Tell us about yourself.:
We are a best-friend writing duo. We met when we both lived in Mesa, Arizona; however, Lisa-Marie moved to Alaska in 2021.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?:
Lisa-Marie: I grew up in Nottingham, England, home of Robin Hood. Being familiar with London, we used several locations in one of our manuscripts. Also, in our debut, the female main character’s family comes from England and speaks with a British accent.
Amanda: I grew up in Maryland and moved to Arizona in 1993. While Maryland is mentioned in one of our manuscripts, because Arizona is familiar to both of us, it is heavily featured in several of our works.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
As best friends, each of our writing sessions starts with an hour of chit-chat to ensure that everything is out of our systems before we get down to business.
What authors have influenced you?
Lisa-Marie: I grew up in Nottingham, England, home of Robin Hood. Being familiar with London, we used several locations in one of our manuscripts. Also, in our debut, the female main character’s family comes from England and speaks with a British accent.
Amanda: I grew up in Maryland and moved to Arizona in 1993. While Maryland is mentioned in one of our manuscripts, because Arizona is familiar to both of us, it is heavily featured in several of our works.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Have several people beta read your manuscript, but don’t use friends and family. You want someone who will give you honest and brutal feedback.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Get thick skin. Writing critiques are essential in this journey and, therefore, should be painful. That’s how you learn.
What are you reading now?
Lisa-Marie is reading To Catch a Killer by Sheryl Scarborough, and Amanda is reading Falling for Your Best Friend’s Twin by Emma St. Clair.
What’s your biggest weakness?
Distraction. We are both talkers, and being best friends, we have lots to talk about.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, hands down. We are obsessed with the series (not the movies), and because of those books, we are best friends and writers today.
When you’re not writing, how do you like to spend your time?
Lisa-Marie: I love archery and try to get to the range as often as possible.
Amanda: I like to try and paint like Bob Ross while following along with his videos.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
Haha, we are both too old to remember that far back!
What has inspired you and your writing style?
We are both hopeless romantics, and the forbidden love of Edward and Bella had us hooked. Stephenie’s writing flows easily and completely absorbs us both. We try to emulate those same qualities in our manuscripts.
What are you working on now?
We are working on several projects. The first is our edits for book two in the Plus One series, Just What the Doctor Hired. Second, we have fifteen thousand words in book three of the series, Two’s Company, Plus One’s a Crowd. Lastly, between the other projects, we are revising our YA speculative time travel novel to submit to our agent, Nicole Payne of Copps Literary Services.
What is your favorite method for promoting your work?
There are favorites? Haha.
We promote our work on all our social media platforms and scour the internet for other free opportunities on blogs and various bookish websites.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Book signings! We are contacting our local bookstores and asking for event dates to promote our work
How well do you work under pressure?
We thrive! Doesn’t everybody? Haha, really though, we work well with a timeframe or deadline. It helps keep us on track.
How do you decide what tone to use with a particular piece of writing?
We feel the tone of the book should fit the genre and our audience.
If you could share one thing with your fans, what would that be?
A peek into our brains so they could see what we see in our imaginary worlds.
Also, our website with our preorder links! Haha!
Amanda and Lisa-Marie Nelson and Potter’s Author Websites and Profiles
Website
Amazon Profile
Goodreads Profile
BookBub Profile
Amanda and Lisa-Marie Nelson and Potter’s Social Media Links
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