We were lucky to catch up with Dev Henry recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dev, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
A project that means a lot to me is my newest ongoing cosmic horror serial, What Lives in the Static. During and after the pandemic, I stopped writing as much as I wanted to and focused mostly on work that felt “useful”—pieces about mental health, processing grief, wellness or non-fiction projects with a built-in audience that didn’t require much vulnerability on my part.
This serial has been the first time in a long while that I’ve allowed myself to write the kind of story I want to read—and to actually enjoy writing again.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a writer born and raised in Los Angeles and was lucky to have parents who encouraged me to take full advantage of the city’s art and culture—museums, libraries, theaters, festivals. My dad was a huge sci-fi nerd who curated books and movies for my siblings and me and one of my fondest memories is of my mom taking me to the LA Public Library’s central branch to get my first library card. Writing emerged pretty early on as a creative outlet that meant a lot to me.
My writing career has taken a lot of different paths but over time I’ve gravitated toward indie publishing and serialization because of the creative freedom it allows and the chance to connect with other independent writers and artists. I really value and aspire to cultivate spaces where creators can share their work, exchange ideas, and help each other grow and evolve as writers.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
When you grow up in a city where the main industry is art and entertainment, you’re regularly confronted with the idea that you need to find the most marketable or monetizable version of whatever you want to create—that that’s the only way to make it worthwhile. It’s an unfortunate and often unavoidable fact of working in the arts but one of the most important lessons I’ve had to unlearn is approaching my work with the question, “How do I make this as palatable as possible to the greatest number of people?”
The sooner you can step away from that thinking, the better your work will be—and the more fulfilled you’ll feel while creating it. Sometimes, it’s just about telling the story you want to tell, exactly how you want to tell it.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Yes—your fellow writer. It seems obvious in retrospect but I was too shy to reach out to other writers when I first started. Sharing my work felt intimidating, and it seemed easier to post it online for strangers than to show it to people I knew—or, even scarier, to go out and meet new people to share it with. Looking back, I wish I could tell my younger self not to be so self-conscious. There were plenty of people who genuinely wanted to read my work and offer thoughtful critiques and just as many who would have valued my feedback on theirs.
Writers’ groups are invaluable. Even the smallest library branch in your town or city likely has a creative writing group, or there’s a bookstore that hosts meetups, or a café that runs a writing night. And if you can’t find something nearby, don’t be afraid to DIY it—starting your own virtual or in-person group can be just as rewarding.
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Colin Oh