Authors Answer: S. E. McPherson
Authors Answer Q&A #619
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 S. E. McPherson.
S. E. McPherson has been a writer of fantasy and speculative fiction since they were eight years old, binding books with a hole punch and tied yarn. While they took a brief two-decade detour into the career of a marketing executive and won many boring business writing awards, they’ve found their way back to storytelling and illustration. Their debut novel A KING’S TRUST was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Top 100 Best Indie Books of 2025 and Best LGBTQ+ Indies of 2025
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/semcpherson_writes/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@semcpherson_writes
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/semcpherson.bsky.social
What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?
The most unexpected question I’ve ever gotten came from a beta reader who finished my debut fantasy novel, A King’s Trust, and asked, “So when were you diagnosed autistic?” I had to sit with that one for a minute. As it turned out, I am autistic in addition to having ADHD, so the main character’s worldview and emotional processing—which I thought were just generally relatable—in fact formed a very authentic portrayal of neurodivergence. In retrospect, it wasn’t such an odd question, but it sent me down a journey of self-discovery I was not expecting!
Is there a work of art that you love. Why? Have you ever visited it in person?
“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres is one of my favorite works. It looks so simple: a heap of colorful hard candies weighing 175 pounds. But that weight represents the body of the artist’s partner, Ross Laycock, who died in the AIDS crisis in 1991. As viewers take a piece of candy and go on about their day, they participate in Ross wasting away as he did at the end of his life: a beautiful, painful tribute.
Knowing that Gonzales-Torres died just five years after his partner, I love the idea that their love lives on in installations all over the world. I love that people will keep participating in this cycle of watching Ross disappear and being reminded of how a whole slice of humanity was abandoned to die for decades. That pinch in the belly when you pluck a piece of candy and then read a placard and understand what it means—maybe that will be the twinge that keeps people from allowing such a tragedy again. I haven’t visited it in person, though I hope to soon.
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
For me music is a huge part of slipping into the mindset required to write a specific story. One of my first steps when I start a new story is to carefully build a writing playlist that fits the tone and the main character’s mindset, so the genres can vary wildly, but I tend to include a lot of dark cinematic pop. Each book I’ve written has ended up having a signature song. A King’s Trust was Cody Fry’s “Eleanor Rigby,” but Wasted Boys was “Achilles Come Down” by Gang of Youths—very different vibes!
What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
I think of being a writer as telling the story I want to experience, something that’s purely for my own enjoyment to write and perhaps reread later. When I’m a writer, I don’t think about the audience at all. I just live in a character’s skin for a while and record what I see while I’m there. An author, to me, is someone who’s writing with the intent of sharing that story with the world.
I’ve written many things in my life I had no intention to share, and there’s an ease, a flow state that comes with writing for the joy of writing. Authorship is harder because you dohave to consider the audience: Will they understand what I mean here? Will this have the intended effect? Have I brought in things that might be harmful, viewed from the outside? When it’s possible, I prefer to draft as a writer, and edit as an author.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
I think it goes hand-in-hand with having ADHD to collect hobbies, and I’m no exception. I sing, I draw, I paint, I sculpt, I animate, I 3D-print, I build, I sew, I decorate cakes—some days I’m overcome with just how little time there is in this life to create all the things I want to create. I’m sure I’ll die with ten stories half-finished, a wonky bit of pottery I’ve thrown but haven’t fired, and paint under my fingernails.
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.
Cody Fry’s Eleanor Rigby is on one of my book playlists too! Got a lot of playtime.