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

Drew, 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.

I started writing stories in second grade. My parents enrolled me in a small private school called Benchmark, where reading plenty of books and writing creatively on a daily basis was strongly encouraged. I continued my love of reading, but it changed in college because I had little time to choose what I wanted to read. Since I was majoring in English, we had extensive reading lists for each class, requiring almost a manic pace to get through the material properly.

And although I was reading the works of some of the best minds from the last several centuries, I found I no longer had anything original to say creatively when I sat down to write fiction. So even though I was analyzing amazing literature, it sapped me of my ability to create for many years. It’s funny how this turned out to be an obstacle to my own writing, but I’m thankful to say it essentially rewired my creative process and made me a stronger writer.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m best known as the author of the Restart series, an award winning young adult dystopian sci-fi thriller, released in 2022 by a black owned-indie publisher. Dawn of Shadows, book 2 of the series, was just released in December 2024. The story takes place in the Northeast, primarily in Pennsylvania and New York City in the near future.

Writing credits on my IMDB page include a feature film and a web series. I am pitching several screenplays and pilots based of Restart and other original content. Panopticon, a conspiracy fantasy, is due for release in early 2025, so I’m super excited to see how people react to these new stories.

As a former Marine, I write from experience when it comes to methods and tactics. As a teacher, I’ve learned much about the writing process and what readers enjoy most about the books they choose. While I try to inspire their writing, I can honestly say that students are the ones who have helped make me a better writer.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I had been writing short stories for some time when I finally decided to write a novel. Reading Stephen King’s seminal work, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, was critical to my writing in two ways. The first was that he does not believe a writer must begin a story by making elaborate outlines or mapping before starting the first page of the novel. Instead he likened it to an archeologist who begins digging and has no idea what lies below the surface. Start digging and see what you uncover!

The second way Stephen King helped jumpstart my writing was by setting a daily word count and sticking to it. After those two matters were dealt with, I was off and running!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to learn how important it is to be authentic When I studied literature in college, I became fascinated by the modern writers, such as Fitzgerald and Hemingway. That later gave way to postmodern writers, such as Milan Kundera and Umberto Eco. I tried imitating them all and failed. It wasn’t until I found my voice that I had a story to tell. That was a tough but meaningful lesson.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drewsamuelsenrestart.com
• Instagram: @udrew1
• Linkedin: drew-samuelsen-985682108
• Twitter: @drewGL91
• Youtube: @drew28605
• Other: Restart is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or go to drewsamuelsenrestart.com