Shei Darksbane

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m just a blue-haired geek with a dream of being a real author. I’ve published one book, written another to be published soon, and I have at least eight titles planned for the Auralight Codex: Dakota Shepherd series, with other series to take place in the same world. I’m not sure where in all that I’ll feel like a “real author”, but I’m excited to find out.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Awakened is the first book in a long series set in a world that I’ve been crafting with my wife for over a decade. It was inspired from a roleplaying game she started running with our group years ago, and we kinda took the idea from there and went with it. We’ve got a few truckloads of worldbuilding pre-installed, so the setting is pretty deep, and has been thoroughly examined for many years. This book in particular was inspired by a spree of Urban Fantasy reading that my wife did a little over a year ago. She convinced me to make a new character for our setting who would be Awakening to the supernatural and drawn into a story idea she had. I did that, we played it out, and eventually, I realized, this story, Dakota’s story, was one I really wanted to share, from her perspective.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, most of our writing is done after playing out scenes in a vocal storytelling style. So I do voices, I act out poses for clarity sometimes, and I get really, really into my character. Like, “method acting” into it. And then when I write the story down later, I revisit those scenes in my mind and just try to recreate what happened, especially the focusing on the feelings that were evoked. I feel like the best thing I could give my readers is a connection with the characters. At least for me, when I’m reading a story and the characters grab me, it’s the best thing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Barbara Ann Wright, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson.
And respectively: The Dresden Files, The Mercy Thompson series, The Pyramid Waltz series, The Kingkiller Chronicles, and The Stormlight Archive.

But most of all, Neil Gaiman. Not his books so much as his words. A few words of inspiration he took the time to write down once have become a life mantra for me and have gotten me through more than writing slumps.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently finalizing the revisions on Hunted which releases August 14, 2015. Then I have to finish the cover for Hunted (I do my own cover art, having several years experience and several years of training as an illustrator and graphics artist.). After that, I will be outlining book three in the series while working on formatting for print copies and helping finalize my wife’s first book, Destiny Abounds, book one of the Starlight Saga, which is based on our space opera setting.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote my books on DarksbaneBooks.com, Facebook, and Twitter, and so far, I can’t say what works best. I’m a newb.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Find the next word. Look up Neil Gaiman’s speech on that concept and read it. Live by it.
Seriously, write. Write another book. Then another one. If you keep writing, you will succeed eventually, period.
Also, check out kboards.com and the writer’s cafe there. Best place on the internet for indie authors.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Find the next word.” – Neil Gaiman

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading The Brigadoon Boondoggle, book two of the Monkey Queen series by Robert Dahlen, a good friend and a fantastic author.
Robert’s main characters are Michiko the Monkey Queen, and Beth, a geek girl with a special gift. We’ve long since decided that should their worlds ever crossover, Beth, Michiko, and Dakota would hang out and have a Ghibli marathon.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to be writing Dakota’s adventures for the next year at least. I’m currently releasing a new book every three weeks, if not from my series then from my wife’s space opera series. What’s next? More writing, really. Hopefully lots of people will read and enjoy my work. Maybe one day I’ll get to sit at a table and sign books for people. That’d be fun.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I hate these kind of questions. You probably want me to answer with my favorite books ever, but I’m thinking which books would make my existence on a desert island most comfortable? A desert survival book of some kind? A book with information on how to get off of a desert island? A magic book with super powers that let me leave the island? This question doesn’t have enough boundaries for me to work within. Do these have to be real books? Can I imagine what super powers books may have in the next few years? Can I say “Kindle Voyage v5.0 now with solar power”? Let’s just go with that, actually. Now I have to go send that idea to Amazon.

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