Get to know Author Steven Arnett

Steven Arnett was born in Detroit, Michigan, and enjoys writing fiction and poetry. He has published five novels: A comedy entitled Winners and Losers, a mystery entitled Death on Lake Michigan, a literary novel entitled The Labyrinth, a love story entitled The Summer of Robert Byron, and a suspense/thriller entitled The Strange Curse of Breda. He has also published a book of short stories entitled The Short Stories of Steven Arnett. He has degrees from Michigan State University and the University of Maine. He currently lives in Johns Creek, Georgia, with his wife, Delphine, and daughter, Vivienne.

Ramona: Tell me more about your latest novel, The Strange Curse of Breda

Steven Arnett:It is a recently released suspense/thriller that has already received many 5 star review from Amazon reviewers. Here’s a synopsis:

It’s 1971 and a horrible murder has occurred near the town of Breda in west Michigan. A young woman, Jane Lucas, has been dragged into the woods and stabbed. The letters ZOSO from the Led Zeppelin album have been written in blood on her waist, which leads the police to think it might be a cult murder. Suspicion falls on the commune located on a farm near the town. The shock and horror townspeople feel after that murder, though, are nothing compared to the shock and horror people feel when another murder and then another murder of the same type occur.

The Strange Curse of Breda is about those murders and how they are finally solved. As each murder occurs, the level of fear in Breda intensifies, to the point that the townsfolk either flee the town, arm themselves to the teeth, or fall into an almost catatonic state of fear. The county sheriff, the state police, and even the FBI are baffled. However, Jim Leiden, a young man who runs a small grocery in Breda, finds a clue that may link all the murders together: The hanging of a man named Obadiah Kurtz that occurred in 1889. Jim researches the story and finds that the victims are descendants of the people who were responsible for hanging Obadiah. After Jim’s discovery, he’s in a race against time to try to get the police to believe him and find the murderer before he can kill the only person in the whole world who really matters to him: His beautiful fiancée Julie Veere, who happens to be one of those direct descendants!

Ramona: What was the most challenging aspect of writing books?

Steven Arnett:The most challenging aspect of writing novels is the first draft of each book, when the whole story needs to come out of your head for the first time.

Ramona: What exactly motivated you to become an author?

Steven Arnett:Because I loved reading and I loved stories when I was growing up, and when I got to be about 19 years old, I decided I didn’t want to just read stories, I wanted to write them, too. I also started getting ideas for poems and stories about that age.

Ramona: How hard is it to establish and maintain a career in writing?

Steven Arnett:For a writer of fiction, it’s almost impossible, unless you have a really good combination of talent, luck, and good timing, in terms of your writing fitting what readers currently are interested in. Probably not one fiction writer in a thousand is successful enough to actually make a good living just from writing.

Ramona: What usually inspires you, and how do you normally price your books?

Steven Arnett:In terms of inspiration, I just write the stories that someone come into my head. I don’t need to go searching for them. As for pricing, my eBooks are priced at the Amazon minimum, which is $2.99. Deciding on a price can be difficult: A low price might make a book more attractive to buyers, but when you have a low price, potential readers are also likely to think the book isn’t worth that much. I mean, Stephen King and JK Rowling don’t have to price their books low to sell them.

Ramona: What does literary success look like to you?

Steven Arnett:To me it would be to have a large group of people who read and enjoy my books. If I make some good money, that would be nice, but mainly I just want to have my stories read.

Ramona: What is your advice for aspiring writers?

Steven Arnett:Don’t try to do everything yourself! You will need a team if you really want to be successful. Ideally, an author will have an editor, a proof reader, and someone or some organization to help him or her promote their books. Also, it’s very worthwhile to be part of a community of other writers, even if it’s just a virtual community on social media.

Visit Steven Arnett links:

All of Steven Arnett’s books can be purchased at his Amazon Author Page at at https://goo.gl/7CFnHE and from his website at http://stevenarnett.wix.com/stevenarnett. They are all available as eBooks and in paperback.

You can buy Strange Curse by following any of these links:

Amazon Book Link: https://goo.gl/EtxxQs

Apple iBook: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-strange-curse-of-breda/id1434219297

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-strange-curse-of-breda-steven-arnett/1129410917?ean=2940155786054

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-strange-curse-of-breda

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41443683-the-strange-curse-of-breda?from_search=true

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/890667

Steven Arnett’s Twitter ID is https://twitter.com/steven_arnett

Please Like his Facebook Author Page at https://www.facebook.com/arnettse!

For a preview of Strange Curse, go to https://www.slideshare.net/StevenArnett3/preview-of-the-strange-curse-of-breda. You can also download the first 20% of it for free on Amazon!