There is a running debate amongst writers about why we, writers, write. Some say we have to write for ourselves and push our work to the world with no expectations but one of accomplishment in the birth of a book made available to the masses.

The other side says to write for the audience, the market. Those are the stories that are written with the sole purpose of entertaining a target group and based on a specific formula developed over many years and used by a large number of traditional publishers.

I say...let's have balance. Like anything in life, there must be balance in our writing in order to create something unique, something that won't fit into the regular packaging supplied by traditional publishers but that will also entertain readers.

Our stories are written from the heart and follow very few conventions. Most importantly, we follow the convention of good grammar and no spelling errors. Our stories are written as extensions of ourselves, of our souls, of our personal experiences, and tribulations in this rough road we call life but also as something that will draw others to join us on it.

Storytellers are entertainers. They tell a story to provoke thought, to cause a reaction—be it pleasant or unpleasant. They coax emotions to the surface and give life to flat characters. They entertain the listener, the audience with vocal prompts, intonation, drama and laughter. That's what we, writers, are: storytellers at heart.

As such, we, the crazy duo, aim to convey our stories in a way that will invoke deep seeded feelings and hard-core emotions from the reader. Terror, desire, hatred, and, most of all, love. We also shy away from the paths often travelled. There's no such a thing as a predetermined formula for us. Our first novel, COUNTERMEASURE, was unconventional in how it was delivered. Yes, there was backstory, but there was a reason and purpose for that. It was a gateway for more to come.

In the past, readers had been conditioned to read and like the hero-meets-heroine-on-first-few-pages-no-back-story-in-first-chapters kind of book. We understand that.

But in this day and age of independent publishing, readers have the option of reading other "formulas." They have access to less used but yet very entertaining, fresh, different ways of telling, delivering a story that will, indeed, entertain them.

We write with that purpose in mind. To bring to the surface a myriad emotions, to cause readers to pause and consider the inner workings of the mind—be it sane or not—and make them jump in the story with us, experience it with us to the fullest and enjoy every minute of the ride. Is it unconventional? Yes. Does it follow a formula? No, we write the way we feel the story should be told, the way it speaks to us. Do the majority of readers enjoy its different twists and turns and unusual delivery? Yes, and it's this combination that matters to us the most.

Sláinte!