Interview with Amanda Tero

About the Author

Amanda Tero is a homeschool graduate who desires to provide God-honoring, family-friendly reading material. She has enjoyed writing since before ten years old, but it has only been since 2013 that she began seriously pursuing writing again – starting with some short stories that she wrote for her sisters as a gift. Her mom encouraged her to try selling the stories she published, and since then, she has begun actively writing short stories, novellas, and novels.
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If something she has written draws an individual into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, it is worth it!

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The Interview

1. What does your writing process look like?
It is more pantster with a slight lean toward planning. Usually I get an idea, write it down (typically on my phone notes app), pray about it for a little while (or a long time for some ideas!), do some research to make sure my idea could actually work, and then go from there! Being more pantster, I usually write a rough draft, send it to a couple of friends who are good with plot ideas, and then do a rewrite or two before it looks more like the final draft.
 
2. Do you enjoy book signings?
I haven’t done very many, but what I have done, yes I do enjoy. I personally like connecting with my readers, not just selling books.
 
3. When you are not writing, what other "hats" do you wear?
Well, writing is actually more of my hobby. ;) My other “hats” are big sister (I’m #5, but that’s of 12 kids, so I still have a lot of younger siblings that I tend to be second-mom to), piano teacher, violin teacher, book formatter, church pianist, and, Lord willing, in the fall, college music student.
 
4. What inspired the idea for Quest for Leviathan?
I was actually reading through the book of Job, not even searching for a story, when the thought crossed my mind, “A boy whose father was killed by Leviathan. He is angry at L, and he is angry at God—yet just like Job needed to realize the power of God, so does he.”
 
5. What did you as an author take away from writing Quest for Leviathan?
Once again, I was reminded that God’s timing is perfect. I wanted the story to be finished fall 2017 (I got the idea in June 2017). Lo and behold, it took a full year to get from conception to publication. But in so very many ways, I can see how the delay was just a gift from God. One of those blessings was the idea to get it illustrated. Had I published in the fall, I probably wouldn’t have considered getting it illustrated, as the idea didn’t come until January 2018.

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6. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about it?
My current WIP is “Finding Christmas Joy”—another short story which is nearing publication! This was one that I wrote the rough-draft for in December after watching a ton of Hallmark Christmas movies yet being sad because they just missed the meaning of Christmas. It’s about a girl who has been dumped by her fiancé and is finding a Christmas escape at Starlight Lodge. But, she finds much more than she was looking for. Look for it on Amazon.

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