Interview with Fantasy Author Daniel Peyton

Daniel Peyton

Morristown, Tennessee, USA

Good morning, Daniel, And welcome to Vision and Verse, the Place for Art and Authors. What have you written?

Published: Legacy of Dragonwand trilogy, The Cyrstal Needle books 1 & 2, The Winter Wizard, Wisdom Springs.

Pre-Publishing: Bark: Origins of a Superhero, How a Robot Weeps, The Winter Wizard 2, The Crystal Needle 3, Remnant.

What is your favorite genre to write?

Fantasy

Favorite food.

Chinese

Tea or coffee?

Tea (however, I do enjoy coffee)

Pizza or ice cream?

Ice Cream

Where would you like to visit?

Japan

Favorite musical artist.  Do you listen to music when you write?  What? 

Enya is a personal favorite, but I love a diverse selection of music. I do not often listen to music when I write, but I do when I brain storm about my stories. I usually stick with symphonic styles for my brainstorming.

What makes you laugh? 

Classic television. Jeff Dunham, Gabriel Iglasias, lots of stuff. I stick with mostly clean humor.

Favorite work of art or sculpture. 

Anything Michelangelo, I have a minor background in art history and Renaissance was my specialty. Studying his art and sculpture inspired me to develop my own art skills, though I am no where near the master he was.

How old were you when you started writing? 

I was 11 when I started writing my first books.

Describe your perfect evening. 

It starts with a good cooked meal, I love to cook. Then I spend a little while working on brainstorming with some music. Around nine o'clock I take an hour to work on my bible study. Then, I spend an hour writing on a story. At eleven, I get comfy, turn on something mindless on netflix, pull out the art supplies and practice drawing for a couple hours, then off to bed.

Where do you get your inspiration? 

Life mostly. I do love to go to Panther Creek State Park near my house. It is a beautiful place that inspires fantasy in me. Reading great stories and watching good movies also keeps me inspired.

What do you do when you get a writer's block? 

Cry, mumble, gripe about it. Okay, you want to know how I break through? Relax. If I fight and fight against that wall between me and the next scene, it will never break down.

Who is your favorite author? 

Me, of course...kidding. I love classics, so C.S. Lewis and Charles Dickens are both greats I read often. I also love J.K. Rowling, not just for her writing but her passion for writers and readers.

Best book you ever read. 

How Much for Just the Planet by John M. Ford. Perhaps not as great as Harry Potter, or Classic like Christmas Carol, but I am a long time Trekkie and this was an incredibly well written, hilarious Star Trek story. It is hard to think of Star Trek being a comical, slap stick musical, and yet he accomplished this and I have probably read that book more than any other book.

Last book you read. 

Fablehaven

What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer? 

I dreamed of being an actor. But, with my looks, that's not likely to happen. However, I have discovered a passion for graphic design.

Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why? 

My mother. First, she got me into fantasy and sci fi, and the love of books. Second, she was the one who pushed me into actually attempting to becoming a published author. I did not believe in myself and only wanted to write fan fiction. She convinced me to try, in spite of myself.

If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why? 

Betty White. I love classic television and she has been a part of it for decades. She also has a wonderful grasp of humor that it would be fun to pick her brain about that.

What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer? Finish your book. I have done conventions and book signings where many people come to me and tell me about how they long to be an author. They have a book they've been working on for years. In fact, they'll tell me about the five, six, twenty books they have in the works, none of which are actually finished. It isn't starting a book that's the hard part, it's finishing it. Once you break through that barrier, it starts to make more sense. 




Do you have some links for us to follow you?

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Peyton/e/B006C986D6/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/DanielPeytonAuthor/