Friday Indie Q&A with Author Willow Ford

Welcome to our new series: Friday Indie Q&A. During this series we will chat with a fellow indie artist. Our first week is with Willow Ford, Author of The Fadian Experiment and Instructor for Indie It Press.

Importance of Storytelling

Q: Let’s discuss storytelling for a moment. What is the importance of storytelling to you, and how did it bring you to the point of being an indie author?

A: Storytelling is so much more than just the narrative. It is the choice of words, cadence, and tone that tell as much about the storyteller as it does about the story itself.  It is the selection of a humorous story or didactic tale to fit the composition and energy of the audience.  For me, it is also a family ritual that I was an active participant in from the time I could understand language. I was very privileged to exist in the same time and space as the final two generations of my rural elders. I witnessed the art of oral tradition in its amazing glory, but before I could learn my place in this ritual in full, my elders met our ancestors and I was left with only the feelings evoked by a small set of stories. In the era before YouTube and TikTok, there was only one way to recreate the feeling of the ritual and keep our family’s voices alive: writing! As soon as I learned to write, I filled notebooks, floppy disks, flash drives, and eventually Google’s cloud with my works. I shared with my inner circle as the ritual dictated and from there was encouraged to share with a wider audience.  I eventually came to the Indie Author path.

Storytelling is so much more than just the narrative. It is the choice of words, cadence, and tone that tell as much about the storyteller as it does about the story itself. It is the selection of a humorous story or didactic tale to fit the composition and energy of the audience. 

-Willow Ford, Author of The Fadian Experiment

Indie Author Advice

Q: What kind of advice would you give to an Indie Author that you wish you had prior to starting on your Author journey? 

I’d advise an Indie Author of five things.

First, I’d warn that this is way more than writing a good story and posting eye-catching pictures with witty captions. This is a business from start to finish and even if you aren’t in it for the money, you will have to know how to make this more than an expensive hobby.

Second, learn the business through and through. Explore every aspect of the business and try your hand at it.  You may find that in addition to understanding what you need and don’t need, you’ll learn what you can and can’t do for yourself.  Farm out the hard stuff without guilt. 

Third, grow your circles.  You’ll need a network circle and a support circle.  Those circles should overlap significantly.

Fourth, be consistent. This means writing daily, releasing books at reasonable intervals, marketing on schedule, and maintaining contact with your network.

Finally, cultivate your creativity. It is so easy to lose the joy of creating when the realities of the Indie Author path come to light.  An Indie has to actively nurture and care for that spark of creativity or it will die out completely. 

Teaching Innate Inclusion

Q: You’re teaching a course for us that we are excited about. Tell us why you decided to teach Innate Inclusion: Creating Realistic Diversity in Fiction, and what you feel the takeaways will be for your students.

It’s timely. Thanks to the internet, we’ve enjoyed over two decades of interconnectivity with worlds some of us never knew existed, but our media and entertainment have been slow to adapt. It still shows a fragmented, insular, and even hostile social landscape. Now, many Indies want to branch out and reflect their experiences but want to do so with tact and respect. This course aims to help writers do this by understanding the shift in perspective that will add depth and relatability to their characters. I hope that my students take away that inclusion is normal and far more common than we perceive. I want my students to see that we all conform in some way and in our effort to conform, we make others believe that there are fewer differences among us. 

Finding Balance

Q: You seem to have many things going on at once! Tell us, how do you find balance day-to-day in order to keep writing, promoting your books, plan and teach a course, and all the other things that go along with being a CEO of Dark Flame Productions, LLC?

I’ve been busy my whole life.  My parents were older and believed that idle hands were the devil’s workshop.  Between high academic expectations, two sports, church youth activities, socializing, and my household chores, I became adept at balancing time and focus. However, I did not do this alone. I had the help of my trusty planner.  Back then it was DayRunner and now it’s Happy Planner. I schedule time to unplug as well.  

A Big Win

Q: What is one big win that you’d like to share with us?

The last year has provided me with the time to focus on my writing career.  As a result, I am ahead of schedule in my professionalization. My biggest win is partnering with Indie It Press to bring my courses, Innate Inclusion: Creating Realistic Diversity In Fiction, and Character Craft: Creating Characters that Write Your Novel, to my fellow Indie Authors. 

Shoutout

Q: Who helped you along the way that you would you like to give a shoutout to?

I’d like to shout out K. C. Losner (IG:@kcloesener) founder of the Kick Ass Authors Club.  She was the first fellow author to really loop me into the network when I reached out. She was very generous with resources, experiences, and leads. Without her, I’d still be treading water. 

I’d also like to shout out Mae Wagner (IG:@ rainydayinmay) of the Rainy Day Collective podcast. She invited me to participate in the Share the Mic Now Writers Edition and her kindness and encouragement helped me feel at ease with the growing interest in my work. The seeds she planted with Share the Mic have bloomed beautifully.  

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