Almost. It’s been really cool.
You have Indie authors on your website in order to help promote them. I do the same on my blog, and I hope every little bit we do for each other helps. But it’s difficult to know.
I think the thought of someone caring enough to put them on their website is enough to help. We’ve all got that self-doubt monkey screaming in our ears, so any bit of support helps block that out.
I found them all through my Instagram and online communities. We chatted in the comments on
each other's posts, or I messaged them directly if I liked their work. For the most part, they were
happy to be included on my site, and I’ve become friends with them.
If I gave you a megaphone and the whole world would listen, what one sentence would you shout?
‘Stop hating each other and work together!’
Can you imagine what we could accomplish?
With so many ways to publish a book, it feels like everyone is a writer these days. How do readers find really good books when there are so many being published?
Oh boy. Good question. I suppose with the invention of the e-book, it isn’t quite so hard on the wallet to give an indie author a shot. I would say look at reviews, see what people say, and give authors a chance to knock your socks off. Also, make sure that if they DO knock your socks off, leave a good review so more people can find them.
What do you love to write about? Subjects? Emotions? Place? In other words, where does your love of writing go when you write?
I really enjoy chasing down ideas and bringing them to fruition. I read Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’, and in that book, he said that he thinks of stories as ‘What if?’ and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.
I come up with a ‘What if?’ and then I chase down the answer, hoping to find out what if a werewolf were an art thief? What if a man made an unwitting deal with a hostile Djinn? What if a boy had to chase down a dragon to save his sister? I use that question to pique my curiosity, and then I have to write it to find out!
You have writing coaches and editors on your site. Have you used a professional editor or coach? What did you like or not like about that experience?
I’ve used the lovely Anna K Moss as an editor for some of my work, and I have a testimonial on her site! She was really great to work with, and I will definitely be working with her in the future. I like going through with an editor or beta reader on my work because it gives me a fresh perspective on things. So often, we can get stuck in our own heads, so having a fresh set of eyes can mean the world of difference on a project.
Who is your biggest cheerleader?
I have quite a few really awesome people in my corner. My friend MJ La has been an absolutely huge help and supporter of my work. Anna K Moss, as I mentioned, has been incredible to work with, and we are fast friends. G.M. Chmilar has given me boosts to write and has done a metric ton of reading for me. And this isn’t polished up and ready for the world reading either, so she’s a real champion! Of course, my wife and family are also cheering me on and helping me as well, and I am really grateful for all the support they continue to give me.
What does it mean to you, the author, when readers Pre Order?
I think any time someone is willing to be put on a list for pre-order, it inspires confidence in the launch. Hopefully, if they are eager enough to pre-order, they will also read and review the book, and more people will be willing to give you a go.
What do you know about branding for authors? Have you branded yourself? Why or why not?
I took marketing way back in 2009 when I went to college, so I know the smallest bit about how things work. I’ve tried to brand myself, and I think it’s something that takes a lot of time and effort to cultivate. It depends on what you want to accomplish with your writing. If you want to self-publish or you want to send yourself out to the world, you should have a game plan for how you want to present yourself.
As much as it sucks, being a writer is a business. It’s writing stories that no one really asked you to write and doing your best to sell them to people or agents/publishers in a flooded market.
It
sounds a bit bleak, but in essence, that’s what we need to do.
We aren’t just writers anymore, but public relations, marketers, digital designers, website
builders, social media gurus, editors, and all the million other things that it takes to be
successful. If you have a framework for how you present yourself to the world, it can make those
things a bit easier to manage.
If people can see a logo and know that it’s your work or your post, you create recognition, and it becomes that much easier to get your message across.
If you could be any fantasy creature, even one you make up, what creature would you be and why?
I’m kind of partial to my human form, so I think I would like to be a Tolkein elf. I would have flawless skin and live forever. Not too shabby!
Your Instagram page is full of haunting images and dark stories - what draws you to this genre?
I’m not a terribly dark person.
I don’t wear all black and hang out in graveyards or anything. I do, however, think that the world can be unkind, and a way to deal with that realization is to stare the darkness in the face. Once you realize it’s kind of fun to be scared, regular things aren’t so scary.
Where do you hope to be in your writing career in the next 5 years? 10? More?
Hopefully, in 5 years, I’ll have a couple of books on the shelves of the local bookstores. I hope to have an agent with maybe a bidding war from executives for who will get the movie rights to my best-selling series. That’s what I hope, anyway!
Realistically, I want to have my trilogy completed (agent and Netflix deals aside). I would like to do this full-time, and hopefully, I can do that in the next 5-10 years!
What question would you ask yourself?
Why haven’t you finished editing your novel yet?
It’s already November, and you’re only half done. What’s up with that?
Wow, Eric! Thank you for sharing so much wonderful information about you, about writing, and about the business of it all!
If you'd like to connect with Eric - you can find him here:
Instagram - E.B. Hunter
Twitter - E.B. Hunter
Facebook - E.B. Hunter
Website - E.B. Hunter Author
Keep promoting writers!
Write~on, Angie
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