Welcome to 7 Questions from the Serrulata Saga Desk, my blog feature that boosts fellow indie authors! This week, y'all are getting a bonus interview because my schedule is shifting later this month. Say hi to ML Stevens!

Pen Name: ML Stevens
Pronouns: They/Them
Book Series/Latest Book Published: The Messages We Send Each Other

Introduce your current favorite character – who are they and why do you prefer them above all others at the moment?  

My current favorite character at the moment is the main character in my most recent wip. Loup, the most morally gray con man I have ever written, haha. He’ll hold the door open for you while robbing you of your life savings and you’ll never even know it was him who did it because he wears identities like socks.

Who is harder to write – an interesting hero or an interesting villain?

I’m not really sure. I think it’s pretty evened up for me when it comes to writing interesting characters in general.

You’re trapped in an elevator with your main character. What are you discussing?

If we’re talking about the main character from my most recent release, The Messages We Send Each Other, then I’m probably talking about art or movies. However, if we’re talking about the main character in my current wip, then I’m getting my soul conned away.

What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you? How do you conquer it?

Does formatting count? Haha. Actually, recently the most challenging part of writing for me has been just finding the time to write. I’ve been so busy with work for both the day job and my degree that I haven’t been able to get much time to sit down and write.

If you could write a crossover with another book/series, what would it be and why? (Or, if crossovers don’t interest you, why?)

Oo! Cross-overs would be fun! I’d totally try a crossover with the LIFE series by Felyx Lawson. Both because I think Kathy, Carter and Ben from Messages would totally fit well in the universe and because doing a crossover with a friend sounds fun to me.

In your opinion, what is the purpose of storytelling?

I don’t really think storytelling has one single purpose, but rather a myriad of purposes; to teach, to entertain, to create, etc.

Ok, last but not least… Tell us a bit about what made you want to become a writer and why you write what you write.  

I can’t ever really pinpoint what made me want to become a writer. I just remember looking out my window as a kid into the backyard and thinking it would be cool to write a book. I haven’t put the pen down since. I write what I write because those are the stories that crawled into my brain and demanded to be written or the characters that won’t shut up until I’ve told their story/stories.

Here's where to find ML:

Website: https://mlstevens.carrd.co/
Twitter: @MLStevens13
Instagram: @MLStevens13
Bluesky: @MLStevens13
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Are you an indie author who wants to be featured on 7 Questions? Send me an email!

Welcome to 7 Questions from the Serrulata Saga Desk, my blog feature that boosts fellow indie authors! This week, we chat with Dani Finn.

Pen Name: Dani Finn
Pronouns: They/Them
Book Series/Latest Book Published: The Time Before: Wings so Soft

​​Introduce your current favorite character – who are they and why do you prefer them above all others at the moment?

My current favorite character is Skiti from The Delve and the upcoming Jagged Shard. She’s a dwarven artificer, BFF and sometimes lover to Queen Laanda. She’s quiet, intelligent, and introspective, the inventor of the omni, a multipurpose device whose uses are limited mostly by the wielder’s imagination. She’s fiercely loyal to Laanda but isn’t afraid to challenge her—or bind her to the bed and reduce her to a quivering mess—as her Queen’s needs dictate.

Who is harder to write – an interesting hero or an interesting villain? 

Villains are easy. Heroes are hard, because if they’re too goody-goody, they lose their shine, but if they’re too self-absorbed, you won’t follow them to the ends of the earth. The best heroes I’ve written—Laanda from the Time Before series, Sinnie from the Maer Cycle, Cloti from the upcoming Cloti’s Song, and a few others, all have their own agendas and make decisions not everyone would agree with. They may not be perfect, but they care about things and by gum, they Get. Shit. Done. 

You’re trapped in an elevator with your main character. What are you discussing? ​

Skiti and I would be discussing how to get out. Or rather, Skiti would be explaining how she’s going to get us out, and grousing about the pathetic technical skills of those who designed and maintained the elevator. The crews in the Deepfold kept their lifts in perfect working order, and that’s with fantasy-level tech, no electricity. Modern non-fantasy people are a buncha technical lightweights.

What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you? How do you conquer it​?

Time is always the enemy. If I had infinite time, there’s no limit to how many books I could publish. I “conquer” it by having a daily writing routine: I work for about half an hour every day at the same time, and several times on days when my day job doesn’t keep me busy. It doesn’t seem like much, but since I’m extremely fixated on my routine, I write and edit enough to put out 2-3 books a year on the regular. It took me a while to form this habit, and it doesn’t work for everyone, but an almost-religious daily writing routine has been absolute gold for me.

If you could write a cross-over with another book/series, what would it be and why? (Or, if cross-overs don’t interest you, why?) 

I have no interest in crossovers, except with my own series, which I do quite a bit. There’s too much obsession in media these days with big IPs and crossovers, and I think it’s time we focus on idiosyncratic, quirky shit like our own twisted little worlds. Mine are all interconnected in little ways, with the hope that readers of one will become curious and explore the others. I always want to be creating more stories in these worlds, or creating new worlds beyond them. Worldbuilding is so intricate and complex that there’s no way that would make any kind of sense to me to mix my worlds with someone else’s. 

In your opinion, what is the purpose of storytelling? 

​Storytelling serves different purposes for different people, but for me, it’s about giving us a chance to experience a life we could never have, or a version of our lives we’ve never gotten a chance to explore. Sometimes what we read in a story gives us the courage to do more, to be more in our own lives; other times, it helps us understand why others are different than us. And of course sometimes a story just helps us feel things we may not have realized we needed to feel. As a nonbinary person, stories and storytelling have helped me understand who I am and who I might be in a way I never could have through any other medium. 

Ok, last but not least… Tell us a bit about what made you want to become a writer and why you write what you write. 

Okay so this is going to be a bit longer because I’m entering my third phase as an author, so bear with me.     I’ve always been story-obsessed, always read, always written, always role-played (yes, dungeons and dragons and games like that are a form of storytelling). I studied literature in grad school, doing masters degrees in English and French, with a special interest in medieval lit. There was a time when I wrote crime fiction in the style of The Wire, even queried it for a while, but I felt fantasy calling back to me. I was in a D&D campaign, and it was fun enough, but everyone just wanted to kill everything. Hack, slash, move on. I got bored. So I wrote Hollow Road, about a group of adventurers who kill the monsters only to discover things are more complicated than they thought.    

Things started getting weird for me after that. I was writing fantasy, right? But in The Archive¸ things started getting kind of romantic. And sexy. And queer. While The Place Below didn’t continue the sexy/romantic trend, it picked up again in the Weirdwater Confluence. By the time I finished writing The Isle of a Thousand Worlds, I realized that I was no longer just a fantasy writer. I was on my way to becoming a fantasy romance writer.    

That’s when things started to get really interesting. Every book since then has been medium to high heat, all romantic, and most of them feature explicitly queer pairings as well. All of my next three books have significant sapphic components: Cloti’s Song is about a married throuple taking on a fourth; Jagged Shard is a lesbian dungeon crawler romance; and The World Within is a trans sapphic fantasy romance. There’s been a lot going on in my head and in my heart, and it’s all coming out on the page. I’ve been through the emotional wringer with these books, and I’m proud to be finally sharing that turmoil with the world in 2024.    

Thank you so much for having me, and I wish you the very best in 2024!  Dani   

Here's where to find Dani:
 
Website: My linktree has all my links in one place, including where to find my books!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DaniFinnwrites (I still hang out on the hellsite way too much)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danfitzwrites/?hl=en 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@danfitzwrites

​Are you an indie author who wants to be featured on 7 Questions? Send me an email!