We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Arden Coutts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Arden , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Being a self-published author means that you are constantly learning!

When I decided that I was going to start publishing my stories, I did what everyone does: I went to the Internet. I found an amazing coach who helped me learn the basics of how to build an audience, find my readers, and publish a book. But that was just the beginning.

You have to wear many hats as an author. You’re a writer, a marketer, a videographer, a social media manager, and so much more. I think one of the most important things to know is how to reach your ideal reader and where you can find them. This may mean joining online groups and book clubs to start engaging with folks who like to read the kind of books that you write.

There were a lot of obstacles that got in the way of learning more when I started my self-publishing journey. The main one was finding the time and motivation to learn something new. Even though I was excited to start the journey, it was overwhelming. I had to ensure that I was putting time aside to focus on what I was learning and to actually pay attention to it so that I could implement it later.

Arden , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Trans author of queer romantic suspense/thriller novels.

I’m a poet and writer who grew up in Ainsworth, Nebraska. I went to Iowa State University to pursue my love of all things old and undiscovered, receiving my Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology/Archaeology.

After various careers and dabbling in poetry and writing, I published my first poetry collection, Where We Once Existed, in 2022.

I live in North Carolina and continue chasing my creative pursuits, including Podcasting, Art, and Writing.

Find me on Instagram @ceimedia, @ardencoutts, and @funwithfriendspodcast.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a home with a parent who supported and encouraged reading and my imagination. I grew up writing and falling into faraway dreams captured in my notebooks. Reading and writing were my escapes from feeling alone and opened the world to a queer kid stuck in rural Nebraska.

I fell out of writing while in college, and it wasn’t until my father died in 2007 that I started writing again. His death catalyzed me to start writing again. I continued the cathartic work on the novel I began after his death.

Writing has allowed me to explore the journey of expressing my gender and sexual orientation, and my goal is to continue to explore that and share it with readers through my characters and the stories they tell.

I’m publishing my first book, the first in a queer romantic suspense trilogy. I write queer romance, suspense, and thrillers because inclusion and representation are essential. Everyone deserves to see themselves represented in real and fantastical ways in the media they consume. It means your identity in a society that you may not get otherwise. I want my readers to feel seen and included in society and for my work to be an educational tool for readers who may not be as aware or familiar with the LGBTQ+ community.

I write thrillers and suspense because they were a large part of my childhood. I watched thrillers with my parents, from Die Hard to Apocalypse Now. I still enjoy watching and reading thrillers. I have many memories of sitting and watching Murder She Wrote and anything with Bruce Willis and Kurt Russell from the 80s and 90s. I also love the excitement and mystery of writing suspense. Growing up, I never saw characters in those stories that were like me, though. There weren’t any queer characters in the action thrillers of my childhood and early twenties. This is why one of my primary goals is to help normalize queer dynamic characters as action heroes.
As an active member of the queer community, I’m consistently learning about others’ experiences in their careers, and I bring those experiences and my own to my characters.

One of my main goals is to create a community around my books that provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals and allies where they can share their thoughts on books, gender, and sexuality, a community around queer identities and issues. I hope it will close the gap in the publishing industry for people who realize their sexuality and gender later in life. Through my stories, I want to give them hope that they can find love even as they are on the journey to discover who they are.

Community is vitally important in the world that we live in today and something that I am constantly searching for as a trans (female to male) artist. Growing up in rural Nebraska, there was a lack of community and support, especially concerning queer individuals. I was miserable as a child, understanding that I was different but not how or why. Books were my escape. I read as much as I could and found my community and safety in the pages of the books I read. I hope my books and the community I build around them will be that for others.

The Fall Trilogy aims to explore what it means to love, lose, grieve, and grow during tumultuous times. Much of my writing contains themes and experiences from my life, including the journey of self-discovery later in life. We never stop growing as individuals; part of that is exploring who we are and how we fit into the world. I want my readers to know that it’s alright to be discovering who you are in your 30s, 40s, and beyond. There’s no shame in allowing yourself to be true to yourself and explore your gender and sexuality.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, one of the most rewarding aspects of being a writer is when I hear how my writing has impacted someone. I recently got a review that talked about how they had never read a book with a genderfluid character in it and that it was great to see the representation in my work. The world needs more queer and inclusive stories that feature powerful queer characters. I try to write those stories. With a background ranging from archaeology to law enforcement, my stories are global in scope and with diverse characters in all roles. My goal is to help normalize queer dynamic characters as action heroes.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Grants, and how to apply for them!

There are a ton of grants out there for creatives, and I would encourage anyone who is in the creative field to start looking for them now!

I can’t lie. It is a bit daunting to find a grant that you qualify for, but I would encourage you not to give up and to keep looking. Grants are an amazing way to fund your work so that you can focus on creating something wonderful.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ardencoutts.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/ardencoutts
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorardencoutts
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/@wanderingcreativesandco
• Other: Ream Stories: https://reamstories.com/ardencoutts
• Amazon: https://a.co/d/9tr0LVA
• Substack: https://ardencoutts.substack.com/

Image Credits
Amanda Duncan