Author bio- my full name is David Mendonca, but I like to go by D. Manuel Mendonca as a tribute to my father who died when I was 18. I married my best friend, who is also one of my biggest supporters. I am a massive night owl, even preferring to do most of my writing at night. Among personal hobbies I am the lead investigator of SIGHT a paranormal group, and I LOVE movies. I currently I have over 1000 different titles in my collection and I’ve spent most of my summer inside a theatre. You can visit my site Dmanuelmendonca.com to see what is in the works and even whats on my mind with my weekly blog. Welcome to author David. Thanks so much for taking the time to fill out 27 Questions so readers can better get to know you and your work!1. What got you started writing to begin with? That’s a hard one really, because it was never really one thing that got me started. My mother liked to write and she really encouraged me to open up my imagination and find my own worlds. Once I found I could create and expand on world’s that were mine I was hooked! 2. What was the first thing you wrote? I don’t actually remember the first thing I actually wrote but I know the first thing I actually wrote and finished was my short story THE OMEGA VIRUS. 3. What inspires you? EVERYTHING! i find inspiration in everything, I actually wrote one of my books Jack Ryder: Soulless after joking around at work. The joke of a soulless man kept with me and like that I created the world around it. But I guess if I had to pick more traditional inspirations I would definitely have to go with my wife and mother, both who have helped me when I get stuck and both who allow me to flourish. 4. Do you “people watch” for your writing? Not just for my writing, I love watching other people. And if that sounds creepy, its probably because it is. No I just love watching how people interact with each other and then I think…hey what if that old lady became a zombie and attacked her grandchildren? 5. Who are you favorite authors? I am really fond of J.K. Rowling. Her ability to get kids of these days to read. I also like Suzanne Collins and her hunger games trilogy. 6. What is your favorite book? A child called it by Dave Pelzer. It is one of the most heartbreaking, inspirational books I have ever read. 7. What genre do you most like to read? I love reading Sci-Fi and Horror, especially dark horror. It really helps get my mind churning. 8. What genre do you write? Is this reflective of what you read? I like to write a little bit of everything. I have books in fantasy, horror, post-apocalyptic, thriller… I even have a children’s book out! But I guess they are kind of reflective on what I write because a lot of the time the themes go off fear. I just like to push myself and see what I can come up with. 9. What genre do you have a difficult time with that you wish you could write? I seem to have a hard time working on anything with love or romance. Actually my wife loves those kinds of stories and I tried to write one for her birthday last year… yeah that was a disaster. 10. What kind of research do you do or have you done for your story? Most of my research comes from finding stuff online, where certain sites are, how far they are from others, certain mythologies. If something is close to me I sometimes like to go to that area and live out the scene I want to write to see if it makes sense. I’ve even had others ask what I was doing and if they could join in. 11. Do you have any writing rituals like eating chocolate or lighting incense? I am probably the worst person when it comes to paying attention to one thing at a time so usually when I write I like to have a big bag of pretzels near me and something on the television I can look at whenever. Usually I have the Simpsons running in the background or one of my favorite movies…most recently I had Jurassic Park running but I had to stop it because I spent more time watching then I did writing. 12. Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what kind? Music however is ironic for me, I can watch T.V and write but I can’t listen to music and write. I think its because I tend to become so wrapped up in songs that I mess up my stories. But I am partially inspired by songs, Revisited actually came to me when I was listening to Keith Urban’s song, for you. 13. Introduce us to your current book. My latest book is called Revisited: OMEGA VIRUS. This is actually a sequel, taking place sixteen years after the Omega Virus was created and set loose on the planet killing over 90% of the earth’s population, turning many of them into zombie like creatures. In Revisited Hope, the daughter of two former main characters has reached 16 which is considered adulthood on the island she lives on. She must figure out what she wants to do with her life which causes her to panic and offer to go back to the mainland on a rescue mission. Once there she is faced with more challenges then just zombies… 14. How long did it take you to write it? That is the scary thought, I wrote Revisited in about six weeks… six very long weeks. 15. Which character(s) of yours do you most relate to? There is a character called The Major in Revisited that I kind of based off myself. At first he is seen as cold and uncaring but after getting to know him you realize that he actually cares and everything he does is more to protect the others. 16. Who is your favorite character in this story? There is a character named Fanny who I rolled over from the original story that I loved. Her real name is Stephanie Goyer, and she is kind of the adopted sister of Hope. In the original story she was only about 11ish and I just really like what I did with her. Actually if any of my characters could come to life I would want it to be her. 17. Which character is the best role model for readers? In a way I think all of them are good role models. Fanny is the character who goes out of her way, and comfort zone to make sure Hope is safe. Hope shows you that sometimes you need to be yourself, and so on… 18. How did you decide on your cover? I was actually looking for someone to help me design a cover, I love to write but I couldn’t draw to save my life. I ended up on Fiverr.com and found a graphic artist Fayefayedesigns who asked me what the book was about and if I had any ideas…I didn’t. it took her two days but when she sent me what she had I just loved it. 19. What do you hope people discover while reading your story? I hope people can realize that real character can’t be decided, especially young. Sometimes you have to go out into the world and have real experiences to help you discover who you really are. 20. Have you written anything else? Tell us about it/them. Some of the stories I have written are Jack Ryder: Soulless, where a man has his soul stolen by the devil and he must fight back to regain his soul and finally move on. Strangers alone, is about 12 strangers are invited into a house and one by one are killed as they try to figure out who among them has staged this whole event. Siege of Ignottia, Hall of immortals, this is another series I really liked working on. My take on the fantasy world about a world parallel to ours inhabited with all kinds of monsters. And of course surviving the horror which is the story that leads up to Revisited. All of these stories actually have something in common, for each of those titles purchased I donate half of the proceeds to a charity…the charity of choice right now is Make a Wish. 21. Do you experience writers block, how do you deal with it? I think every writer experiences writer’s block. Sometimes the day is too much or you just feel overwhelmed. That’s why when I get blocked I walk away from my writing and play a game, or whatever else I can find. 22. What do you not like about writing? I think the worst part to writing is finishing. Even now about three years after my first book A cursed earth I still have ideas on how I could make it better or improve something. 23. Are you working on anything now? I have about 15 saved files of stories I am working on right now. Among them are sequels to Jack Ryder which is entitles, the 4 reborn and the final book of the Ignottia saga tears of a god. 24. How do you market your work? I use a lot of social media. Facebook, twitter, whatever. I feel like that is a good way to spread a title around and get it going. 25. What would you say to readers? I hate to admit it, but I love to talk about my books. Like I said before I hate finishing and I always have other things on my mind, and if anyone ever wants to talk about them I always put an email address inside the book in case anyone has any questions concerns, critical advice…I welcome it all! 26. What would you say to writers aspiring or otherwise? There is a saying, write what you know. I hate that saying, I feel it’s better practice to write what you’ve experienced. As well as being an author and working full time and being a husband I’m also a paranormal instigator. And because of my experiences I feel I bring more into what I write. 27. Where can one purchase your book(s)? my books can all be ordered on Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com
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