Meet Amber Royer

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Amber Royer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Amber below.

Hi Amber, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

When I was a new writer, a lot of people were generous to me. Sometimes it was tough love. For instance, an agent once sat me down and told me that I had potential, but I was submitting manuscripts to her two drafts too early. But engaging with the local writing community made writing a less lonely endeavor, and helped me to improve my skills in a way I wouldn’t have on my own.
That’s one reason why I host the Saturday Night Write Craft Discussion Group. I get paid to lecture on writing, and as a Book Coach, but once a month I do a free two-hour session, open to everyone, on a particular discussion topic. I also host a Facebook Group by the same name where members can discuss writing conundrums, ask me questions, and share news. All of that does take a bit of time, but it is worth it to see folks who have been attending start improving their writing and advancing their careers.
For anyone interested, Saturday Night Write meets on Zoom on the third Saturday of the month, from 4-6 PM. There’s usually a half hour of free-form chatting, followed by an hour and a half of discussion. We are also open to guest discussion leaders, as long as the discussion topic is related to writing craft.
Generosity is important for writers, because it provides a counterbalance to the absolute amount of ego it takes to put your work out there. And you never know who you are talking too. Today’s aspiring writers might be tomorrow’s bestsellers. Today’s slush readers could be tomorrow’s editors. If you judge who is worthy of your time or a polite response based on what their name tag says now, it will limit you.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’ve been teaching creative writing since 2008. A couple of years ago I compiled what I have learned from both writing and teaching into my writer’s workbook/textbook Story Like a Journalist. Story Like a Journalist takes lessons from the journalism classroom and applies them to building a vivid novel. I am currently working on a video-based web course to go along with that book. Look for it on my website amberroyer.com.
If you want more hands-on instruction, I teach at UTA Continuing Education. (Here is my class list: https://web-ded.uta.edu/ShowSchedule.awp?&Search=INSTRUCTOR&Target=MDEyMDA3NTAzNTA1&Title=Courses+Taught+by+Amber+Royer) This year, I’m also going to start providing classes for Kiamichi Tech in Oklahoma. I love working with new students, and hearing their perspectives on the world. My focus is on the psychology of character, since all the other elements of story only fall in line if you have the correct protagonist for the story. Readers get thrown out of a narrative when there’s no consistent psychological motivation for the character’s actions, and if readers don’t attach to that character, they can’t achieve catharsis.
I just launched a new journal series called The Thoughtful Journals. We had a launch party last month in conjunction with a local chocolatier who goes by the name The Touring Chocolatier. I was so excited to partner with her because the first two journals in the series are The Thoughtful Travel Journal and the Thoughtful Tasting Journal: Chocolate. Keep an eye out for two new journals coming in 2025 – The Thoughtful Creativity Journal, and the Thoughtful Tasting Journal: Coffee.
As far as my fiction, I write both science fiction and cozy mysteries. I just found out my short story Tango and Tex Mex has been accepted for the newest Metroplex Mysteries anthology. (I actually had a story in each of the previous volumes too.) I’m a foodie, so the story plays on the fact that Dallas restaurants recently became eligible for Michelin stars.
I am still hard at work on my Bean to Bar mysteries, which star a craft chocolate maker who has set up shop in Galveston, Texas. I chose that setting because I grew up in Southeast Texas, not far from the island. Book 8, Vanishing into the 100% Dark, takes these characters on the road, when Felicity gets invited to participate in a chocolate festival in Tokyo. I wanted to harken back to the old super-mysteries, where every so often in a series, something bigger would happen. In September 2024, I was able to be a guest lecturer on board a cruise ship in Japan, and I structured my free time as a research trip for the book. It was actually our second time in Japan, but my husband and I were much more comfortable with the language this time around. I had so much fun writing Vanishing into the 100% Dark, which has a sweet calico cat, a kaiju movie being filmed across the street, a heist, social media influencers, Japanese food . . . and chocolate. Look for it where books are sold on March 4!
I miss writing in my Chocoverse space opera world, so I have a couple of novellas in the works. These will be launched as one hour reads on Kendle Unlimited, later this year. In the Chocoverse (starting with Book 1 – Free Chocolate), chocolate becomes the most important thing in the universe, because it is the only unique commodity Earth has managed to hold onto — and the galaxy is hungry for it. Part thriller, part space opera and part telenovela-on-the page, the books star Bo Benitez, former telenovela star who’s suddenly in the position to stop a galactic war.
I am happy to address library groups or visit with book clubs or writer’s groups. I speak about writing, creativity, and chocolate

