A E Bross
Fantasy, character focused writing, and complex emotions/experiences
Hello folks!
As people will be seeing, Chaos Gays is gradually starting to produce posts again. Your very own Chaos Gay is currently doing this with a dislocated shoulder, so please forgive me any small mistakes. However I’m delighted to share my recent interview with A E Bross.
A.E. Bross is a nonbinary, genderfluid indie author interested in fantasy in all of its forms, as well as romance, science fiction, and horror. When not getting lost in their writing, they are an academic librarian, passionate about open education resources and information literacy. They reside in the mountains beyond the Greater New York area with their spouse, kiddo, and two feline grandchildren. For 2024 they've decided to take the year to write and will be bringing the next book in the Sands of Theia series to publishing in 2025.
This interview was a lot of fun, as they always are, and A E Bross was very kind in response to my various delays! Without further ado…
Chaos Gays: I always tend to start very general, so can you tell me and readers a little about the sort of things you write?
AEB: Sure. On a broad genre scale, I write primarily works of fantasy, and while the Sands of Time series is a work of general fantasy, my other works fall into more subgenres, such as pirate fantasy, romantasy, modern fantasy, and even some paranormal romance. Sands of Theia is actually a 5 book series that follows a young woman trying to navigate a world that's actively hostile towards her for her magic, which is forbidden outside of certain circumstances. Meanwhile my pirate fantasy novella is about a privateer who just wants to ask her significant other to marry her, but all sorts of magic and adventure get in her way. Meanwhile, my modern romantasy/paranormal romance very much deals with time-travel and how dangerous magic can be.
Zooming in a bit, I'm a very character-driven author, so a lot of my writing is concerned primarily with the main character or characters and how they are interacting with and navigating the situations and environs they find themselves in. For this reason I actually really enjoy exploring—and sometimes subverting—storytelling tropes, because it's always fascinating to see what decisions characters will make and what consequences await them for those decisions.
I also have main themes I like to explore a lot. Much of that centers around family and relationships (platonic, romantic, and otherwise) as well as representations of neurodivergence and diversity. I think there's so much to explore there in any setting that I wind up including it in much of what I write. Plus, pretty much all of the characters in the casts are queer. As a queer individual, it's important for me to have that rep in there too.
Chaos Gays: I heard pirate fantasy, oh no I'm in danger! I love the character-driven aspects that you describe, so can you tell me a little about the process of creating characters? Is there any particular character type you're drawn to writing, or any particular way you construct the narrative around the important people?
AEB: Pirate fantasy has far and away been the most fun to right AND the most research I had to do, even though I set it in a fantasy world!
Character creation is a fun one. Most, if not all, of my stories start with the main character. Before I have a real plot or anything else. Perhaps it's better to say it starts with the vague idea of an event. To be honest, I'm not sure I can put a fine point on it, but basically it'll be very much me thinking, "What if this event happened?" coupled with, "What kind of person might this happen to?"
Nine times out of ten, a character sort of springs to mind and blossoms from there. I wish I had a more clear or logical way of describing it sometimes, but it just sort of happens for me.
The world and the plot then usually come from that main character. For example, using Tirzah from the Sands of Theia series, I knew the character had forbidden magic, so then there had to be an environment that in some way or another forbid said magic. So that brought about the god-kings and their somewhat authoritarian monarchical rule (I say somewhat because the god-kings have something similar to city-states, and each god-king rules a bit differently).
As for character types, I'm not sure if I have one specific type. For example, Tirzah is a bi cis woman with magic, who is intelligent, curious, and tends to blame herself for things going awry. Green (also a main character from the Sands of Theia series) is a more stoic warrior type, who has a lot of experience but not much book-learning. Meanwhile, for my modern romantasy, the main character Darius is withdrawn, introverted, and doesn't want to be drawn into anymore excitement or danger.
Constructing the narrative, for me at least, is very much about constructing that first event and then following the characters as they navigate the fallout from that first event and how it leads to the next, then the next. It's exploration and discovery in the most rewarding ways, sometimes.
Chaos Gays: It seems like there's a wide range of work that you cover. You mentioned similar themes, which I'll ask about in a moment, but is there anything else that you feel carries across all of your work, that things written by you have in common?
AEB: Open and flagrant acceptance of LGBTQIA+ identities. That's the one thing I have made it a point to carry across all of my writing. I made a decision to not depict a lot of the depths of bigotry (at least where this particular identity is concerned) in my writing because the real world is so filled with it. I do have brief mention of bi and demi erasure in my modern romantasy, but those were deliberately depicted not only as rare but also unacceptable. I want everyone who comes to my books to know that all genders and sexualities are welcome.
Chaos Gays: I really love that. So you mentioned that you talk a lot about diversity of all different kinds, and that you often have a strong focus on relationships and bonds. What about that particular theme or topic makes it appeal to you when writing?
AEB: Oooo, that's a good question.
I think a lot of it stems from not seeing myself in fiction for a very long time. I was, and am, a voracious reader of many, many genres. I never really noticed it when reading, but there are so many books out there that really villify, or at the very least detract from, things like being neurodivergent or LGBTQIA+. While this has been changing a lot in the last fifteen years or so, many of my formative years were much earlier than that, and a lot of what I read just didn't have any real spectrum of anything outside of "traditional" ideas like blood family being important above all else, heteronormative relationships being the "right" ones, and those who didn't think and conform to the societal norm when it came to how they thought were considered weird and meant to be ostracized. I think that's why it is so important that I explore found families, why I want to write all sorts of relationships, and why having representation for different neurotypes are all so deeply tied to my writing.
