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MEET CAROL J. AMATO
by Ann Stalcup

What books influenced you most when you were growing up?

Carol J. Amato

As a child, I was a voracious reader. The books that influenced me the most were biographies of famous people, Nancy Drew mysteries, and stories about dogs and horses, like CALL OF THE WILD, WILD STALLION, AND BLACK BEAUTY. The biographies made the famous people seem real, the Nancy Drew mysteries gave me a sense of adventure, and the horse and dog stories played into my love of my pets. I showed horses all through grade and high school, and, of course, I had dogs as pets while growing up.

Did you write stories when you were growing up? at school? Or at home as a hobby? As a young child, or as a teenager, or both?

I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was in the fourth grade. I wrote stories all through grade and high school. My only critiquers in grade school were my teachers, but I am sorry to say that none of them encouraged me in my writing. After I got out of college, I took a Writing for Publication class that really started me on the road to publication. At that point, I had already written one book (a western in which I made every mistake in the books) and was working on a second, a science fiction novel with a sagging middle. The teacher of this class belonged to a professional writers’ critique group, and she suggested that another student and I apply for membership. I was accepted and published an article soon after. I sold my first book in 1990.

Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?

While writing nonfiction books and articles allowed me to make a career of writing, my love of fiction never waned. I finally took it up again several years ago, when I came up with the idea for THE PHANTOM HUNTERS mystery series. The first book in the series, THE LOST TREASURE OF THE GOLDEN SUN, was published in 2005. For me, nonfiction is easier to write, but fiction is definitely more fun.

Do you do other types of writing - for example, educational, nonfiction, magazine work?

I have written magazine articles and nonfiction books for years. Most recently, I wrote for PC Novice and Smart Computing. Each of the books in THE PHANTOM HUNTERS mystery series will have a teacher’s guide to accompany it. I have also written teachers’ guides for some of the educational publishers. To date, I have written 19 books and about 175 articles.

Where do you get your ideas?

Several of my ideas have come from dreams that I have had. Others have come from interesting discoveries and historical mysteries I’ve read about, brainstorming sessions with other people, and research I have done. Since I have a master’s in Anthropology, I wanted to do a mystery series like Nancy Drew that dealt with different cultures. THE PHANTOM HUNTERS is that vehicle. THE LOST TREASURE OF THE GOLDEN SUN takes place on the Navajo Nation, and THE SECRET OF BLACKHURST MANOR takes place in Lincoln, England, the town my ex-husband was from. Lincoln was built by the Romans, so there is a lot of historical material to work into the story. This book will be in the bookstores in the spring of 2009. The third book of the series, THE GHOSTS OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, takes place, of course, in San Juan Capistrano, but it deals with the Mexican and Indian cultures in Orange County. I will start writing this book in the fall.

Have any of your books earned special recognition?

THE LOST TREASURE OF THE GOLDEN SUN won an honorable mention at the Hollywood Book Festival in 2007. One of my articles, a feature/cover story, was in an issue of a magazine that won a Maggie award.

How did your life change when you got married? and had children? Did it make it easier or harder to find time to write?

My life changed a lot when I got married. First of all, I was able to spend a year at sea on a British oil tanker. How many American women get to do that? This experience is the subject of one of my upcoming books for adults. Once we got back to the United States and had kids, my writing was limited to that I could do from home. No travel writing was possible, but I had enough work from corporate writing, both magazines and books, that I didn’t need to leave home. Once the kids were in school, I could write during those hours, but doing so when they were preschool age or at home after school was definitely difficult.

 What are you working on now? When do you expect to start submitting it to publishers?

Right now, I am finishing the second book in THE PHANTOM HUNTERS mystery series, THE SECRET OF BLACKHURST MANOR, which takes place in England and has some elements of the Roman history in Britain woven in via two Roman soldier ghosts.

When you do school visits, what question do children ask you most?

Since I’ve started writing THE PHANTOM HUNTERS, the kids always ask me if I’ve ever seen a real ghost!

What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

I want the kids to come away with a knowledge of and appreciation for the other cultures that I’m writing about.