Interview of Steven and Detra Swem

Steven and Detra

We are Steven and Detra a team in all things, and we were destined to meet. We were born in South Dakota. We both went into the Air Force. Steve was in Germany, Detra was assigned to go to the same base. Steve went to California, Detra’s assignment was changed to California, where they met, and have been together ever since. They worked together, played together, and now write together. They reside in the Pacific Northwest, in the Puget Sound area. Quite a change from all the desert area’s they have been in.

1.   What you write? 

     We write Fantasy. Steven is the primary writer. I throw in my two cents here and there. If my name is on the story I came up with a chapter or two for him to fill out.

2.   Why you write? 

     Our imagination was going nuts and we decided to write it down. The Demesne series is the first joint venture. Steven has short stories that have potential to be more when he gets around to them. Writing is a release of tension though it can cause its own when a scene or action just doesn’t seem to work. Great diversion from real life.

3.    For whom do you write? 

     We write for us primarily. Weaving a tale is fun. We created the first four tales in the Demesne series fairly quickly though “The Challenge” took longer. It seems the first two might still have potential according to feed back from readers. We love feed back, that can make reading the story more enjoyable.

4.   By whom are you inspired? 

     Oh my, what a question. With a collection of Ann McCaffery, Mercedes Lackey, Terry Brooks and Detra read Victoria Holt when she was younger. this are but a fraction of the authors on out book shelves.

5.   You can Share you current writing (Any small Story/Poem) or Tell your Future plan About writing? 

     Future plans, are to keep putting together the stories that Steven has outlined. Setting the scenes and bantering the action back and forth is the fun part of this hobby. Listening to the stories when the computer reads them back is almost as good as reading the finished product. A lot of what might come is featured on our web site for those wanting a bit of short reading. Some short stories are even on our blog. We are guilty of not posting to the blog often.

6.   Give five advices to a new writer?

   1-Write until the story in your head is out, and on paper or screen. 

     2-Read it and edit it.

     3-Read it out loud and edit some more until is as smooth as you can make it. 

     4-Then send it to your editor. 

    5-Find a beta reader, ours asks question that often leads to a paragraph or two to a chapter. In one case we were told we dropped the ball, and his statement lead to a whole chapter being added to the beginning of the book.

7.   Give five advices to a reader? 

     Jump in, join the fun and adventure, enjoy the tale don’t analyse it. Its fantasy, let your imagination be free. When done reading, give a review, its easy, “I liked the story.”, or “this was boring.”.

 The links to the various book shops our books are in in on the voldamar.com web site.

Other: Amazon , Lulu ,  Facebook, Twitter .