We recently connected with Valerie Storm and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Valerie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you tell us a bit about who your hero is and the influence they’ve had on you?

My hero is my brother. He’s had a bumpy, chaotic life but he’s always managed to keep going and trying hard, even when one thing after another arose to knock him down. Even when he’s having a horrible time of it, I can count on him to be my rock. In fact, without him, I wouldn’t still be writing. When I’d fallen into my own slump in life, he was there to gently guide me out and suggest writing as a way to escape the daily struggles I was facing. He is calm, intelligent, loyal, and everything to me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m Valerie Storm! I’m a writer and author; three books of my Demon Storm series have been published with more to come. I’ve been writing since I was ten (more than twenty years now!) and started pursuing serious publishing a little less than ten years ago. I’ve always read Young Adult Fantasy, so that was what I wanted to write and send off into the world – though it is dark fantasy, it is meant for a younger audience. I write my stories to speak to the me of my youth, who often felt lost and alone. I write to show that, perhaps, we aren’t as alone or unworthy as we’ve made ourselves believe.
I am most proud simply of finishing these books, each as they come out. My fourth will be out September of 2023 and the rest are scheduled up into 2025 (eight books total!) Sometimes I sit back and can’t believe I’m here doing this, writing stories, sending them out, and getting long-term readers in the process.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing for me in being a writer is definitely the readers. Even if they don’t particularly like what I’ve written, I’m wordlessly grateful to them – they gave my personal work a try! I’ve also made some exceptionally close friends from sharing my writing, some of them now readers who help me with my drafts before publication. I will often say I write for myself – if I didn’t, what would be the point? But readers can be just as important. To know we’re reaching someone is the greatest gift.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

What I see a lot with “non-creatives” is the thought that creating art of any kind is “easy,” particularly when we talk about books. My husband has said, “You should just write a book about this!” as if I can just pick up a pen and do it. There’s a process to it, as there is with everything – and he will likely never understand that. But it’s alright. Art is never easy. Whether we’re writing, drawing, making music, crafting videos – there are struggles to face that no one will ever see. When I write, I am considering a hundred different things about a single paragraph before I’ve even determined how the rest of the page will end – let alone the chapter. Is this character’s dialogue okay? Does it fit this scene? Is it emotional enough? Too emotional? What about the parts between the dialogue – the character movements and actions, are they repetitive, realistic, out of character? Someone who doesn’t write wouldn’t imagine all the minutiae that goes into it, how much of an arduous practice writing can be!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/ValerieStorm
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valeriestorm_author/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082414584775&_rdr
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Valerie_Storm

Image Credits
@Ginkahederling @Rozencreuz1