An Interview With Ian Benke

Compelling Characters. Readers will either love or hate a character depending on their role in a story, but they must be compelling and inspire curiosity about what makes them tick. Think about Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Why does that poor little hobbit decide to take the burden of the ring? Because he has a deep sense of honor, and we must follow along as he suffers for his integrity.

Science Fiction and Fantasy are hugely popular genres. What does it take for a writer today, to write compelling and successful Science Fiction and Fantasy stories? Authority Magazine started a new series called “How To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories”. In this series we are talking to anyone who is a Science Fiction or Fantasy author, or an authority or expert on how to write compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy.

As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Evette Davis.

Evette Davis is the author of 48 STATES and WOMAN KING and DARK HORSE, the first two installments of the Dark Horse Trilogy. When she’s not writing novels, Davis dispenses advice to some of the country’s largest corporations, non-profits, and institutions as a consultant and co-owner of BergDavis Public Affairs, an award-winning San Francisco-based public affairs firm. Before establishing her firm, Davis worked in Washington as a press secretary for a member of Congress and as a reporter for daily newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2014, Davis founded Flesh & Bone, an independent publishing imprint. In 2015, DARK HORSE garnered an honorable mention at the San Francisco Book Festival. In 2017, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library named Davis a Library Laureate. Her work has also been published in the San Francisco Chronicle and Book Country. In 2021, 48 STATES was named a runner-up in the San Francisco Writers Conference Writers Contest.

Evette splits her time between San Francisco and Sun Valley, Idaho, with her husband, daughter, and dog. For more information, visit evettedavis.com, her Pinterest and Facebook pages, or follow her on Twitter @SFEvette.

Click here to read the whole interview.

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