Interview with Writer Amir Lane

I’m trying something new. I’d like to introduce you to some up-and-coming authors.

Today it’s Amir Lane (pronounced Ah-meer), who ventures into a very different genre from mine. Perhaps it’s to your taste.

Amir is a supernatural and urban fantasy writer from Sudbury, Ontario and the author of Shadow Maker: Morrighan House Witches Book One, which follows physics major Dieter Lindemann as he’s dragged down against his will into Necromancy and blood magic.

Amir answered a few personal questions for me.

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

Breakfast.

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?

Nope. Not at all. I definitely don’t remember the awful story I wrote for a fourth (fifth?) grade assignment about a girl who goes on a date with some guy she liked. I definitely don’t remember that my mom suggested the cringe-worthy it was all a dream ending (because you never go anywhere without parents). Nope. I don’t still laugh at myself about it at all. Definitely not.

When you develop characters do you already know who they are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?

I spend a lot of time with my characters before I start writing. We’re talking months of imagining scenes, building backstory. By the time I sit down at the keyboard, I have a solid idea of who they are on page one and a vague idea of who they are on page wherever I end it. Most of the development through the story comes as a write. It definitely comes down to a combination of methods.

Where is your favorite place to write?

I do most of my writing on the couch or at the desk in my room. I live in a tiny one-bedroom, so I don’t have an office. My favorite place to write was the William’s close to campus where I went to University. My writing group used to meet every Wednesday for a weekly write-in. It was a great environment for writing and it was so much fun to have a group to go back-and-forth with. I really miss it. There is a tea place called Tea and Bloom where I live now that I like to stop in at when I’m in the area. It’s usually pretty empty so I’ll sit in the back and do an hour of writing or so.

Which famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?

Oh, man. Joakim Broden, easy. He’s the singer of this Swedish heavy metal band, Sabaton. All their music is historical, mostly based on wars, which is great because I’m super into history. But I used to watch a lot of interviews, and he always just seems like a really, really cool guy. A couple years ago, they released some promo videos for Heroes and at the time, I was studying for an electric circuits exam. It was an awful class and I was stressed to hell. So during this album, they basically replaced half their line-up and the sound was a little different from the direction they were headed so they were really not sure it would be received well. I just kept telling myself that if they could get through that, then I could get through electric circuits. He’s just such a cool, down-to-earth guy, and he’s absolutely hilarious. He would be an amazing guy to meet.

More about Amir

Engineer by trade, Amir spends most of their writing time in a small home office on the cargo pants of desks, at a back table at their favorite Middle Eastern restaurant, or in front of the TV watching every cop procedural or cooking competition on Netflix. They live in a world where magic is an everyday occurrence, and they strive to bring that world to paper. Their short story, Scrap Metal and Circuitry, was published by Indestructible magazine in April 2016.

When not trying to figure out what kind of day job an incubus would have or what a Necromancer would go to school for, Amir enjoys visiting the nearest Dairy Queen, getting killed in video games, absorbing the contents of comic books, and freaking out over how fluffy the neighbour’s dog is.

Amir loves to connect with readers online. They can be found in their Facebook group, on their Facebook page, and at their website where you can find out more about their work.