Today, I'm really excited to have interviewed R.M. Archer! It was really nice interviewing her and having her talk more about her writing life and the different things that she has published. I hope that you enjoyed!! When did you begin writing, and why?
I started writing when I was about six or seven. I was an avid reader from the time I could read, so writing flowed naturally from that. What inspired you to become a writer? It really just came out of my love for reading. I loved stories and the escape they could provide, and I decided I wanted to create that same sort of escape with my own words. For a while it was just for myself—I wanted to create my own worlds to escape into, not only explore the worlds other authors had created—but I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to share those stories with others as a published author. What are some of the biggest struggles/challenges that you’ve faced as being a writer? One thing is I analyze everything. Some of that is just my natural personality, I think, but as a writer I’m especially prone to dissect stories and see ideas in everything. Often, I find this really cool; I see and learn a lot that way. But it means I don’t always enjoy stories simply for their own sake (as opposed to deconstructing the craft behind them) and I can sometimes miss seeing things from the perspective of a “regular person.” Plus, I’ve been known to annoy people with my analyses, which is always disappointing. How do you motivate yourself to continue to write? It depends on how much motivation I need and what the context is. I try to keep inspiration notes for each of my big projects: a list of reasons I started the project, what I love about it, what my goals are for it, etc. Generally getting back in touch with the purpose and intention gets me motivated again—and it often helps me solve the problem if I’m blocked on something, because it’s pretty common for the block to mean that I’ve forgotten what the story is supposed to be or do and I’m missing the point. The answer is pretty similar if the issue is a more broad problem with motivation (if I just don’t want to write in general). I have reasons for writing, reasons for writing what I write, and often reminders of that help—whether in the form of brainstorming those reasons, reading over positive reviews, or reading books that either exemplify what I’m aiming for or exemplify the things I’m trying to avoid and provide alternatives for in the literary world. And if the problem is just laziness or a lack of momentum, then I just have to force myself to keep my hands on the keyboard and get writing—often with the help of a timer, a playlist, and some tea. Do you have any published works? If so, what are they? Yes! I’ve published a standalone short story/novella, two short story collections, and a novel as of June 2022! My short story/novella is titled Lost Girl and it’s a continuation of Peter Pan from the perspective of Captain Hook’s granddaughter (who falls for Pan, of course). My first short story collection, The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles, is a series of fairytale retellings with a sort of Series of Unfortunate Events vibe. The second is an assortment of stories, two from my sci-fi world (which I’m writing a related novel in at the moment), one from the same world as my published novel, and one that’s a contemporary story I wrote for fun; the assortment is titled Short Story Collection vol. 1. Calligraphy Guild is my first published novel and it was such a passion project. In a world where dragon ink allows time to be rewritten or set in stone, calligraphers are entrusted with recording time properly so that it cannot be altered, but when a member of Duyên’s calligraphy guild rewrites time, the guild must uncover the traitor or else all be punished by the dragons. I love this book for a lot of reasons, but in part because it takes so many of the tropes and themes I dislike in YA and it goes in the opposite direction, so you won’t find the teen MC with dead or abusive parents, you won’t find a toxic romance or one founded on pure attraction, you won’t find teenagers who are just coasting along without ever really growing up… You will find strong community themes, healthy relationships of all stripes (and some unhealthy ones, too; they’re not all perfect), and a world and characters that I adore. Plus, y’know, dragons are pretty awesome. Is there anything in your life that influences your writing? If so, what are they? Pretty much everything in my life influences my writing, lol. Relationships, travel experiences, things I’m learning, the books I’m reading, the discussions I have… And of course, they’re all filtered through my personal worldview, which ultimately influences all of it. Discussions are probably one of the most influential things, though. When I discuss philosophy, culture, current events, etc. it helps solidify them in my head and then I tend to almost instinctively interpret them through fiction later, and having outside perspectives mixed with my own contributes to the way I portray those concepts in my writing. Where do you get the ideas that you write? From everywhere. Similar to the influence thing, ideas crop up in all sorts of contexts. A tree I’m fond of, a conversation I had (or overheard), a book I read… I’ve even conjured up political ideals for a character that were inspired by dishcloths. It can be the most random stuff. What do your writing sessions generally look like? For fiction, I generally make tea and put on a playlist that corresponds to my project (whether I have an official project playlist or a different playlist with the right general sound) and then I sit down with my Scrivener file and write for as long as I have—and as long as I can (mostly) focus. I often end up taking a million mini-breaks to check the Discord servers I’m in, which doesn’t help my productivity, lol. I claim it helps keep me from getting bored, but it really does more to keep me from hitting a good writing flow (after which point it’s hard to get bored in the first place). What does “writer’s block” mean to you? Writer’s block is whatever element of the story or my mindset is keeping me from writing. It’s always fixable if I can think through the problem and figure out its root cause, whether I need to remind myself why I write, or detangle something that was out-of-character a few chapters back, or start writing with my goals for the book fresh in my mind so I’m not inadvertently trying to write toward the wrong goal. Or sometimes I’m burned out and just need rest before I can keep going. What do you think are the most important elements of good writing? Strong characters are probably the most important thing. If you have compelling characters that your readers can connect with and enjoy following through the story, that will cover a lot of ills. But plot and worldbuilding are also important. If you don’t have enough happening, or if there’s too much happening, or if your world is too bare or too complicated or simply unbelievable, it’s going to be a challenge for your reader to get engaged. And further down the line, making sure your actual writing is clean and clear, without typos or grammar issues or clunky wording, will go a long way. Readers might not notice how clean your writing is, but they will notice if it’s not clearly readable or if it’s riddled with errors. Being sure you edit well is extremely important.
2 Comments
Cora
12/9/2022 07:17:32 pm
You're welcome!!! I had a bunch of fun doing this as well!!
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AuthorJust your average 18 year old girl that enjoys writing, and wants to spread awareness to things that are important to me and write about random stuff! Archives
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