Written Interview
Tell me about yourself. What do you like to do outside of writing. What is a day in the life like for you?
Outside of writing, I like to read, play pickleball, and teach Pilates classes. A typical day in my life is I wake up, go to my front desk job, then depending on if I have any clients I have to teach that day I’ll go do that as well, and then I’ll head home for the day.
What inspired your first novel?
I’m not exactly sure what inspired my book, I just had this idea that I kept on thinking about and I couldn’t stop thinking about this really cool idea that I had, so I just decided to write it.
What was the thing that got you into writing in the first place?
I don’t really remember. I’ve always just enjoyed writing in general and I’ve continued doing it throughout my life.
How do you come up with characters? Are they spontaneous or meticulously planned?
I come up with characters by taking inspiration from other people and sometimes they’re spontaneous and sometimes they are meticulously planned. It just depends because background characters aren’t as planned as the main characters and sometimes they are spontaneous, while other times they’re only
mildly planned out.
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?
I love dystopian books or just regular coming of age books. For first time readers, I’d say anything middle grade is always great to start with. Some of my favorite series are The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer, a duology series I really like is The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, and The Willow Falls series by Wendy Mass.
What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer?
Getting to the end of the final project. It’s really easy to just give up when writing a story and there have been many times that I have wanted to do that. There are other challenging things about being a writer, but this is definitely the most difficult challenge to overcome when taking on a project as big as writing a book.
What is your process for completing a novel from outline to final product?
Typically, I’ll create an outline and do some plot worksheets and character creation worksheets. Then I’ll carve out time to work on the story and then I just take it chapter by chapter until I have a finished manuscript. For this book that I wrote, I did have a couple of professional editors look over my story, so that is something that I would also consider to be a part of this process and I’ll take their suggestions and make those edits before it becomes the final product.
What’s the most unhinged thing you’ve written in your novel? Don’t worry, we don’t judge here.
I actually can’t think of one part of my story that’s unhinged. It’s a middle
grade book and I can’t think of one thing that’s unhinged in my book.
What’s one thing about being a writer that absolutely drives you up the wall?
Mainly just having writer’s block. The writing process would be so much easier if it never happened and my ideas continuously flowed out of me.
What does being a successful writer look like to you? What type of life do you want to live as a writer?
To me being a successful writer just means doing what you love. Even if you don’t become a New York Times best selling author you’re still a successful author because simply by getting out a piece of work that you do is still an accomplishment and therefore a success in itself. I just want to live a simple life
as a writer and author and publish several books. I’m hoping one day I can
become a full time author, so hopefully I can reach that goal, but in the meantime, I’m just taking it day by day as I continue working on different projects.
Describe your writing journey. If you had to write a story centered around it, do you think you could pull it off?
It took me four years to write and edit Insolitam Drive and it was a very tedious process, but I managed to push through and get to the final product. If I had to center a story around my writing journey with this story I’m sure I could pull it off, but it wouldn’t be a very exciting story.
Follow and Connect with F. Wallers
About
F. Wallers is the writer of the novel, Insolitam Drive. She’s a former pre-professional ballet dancer who is now a Pilates instructor. You can find her reading, baking, doing Pilates, playing pickleball, going line dancing, or hanging out with friends when she’s not writing.
Social Media
TikTok: @authorfwallers
Instagram: @authorfwallers
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