Seven Story Publishing

Written Author Interview

1. Tell me about yourself. What do you like to do outside of writing. What is a day in the life like for you?
   1. I live in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York but I grew up in the Catskills of New York, spent my early 20s in eastern Pennsylvania, and worked for years in the Washington DC metro area. Professionally, I’m a technical writer and copy editor and worked for years for the federal government before returning to New York and working as a stay at home mother and full time editor and writer. I love reading, of course, but I also enjoy trying different crafts, whether it be embroidery or crochet or various other crafts. I love to bake and I also adore being outdoors. A typical day in the life involves my getting up before dawn to have a few hours of quiet writing time before the day really begins. 

2. What inspired your first novel? What was the thing that got you into writing in the first place?
   1. I’ve always adored fantasy stories and as a child, most often when I played pretend it was with a fantasy setting. I loved stories where knights saved princesses in particular. But, as I grew older, I always felt those stories were lacking something I was searching for. I had an inkling of an idea for years that never really came together. When I played Dungeons and Dragons, I felt I found a little relief with a sorcerer character I made, but that story I wanted still wasn’t quite reached. Then, it finally came together. I wanted those fantasy stories with the knight and the princess, but I wanted it to be an all female cast.

3. How do you come up with characters? Are they spontaneous or meticulously planned?
   1. When I have a general plot the characters are very meticulously planned, but side characters tend to appear spontaneously and take a whole life of their own with very little control on my end. Often they grow and every once in awhile, they create future plot points and stories that I hadn’t previously thought of.

4. What are some of your favorite genres to read? Are there any books you’d recommend to first time readers or people looking for something new?
   1. I really adore fantasy as I’ve mentioned, but I also enjoy reading memoirs from women adventuring into farming, homesteading and cooking. I also enjoy nonfiction books focusing on nature, the lessons we can learn from the earth, and the weather.

5. What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer?
   1. Listening to the advice you happily give other writers. I often encourage my fellow writers to take breaks, to step back, to breathe and not overdo it so they don’t burn out, but I rarely take that advice for myself.

6. What is your process to completing a novel from outline to final product?
   1. I usually take a few weeks outlining the novel I’m planning to great detail. I do bulleted lists of everything I intend to have happen then divy it all up into chapters. Once this is done, I sit down and write out my first draft within a few weeks. I always under-draft and make very messy ones at that. Usually I go through and revise that draft two times before I seek out beta readers. I always go through at minimum, two rounds of beta review with a few revisions after each round before I consider my novel done. All in all, from start to end, it usually takes me about 6-12 months of consistent work to get from an idea to a finished product.

7. What’s the most unhinged thing you’ve written in your novel? Don’t worry, we don’t judge here.
   1. There’s a transformation scene in Tarnished that seemed to surprise and disgust some readers. I have written more unhinged things in other novels, but I can’t share because they’re spoilers!

8. What’s one thing about being a writer that absolutely drives you up the wall?
   1. Sometimes I’m so excited to write a novel or a scene and it just takes so long to actually write it out. Sometimes I wish I could download my thoughts straight to a computer!

9. What does being a successful writer look like for you? What type of life do you want to live as a writer?
   1. Success is different for everyone, and for me just getting my book published is a success. But if I were to think of all the various ways I would feel “wow my writing career is perfect,” it would be to see people cosplay my characters and do fan art, and to be able to write consistently enough and have enough sales that I could take up a part time job at a bookstore or library and be able to financially sustain ourselves through my writing.

10. Describe your writing journey. If you had to write a story centered around it, do you think you could pull it off?
    1. I don’t think I could ever write my own story. But in my personal writing journey, it’s a lot of ebbs and flows. I wanted to get published when I was a teen and began writing passionately through high school. The stories weren’t necessarily awful, but my writing was. I went to school for English and sometime during college, I fell into a deep pit of writer’s block. Suddenly all the stories that were so easy to obtain when I was a teen dried up. I honestly thought I would never write a novel again. I still adored it though and obtained a Master’s in English and Creative Writing. I figured if I couldn’t get another novel out of me, I could study the educational aspect of writing and analyze literature. When I graduated, it was just over a year prior to the pandemic, and being forced inside seemed to do the trick in that my mind released and the stories came flowing. Since then, I’ve drafted three full novels, I have three book deals, and I have two other novels half written. I got there, I just needed time.

Follow and Connect with Erica Rose Eberhart

Check out her first book, Tarnished.

Instagram & Threads: @ericaroseeberhart

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Author Bio

Erica Rose Eberhart grew up in the Catskills region and spent many formative years in both Eastern Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia. She now resides with her family and cat in the Finger Lakes region of New York. A technical editor by trade, she has a Master’s degree in English and Creative Writing. Erica has written stories since she was able to write sentences and has found comfort in fantasy her entire life, whether by consuming fantastical stories or creating her own. Beside the comfort of books, Erica adores nature walks, crocheting, embroidery, cats, baking and autumn. You can follow her many adventures on social media @ericaroseeberhart. Tarnished is her first published novel.