We were lucky to catch up with Taylor Munsell recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Taylor thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I absolutely do. There’s a saying about the best time to plant a tree being twenty years ago, and the second best time is now. Of course I wish I had spent more time dedicated to writing when I was younger. I wish I hadn’t listened to the fear and imposter syndrome that comes with creative pursuits. Maybe I would be in the same spot, or maybe I would be farther along in my career. I’ll never know.

But it’s not just about being farther along in my career. I love writing. It’s so much a part of me that I simply wish I had given myself permission to embrace it earlier.

Taylor, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Taylor Munsell, and I’ve been telling stories for as long as I can remember. Most of my stories include some kind of magic, and I mainly write fantasy and romance for adults and young adults. I’m originally from South Florida (one day I’ll write a swamp thing story), and I’m currently in the mountains of North Carolina with my family and two dogs. I have a Masters in English-Creative Writing, I’ve interned with literary agencies and publishers, and I currently work with Futurescapes Writers’ Workshop which specializes in speculative fiction.

My debut young adult fantasy, Touch of Death, is due out from CamCat Books on September 17, 2024. Most of my stories include some thread of what it means to be seen and blurring the line between good and evil.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I actually currently work in marketing, so I have experience building audiences for brands. There’s no secret sauce to social media: you have to show up and put in the work. The issue I see most often is that authors will try to do too much at once. It’s best to start with one platform and master it (or at least find a ritual for regularly posting and interacting) before trying to expand to another platform. It’s not just about regularly putting up content. The authors who truly succeed with social media are the ones who find platforms they enjoy posting on and interact with their reader base on that platform.

I’ve recently seen a lot of success with community based social platforms like Discord. Reading and writing can be solitary activities for the most part, so these community based platforms are a great way to foster camaraderie among your readers and give them a place where they can gush about the things they love to like minded people. Bonus: you also might benefit from the community as it fills your creative well.

TLDR: find a platform you enjoy, post regularly on whatever schedule works for you, interact with your followers, expand outward.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

There are so many out there. More than anything, I wish I had found other writers earlier. Futurescapes Writers’ Workshop was the first writing workshop I ever attended. I made a few friends during that workshop, but I went a few more times and each workshop I gained a larger group of writer friends. Now, years later, I don’t attend much since I’m so involved with the workshop, but so many of my writer friends I found through that workshop.

I also didn’t really understand the importance of a critique partner until I had one. She isn’t just the person that reads my work first, and vice versa, but she’s my partner in all things writing. Finding a true critique partner is so hard, since it’s a very vulnerable relationship, but it’s invaluable.

There are also plenty of tools that I know now that I wish I had when I started. I am a Scrivener enthusiast, and I write all of my novels in that program. I love One Stop for Writers for emotions and conflicts, The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass for building plots based on characters, Save the Cat Writes a Novel for plotting, and NaNoWriMo for kicking my butt into gear during November.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://taylormunsell.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taylormunsell/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaylorMunsellAuthor
• Other: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@taylormunsell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@taylormunsell