Meet Ynes Freeman

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

Hi Ynes, so excited to have you with us today and we are really interested in hearing your thoughts about how folks can develop their empathy? In our experience, most folks want to be empathic towards others, but in a world where we are often only surrounded by people who are very similar to us, it can sometimes be a challenge to develop empathy for others who might not be as similar to us. Any thoughts or advice?

My novel, Beautiful Serpent, Restless Embers, is an exploration into empathy. Many of us believe that empathy is simply the ability to “put ourselves into others’ shoes,” and I wanted to write a novel that delved deeper. Laurel — the main character of the book — is not your typical fantasy heroine. She is a gifted empath with the ability to feel into the hearts and minds of others with a quick brush of her fingers. Like many young empaths, Laurel is not strong, independent, or brave: she does not smolder with fierce determination, and she has very little sense of self. Her notions of “good” and “evil” often conflict with what her kingdom deems “good” and “evil,” and she is often overwhelmed by her gift. Throughout the novel, she struggles with bouts of insanity as a direct result of her ability to feel so clearly and deeply, often sensing darkness and disturbances that others are unable to pick up. Her kingdom values her only for what she can do to extract secrets from their enemies.

I think so many of us in creative fields have a gift of empathy similar to Laurel’s. We have an inner yearning to express something beautiful and true, and as we progress through life, the world often makes us question ourselves and whether we have any importance, power, or agency at all. Walking the world with tenderness and sensitivity is a path less traveled, and it’s often one that we are discouraged from taking.

I wrote this book for the dreamers, empaths, and creatives of the world who feel broken by the harshness of the world, who feel overwhelmed by the weight of their own gifts, and crushed by the external pressures of the world.

You are powerful. You are important. You are the great healers of the world.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

In addition to being a fiction author, I am also Publisher of Memento Vivere Press, a small independent press focused on authentic expression and stories that need to be told. Many of us have heard the phrase “memento mori” without realizing that there is another half to it. In Latin, the full phrase is “Memento Mori, Memento Vivere.” It loosely translates to “Remember you will die, so remember to live.”

Even when the world feels gray, we must live. Even when we don’t want to, even when it’s hard. I started Memento Vivere Press with Leo Otherland, my press partner and editor-in-chief, because we have a shared vision that stories keep people alive; they give a reason to live. Our press publishes these unique stories because we want to give them life.

When it seems like everything is colorless, we can choose to be our own color.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I think you only really need three things to be a writer: curiosity, a love of learning, and a pen.

A lot of people think that you need to word “writer” somewhere in your job title or your resume in order to be considered a writer. I’m here to respectfully challenge that thinking.

Being a writer only requires that you write. You can write about anything: trees, birds, that feeling of grogginess when you first get out of bed.

Some of my job titles in the past have included the word “writer,” “editor,” or some iteration of “publishing” in them, but many have not. I’ve written technical manuals, instruction booklets, press releases, web content, blogs, speeches, corporate presentations, meeting summaries, event programs — and much, much more. I’ve written poetry, fiction short stories, and now a fantasy novel.

Starting out, I didn’t know anything about writing any of these things. I believed that if I tried, I could learn how to do them, and I gave myself the grace to write really, really poorly and be proud of my terrible first drafts — before I moved on to try to refine them and make them better.

No one starts out an expert at their craft. We all start where we start, but it’s our curiosity and dedication to growth that helps us become stronger.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I’m always on the lookout for readers. One of the things, in particular, that I admire about readers of independently published books is that they are some of the most adventurous people on earth. They are treasure hunters, seeking books that they can’t find on the shelves in most places. They want to read about new kinds of heroes that don’t show up in mainstream literature. They crave plots and storylines that do not necessarily follow traditional formulas or structures; they want to read books that don’t fall neatly into genre categories.

As both an author and the publisher of a small independent press, I am looking for these spirited, adventurous book-lovers. Come see what we’re all about and discover what kinds of books are on the horizon, at mementoviverepress.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mementoviverepress.com
• Instagram: @ynesfreeman
• Other: Threads – @ynesfreeman
  LinkTree – https://linktr.ee/beautifulserpent

Image Credits

Beautiful Serpent, Restless Embers Cover Art and Design by Eben Schumacher Art
Beautiful Serpent, Restless Embers Character Art by Eben Schumacher
Memento Vivere Press logo designed by Elisha Bugg, Inkwolf Designs