Welcome to week thirteen (!) of the Indie Author Spotlight. I originally changed this feature to run every other week so I could pop in and write about other things, but instead all my extra brainpower and time has pretty much gone to figuring out how to homeschool my kids (which should give me lots to write about! We’re going to read A LOT. and learn to read.) So, I’m especially thankful that so many authors have been interested in participating in this spotlight because it keeps me from totally neglecting the blog . . . AND I love that I’m meeting so many new-to-me authors. Today’s guest is new-to-everyone, because he has yet to publish. I’m really excited to introduce you all to William Roundy, and you can be sure I’ll let you all know when his first book releases!
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Welcome, William! Tell us about what genres you write in.
I work in a variety of genres. I don’t really love the idea of getting locked into one and would rather tell each story as it needs to be told. My primary work in progress is a horror, but I am also working on a literary fiction as well as a science fiction. I haven’t dabbled too much in fantasy, and don’t have any immediate plans to do so, but only time will tell on that front. I enjoy the freedom of simply being able to sit down and write, without having to shoe-horn myself into only one genre.
That’s one of the beautiful things about self-publishing! You don’t have to choose a genre if you don’t want to. I know you haven’t published yet, but you sound like you write prolifically. Have you been writing long?
I’ve been writing creatively ever since I was about six years old and I was telling stories orally even before that. I’ve always loved creative new worlds and people to inhabit them. All that said, I started writing seriously two years ago, when I was twenty-one.
So clearly writing has been a part of your entire life. Why do you continue to write?
As many authors have said in the past, and as many will continue to say in the future, I feel a compulsion to write. For me, it doesn’t feel like I have much of a choice. When I take breaks, or life gets in the way, and I’m not writing frequently, I feel like I’m sort of missing a part of myself. It’s the reason I tell people I’ll continue to write even if I never make a dime off it – I love it just that much.
Tell us a little about your writing process!
As much as I sometimes wish I was a better plotter, I am most definitely a pantser. I really love the act of sitting down with an idea, and letting it lead me where it wants to go. I think it was Neil Gaiman who said it was a lot like driving in the fog with a headlight out; you can only see a few feet ahead and only sort of see where you’re going. I really like that analogy and I probably say it more than I should. There is something, in my opinion, that is really beautiful about letting your story and your characters come to
life and walk you through their world. In some ways, it feels almost like I am only an observer, and I just happen to record things as they happen. That isn’t to say that I never outline, I do, but they are always loose maps which are subject to change.
So you mentioned your current WIP is horror. What can you tell us about it?
Right now I am working on drafting my debut horror novel, “Those Who Remain.” When the residents of a small town in Massachusetts begin to go missing without explanation, a curfew is set in place – no one can travel alone, and never after dark. After a twelve-year old’s mother joins the growing list of missing persons, he decides it is his responsibility to look for her – after all, it is his fault that she is gone.
I’ve seen you post some teasers on Twitter about that! It sounds intriguing! Do you read as widely as you write, and do you have any favorite books?
I don’t really have a favorite genre to read. I love suspense, but I think suspense can be translated into a wide range of genres. My favorite book, however, is “I am Legend” by Richard Matheson. It was the first book that gripped me so much I couldn’t put it down. I finished it in one day when I was about twelve, and I’ve read it twice since then. Another, more recent read that quickly found its way to my favorites list is “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” by Neil Gaiman. I just think it’s a tremendously fun read. A few others are “Crime and Punishment,” “The Old Man and the Sea,” and “In Cold Blood.”
Eek. “In Cold Blood” remains to this day the primary reason hitchhikers terrify me. I read it as a teenager and had to sleep with the lights on for a good long time after reading it. It still creeps me out to think about it. When you’re not reading or writing, what do you do for fun?
I enjoy rock climbing and hiking, drawing (though I’m not very good at it these days), and I am a real sucker for true crime shows.
I’d love to hear more about your climbing sometime! I used to climb, though I haven’t been since before my third child was born (FOUR YEARS AGO). I have dreams of climbing with my husband again . . . But I digress. Please tell us what your goals, your dreams, are as a writer.
Ultimately my author dream is just to write stories that, hopefully, people enjoy. As I said, I’d do it for free if I couldn’t do it for money. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a dream of doing this full-time though. I think a lot of writers have a craving for that, and I guess that’s what I’m trying to make happen. At the same time, though, I try to keep a realistic outlook on things and more than anything I try to enjoy the process.
Is there anything else you’d like readers to know about you?
I think this is probably the hardest question here. I’m still in that in-between phase in my writing career where I don’t feel terribly interesting. I suppose the biggest thing I’d want my readers to know is just that I value them. I realize that sounds cliché and generic, but it really is true. I write because I love to write, but I also really love to share that writing with others. Right now, obviously no one has a completed manuscript of mine, but a lot of people have snippets that I’ve sent them for beta-reading. I’m immensely grateful for those people and all they’ve done to help me on this journey. Putting out work for the first time can be (is) frightening, nerve-wracking, and sometimes downright depressing. But it’s always insanely exciting. I mean, it’s always a nice feeling when someone enjoys what you have made. The end goal of writing is to get your work into the hands of readers; to share your creation with them. As a writer, without the reader, I am nothing.
Follow William Roundy on Twitter (@william_roundy_) for first-hand knowledge of his writing exploits. If you’re not on Twitter, rest assured that I’ll alert you when his current WIP is published.
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Would you like to be featured, too? Please contact me at kristin@theedifyingword.com!
Katrina, thank you for participating in the Indie Author Spotlight! Can you talk to us a little about what genres you write in? I’ve sort of hinted at your ability to mix them . . .
Kristin Houlihan, Writer 