We were lucky to catch up with Amber Royer recently and have shared our conversation below.
Amber, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I think all of us go through hard times, and you can either let those challenges tear you down, or you can learn from them. I think I’ve been able to do that throughout my life, despite suffering personal loss and disappointment. You learn that no matter how bad things seem, you CAN get through them, and that days will come where there’s hope and even joy. I have had issues with anxiety for most of my adult life, and learning to cope with that has helped give me techniques for coping with emotional crisis moments — especially those that come from setbacks.
As a writer becoming a published author, there’s a lot of rejection built into the process — whether you traditionally publish or go indie. Part of it is a learning curve. You have to write a book that is good enough that an editor is going to pick it out of a stack of manuscripts and say, “This one speaks to me.” It doesn’t mean the others are badly written — just that THAT book has something special. And getting comfortable with your own voice can be difficult. When I first started writing, I went for a heavy, literary tone to my work. In college, I had several professors tell me that I should try writing for children, as my work felt like I was trying to force it into a mold where I, as a writer, didn’t fit. I’m stubborn, so I went on trying to write work that would sound like what I thought good literature should be — only, it kept coming out stilted. My first several manuscripts were unmitigated disasters. It took me a while to realize that I could use the intent of the advice my professors had given me — to embrace the light, playful aspects of my writing voice — for the kind of writing I wanted to do. That’s why my work is either outright humor (my Chocoverse books are humorous space opera) or that has lighter elements (such as my cozy mysteries, which definitely have playful moments.)
Resilience can also require humility. My next couple of manuscripts got interest from agents and editors off of the query and the partial (basically the idea and the opening chapters). But once they requested the full manuscript, I quickly got rejections. This went on for a number of years — until an agent sat me down and pointed out that I was sending out the manuscripts about two drafts too soon, and that I needed to study structure. At the moment, that felt devastating. I quit writing for a time, convinced my work would never be good enough. But I realized that writing actually helped my mental health, whether it was publishable or not, and I got back to writing for me, creating the type of books I would love to read. And I got over the idea that I was supposed to get by on raw talent. I studied books on structure. I put in the time to do substantial revision. And eventually, I started producing publishable work.
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?
I write both science fiction and cozy mysteries. I love both of these genres, for very different reasons. Science fiction allows me to exercise my imagination to the full, to create entire worlds and species of aliens, to explore technology and new ideas. During and coming out of the pandemic, though, I found myself leaning more into the world I had created for my cozies. I think that’s because cozies lean into the protagonist’s community, building on the character’s family and network of friends, who often become fan favorites.
Both of my main series focus on chocolate. 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 novela star who’s run halfway across the galaxy to escape the paparazzi, only to be forced to come home and become a spokesperson for Earth. She has to play nice with the company that may have had her father killed, if she can have any hope of stealing a viable cacao pod, o that she can share chocolate with the aliens before there’s a war over it. There’s a lot in these books about not worrying overmuch about what others think of you, a personal arc for me as an author and in my personal life that comes through in Bo’s adventures.
While researching the Chocoverse books, I met so many real-world chocolate makers, chocolatiers and cacao farmers. So when I decided to do a mystery series, it was obvious: I needed a craft chocolate maker sleuth. Felicity Koerber is a much quieter protagonist that Bo. At the beginning of the Bean to Bar Mysteries series, she is a recent widow, who has returned home to Galveston, Texas to open a chocolate business in memory of her late husband. It had been their dream to travel the world with purpose, sourcing cacao and making friends, after her husband’s retirement. Only, now that she’s on her own, she has to find a way to make her dreams her own, and to move forward into the next chapter of her life. There’s the potential for a second-chance romance, and for success for her business, just as soon as she’s ready for it. In the first book, Grand Openings Can Be Murder, one of her employees is murdered at the Greetings and Felicitations grand opening party. Felicity finds herself drawn into uncovering what happened, and finds she actually likes the puzzle-solving aspects of detective work. The sixth Bean to Bar Mystery (Something Borrowed, Something 90% Dark) came out in September. The seventh book (tentatively titled A Chocolate is Announced) is due out this spring.