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Cooking and Gardening — Many of the characters in my fiction are chefs, home cooks or specialty food producers. That makes sense, given my own love of cooking – and near-addiction to cooking shows. I especially love the competition food shows, where contestants have to think on their feet and improvise.
It’s less obvious what impact gardening – and specifically herb gardening – has had on my journey as a writer. I became interested when we moved into a house that already had garden beds out back. I was working at the UT Arlington library at the time, and a co-worker told me about a local herb society. My research there led to me lecturing abord cruise ships about herb garden, cooking and garden railroading. And I realized that just about everyone performing and presenting had a book. (Or at least some kind of merch. The former gold medalist had an exercise video.) That lead to Jake and I self-publishing our first book. We hand-cut pages in our living room and spiral bound them one at a time. We’ve come such a long way! I’m now a hybrid author (having had books produced by a traditional publisher and also produced further independent projects) finding a hard time choosing which books to bring with me when I present.
Writing – I know this one seems like a no-brainer. But when I first started writing as a kid and a teenager, teachers, family members and writers’ group folks encouraged me and said I had talent. But talent will only get you so far. Even in college, I received excellent grades in my creative writing classes. But then I would submit work for publication, only to have it rejected. (For the most part. I did publish a short story here and there.) I had a natural writing voice, and a wild imagination. What I didn’t have was a solid understanding of structure and writing techniques such as foreshadowing and controlling point of view. It wasn’t until that agent I already told you about sat me down and told me what was lacking did I realize what I needed to do.
I started seriously researching writing, from Aristotle’s Poetics to Donald Mass’s Writing the Breakout Novel, with brief stops at Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird and Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat. But to address my tendency to meander by plotting, Larry Brook’s Story Engineering changed my life.
Photography – Instagram has certainly been a part of my journey. And I’ve come a long way with it. I recently was looking at some of the first post I made to the platform. At the time, I had a fascination with weird filters, and close-up shots. Are those photos useful for anything today? Probably not. But they do show me how far I’ve come.
My interest in photography has always been tied to my love of travel. When you’re in a new place, you never know when something interesting is going to pop up, begging to be photographed. That idea of visiting new places, checking out the details, recording things vividly certainly shows up in my writing. The editor for the second Chocoverse book had me take out an entire section of the novel because I was having a galactic chase scene travel across too many planets. I regret nothing! Even though it didn’t make it into the books, I still had a blast designing the details of those spaceports. In my mysteries, my protagonist specifically has both a love of travel and an Instagram account. Each book ends with an epilogue of people whose lives were impacted by the book gathering at Felicity’s shop for an event – and a group photo to go up on her Insta.
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If you’re new, remember that no two journeys are the same. Find what you’re passionate about and write about it. Look objectively at what you’ve written and work on your craft to improve.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

My parents have always been supportive of my desire to be a writer. I had a teacher encourage my writing in the fourth grade, so it impacted a lot of my life. My mom made sure I participated in the Summer Reading program at my local library every year. And when, as a teenager, I found out there was a local writer’s group meeting one town over, my dad – who isn’t an avid reader – would drive me over to the Holiday Inn where they had the meetings.
Now, my mom reads all my books as soon as they come out, and my dad built a special bookshelf for them in their living room.

Contact Info:

• Website: Website: http://amberroyer.com
• Instagram: @amberroyerauthor
• Facebook: @Amber.Royer.Author
• Twitter: @Amber_Royer
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AmberRoyer

Image Credits

All photos taken by Amber Royer or Jake Royer.