I’ve been composing stories since I’ve had the voice to tell them. Exploration has always been my driving force - I write to immerse myself in new knowledge, break down complex topics, and gain an understanding of circumstances and lifestyles that are not my own. When I learn about a new historical time and place, I want to put a character there and walk them around that world. When a character concept emerges, I want to look through their eyes and see how they interact with their unique surroundings. I write to learn. As learning has been a lifelong passion of mine, so too is my writing.

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When it comes to format, I write all over the map. Long-form fiction is my favorite form because it provides me with the greatest space on the page to explore character motivations and deepen my worldbuilding. In poetry, my focus shifts to crafting poignant images in order to get down to the universal specifics. Poetry is where I express my emotions and tackle complicated thoughts and memories. Short stories and plays are relatively new frontiers, but I’ve come to appreciate their challenges. Condensing a book’s worth of character development into a bite-sized product forces me to get creative with how I convey it. This is especially true in playwriting, where I don’t have the luxury of narration - everything must be shown, either through dialogue or stage directions. No matter the format, the techniques I pick up in one inevitably wind up applied to them all. 

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My best skill when it comes to my craft is my ability to plan ahead. When embarking on a new project, the first thing I do is organize my ideas - characters, worldbuilding, potential plot points. Every major project starts from a detailed outline that guides my process and frees me to jump into the story from any angle I choose. If my exploration involves researchable topics like historical lifestyles, I put that in my planning, too. When it comes to skills I’m actively improving, I’ve learned to keep an eye on my wordiness. Concise dialogue in particular is my clearest goal. 

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The most common genre I gravitate to is fantasy. There is something about the limitless potential for a world full of never-before-seen magic, geography, and political systems that has captivated my imagination since childhood. Historical fiction is a close second, driven by my curiosity as to how humans have lived across space and time. Themes that crop up often in my works include sibling dynamics, persevering hope in the face of despair, and the cyclical nature of historic events. Ultimately, if there’s something I want to learn more comprehensively about, it winds up somewhere in my writing without fail.