Savannah Parker

Author Interview Form
Tell us your name and where you’re from.:
 My name is Savannah Parker and Zeke Parker is my brother and
co-writer. We are from Stillmore Georgia.
What led to your decision to become an author?:
 We would always come up with stories that we would act out as
children. We would pretend that we were going on adventures like
sailing with pirates or fighting space battles. One day we just
decided that we should share our adventures with other people. Since
we were both shy and never liked talking a lot to other people we
decided that the best way to share our stories was to write them down
and let other people read them.
Tell us about what you’re currently working on, and
what you’ve written in the past.: 		We are currently working on the sequel to our first book,
Billy Scarlet. The sequel, whose release date is still up in the air
at the moment, is called The Curse of Laquendor. Billy Scarlet came
out on September 5th 2013. We have another story, The Secret of
Nautilus Island that’s coming out in July. Though we have these books
out and coming out we are always working on something simply because
we love writing.
What are some of your strongest points as a writer,
and what if anything are you constantly working to improve upon?:
 I (Savannah) say that my strongest point as a writer is the
beginning of a story. When I write the beginning I’m just fired up and
I know what I want to say and how I want the story to go. My weakness
is that I get ahead of myself as the story goes along. I start to rush
the story. I’m trying to get better at slowing things down. I have to
remember that not everyone sees what I see in my mind when I’m writing
a story. Zeke is great with plot twists and story lines. He can write
one line that can set and entire scene and you can feel everything
that is happening. He’s always trying to improve himself with deeper
detail. He’s great at coming up with details, but he’s always working
to get even better with it.
Are you self published, traditionally published or
both? Why did you choose to go that route?: 		We are traditionally published with Ink Smith Publishing. We
went this route because we wanted to see if we could get published
traditionally. Don’t get us wrong, we know plenty of people who have
done awesome with being self published, but we wanted to take another
route. We may self publish some in the future, but right now we are
sticking with traditional.
What format are your books available in? Which of
these formats do you prefer and why?: 		Our books are available in ebook and and hard copies.
Personally, we prefer hard copies. Ebooks are good on the go, but
there’s nothing like being able to flip the pages of a book to find an
adventure.
How do you go about marketing your books?:
 Marketing is tricky for us. We have limited resources so most
of our marketing is done through social media and blogging.
Have you ever had to deal with harsh criticism in a
review, and how do you handle it?: 		We have never really had to deal with harsh criticism in a
review, but we have taken some from agents and publishers who rejected
us. We were told that there was no flow to the story, that we did not
seem passionate enough about our work, and some just said they
straight up did not like the story. We find that the best way to deal
with this kind of criticism is that a lot of it is just based on one
person’s opinion. Not everyone will share the same opinion as that
person. You just have to keep pushing forward and find your
audience.
What are your favorite genres to both read and
write?: 		Our favorite genres are generally adventure/fantasy or action
adventure. I (Savannah) will read just about anything though. Zeke
enjoys Star Wars books and authors like John Flanagan.
What authors have influenced or inspired you?:
 The authors that have inspired me the most are Tolkien, John
Green, C.S. Lewis, P. Bosch. I could go on for a while about authors
that inspire me. Zeke has some other authors who inspire him. Among
his favorites are John Flanagan, Timothy Zahn, and Kevin J. Anderson
to name a few.
What kinds of things do you enjoy doing when you’re
not writing?: 		I love acting. I have been in several college productions one
of which I actually played four different characters in. Both of us
enjoy film making. We live on a farm, so we are always working with
our animals as well.
What software do you use for your writing? Did you
try others before you settled on the one you’re currently using?:
 We use a software that’s a lot like microsoft word. It’s sort
of like the off brand, but we liked it better. We still use Word
sometimes, but general we just use what we have. We used to use word
pad, but that was too simply a format and things started to get
deleted by accident and no writer wants that.
What is it that you like about the software you’re
currently using that makes it the best solution for you?:
 The software that we are using now formats everything in the
way that we want it. It’s not hard to use, it has spelling and grammar
check which is a big help when you get in a big hurry and start to
mess things up.
What’s the best advice you could possibly give to
your fellow authors?: 		Be persistent. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t
get your work published. If people tell you that just smile and keep
doing what you’re doing. The only way to make it is to get yourself
out there so people can see what you have to offer.
Where can people find out more about you and your
books?: 		Here’s a link to where people can check out our work:

http://ink-smith.com/our-authors/savannah-and-zeke-parker

There are links
to where you can buy the book and where you can get news about
upcoming stories and you can check out all the other writers from Ink
Smith as well.

 

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