Author Interview: S.C. VINCENT
S.C. Vincent is an American author of Fantasy, Horror, and Science Fiction. His upcoming fantasy novella, ‘Ys The Fallen’ releases on July 18th, 2022. You can find him here: https://linktr.ee/scvincent
What made you decide to sit down and start writing? What made you say to yourself "this is what I want to do"?
I’ve always been a creative person. I’ve enjoyed singing and drawing but ultimately, I hit a wall with where those two forms of expression could take me. My band broke up in college, as is often the case, and I wasn’t as good of an illustrator as my competition. But I still had that creative fire to tell stories.
One day I was sitting at my desktop, feeling rather unfulfilled, and a story came to mind. I spent the next several hours writing a one-hundred-page treatment that would eventually become my first novel, The Arcadian Destiny. During the writing process I quickly realized that I enjoyed writing more than any other type of work. In fact, I enjoy it so much that I would hardly call it work.
Is there a genre you don't write in that you are a fan of, that you might consider writing in one day? If so, which one?
Yes, normal fiction would probably be the most challenging for me. And because of that, that’s why it would be the most interesting. My settings are usually in some sort of fantasy land. When your setting is the real world and you must rely on the rules of the real world, there is no room for you to hide behind. Nothing you can make up. You have to do a lot of research on things you don’t know. I think in the future, when I have more experience, I would like to take this challenge.
Who are some of your favourite writers? Either inspirational or just for entertainment?
Hideyuki Kikuchi, Andrzej Sapkowski, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and L. Frank Baum.
We always hear the expression write what you know. How much of you is in your book/s?
I consider writing to be art, and so I put my soul into words. I try to share my beliefs in these stories. Yet at the same time there are moments where I try to step back and view things from other people’s perspectives. I understand the works to be the totality of my human understanding.
Are there any trends in current Sci-fi and Fantasy you aren't a big fan of? And conversely, trends you are really into.
Modern fantasy that has no positivity is something I’ve grown quite weary of. Where every single character is a bad person or has no redeeming qualities. I dislike this trend. I think exploring the complexity of human nature is more entertaining than simply having all the protagonists being villainous.
Conversely, I’m enjoying seeing the return of pulp style of writing in recent years. Where things are written more in line with tradition. The heroes are good, and the villains are bad. I think we live in times when such writing can be welcomed.
For any wannabe writers out there what’s the most useful thing you’ve learned?
Read a lot and practice writing. Don’t publish the first thing you write, like I did. Haha! Also, do a lot of research into what publication path you want to follow.
Are you a plotter or a pantser (make it up as you go)?
I’m a plotter. I find that being a pantser makes it easier to create consistency issues.
Tell us a little bit about your latest project and the challenges you’ve faced putting it all together?
My latest novella is called Ys The Fallen which releases July 18th, 2022. It’s inspired by and old French legend. I took some of the base elements of the story and turned it into an enthralling fantasy story. Here is a quick blurb to give you a taste of what my book is about:
She has a curse. He has scales.
The Kingdom of Ys has been cursed by the Devil, a mighty dragon who seeks celestial conquest. As Princess Dana, one of the last acolytes of a forgotten church, scours the Dracon Lands hoping to find help for her people, she stumbles upon a giant egg. A handsome man named Ru, who has supernatural abilities, breaks free from the shell.
They set forth on a journey to free Ys of the curses by slaying the Devil, all the while facing Dana’s evil sister and her insidious machinations. But before the apocalyptic battle begins, they first face their own inner turmoil. Ru confronts his relation to the dragon and his contradictory tendency towards good. Dana treads the line between love and lust as she struggles to remain moral in a fallen world.
Can the curses be broken? Or will their relationship be broken first? The bells of Ys must ring.
The fight for salvation begins now!
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I hope the work sounds interesting to you and you check it out! To answer the latter half of the quest, the most difficult part of putting this book together compared to my last would be publishing through both amazon and ingramspark. Previously I only published through amazon, so I’ve had to learn how to do both without causing problems.
What’s your favourite fantasy/sci-fi franchise?
This is a tough one! But I really like Vampire Hunter D and The Wizard of Oz books.
