Odin Oxthorn
A chronically bored spooky creature, Odin dabbles in a strange array of interests to keep their wandering brain in check. When not writing under the influence of caffeinated drinks and sugary snacks, Odin can be found escaping reality with video games or getting their fingers tangled in a mess of threads and needles.
Interview:
1. Will you tell us about your most recent published work?
Sure! Sleepless Flame is a mission-style cyberpunk thriller featuring a nonbinary protagonist. The story follows Nara, an alien war criminal turned mercenary who is trying to live a quiet life. It gets complicated when the heir of the largest biotech company (which also happens to have a sizeable bounty on her head) interrupts a heated conflict she was dealing with in the dangerous underground. Now she is stuck with a starry-eyed admirer and a hefty ethical choice.
2. What personal challenges do you face as a writer?
Trying to find the best methods to keep productive. I find myself easily distracted, so when I block off large chunks of time to focus on writing, I find my brain trailing off elsewhere.
3. What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
Translating combat scenes from plays in my head to words that can convey the actions for a reader to understand.
5. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
It gave me a clearer idea of how to structure phases of editing, and the timing for all the lovely business side of things. I have a better understanding of my abilities and how long it would reasonably take me to complete a work.
6. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have? Will you tell us about them?
-nervous cackling- Uhm. Well. Let’s give it a nice round number of 20. I am working on five other books in the Sleepless Flame series. A trilogy from one of the supporting characters. Splinter stories from other secondary characters. That’s just *that* universe. I have other works in other genres including a medieval horror and a dieselpunk.
7. Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
I do read my reviews, but I have the understanding that this is the reviewer’s space, not mine. Bad reviews happen, as well as readers who don’t jive with the work you are presenting. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and you just have to know that you can’t please everyone.
8. Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
There are a few puzzle pieces that require the context of the whole story to understand, but as for Easter eggs? Not really.
10. If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
Bruh, just spit it out. A lot’s gonna hold you back.
11. What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Being stuck in your own head and getting overwhelmed with the tasks required to publish a book.
12. What’s the best way to market your books?
I have yet to discover this myself. A lot of it is luck, a lot of it is networking. It is hard to make yourself known. Just be patient and make friends with the community. You will find a lot of kindred spirits there to help you out. Just don’t forget to return the favors too.
13. What is your favorite childhood book?
I read C. J. Cherryh’s Chanur’s Legacy pretty much constantly in middle school. I also read a lot of nonfiction when I was little. Mostly books on animals and science. (I retained absolutely none of that information and still to this day have no idea why I was fixated on them.)
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