The Internet is full of exciting writers and authors with equally exciting books in all genres. Here’s one such person.
Please, introduce yourself. Tell us about your personal life, family, education.
My name is Lauren, and I am a wife of seven years and mom to a six-year-old boy. I grew up in Southern California and graduated from the University of California at San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and minor in Hebrew Literature and Language. After college, I moved to North Carolina with my husband and have ended up in Alabama. It was like I eased into Southern life that way. I enjoy the slower pace of life, which has allowed me the time to think and write.
The funny thing is, growing up I had a dream of being a particle physicist. In junior high, I was determined to work at CERN, the particle accelerator in Switzerland. These days, I satiate this desire by practicing calculus and reading books about theoretical physics. My life has taken a very different direction than I thought and yet is satisfying in its own way. Writing has filled a void I didn’t know existed and helps me to reflect on life in a way that physics can’t. I feel I really need both to process life fully.
About Writing
If you are a writer, are you an avid reader?
Indeed, I love to read! I enjoy the fantasy genre, of course, and currently am making my way through the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Mythologies also fascinate me, and I find myself especially drawn to Near Eastern mythologies (ie: Babylonian mythology and Zoroastrianism) as well as to Norse mythology. I read a lot of non-fiction as well, mostly about mental illness and theoretical physics (two very different topics, I know).
I’m the kind of reader who can never stick with reading just one book at once. I will frequently allow myself two to four books at a time, just to have variety. If I’m on vacation, I tend to pack as many books as I do clothes even for a short trip. Who knows what I’ll be in the mood for and what I’ll finish? My purse functions as a small library as well.
What inspired you to write your first book?
I remember the day I decided to write a book like it happened yesterday. I had just finished reading Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones, and I was working as a teller at a bank on a Saturday when a local publisher came in to make a deposit. At the beginning of our conversation, I had not even an inkling of wanting to write anything, but by the end of our 3-minute discussion, I had decided I was going to write a story, and not just a story but a book. I went home that day and started outlining what would become the five-book series I’m close to completing, the Children of the Glaring Dawn series.
How do you decide on the title of a book?
The five books of the Children of the Glaring Dawn series were supposed to be one book (how I thought they were going to fit in one book, I don’t know), so the first title I came up with was the title of the first book—Light of Distant Suns. “Come up with” sounds too deliberate, though. It was more like discovering it. The other titles came about more purposefully, trying to slant rhyme with the first title. Then I discovered the titles fit within the narrative of the books, mostly as parts of quotes by the characters. The title of the series was a discovery, like the first book’s title. It came to me one day while I was writing, and it just made so much sense that it stuck.
Have you developed a specific writing style and why?
I didn’t intend to write with a specific style, but it developed as I went along. It took some reflection to discover exactly my style—personal, introspective, poetic at times, etc. Once I found my writing had these qualities, I became more purposeful about developing them. I think personal style is important, but when I tried to force it, everything came out garbled and stilted. It was only once I let myself just write without thinking judgmentally about it that I was able to figure out how I want to write and come across.
Is there an author, past or present, you would love to meet? Why?
C. S. Lewis, hands down! I adore his work, from his children’s fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, to his work of satire, The Screwtape Letters, to his non-fiction works like The Problem of Pain and The Great Divorce, to finally his sci-fi series, The Space Trilogy. The last series ranks as possibly my favorite books of all time. I admire Lewis’s ability to write in so many genres. As far as what I’d do or what I’d ask Lewis should I meet him, I’m not sure where I’d start. I would love to hear him speak on his writing process, mythology and the power of story, and family life as a professional and an author.
If you could not write, how would you express what you wish to convey through any stories?
If I couldn’t write, I would definitely feel a great sense of loss, but I think I would take up my drawing more. I don’t draw figures or scenes so much as designs. Rather, colors and abstract shapes dominate my art, and I would love to find a way to convey meaning using those. I have practiced drawing on and off since high school, and I have found the practice calming and the final product gratifying.
Sage Advice
When you see new authors struggling, what single piece of advice could you give them on a moment’s notice?
Dedication—it takes dedication and devotion to the craft and to your story to attain what you desire. It’s not about pushing through to write words every day no matter what, necessarily, but about resolve to keep going even amidst defeat. There are many days I’ve written 1,000 to 2,000 words in an evening after a full day at work, but there are just as many if not more days that I have sat staring at the screen and written nothing. It takes courage to keep believing in what you’re writing and commitment to keep trying even after days or weeks or months of struggle, but you can do it! It will be well worth it!
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