The Writer's Room is a monthly spotlight series from Studio Sonder, celebrating the writers in our community who show up, do the work, and keep taking messy action.

Each month, we sit down with a member to talk about their writing journey; where they started, what keeps them moving, and the process behind the page. It's an honest, unfiltered look at what it really means to be a rebellious writer.

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Let’s head to the Writer’s Room…

Introducing David Roland: Creative Rebel, Fantasy Author & Fiction Substack Writer

Before we get into the questions, tell us a bit about you.

Hi! I’m David. Husband, father, people-watcher, reader, nap-taker, story-teller, or story-WRITER, I guess. I’m much better at words when I’m writing them rather than speaking them.

What do you write about?

Hmmm? A lot, I guess. I’ve written picture books, fantasy, sci-fi, and surprise endings. Really, I guess I just write whatever my imagination comes up with, regardless of genre.

What are you currently working on?

My main project is a middle-grade/young-adult fantasy series.

Book One is called The Girl Witch, and Book Two is called The Last Troll.

The whole thing will be five or six books long. I don’t know the other titles just yet, but I’m sure they’ll come to me as I’m writing!

One line to describe your writing or voice

If possible, I try to say as much as I can with as few words as possible… trusting my readers to find their way. Oh, and hopefully, there is a surprise from time to time!

The Start: What pulled you into writing, and why Substack?

I started writing in elementary school, stories and little one-panel comics. I don’t know that there is a specific WHAT that got me writing… I guess I AM the what.

Writing and drawing have just always been a part of who I am. Inspiration comes from all around. People I see. Places. Dreams. Everything really.

Why Substack? I had no idea what that even was until fairly recently.

What I would like to happen is to find an agent or a publisher, which of course is a massive amount of work, but it became clear that I needed to put myself out there before ever even starting that process.

I joined Substack in November to see if there was any interest at all in what I was doing. I think it’s going well so far. Better than I imagined, that’s for sure.

The Reality: What does your writing life actually look like right now?

Chaos? I just counted. I have twenty-six separate Word Docs going for my series. Some are drafts, some are reference sheets, some are strictly world-building, some are brainstorming, outlines, images, and notes.

It’s a bit mad, but somehow it works. Oh wait, there’s more. I have five (at the moment) entries in the Notes App on my phone for ideas that come to me when I’m out, working in the yard, going to the bathroom, or something.

I use Pinterest too. It helps to have an image in my head of what my characters should dress in and what their world should look like. Even ideas that haven’t happened yet, because I know I’ll get there someday!

Preferably, I will have music! I have a Pandora station… scratch that… TWO Pandora stations that I listen to. One is more fantasy-heavy, if that makes sense: Enya, Sigur Rós, and epic soundtrack-type music. The other is more Viking and Norse-inspired. Heck, I listen to these even when I’m not writing sometimes.

The actual writing part… it depends. Sometimes it flows easily, just boom-boom-boom. Sometimes, though, I hit a small snag and need to know some random fact, like what kinds of plants or birds would be in the setting? What kind of castle should I use? How long does it take to grow cabbage? How long are goats pregnant?

I spend a lot of time on my series, doing odd research like that (which ends up in those Word docs I was talking about). If…or when rather…I hit a point where I feel stuck: I either go back and edit or scroll through Pinterest looking for ideas.

One thing that helps sometimes is to open a Word doc (which is part of the problem, since I have so many) and start writing as if I’m talking to myself about what I need the scene to do. Often, it helps if I can just SEE it in front of me, and I sort of talk/type my way through it.

See? It’s chaos.

Ideas: Where do your ideas come from, and how do you decide what’s worth writing?

That’s a hard one to answer. The ideas just sort of happen…all the time. It’s never forced. My mind just sort of naturally goes there. It WANTS to make stories…out of everything.

Sometimes there is a clear idea from start to finish. Other times, it might start with a premise, and the whole thing comes together like a set of building blocks. Heck, some ideas have even come out backwards!

I think for me it’s more a matter of deciding which ideas to pursue rather than where they come from. Also, it’s a matter of staying on any one long-term project long enough to actually finish it. It’s so tempting to be pulled in another direction when a new idea comes.

Consistency: How do you keep showing up, even when you don’t feel like it?

