Writing and Fantasy: A Q&A Interview with Author Hayden Cummings

Imagine being eighteen, living in a world where dragons dominate the skies, and war rages in the land.

In the world of Venith, eighteen year old Lanira Payne takes on the dangerous journey of enlisting in the Venith Military. Her inner truth of her homeland shatters when she is captured by Warren from Oprium, the enemy land. As she goes through the harsh realities of war, reality begins to unravel, she discovers things within her and she starts to question everything that she knows.

Vow of Vengeance is the first book of the Vengeance Bound trilogy, an epic YA fantasy featuring magic, mythical creatures, undiscovered secrets, enemies to lovers trope and so much more! This week, we were able to have the opportunity of interviewing with the creative mind behind the novel, Hayden Cummings, a young self-published YA fantasy author. This article talks about the inspiration behind the novel, the author's journey and her future aspirations!

What was the initial seed that inspired you to start writing your fantasy novel? Was it a thought, a scene or an idea?

I had really gotten into reading, and there was always something in the back of my head saying, “Well, what if I created my own story?”

It started out as a bunch of random thoughts and ideas jotted down until I had something solid to build off of. I also was really into the idea of dragons and fantasy creatures after having read books with them in it, and I realized I wanted it heavily fantasy based with those unreal creatures to put a block between the story and the real world. The ideas really built off of each other and I took a lot of inspiration from other young writers seeing them write and publish works of their own.

Can you tell us more about the writing process? What aspect did you have to work on first? Was it world building or character development? 

At first, it was quite difficult. I find planning out the chapters is the hardest for me because I have so many ideas and it’s hard to cram them into a certain chapter or certain scene. World building was the first thing I worked on before exploring the characters or thought of putting all my ideas together in chapter plots. The map and locations and my world’s history were the things I first needed to consider and understand before I could move on and incorporate it into when I would write. Then, when writing came around, I had all the chapters plotted out and had all the important characters with their backstories and things that they value to further understand them when writing. With everything planned out, it sure made the writing process way more organized and all I had to do was convey general ideas into something more complicated and emotional, although once I started writing, I did deviate from the original plot and idea I had just a bit.

As a writer, there are many challenges that come with the craft, one particular example is the infamous writer’s block? How do you tackle these types of challenges? Are there any specific activities that you like to do?

Writer's block is one of the hardest things to overcome, especially as a student with other extracurricular activities. I find it hard to balance school, hobbies, sports, and personal life while trying to incorporate writing. I will sometimes leave my manuscript draft to sit there for weeks on end while I try to muster up the motivation to write, but I think the thing that really pushes me to write the most is reading. Reading in the genre I write gives me motivation to continue my own story and gives me a fresh look on how to incorporate what I want to convey in the story. Setting a daily goal for myself to at least get a bit of work done is what I used to continue progressing, such as “At least finish writing this scene” or “Edit one chapter today.” I find that pacing myself and setting goals helped me get back in the swing of continuing my story and fueling motivation.

They say that fiction mirrors reality. What's a harsh truth or message in real life explored in your novel that you hope readers will know?

In Vow of Vengeance, it follows Lanira Payne, the main character, who ends up having to deal a lot with betrayal and deceitful actions. The message that I hope reaches the readers is that not everyone has good intentions, but holding onto your own values and morals is something quite important. Personally, you know your rights from your wrongs, and just because someone close to you does something that doesn’t align with what you feel is right does not mean you have to partake in their actions. Sometimes the best thing to do is let go of the people that turn your life sour. There will always be new opportunities, but there is no way to go back. Even if things start to feel like the end of the world, you just have to tough it out and find the light at the end of the tunnel.

If you had the chance to meet your younger self before you began writing, what is something about the journey that you’d like her to know? 

If I had to meet my younger self before writing, I would tell her that this story and writing is something she will become very passionate about.

I would tell her not to rush and really refine the things I wanted to convey, and that things are not confined to a small box but to look broader and put in pieces I really felt mattered.

I would also tell her not to worry about what other people think, because in the end the goal is to reach a broad audience of people and share what I wrote with them, but the first start is the people in your lives. What they do or do not think should not deter her from sharing the story or discourage her in any way from writing and moving to self publishing.

Now that you’ve published your debut fantasy novel, what are your plans for the future? Do you have any upcoming projects or a direction that you want to take in writing?

Vow of Vengeance is the first book in a trilogy, so my current project is the second book, Wings of Deception. I won’t share or spoil too much yet, but it is in the editing phase and I hope to release it this summer and move on to the final book in the trilogy. From there, I already have other stories brewing in the fantasy genre, but not much can be said on them as of now. Through high school I plan to keep writing, and even after that, but I’m not quite sure what direction to take after high school. I do always want to keep writing because it is my passion, but there may be a period where I have to take a break to figure out life. I never plan on quitting writing, and I hope to share plenty more works in the future!

It is said that 80 percent of people want to write a book but only a fraction actually finished writing one. And the young creative Hayden Cummings is a part of that fraction. With the first book published and a second book under the making, there's no telling just how many epic tales she is bound to tell us next!

You can follow Hayden on Instagram (@your_young_author) where she posts more content on her work as well as updates on her second book, Wings of Deception.