Andrew Q. Gordon

Today, I am thrilled to welcome USA Today bestselling author Sarah K. L. Wilson to the Land of Make Believe! Sarah is the author of the YA fantasy series Dragon School. This is a wonderful series that I’m starting to share with ‘lil q. With twenty books already out in the series, we’ve got a long adventure ahead of us.

Sarah has stopped by today to share her delightful perspective on what we should also be seeking to achieve as writers.

So, without further ado…

What do you do for a living, Sarah?

Yesterday, someone asked me what I do for a living.

“I invent difficult problems and then find inventive solutions,” I said.

Storytellers through the ages have been inventing problems. How trapped can I make this character? If they find the perfect problem, it makes the best story possible.

Maybe it’s a cage dangling over a pit of lava – like in the comics I read as a kid – or maybe it’s a cage he has in his own mind. Maybe it’s a deadly form of magic he’s wielding, or a huge test that grinds out heroes and kills the rest.

Whatever your choice of problem there are two things that must be there: risk and adventure.

I read a short story about five years ago. I can’t tell you the name of the author or the names of the characters, but I remember the situation. It was a fantastic trap. The characters – I think it was one of those typical adventure parties: an elf, a dwarf, a human – were thrown from trap to trap in a robbery they were committing. Each attempt to grab the treasure only mired them further. It was fantastic. It stuck in my mind like clay on the sole of your boot.

Even better than interesting problems? Cunning solutions.

Not just any solution. Not Deus Ex Machina. The very best, most satisfying solution is the one that fits the problem perfectly. The one that stands it on its head. The one that turns the brain teaser from confusing to suddenly clear. The one that finally makes sense of that prophecy that you’ve been turning over in your head for fourteen books. (I’m looking at you, Robert Jordan!)

That’s not easy to do. But oh, do I love it when a great storyteller pulls it off!

I think that’s why I fell so hard for Terry Pratchett’s writing when I first read Carpe Jugulum in my teens. What a problem! Vampires loose in the castle! They’ve taken the king. They’ve taken the citizenry. They’ve taken the most powerful witch captive and turned her. How do you solve that problem?

I’d tell you, but it would hardly be fair to spoil such a great book. Those of you who read it are sipping your tea knowingly and smiling at the answer.

And that’s what I do, in a nutshell.

I write interesting fantasy problems. Problems involving magic and betrayal, flying dragons and raging Ifrits, characters with big flaws and bigger hearts.

And then I solve them. Sometimes elegantly. Sometimes with a metaphorical axe. Always in a way that satisfies.

Who wouldn’t want that job?

What’s your job? What interesting problems are you solving for the world? And can you, like a great storyteller, find ways to solve them better?

I hope that you can.

I hope that we all can.

Sarah K. L. Wilson is the bestselling author of Dragon School, a young adult fantasy series. You can find out more about her interesting problems and solutions at www.sarahklwilson.com  or join her fans in Discord for the real fun.