Amanda Meuwissen

Obviously, if you're writing an ensemble cast, there are no 'side characters', but for me, since I primarily author romance novels, I tend to have two main characters, and then several supporting cast members. Supporting characters are necessary regardless of the story, but the reason I say that they can be a problem is because it's difficult to know how to write them for every audience member. You can't write anything for every audience, but I still try, and while I apprecia

I love fantasy—high fantasy, urban fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero tales. They’re all enchanting to me and one of the best vehicles for getting across some of the heavier real-life subjects that can often be difficult to discuss. After Vertigo is not my first foray into a superhero love story. That was my duology Lovesick, made up of Lovesick Gods and Lovesick Titans. In that story, I paired a superhero and his nemesis, who eventually teamed up to defeat a larger villain. Thei

I’m a big fan of the comic adaptation TV series Lucifer on FOX. A recent episode did a nod to its sister show Bones relating Lucifer’s character to Brennan and Detective Decker to Booth. I think I would have been less disturbed by this if Castle had been a FOX show they could reference instead, but Castle aired on ABC. The reason I was disturbed? Because the analogy feels far too apt right now. I stopped watching Bones during its infancy because of the staggering amount of ba

People often ask what authors were the most inspirational for me growing up, and for the most part, I didn’t have a lot of authors that resonated, just certain stories. I didn’t tend to read much from one author, but sought out plots that drew me in at any given time. Anne Rice was and was not an exception to this. I read all of her original Vampire Chronicles starting when I was 12. I read a little of the New Tales, but mostly let any interest in those die off when the devel

Every spring I participate as a judge for local Speech competitions in Minnesota. Sometimes I forget how seriously Minnesota takes its Speech season, as we have an entirely different organization than the National Forensics League, doing our own thing on the side with some of our own categories, while also having kids participate in the NFL version when we compete at Regional, State, and National competitions. Minnesota High School Speech is composed of thirteen categories