In this feature, I ask a fellow author seven questions about their lives and their work. My hope is that it will help you grow more acquainted with their talents and personalities, their work, and their love of the written word. This week, we’ve got the author of The Seven Generals series, S.G. Blinn!
1. You’ve been writing since grade school, so I wonder: have any of those early stories/ideas found their way into the work you do now?
Yes they have! All of my very early works are what I imagined would happen to me in certain situations. What if Dragons were real? What if I fell in love with a vampire? What if I remembered all my past lives? Many of the characters have made appearances in my published books. For example, in Rebellion (Book 1 of the Seven Generals) I imagined what it would be like to have a bunch of older brothers. What if they were demons and caused a lot of trouble? Would they look out for me or would I have to look out for myself? I took that mind set and made Dinah, the only female and youngest General. Did they look out for her? Well, that is up for debate.
2. We met at Imaginarium 2023. Like all cons, Imaginarium can be a whirlwind of activity and interactions, but meeting you stood out because your excitement felt contagious. Do you find those sorts of events energizing or does 3 days of being “on” wear you down?
I am an emotional wreck filled with anxiety and terror before every con. My mind is my worst enemy. I am terrified of not being prepared and so afraid I will never be good enough to be worthy of such an opportunity. It takes my team weeks to hype me up and remind me that I love my craft to get my butt through the door. While I am doing the event, all the worry and fear melts away and I am in love with the experience. My mind is captured in the moment and never allows those negative thoughts to enter. But, when it is over, that panic starts creeping back in. Questions flood my mind: Did I come on too strong and scare people away? Did I over share my disabilities to try and relate to others in similar situations? Did I not give my readers enough time to talk or did I make them wait too long?
Fun fact, I had been walking by your book in the cage display for those few days and wanted to tell you how awesome it was! But I was afraid to scare you. I wanted to hop over there to tell you how much I loved your cage. My husband told me to stop overthinking it and make a friend. I finally listened to him and skipped a few tables over. I am so glad I did!!
3. You, your kind husband, and your kiddos live in Massachusetts which has a dark and mysterious past littered with events which lend themselves to horror. How has living there influenced you as a writer?
When you are submerged into the dark and spooky, you can’t help but be inspired. I grew up surrounded by talented writers and artists who worked in the horror genre for many years. Their homes would be filled with monsters that I found fascinating from a very early age. I loved to read the good and the bad of the darkest parts of our history and its influences. The Salem Witch Trials, Lizzie Borden, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, and the ghost stories that slowly trickled into local folklore. I noticed a theme starting to develop. All the ‘monsters’ are someone who is sad, or misunderstood to the point where something happened. I wanted to capture that ‘villain’ and make the reader fall in love. I wanted to create a chaos that would consume the mind. I wanted the reader to find a pause and see what I saw in the one everyone feared. Growing up here made it so I love to be scared and look forward to what goes bump in the night.
4. Tell readers about your Seven Generals series and why they should check it out.
In the world of the forbidden, I want you to fall in love with the villain. Heaven, Hell, and everyone in-between will be invited. Why choose one Hellion General to hate (or love)? I will give you seven. Seven morally corrupt individuals who were bred for war. Their mission was to destroy everything; they succeeded. This fast-paced, thrilling, dark urban fantasy series explores a dysfunctional family on their road to redemption. Individuals will hunt them, lust for them, and even try to rehabilitate them. Will anyone succeed? There can only be one ending. A finale when the world goes silent. The only question that you should consider is who will survive. Are you ready?
5. Each of us carves our own unique path through writing and publications. I find that the more I learn, the more there is to learn. What’s a lesson you learned the hard way that you hope new writers are able to avoid?
Burnout is real and almost destroyed everything I worked so hard to build. I have been writing for over 20 years but the pressure to keep pushing out products led me to release 4 stories in 2022. That meant I had very little sleep, a lot of caffeine and a stressful writing, editing, and release schedule. I was also learning social media and was pushing out content every day across five platforms. It got to the point I hated everything. To do what you love is a wonderful thing but to do it to the point where you hate it, made me take a pause. I know readers want the next story and I will deliver it to them but never at the expense of the quality of the story or my health. Being honest with myself, my needs, my family’s needs, and my business expectations lead me to find a better balance for everyone. Just because someone can publish out a book every 3 months, doesn’t mean that you have too as well.
6. Which of your characters do you most identify with and why?
I identify with the characters who struggle with self love. Each character I write will go through an arc of feeling lost to finding where they are meant to be. Some will find that self love through another person, an action, or self sacrifice for a cause they truly believe in. I struggle every day with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. During my childhood, I felt like an outsider and how every mistake I made was the reason I shouldn’t be here anymore. It took a single person, my husband, to help me find that self love I had been missing. To accept who I am and how it is okay to be different. Now, every bad thought that runs through my head, I create a character. That character will go through the motions and find that self love. It is a creative tool I use to manage my darkness and show others that as long as you love yourself, you will be okay.
7. Tell folks where they can find you online and on social media.
I feel like I am everywhere and nowhere all at once:
IG: @sgblinn
Threads: @sgblinn
Tiktok: @authorsgblinn
Email: sgblinn@sgblinn.com
Website: www.sgblinn.com
Big thanks to S.G. Blinn for her time and insight into her work. I encourage you to check her out on social media and give her work a shot at your TBR pile.
