Author Spotlight: Emily Huffman

• creator of worlds, cosplayer, and gamer

Readers, let’s give a good, hearty welcome to this week’s guest!

Emily Huffman is the author of The Shattered Trilogy, an epic fantasy series releasing beginning in March 2022. Before becoming an author, she worked in fraud—but now she leaves stopping the bad guys to her characters.

If she’s not writing, you might find her cosplaying at various conventions, playing Dungeons and Dragons, or playing video games/board games!

Emily, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most interviews start off with the boring stuff, but I know what readers REALLY want to know.

If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?

I’m assuming we also don’t have to worry about getting eaten — I would love a dire wolf! I always imagine them as giant puppies and they are SO fluffy! Admittedly, there are a lot of puppy behaviors that would probably be terrifying on a huge wolf (dire wolf teething? No thank you!), but it’s always been one of my favorite types of animal companions.

What a great choice! A dog, only turned up to eleven.

What do you write? And how did you get started?

I write epic fantasy. I started out when I was a kid in middle school. My teacher gave me an open-ended prompt about being stuck on a deserted island, and a couple weeks later, I had 20,000 words written and the start of a (admittedly very bad) shifter academy story. I ended up sick and bed-bound most of that summer and used the time to finish my first book!

High school, college, and the corporate world happened and steered me away from writing for a bit, but after learning how much more accessible self-publishing is today vs 10 years ago, I was reinvigorated to start writing again.

So glad you found you way back to writing!

What do you like to read?

Everyone says write what you love to read, since you’ll be reading your own story a million times! I definitely took that advice. Anything fantasy and magical I will give a shot, but I have always preferred the scope and intensity in epic fantasy books.

Recently, I have been doing a lot of beta reading for other authors looking to start out their careers. It’s opened me up to a lot of new genres and types of books I wouldn’t normally pick up, and I’m starting to enjoy Urban Fantasy and Fantasy romance a lot more than I used to!

I’ve found my reading opening up to more genres, myself. And definitely — beta-reading is a great way for early looks at great, new writers.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you

Anything to do with outlining.

I’ve tried all sorts of advice, different ways to approach it, different outlining structures… every time it’s like pulling teeth! Nothing gets the ideas on the page the same way ass just sitting down and writing the book, surprising myself with every new chapter.

Oooh — a true pantser! Write away.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that works for you

Understand the rules before you break them.

Yes, it’s your story. Yes, you can do anything you want. But the writing rules and advice people give exist for a reason, and understanding the thought process behind why people suggest what they do will help you to subvert it and break it in ways that avoid pitfalls and still create a satisfying, engaging reader experience.

One-hundred percent! Before you can successfully break a rule, you need to understand what it was meant to do. Some people can do it instinctively, but for most of us — we’ve gotta learn the rules first.

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Shameless Self-Promotion time!

Book 2 of Emily’s Shattered World series comes out June 24th! Check her amazon account for other Shattered World

Shattered Souls (Book 1: The Shattered Trilogy)

Blaine thought being a hero meant saving lives, having bards write songs about his great deeds, and resting easy at night knowing he had made the world a better place.

Not being chased across the continent by a monster from another world.

A monster he watched crawl out of a portal in his dreams.

With the Shard hunting him and his friends, Blaine must go searching for answers on how to defeat the creature. Will Blaine and his friends prevail, or will the Shard continue its rampage?

Shattered Hearts (Book 2: The Shattered Trilogy)

After defeating the Shard, Blaine and his friends begin learning how to use their gifts from the Goddess and searching for the Lamentation of Magic.

But Glisenia has other plans, and they must act quick if they are to keep the barrier between worlds from falling.

Check out Emily Huffman across the web!

Website | Facebook | Discord | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon