Q & A with author Brae Wyckoff and San Diego Writers Festival

SDWF: Which writers have influenced you most?

BW: CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, RA Salvatore
I guess I need to have my author name changed to letters; BW Wyckoff. 

 SDWF: What do you wish you’d known before you started out as a writer?

BW: Encouragement is the elixir of life for writers. I wish I had known that early on and I would have found a group of people to pour into me with encouragement. To be clear, I don’t mean motherly encouragement but praise with critique. As a creative, we require praise, but we also need to have good solid feedback to help us to improve. I look at the Inklings in Oxford who met for over 17 years. Out of that group emerged two authors with great literary works we all cherish today. Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia have changed the world, but they would have never come to life without a group of people reading and critiquing the work together. They would never have been published without the encouragement they received from one another.

 SDWF: How has storytelling changed your life?

BW: Storytelling is the heart of mankind. It changes everyone’s lives. Every day we all long to hear a great story. We ask each other how our weekends are and in that simple question, we are waiting to see if it was something special. We talk about movies, songs, and of course books. Why? Because as humans there is something inside of us longing to tell and hear stories. We were designed for it. We are part of a larger story and all of our individual stories add to that main story. God’s story. He is the author and finisher of our faith. 

In life we also have editors. Two editors in fact. One is the editor of this world we live in. We can follow the ways of this world such as trying to climb the ladder, get famous, have tons of money, OR, we can be edited by God. Follow His ways and let Him be the influence in our life instead of the world’s influence on us. Guess what? God doesn’t mind us being rich and famous or becoming influential in our workplace. It’s the heart that matters. Our heart desire is for Him, not the world. Our heart is for others, not ourselves.

 SDWF: Is there a line from your piece you’d be willing to share? (opening sentence(s) or something that gives flavor of the piece?)

BW: I’m working on a new book called The Embalmer. It’s a horror/thriller and the opening line is: “This wasn’t the first time I attempted to raise someone from the dead.”

This genre will be a new genre for me and I’m excited to explore this story with everyone. I plan on getting embalmers and embalming companies to endorse the book. I’m having a blast researching the ins and outs of this grotesque process that bodies go through after death. I have shared the story concept to many and all of them are excited about the end result. I love seeing the eyebrows go up and that surprised shocked look on their face as I walk them through The Embalmer. I hope to have it released in 2021.

 SDWF: Is there anything else you’d like to share?

BW: In a publishing world of a million books being released each year, it is quite apparent that people are longing to be heard. With self-publishing opening the hope and possibility for others to be published we have seen a tremendous influx of books. Most, unfortunately, not very good books. Ultimately, people are wanting to be heard and they think that by publishing their book they will. Without marketing and without a platform their book will only go so far. Mainly friends and family. Most books will sell 250 copies or less and only less than 5% of self-published will rise higher than that. The average author makes $10K or less per year. This is a crazy industry to be in and it takes perseverance and faith to walk it out. I encourage you to pursue your dream to write. You have to be diligent in working your craft as a writer. Get training. Get insight. Get wisdom. Ultimately, get writing. The more you write the better you get. It’s time for you to catch up to your destiny and don’t let your dream fall off that cliff to perish in the Valley of Death. 

Interview with Author Brae Wyckoff

Q & A with author Brae Wyckoff and San Diego Writers Festival

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