On social media, writers everywhere have been able to take their crafts to a public platform and find a community. One such writer, who was generous enough to do an interview with TAOT, is Trinity (@trinity.writess ). She was generous enough to share her own experience with writing, social media, (and more!) with us, for you.
Trinity S. has always been a writer, letting her words guide her through her younger years. She started writing short stories, fanfiction, and narratives when she was about ten or eleven years old, but she became serious about being an author when she was 15. This is an experience that many young writers share, as it can be difficult to decide that writing is the path for you, but once you are there, it’s completely worth it.
For Trinity, her journey began in fourth grade, when a teacher supported her in her work—that spark helped her start writing. After receiving an essay writing assignment in school, Trinity found herself writing page after page for the essay. Then, to her surprise, her teacher loved it and encouraged her to write for the Young Writer's Book Fair at her school. Ever since that vote of confidence, she has been writing constantly and committing to her craft.
Yet, after finding an artistic voice, there are still challenges for a young author to face. For Trinity, it was that “finding the confidence” to share her work was a struggle. She stated that she didn’t have a very big following, so she was very scared for a large variety of reasons to share her work. But, she found that there was wide positive feedback and interest in her writing. It helped alleviate the fear of sharing, but Trinity also spoke about how that fear never goes away.
On that point, Trinity candidly spoke about other vices in the writing process. For one, she feels that she is constantly reminiscing on when her creativity flowed faster and more easily. And, she is currently stuck in a writer’s block (two words every writer dreads).
But, she knows that "no matter how hard you try, as an author, at some point during writing and creating stories you get stuck at trying to make stories for the audience and what is publish worthy and not what you want to create, even if you want to write exciting pieces for your audience, you should always write what comes from you and your heart. Somebody does want to hear your story."
However, it can be easy to get carried away in your own world when writing. Many times, young writers create awesome stories in their heads, but sometimes it doesn’t work on paper. It can slow down your process, but fret not—everyone’s felt it! Including Trinity.
Moving on, we asked about the most confusing part for her as a writer when writing a story. For her it is planning out the story, which isn't the beginning or the ending, along with some details. Which also sometimes leads to burnout.
Lucky for us, she’s also given advice on how to move forward from writer's block. She elaborately told us that when she has an idea, she goes with the flow and builds around it. For example, with her current WIP, when she got the idea she only knew how she would end it and the names of the main characters. After which she worked to make an elaborate cast and plot. She likes to make Pinterest boards and Spotify playlist for the story and characters which helps her to get a better understanding of the overall setting.
And she has found a community—somewhere she believes has helped her feel more inspired and confident in her work, not the opposite. So, naturally we asked if she gets doubted or has a supportive surrounding and her reply is something anybody who's a writer can relate to. She is often stuck in the negative mindset of thinking that nobody likes what she has written and that she will never make it as a writer, but after joining Writergram she made new friends that have inspired her every time. The community, for her, has been an incredible supporter and motivation when she doubts herself.
It is important to remember to do what is fun for yourself and not focus too much on genres if a specific goal is not in mind. Style and interests fluctuate, which showcases itself in your writing. Trinity's writing genre can be best described as coming of age but as a diehard fan of romance, she blends these two genres and writes around it. She also focuses on friendship and familial relationships as well.
Her latest WIP is called “The Ways of Time”. The setting is in current time and follows the story of the two main characters James Menken and Bailey Dior. Both come from very different familial backgrounds, but end up moving to the same town with the same goal of leaving their family past behind them and starting fresh. James uses his love of reading to escape from all the troubles of the real world, as he wishes for the happily ever after of stories he thinks could never really happen, and Bailey is an upcoming author who writes away all of her dreams and hopes for life, just wanting a fresh start at life, one she writes about having. After a chance encounter, the story continues with two very different world views conflicting, which leads to helping one another realize another side of life they have never thought possible before. The story follows many tropes and themes such as coming of age, courage and perseverance, found family, romance, and so much more.
After writing novels, stories or else, every author would like feedback or want people to read it. Marketing yourself as a writer can sometimes be hard but necessary to get exposure and become a part of a supportive community . Tiktok, Instagram, etc., are famous social media platforms on which people promote themselves, that also give the chance to interact with the audience. But recently, a lot of artists and writers have been complaining about creating content, especially video forms, to reach a bigger audience, as it is not in their field of expertise. Trinity sees it differently. Her biggest form of exposure is the writergram, it really made a big impact on the audience for her. Thanks to algorithms on social media, it is easy to get followers who are genuinely interested in your content. It may not always work, but it certainly helps a lot for Trinity.
Next we asked what her opinion of the marketing an author has to do by themselves is, if it is fun for her and if she can still reach new people. She cheerfully replied that marketing via social media is one of the smartest things an author can do. It is a lot more motivating and fun for her to reach out to new people who are interested in her content. Even one nice comment makes her keep going and it is recommended by her to do marketing on social media.
One last question we asked her was about her advice for other young writers out here.
Her response is something we hope will help you: "Don’t be afraid to share what’s on your mind. Your story should always be what you want it to be, don’t let others change it. Always hold your head high and don’t let the thought of how successful you’ll be be your biggest thought throughout the journey. Just do you and do what makes you happy. You will get there some day, you just gotta put the work in. Everyone is capable if they really put their mind to it, including you."
Most of the authors or fledgling young writers are often afraid to spread their wings and fly high, because of critiques and hate towards their writing. It leads them to compare their works with other writers, resulting in feeling inferior. The advice to be courageous and always hold your head high up is something we believe every young writer should hear.
We hope whoever is reading this will take this article to heart and be confident in their journey, as starting out is always the hardest and the biggest step.
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