I’ve been following Erin on Twitter for a couple of years now, and she’s been one of my strongest supporters, both in terms of sharing my work, and also morale, which is very important to a creative. I may not know her real name, but that doesn’t matter. She’s a decent sort, and that’s all that really matters to me.
Q: Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Where do you live now? What did you want to be when you grew up?
I am a lover of random trivia, nerdy programming humor, baked goods, redemption arcs, and flawed characters. I live pretty close to where I grew up in the Northeastern US, within driving distance to my happy place (the beach). I was that kid whose head was always in the clouds and whose nose was firmly stuck in a book, so it’s no surprise I wanted to be a writer.
Q: What made you want to start writing? What motivates you to keep writing?
Stories have always been a part of the fabric of my life. I read voraciously as a kid and dreamed of living out those adventures myself. When they didn’t come my way, after getting over the initial disappointment, I built them in my head. I keep writing because I know what a lifeline stories have been for me, and I want to hold out that lifeline for someone else.
Q: What is your latest book about?
It’s about a girl who is living a lie to survive. It’s set in a dystopian future world, where a dying sun and a growing desert have cut resources dangerously short. Everyone has their defined role in society – the problem is that the main character hates hers. Trapped in an oppressive religious system whose gods and laws she doesn’t believe in, she craves escape at any cost. When she starts to communicate with a prisoner from the outside, she thinks she’s found a way out. As you can imagine, she’s very wrong.
Q: When did you start writing?
I feel like there’s many answers to this question, because it’s been a journey of fits and starts. I wrote the usual, awful, copyright-infringe-y stories that you do when you are young. I took writing less seriously for a long time until I got to the point in my life where nothing was going right (some call this grad school) and stories had become my thread of survival. I would read addictively during the day, and I’d write my own stories deep into the night. It was a powerful lesson, how those stories kept me going, how they could heal and lighten someone’s load, whether through inspiration or good old-fashioned escape. Once I realized I could do the same thing and give to others what those stories had given to me, the rest was history.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for this book specifically?
The idea of Quincy and her need to live a lie came to me suddenly one evening, but in a way her story was always a part of my life. I’ve been in a lot of different environments where, to fit in, I couldn’t reveal my whole self and my beliefs. And while the threat of death wasn’t looming over my head, we both share that deep fear that when people really get to know us, they’ll walk away. And I think that that’s something a lot of people can relate to.
Q: How was this book different than any of your others?
It’s the first story I’ve ever seriously considered writing for someone more than myself, and consequently the scariest one I’ve ever written. I think writing is a deeply personal endeavor – even if it’s done for an audience – because as creators we can’t help but leave our mark on it; we pour a part of ourselves into it; we devote blood, sweat, tears, and sheer hours of effort into it.
Q: Are you planning on writing more? If so what are you working on now? / When is your next book going to be coming out?
Yes! This current book will be the first in a series. I have two more books and a smattering of short stories exploring different side characters planned. And then there’s always the other, unexplored stories bouncing around in my head. Since I write speculative fiction, my ideas span the gamut – non-magical fantasies, sci-fi re-tellings, superhero fiction, thriller/horror mashups. That’s probably a strange mix, but I’ll never get bored.
Q: Can you tell us about your other books?
Q: What helps you to write? Music, pets, reading, specific pen, etc.?
I don’t really have a lot of pre-writing rituals, probably because I am so used to scribbling stories in the margins of notebooks during any stolen time. For me it’s all about overcoming the initial resistance (I’m perpetually tired anymore). Usually if I persuade myself to give it a go for five minutes, by the time that’s up I’m in the right mindset. Having a fixed writing time helps, because it’s easier to schedule in and my family knows I’m working. I’ll sometimes listen to music from my story playlist beforehand to get inspired. If my inner critic is being particularly loud and obnoxious, writing sprints with some music playing in the background usually help.
Q: What has writing taught you?
Patience. So much patience. I want most things now, including perfection. But I’ve come to learn that things done well take time. So enjoying the each step of the process is something I’m currently trying to teach myself. It’s also given me a much deeper sense of the responsibility we as authors have. Words are powerful things, capable of uplifting and revealing truth while at the same time capable of cutting down and leading into darkness. And I’ll always love how much I learn from the research phase of writing. I’ve learned a lot about cults, PTSD, and blindness as part of this series, and it’s continued to open my eyes to the experiences and struggles of others.
Q: What authors inspire you?
Kazuo Ishiguro is a big influence in his use of flawed narrators who try to shelter themselves from the truth, as well as his ability to write in so many different genres and yet achieve thematic consistency. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s work has influenced me a lot – I love the way he centers his stories around ideas. No one who knows my obsession with Frankenstein will be surprised if I say Mary Shelley, the inventor of science fiction and an adept writer of gothic. J. H. Moore inspires me by being a fantastic, thought-provoking, and approachable author. And as someone who wants to be an indie and write speculative fiction, I look up to her.
Q: Do you go back and reread your writing after it’s been completed?
Honestly it scares me to do this because I am so good at finding things to pick apart. But if I really like a passage, I’ll find myself sneaking a peak or two, and that’s just the best feeling.
Q: What is your advice for writers?
Find your people. This is something that I never even dreamed about having but it’s been an incredible encouragement and blessing. While writing itself might be a solitary endeavor, the process is not and you need people to give you feedback or sanity checks, share tips and resources, and just relate to. My critic partner is awesome. We check in every week, encourage each other, complain about how hard writing is, send memes, and beta read each other’s work. Be genuine, open, and willing to give, and you’ll find your people.
Figure out what works for you. Are you a plotter, planster, or pantser? Can you write first thing in the morning or do you need to get all the little administrative tasks out of the way before your mind can settle down to write? Do you need to write every day or do you do better writing larger chunks over a few days? What works for someone else might not work for you. If you try to shoehorn yourself into what others say a writer “should” do or look like, you will find yourself feeling frustrated, burnt out, or like you have failed. You’re not a failure. You’re a unique person who just needs to find your own process.
Read a lot. Both in your genre and outside your genre. Read both to learn and for pleasure. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a book or an audiobook. You learn a lot by consuming stories. Pay attention to what you like and don’t like, what works and what fell flat, and then apply it to your own writing.
Know why you write. There’s a ton of (contradictory) advice out there, and everyone’s definition of success is different. Knowing your why will keep you on track and help keep you content.
Erin’s book will be available soon enough; I’m not exactly sure when and neither is she, but nevertheless, it will be out soon. We hope she’ll keep us posted. Until then, you can follow her on Twitter @Once_darkness