Chaos Gays: It sounds like representation has been very important to you. So, as a fun question, is there anything you personally share with one or some of your characters? An interest, a hobby? Alternatively, is there anything that writing them has made you research and/or be more interested in?
AEB: Amusingly, I think sometimes I give some characters hobbies or interests that I'm interested in, but not very good at. For example, Tirzah is a really great artist, to the point where she draws accurate maps. I want to be a really great artist, but my own talent isn't where I'd like it to be. I just live vicariously through Tirzah's sketching.
As for the researching aspect, a lot of the time I think it causes me to be less interested! I'll find out how much more involved something is than what I first thought and think, "Hmm, maybe that isn't for me."
Chaos Gays: I love that. What is fiction for, if not to explore things that are outside of our own experiences? So, is there anything in writing that has hindered you, or that you feel like was a sticking point for your creativity in the midst of the process of writing?
AEB: Probably a few things. First, I really had to understand that it was okay to have my own way of writing things. For a long time I was reading every single "this is the best way to write" or "top ten things all writers should do" article out there and panicking that it wasn't how I did it. There was a lot of trial and error to find what worked for me, and more anxiety than I'd like. Nowadays I have to very much remind myself that those articles are meant to help and that because none of them help me doesn't mean that I'm doing it wrong.
Another aspect was definitely the approach to writing. 10-15 years ago, I was a plotter to the core, and outlined everything in detail. However, it started to work less and less, and eventually I had to admit that my brain was changing how it wanted to write. I was stuck for a bit there, before I would let myself try anything else. Then for a while I was full-on just flying by the seat of my pants when I wrote. I'm slowly swinging back to plotting much more, but it's all an ebb and flow and giving myself space to do that means it doesn't get in the way of writing.
Chaos Gays: You say your process and how you write has changed over the years, but has WHAT you write changed or adapted at all?
AEB: I've always written fantasy, but I think in the last ten years I've included a lot more exploration of relationships in it. I'd say romance, but I've also been diving deeper into platonic and familial. I think, years and years ago, I was much more plot-driven, but along the way things have changed to being much more about the characters. Of course the plot is still important, but I like the depth I'm finding more and more in my writing. I am also working on some genres outside of fantasy, such as science fiction and horror, but fantasy is my first love so I think, to some degree, I will always be writing in it.
Chaos Gays: In that case, going forward, are there things you WANT to work on or do? That could be genres, representation, relationships or bonds you haven't featured, storylines (without giving away your ideas!) that you want to tackle?
AEB: Well, I will say that I'm working on a cyberpunk retelling of Snow White, which will have a neurodivergent MC, a trans femme MC, AND explore more ace/aro spectrum rep. I'm really looking forward to that one. I also have a modern horror WIP which I've had an on-again-off-again relationship with for the past 10 years or so. I really want to dive into that one, though I'm not sure if it's ready to come off the shelf yet!
Chaos Gays: All of these sound so fun! With writing all of these complex life experiences, it makes me curious about the way you write emotion in your characters, and how you handle all of the complicated tangles that can come with writing characters with depth. Is there anything that, for you, helped you to do that? To give your characters and their bonds the required depth?
AEB: I think a lot of it comes from reading. Among many things, I'm a researcher at heart, and even before utilizing it for fiction, I did a lot of reading about relationships and mental health issue and just how brains work. Growing up, I didn't understand or catch a lot of what went on in interactions. My autistic brain just isn't wired for it. I also had a lot of experiences in my family that didn't match up to what modern media said was how family should be. So I did a lot of reading. Nonfiction is just as prevalent on my TBR as fiction is, and a good chunk of that is understanding the human condition and how we all experience it differently and how to grow and change through that alongside others. Not only has it shed a lot of light for me in my personal life, but also gives me insights into how characters might behave in different situations in my writing.
Chaos Gays: That makes a lot of sense! In your writing, is there anything specific you want to make clear about the stories you're telling? Whether that's an overall message or something specific to why you not only write but want people to read your work?
AEB: If I'm being honest, it's that no one is alone. Despite all the differences between character personalities and identities, the diversity of gender or secuality or mental health, ALL of these characters have some place to land, so to speak. There's a network, even if it's only a network of one for a little bit, that is there to catch and accept these characters, and I want people in real life to have that same hope. I know it's harder in real life; I've dealt with that feeling of isolation and I just want to give people someplace to go, even if it's just their imagination, where people are supported and accepted for who they are.
Chaos Gays: Last but not least, I wanted to ask, in your wildest dreams, how would you like to be known/what would you like to be known for as an author?
AEB: In all honesty, I want to be known for telling a good story. If none of the deeper meanings get gleaned or anything like that, I would be okay if people just genuinely enjoyed the books. In my wildest dreams, I want readers to feel seen through these characters, to feel as though they belong and are a part of the story because of it. I feel like those books are the ones that have had the biggest influence on me, and I'd love to be able to turn around and have that same influence on others.
Chaos Gays: I love that so much! Thank you for talking to me, and I look forward to seeing all of your work!
For anyone reading who is interested in learning more, there are links down below! Please support our creators if you’re inclined, there’s nothing more wonderful as a creator than someone appreciating your work!
Links:
Website: https://www.addyelsewhere.com/
Book Buying: https://books2read.com/AEBross
Instagram: @aebrossbooks
Bluesky: @aebrossbooks.bsky.social