There is so much going on in my everyday real life that it’s almost crucial to write when I have the time.

Luckily, I am far enough in my series that there is always something to edit when I don’t feel inspired to move the story forward. This helps. A lot, actually. Even if all I do is correct some spelling mistakes and some atrocious grammar, it’s progress. Before I was to that point, I might just turn to Pinterest or research something that I know is coming.

An example is that there will be, much further along than I am now, a sort of mythical water creature in the series. I have spent hours trying to narrow down what it should be when I wasn’t writing. I think I have it by the way, a Selkie by the way, but don’t hold me to it because I might change my mind later.

Growth: How have you built your Substack so far?

At first, Substack was slow going, but it was still much better than I had hoped. When I first hit ten subscribers, then twenty, it felt incredible to have even just that many people in the world who wanted to read my words.

One day, I read a Substack piece about sorting/using the algorithm to your advantage. The advice was to include pictures with your notes, so I did exactly that.

It might sound silly, but I was very blunt about it. I posted some of the more random and weird photos on my phone with a caption that read, “apparently you’re supposed to be able to reach more people if you include photos with your notes. Here is a picture of… I hope this helps.”

My follower and subscriber count went up immediately. It was weird.

Besides that, it’s mostly just engagement. Commenting, re-stacking things, saying please and thank you…well, mostly thank you.

Oh, one good way to attract some attention is to have someone open a chat and ask for a post to read. It’s a great way not only to put yourself out there but also to find other people whose work you might like, too.

The Progress: What’s changed for you since you started?

What’s changed for writing is that, with the series especially, it’s gone beyond just telling a story. I’m invested. It would be a great disservice to have come all this way and not finish. At this point, those characters deserve it!

What’s for me on Substack? I won’t lie, the reason I went there in the first place was that I saw that agents and publishers look for that sort of thing. An online presence, so that’s what I showed up for.

It’s become much more than that, and I’m thankful for it. I’ve found a community of amazing people there who encourage and empathise with one another. People who build each other up. There’s a wonderful sense of cooperation and collaboration there.

For Other Writers: What would you say to someone who’s thinking about starting a Substack but hasn’t yet?

You have to engage. Really, that’s the key. It’s not enough to put something up and hope people see it. Put up some notes that show off your personality.

Oh, and I didn’t get this for a while, and maybe I still don’t do it all that well, but promote yourself. I don’t mean to keep saying how great you are; that’s silly, but if you post a story, post it again, post a quote from it.

If someone is kind enough to re-stack it, restack their restack and thank them.

Just be nice, I guess, and they’ll be nice back. Or at least they have for me.

The Studio: Has the Studio helped you with your writing in any way?

Absolutely! It was my first real taste of being a part of a creative community outside of my own mind.

Being with the Studio encouraged short little bursts of creative energy that I hadn’t really allowed myself before. While my mind was full of ideas, before arriving, I kept my focus pretty solely on my series.

It exercised creative muscles that I either wasn’t aware of or were sorely neglected.

Any success I have had with my flash fiction pieces on Substack, I think, is due, in large part, to the work and energy I put in here before I ever even found Substack.

The Studio was also the first place I felt comfortable enough to put any of my work out there to see. I gained a sense of confidence I hadn’t had before in my writing. I think that’s a huge part of it for me, the feedback and encouragement help tremendously.

The End: Share 2–3 favourite pieces…

Okay, I know you said 2-3, and I did four, but hear me out.

I have two flash fiction pieces for you:

Banquo and Margaret Ellen Lark.

Then, two from the fantasy series:

The Prologue and Oddlief and Astrit.

As I said, I’m working on my fantasy series. It got a bit tricky when I realised it was way too long, I mean WAY too long, so I had to lop it in half. That’s how I ended up working on both books one and two at the same time. I put a hold on finishing book two to edit book one.

Besides that, there are flash fiction pieces from time to time, usually one a week. Those will be as much a surprise to me as they are to you!

Before we part: Where can we find you?

Besides being a Creative Rebel here, I’m on Substack at @daroland.

I guess technically I have an Instagram account, though all I really do there is send weird things back and forth with my son.

I suppose if you’re interested in all the things I’m NOT doing there, it’s Instagram.com@greencheeeser.

Seriously, I have zero posted pictures there, so…

The Writer’s Room: with David Roland