I’m also working on a few other projects, including one that required a research trip to Kona, Hawaii to visit coffee farms and learns about coffee production on the island.
As a writing instructor and author coach, I love seeing clients embrace their own voices and tell stories that mean something to them personally. 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. Which means that likely they won’t remember your book. I am teaching my 6-unit Novel Writing class through UT Arlington Continuing Education again this year, starting in January. I am also taking on a few new author coaching clients. If you want a more do-it-yourself approach, I also have a writer’s workbook/textbook that includes worksheets for each writing concept. Story Like a Journalist takes lessons from the journalism classroom and applies them to building a vivid novel.
I am happy to address library groups or visit with book clubs or writer’s groups. I speak about writing, creativity, and chocolate.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Time Management — I talk to so many people who want to write a book, but they have no time frame for when they want to have a finished draft. Whatever project you are trying to accomplish (writing or otherwise), going in without a plan vastly increases the chances of not completing it. This is why the various novel-in-a-month programs are so effective. You have a specific word count you have to achieve every day in order to have a complete manuscript at the end of the month. There’s a handy chart to measure progress. Writing at that rate every day indefinitely would not be sustainable for many people, but you can use the same scheduling techniques to write a novel in a year (basically a page a day to have an average-length book at the end of the year.) You just need to have a daily or weekly goal, and set aside realistic amounts of time to achieve it. Don’t set the goal too high for your given circumstances — if you set yourself up for failure, you’re less likely to try again later. But do set it where you can challenge yourself.
Empathy — Fiction writing is about being able to see the world through someone else’s eyes. Empathy is a key to writing relatable characters — even secondary characters and antagonists. If you can’t empathize with the plight of your characters, how can you expect a reader to do so? If you can only empathize with the heroic characters, the narrative becomes lop-sided and it feels like the world around them is peopled with cardboard cutouts. Even if you’re not writing, empathy is a skill that helps diffuse confrontation and improve quality of life in any setting. I like doing an exercise with my writing classes that takes them from dealing with an irate customer (where they play a stressed out store clerk) to empathizing with WHY that customer is so on edge. It shows the students the emotional power of story, as all of us have a story we’ve lived.
Speaking Skills — Many writers are introverts. (I’m not — give me a microphone and a room full of people, and I’m ready to entertain.) But speaking and interacting with readers is something writers need to do at conferences, workshops and book signings. And, for those who don’t do it in person, most writers use the same skills when being personable on social media, either in video form, or when writing captions. Even if you’re not a writer, speaking skills come in handy for everything from customer service to pitching business ideas. Focus on getting comfortable with your material — if you know it well, you’ll be less nervous about forgetting particular points. And practice on a receptive audience, such as friends or family. If they have constructive criticism, listen and see if there are valid points to apply.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
I am a huge fan of writing manuals, and different ones have helped me at different stages of my career. As a new writer, Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott was helpful in the broad what-is-this-writing-art sense (as opposed to more technical books that helped later, to develop my understanding of different aspects of craft).
Bird By Bird is about giving yourself permission to see yourself as a writer, and to embrace your own creativity.
One of the most important lessons is about the purpose of a first draft. Many writers put too much pressure on themselves to create a perfect first draft, and that is why some get caught up in re-writing the first chapter or the first scene over and over. If you view the first draft as playful — and Anne emphasizes the idea that NOBODY HAS TO SEE IT — then you can develop the idea enough to know what the beginning should be, based on how you end the piece.
Another thing that has stuck with me is the idea that you have to respect your reader — that they will know when you are “faking it.” You have to trust your readers to be intelligent, and not to want to be talked down to. You have to trust yourself to tell the story only you can tell — with conviction despite the fear that comes with being honest.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://amberroyer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberroyerauthor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Amber.Royer.Author/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/amber-royer-author
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/amber_royer
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AmberRoyer
