What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write I Guess We’re Heroes?
My interest in writing began with tabletop roleplaying games, with my favorites being Dungeons & Dragons, D20 Future, and GURPS. I loved creating vast and detailed worlds for the player characters to interact with, and coming up with contingencies for whatever direction their actions steered the plot.
While I usually enjoyed the chaotic nature of the TTRPG format, I sometimes felt a little boxed in with what kinds of stories I could tell, since I only had a loose influence over the actions of the main characters. Shortly after noticing that sentiment, I saw a Reddit post along the lines of, “wouldn’t it be fun to write a D&D campaign where you controlled all of the characters?” with the top comment being: “wouldn’t that just be writing a book?” After briefly feeling stupid for not coming to that conclusion on my own, I started mapping out my more detailed ideas in novel format, which culminated in my first published work: I Guess We’re Heroes.
What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
My favorite genre is sci-fi, closely followed by fantasy, with my reading list being about a 70/30 split of the two. My debut novel I Guess We’re Heroes is sci-fi, but I plan to write fantasy stories in the future as well.
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer is up next on my reading list, and after that I’ll be starting The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee.
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
My favorite scene to write was Julia’s knife fight with Kell. Earlier scenes built suspense with Julia’s preparation for the inevitable collapse of her tenuous alliance with the mafia enforcer, and it was satisfying to have her plans come together in the climactic fight.
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
I would want them to remember the ominous secrets revealed along Red’s journey of recovering her memories.
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