Interview with Kevin Potter

Published 2014-07-29.
Who are your favorite authors?
Margaret Weis, Richard Knaak, C.S. Friedman and Drew Karpyshyn.
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
My two beautiful girls, who are invariably already awake :)
When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
Working my tail off to pay the bills and spending as much quality time as I can with my wife and children.
How do you discover the ebooks you read?
Mostly through friends' recommendations, but occasionally I see an ad when I'm browsing amazon that catches my eye.
Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Absolutely! I was 9, and I wrote a short story for school about the adventures of a magical pair of sneakers.
What is your writing process?
I usually start with just a very simple idea (for poetry, it's often just a single line or two, for stories or novels, it usually starts with a character or single event), and I just build off of that one simple idea until I have a complete poem or story. I rarely plan an outline, I usually just go with it until I come to a conclusion. This is much of why I enjoy writing so much, I'm often as surprised as a reader may be with the direction it goes and how it ends!
What do you read for pleasure?
Mostly fantasy and a little sci-fi, though I do occasionally enjoy a thriller or horror novel.
What is your e-reading device of choice?
Android smartphone.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up in the smaller cities peripheral to Salt Lake City, UT, mainly in the poorer areas. I think the biggest influence this has had on my writing is the fact that I buried myself in books from a very early age, and so I've had the opportunity to explore many different writing styles, which, I would like to think, gives me a wide range of experiences to choose from when I'm writing my own stories.
When did you first start writing?
I started with my first short story for school at the age of 9, and I really never stopped. I've always been a writer.
What's the story behind your latest book?
That's top secret.
What motivated you to become an indie author?
My family. Without my wife and my girls, I never would have had the ambition, much less the courage, to attempt publishing in any venue.
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