Bio

Hello! My name is Amarilys and I live in a lovely island in the Caribbean. I fell in love with fantasy when I read Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede. I was 13yrs old at the time and had never read a book for entertainment purposes only. I still have that book, all yellowy now but still my favorite. Needless to say I was hooked after that. The thrill of escaping to worlds so different and magical than our own is something I crave daily. It eventually led me to begin writing my own stories.

During the summer of 2004 I wrote and completed my first novel …or so I thought at the time. It was thirty pages long and was written by hand . Let me point out that I write in a very big plump font, so it all amounted to probably 8 or 9 pages in MS Word. The point is that it was the moment I knew I wanted to be a writer. I worked and re-worked that story for the next eight years, strongly believing it would be my masterpiece novel…To this day it’s still unfinished, and I still call it my masterpiece.

Ideas were still being born, but not getting finished. I’d do all the research, profile all the characters, draw all the maps, yet not write a single word. So in November 2011 I joined the NaNoWriMo madness, in the hopes that the “writing not revising” thing would get me going. I finished NaNo three days early with a completed 50k word draft. It was monumental, yet I didn’t have any long term plans for that story.

In January 2012, I joined the amazing Writing Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University. The NaNo story became my thesis, and after 2yrs and a half, it is now a decent, ready to publish novel. I just need to find a home for it.

Random Facts

• I’m currently unemployed a full time writer.
• I write YA paranormal romance, fantasy, sci-fi and dystopias. I hope to one day write some awesome UF or Romance. 
• I have a BA in English Literature, a Minor in Arts, and a certificate in Digital Photography.
• I’m an avid reader. I read an insane amount of books every week when I should be writing more. I’ve been known to read six books a week and even a 500+ page books in a day. 
• Coffee addict. I like to take my coffee WITHOUT sugar. 
• I love all things minty. I’ll do anything, and I mean anything, to get Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies or Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream from Basking Robbins. 
• Born in the west side coast of Puerto Rico, where all the greatest beaches are, I developed a strong dislike for all things salty and sandy. After a while one gets tired of sand getting in all the wrong places EVERY SINGLE TIME. 
• Living in the Caribbean means that anything below 75 degrees is cold for me, which sucks when I travel. 
• Influences in my writing (or so I like to think): Tamora Pierce, J.K. Rowling, Maria V. Snyder, Patricia Briggs, Richelle Mead, and Rachel Vincent. 
• Occasionally I believe in fairy tale endings and Prince Charmings. 
• I had a book reviewing blog called Amy’s Book Den. It's still up, but I'm no longer doing reviews.
• I have a thing for dystopian/post-apocalyptic books. I’m a closet rebel, but I’d like to think that if the world ended I would rise up and become a leader. 
• I support badass heroines who pack a mean punch and a whole lot of girl power. And yes, that includes Disney Princesses like Jasmine, Mulan, Rapunzel (Tangled), and Merida (Brave).
• I'm learning Korean.