RPLA Showcase: SR Staley

Q: Where do you get your story ideas?

Q: Anything in particular about your award-winning RPLA entry that you’d like to share?

A: For me, Tortuga Bay represents much more than a labor of love or passion. This novel is my fifth, and it represents a long-term commitment to writing fiction. Tortuga Bay probably also represents my most mature writing to date, in large part because of the creative risks I was willing to take. I really used this manuscript to hone my skills as a novelist and push myself as a craftsmen. Isabella, the lead character, is very much a woman with 21st century sensibilities despite being born a woman and a slave in the 18th century Caribbean. Juan Carlos, her lover,  is very much an 18th century man who is learning to accept and cope with a headstrong, determined woman (and pirate, no less). By pushing myself as a storyteller, I had to fully embrace the conflicts these different personalities create and resolve the paradox of their relationship. As a result, Isabella has a new level of depth and, Juan Carlos has a trajectory very different from the one I had originally envisioned for the book as well as the series.

Q: Who do you credit with inspiring your writing?

A: My former mother-in-law, Ann, who lamented the paucity of good young-adult fiction when she was working as a middle-school librarian. I naively jumped at the challenge, even though I had read very little YA fiction at the time and didn’t recognize much of what I had read as a teenager as YA. My focus on YA ended up as a bit of a creative straightjacket for my first novels, but it gave me a foundation that has defined the essence of my voice as a novelist—A cross-genre action/adventure writer with a young adult heart.

Q: Any tips for new writers?

A: My success with my most recent books is the result of persevering in the shadows for years. I believe wholeheartedly in the mantra write, write, and write more. Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it’s the only way writers get better. I would add two additional thoughts. First our writing improves through candid, hard nosed critiques from people we know and trust. New writers shouldn’t avoid being vulnerable with their writing if it’s shared with people they trust and respect. I can actually see the places in Tortuga Bay that improved because I listened and acted on the comments from my critique group. Second, don’t be afraid to fail. Failure is part of learning. Many writers talk about their first manuscript still buried in a drawer someplace because it was too terrible to publish. That bad manuscript is incredibly important because reflective and ambitious writers recognize its value as part of the learning process and establishing a creative platform for greater stories and more awesome characters down the road.