Authors Answer: Brionni Nwosu
Authors Answer Q&A #577
Author interviews almost always focus on questions regarding an author’s latest publication (and that’s great because it’s how readers discover new books!) but sometimes it’s fun to ask authors to talk about their lives beyond the book they’ve just written. Authors Answer (started as a blog in 2020, moved onto Substack in 2025), is an attempt to give authors space to wax eloquent about the other influences on their writing. The questions posed here move beyond the formulaic classics like, “What books are on your nightstand?” or “What book inspired you to be a writer?” and even “You’re having a dinner party….which three authors (dead or alive) do you invite?” There are 20 standing questions. Authors pick FIVE that they want to answer.
Are you an author? Visit the Questions page to learn more about participating.
Today’s post features Brionni Nwosu.
Brionni Nwosu is a joyful creative based in the musical city of Nashville, where she enjoys making memories with her husband and three children and crafting compelling stories to share with the world. An educator by training, Brionni has spent more than a decade supporting students and teaching teachers how to teach, all while shaping her stories on the side. A 2021 We Need Diverse Books mentee under Rajani LaRocca, Brionni writes bold, heartfelt fiction that explores connection, purpose, and what it means to live a life well. Learn more at www.brionninwosu.com.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brionniwrites/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brionniwrites
Substack: https://substack.com/@brionni
What brings you great joy?
I live now for simple joys. I used to think joy came from hitting the big milestones—getting married, having my children, buying our home, and writing a book—and they definitely do, but I always experience a sense of letdown and aimlessness after achieving the thing that I’ve spent months and sometimes years working toward. This happened over the past months as the debut launch approached. Once everything got turned in, I literally didn’t know what to do with myself and felt lost, as I have a habit of living for the future and letting my dreams give my days direction. What was I supposed to do now?
I took a break from writing to define what I would be working for and to get clear on the new game I am playing. My statement is “I live a connected, curious, and creative life driven by conscious intention and aligned, joyful action.” This is a game I can win if I learn, do crafts with my kids, fall down a research rabbit hole, and take specific action towards my dreams, whether it’s completing a scene card, crafting a social media post, or just enjoying time with friends and family. I love that I can count every day as a win, and not just the big moments and triumphs, as those are few and far between. It’s been much better for me mentally, and I like keeping my list of the small things that bring joy every day.
Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?
I’ve had it in the past, and like most people, it’s usually when I’m new at something, and rooted more in my knowledge of my own incompetence. Jessica Brody, author of Save the Cat, Writes a Novel and so many other titles, recently shared about Four Stages of Competence:
Unconscious Incompetence: You don’t know what you don’t know
Conscious Incompetence: You know you don’t know it.
Conscious Competence: I know it and can do it if I try.
Unconscious Competence: I do it without thinking.
This mirrors my experience with writing, when I tried to write my first book back in 2018, when I was a novice and couldn’t get the words from my head onto the page. The older I’ve gotten, the less it shows up, as I have the evidence and gained the experience that everything always works out and that I always get it done. I now know there is no imposter, just me trying to do the work and learning along the way.
Not all books are for all readers… when you start a book and you just don’t like it, how long do you read until you bail?
These days? Not long at all. Between full-time work, three kids, a husband, and my own manuscripts, I don’t have the time to spend on books that don’t fill me up. As a writer, I’m hyper-aware that we only get seconds to hook a reader and keep them there, sentence by sentence and chapter by chapter. Trends I see in the books I don’t finish are too much initial backstory or too much interiority up front. I don’t know or care about the characters yet, and suddenly, here I am learning about their third cousin Dwayne, who slept over one time. I love books that spark my curiosity right away. Why is there blood on the floor? Who’s chasing her? Why would she open that door?
I also don’t force myself to finish books anymore because I’m not tracking my reading. Sometimes I’ll read just a few pages to study a writer’s technique and its impact on the story. I love studying craft and hope to build a craft community focused on sentence-level skill building—more on that in Spring 2026.
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
Music is essential to my writing routine. I curate my Spotify playlists for mood, tone, and atmosphere for my life and each project. For pump-up and aspirations, I have a playlist of affirming music, like Beyonce’s Flawless Remix and Justin Bieber’s Confident, which makes me feel powerful when I’m walking or working out.
When drafting Nella, I had “Death” by Martin Czerny on repeat for entire chapters, especially when writing the antagonist, and I can share the playlist here. I also use YouTube lofi, chill, or atmospheric ambience videos on my second monitor to create an immersive environment where, in an instant, I can be in a moody castle library during a thunderstorm, or, like right now, I’m listening to a video of a cute coffee cafe with a rainy, autumn vibe. Music playing helps me to sink into the story, and without it, I’m likely to fall into an email trap or take a too-often TikTok break.
What’s the difference between being a writer and an author? How do you shift between the two?
To me, being a writer is the act of capturing the story—listening to the characters, following the threads, troubleshooting plot holes, and exploring and building a world one sentence at a time. Being an author is a career. It’s thinking about readers, reviews, marketing, events, visibility, and the experience the book will create once it leaves your hands. It feels like strategy and planning for the big picture of a body of work, rather than a single project. Once the final draft is turned in, the story belongs to readers—and as an author, you have to promote it and, as a writer, get busy on the next one.
Endnotes!
This newsletter is a passion project started by me, Elizabeth Rynecki, to try to help shine a light on new-to-me authors. I am also an author (and a documentary filmmaker and podcaster) and if you want to learn more about me, you can visit my website or read my personal newsletter, Ink Trails: A Chronicle in Creativity.
I’ve never made Authors Answer specific social media accounts, but you can find me on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.