Author Spotlight: Anne C. Miles

• an award-winning fantasy writer, she’s also a website creator and gamer, who plays the violin — badly

Readers, let’s give a good, hearty welcome to this week’s guest!

Anne C. Miles, an award-winning author, was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois in 1971. She successfully avoided writing fiction for years by blogging and extensive journaling. However, one day, she logged into a writing site and scribbled. She kept going, and now cannot stop. Her book, Sorrowfish, was named Best Fantasy of 2019 by Indies Today. A chapter within the second book (not yet published) won an honorable mention from the Writers of the Future contest in 2020.

Anne C Miles would rather be doing most things other than writing on most days. She writes nearly under compulsion, simply because she cannot help it. The result has been one novel, so far, though rumor has it there are several more in the works.

Anne designs and builds websites with her husband and enjoys video games. She was confirmed in the Anglican Church (ACNA, High Anglican) in 2016. She is a mother of 2, a grandmother of 4, and is known to be downright catty when provoked. Thankfully, it takes a lot to provoke her, and she is gentle as a lamb the rest of the time. When Anne isn’t working or writing, she plays violin badly and spoils her grandchildren.

She is hard at work on the next book of her series, The Call of the Lorica.

Anne, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most interviews start off with the boring stuff, but I know what readers REALLY want to know.

If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?

If I could have any pet, I would like my dog back. Poco was a shih tzu we’d had since he was a puppy. He passed away in 2019 at a ripe old age and I miss him terribly. I would very much like to give him a resurrection potion and a longevity potion and let him live as long as I do. I believe dogs go to heaven and it would be great if we could just let them be our companions for the long haul. But of course they are probably angels in disguise. I know they are much smarter than we are. So I fully expect to get to heaven and discover Poco was assigned to me. He will probably lecture me for my questionable choices and give me hugs and send me on my way. 

I briefly considered choosing a dragon or fire lizard as a pet, but honestly I do not think they would be much fun to cuddle. I’m not a big fan of lizards in general. 

Aww! A good puppy is worth your weight in gold.

What do you write? And how did you get started?

I write fantasy. I set out to write a fairy tale in 1998 but the ideas evolved and now I have a monstrosity. It’s a happy monstrosity but it is still a huge concept. 

Most of us who write fantasy understand EXACTLY how that goes. Hehe.

What do you like to read?

Fantasy.

Sounds like you enjoy everything in the genre, just like me.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you.

Write to market.

I’m not one who conjures stories in order to sell them. I have stories occur to me which must be told. It isn’t something I control. I suspect that if I planned a story out carefully it would soon outgrow the selected parameters and it would just be soulless.

One-hundred percent! Chasing the market just has you writing books to go with trends that were scheduled to publish 3 years ago! And it’s so much harder to add soul to a story that doesn’t have your heart.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that they can pry out of your cold, dead hands.

Write daily, stick to a schedule. .

Speaks for itself.

While everyday may not work for many of us, having a schedule or routine (if our schedule is variable) can be invaluable!

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Shameless Self-Promotion time!

Sorrowfish: (Book 1 of Call of the Lorica)

Sara is having crazy dreams. Gryphon and dragon crazy. The scary part is waking up, safe in her apartment, with scratches and splinters. Is she losing it because of stress? One more unfinished sculpture will fully tank her grades. Goodbye bachelor’s degree, hello failure. Her twin sister is in a coma. And on top of everything else, her best friend Peter wants a date.

It’s enough to make anyone sleepwalk.

Choosing to defy the Conclave, Bard-in-training Trystan risks capture and mind control to find a magical lute through a shadow network. Luthier-wizard Dane meets a sinister stranger and barely escapes with his life. Together, they must end an ancient curse, guided by a fae they only know as Sara.

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