I actually discovered Roslyn Sinclair before I knew she was Roslyn Sinclair.
I first knew her as Telanu, as a fanfiction writer. I stumbled upon her ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ fanfiction one day, and before I knew it, I was hooked. To date it’s been the only fanfiction I’ve really enjoyed. But now’s not the time to fangirl over that, so I’ll just say… I was so happy when I discovered she’d written more books! The X Ingredient in particular is a personal favourite of mine, and I can’t wait to read all the rest of her books in time!
Roslyn very kindly agreed to be interviewed for Sapphic Fiction February, and I’ve loved hearing about how she came to be a writer. Although I have to disagree with her thoughts on celery… read on to know what I’m talking about!!
Introduce yourself! Tell us a little bit about you - who are you, and what do you do?
I'm a longtime writer who got her start in fanfiction over twenty years ago, and I've since published eight books. I now live outside Philadelphia with my wonderful wife, who's also a writer, and I work in higher education.
What made you want to sit down and write your first book?
Honestly? A breakup! I took the negative energy from that relationship and decided to invest it in something I'd always wanted to do: writing original work. From that, I self-published a four book romance series (that was NOT based on said relationship). I'm proud of it to this day.
How do you develop your plots and characters?
Character-wise, my last four books were originally based on fanfiction, so I was working with pre-existing characters. As any fanfic writer knows, fanfiction comes with its own challenges, including keeping everyone "in character" since the characters are effectively fandom property and everybody's got an opinion on them. When I changed my books into original work, I had a lot more room to play--in particular, The X Ingredient is completely different from the original fanfic. Now I'm writing a book from the ground up with all new characters that are mine...all mine! I'm getting to know them as we go along, and I'm liking them more and more, which is a good sign. As for my plots, I wish I could tell you how they work. I swear they fall on my head like Newton's apple.
Which of your characters do you relate to the most, and why?
Probably Diana Parker from The X Ingredient. I wrote that book shortly after I'd gone on my own coming out journey, and there's a lot of me in her. Unlike Diana, I was overjoyed to come out and say my truth, but it was still a long and overwhelming process.
Has your own writing ever made you cry?
Oh yes. No spoilers, but I cried writing a certain scene in The Lily and the Crown that makes readers cry as well to this day. If you know, you know. If you don't, you can always pick up the book and find out...
Does anyone you know in real life read your books?
Yes! My wife, obviously, and my sisters. But I keep my parents away from my books. Far, far away from them.
Imagine your book, or one of your books, was made into a film. Who would play the lead roles?
Oh man, I've thought about this. Zendaya would play Ariana Geiker from The Lily and the Crown. There are a lot of possibilities for Mir, but I think Rachel Weisz would absolutely kill it.
When you’re not writing, what do you do to relax?
I like to listen to music (usually the same song over and over until I get sick of it!), read whatever catches my fancy, try new restaurants and recipes, and kill time on the Internet.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given with regards to being an author?
You've got to make time to write, and you've got to stick to it. Spare time for writing will not drop into your lap like a gift from the gods. Schedule it.
How about in general life?
Even happy people benefit from therapy.
What is a motto you live by?
"Write it down."
How can people connect with you?
Newsletter: here.
Twitter: @WritingRoslyn
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writingroslyn/
Finally a light-hearted one. If you were a sandwich, what sandwich would you be?
Tuna salad with celery. No relish: CELERY. You need the crunch.
I strongly disagree with celery. Bleurgh. Cucumber every time.
If you enjoyed this interview, then make sure you’re following my social media accounts (@kblakemanwriter on Twitter and @katherineblakemanwriter on Instagram) to get all the latest updates! And if you want to support my own Sapphic Fiction journey while you’re here, my new novel The Summer We’ve Had is available now!