TEA ROOM TALKS: TALLI L. MORGAN
Hello, hello! I’m back with another freshly brewed Tea Room Talk! My guest today is Talli L. Morgan, a fellow queer author currently writing YA, NA, and adult fantasy. Talli is best known for their debut, The Oracle Stone, and is a member of the Queer Indie Awards team. Check out their website for more information on their completed works, as well as their upcoming release, Truthseeker!
HARPER: So...I've gotta start with the obvious: what's your tea (or hot beverage) of choice? Is there something specific you like to have while writing?
MORGAN: I have yet to find a tea that I don't hate (if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears), so my go-to hot beverage for writing is simply coffee, typically with so much cream/sugar/flavoring etc. that it barely tastes like coffee.
HARPER: Oh, my heart! I definitely have suggestions, but I wonder if I might be fighting a losing battle, ahaha... Ah, well. I won't judge your coffee-flavored cream...
SO. You've got another book coming out soon! How are you feeling? Do you have most of your duckies in a row?
MORGAN: Yes, new book SOON! I mean, it's not until May, but with everything I still have to do, May might as well be next month. I've been pretty frazzled about it, but now that the manuscript is with my beta readers and any revisions I'll have to make will be much simpler than the full rewrite I just did, I feel a lot better about it. I'll still be crunched for time as I polish up the book before it goes out to ARC readers, but I do feel good about the story and I'm very, very excited to have this one out! So yes, my duckies are mostly in a row but I am holding them in place for dear life!
HARPER: Yeah, May’s definitely going to sneak up on you...
As some of us already know, Truthseeker introduces another trilogy set in the Windermere universe. How long has this trilogy been planned? Did you know you'd be writing it back when you were writing The Oracle Stone?
MORGAN: I actually had this trilogy planned before The Oracle Stone existed as the version it is now. TOS went through several huge rewrites and I completely changed the story a few times, but the character of the Peacebringer has been a consistent piece of lore across all those versions of TOS. I knew I wanted to write a trilogy about this heroic character and explore who they were before they were a legend, but with Truthseeker being a sort of prequel to TOS, I had to get the plot of TOS figured out first. I started writing Truthseeker as early as 2018, but never got through a full draft. It wasn't until after The Oracle Stone was out and The Savior's Rise was outlined that I went back to Truthseeker and shaped it into the story it is now.
HARPER: Oh, dang, I never would've guessed that, but it makes sense! Smart approach.
Since The Oracle Stone's debut in February 2021, you've published at least four other works. I've always been impressed by how quickly you churn out your words. How do you generally keep yourself motivated to write? Or do you even need motivation?
MORGAN: Ahaha thank you! I definitely went a little nuts in 2022 with so many book releases, and honestly wouldn't do that again simply because of how much work the publishing process is. I sort of got fixated on having an end product—a book I could hold and share with people—and lost sight of how much I enjoy the actual process of writing. This year, I'm trying to remind myself that publishing is not a race and neither, especially, is writing. I want to enjoy the time I spend with my books, because once they're published, that time is done.
As far as motivation goes, it's rarely a struggle for me. There are certainly days when I find it difficult to get the words flowing and writing is like pulling teeth, but even still, there are rarely days when I don't want to write. It's pretty much ingrained in my routine at this point, so going a day without opening a project seems weird. That's probably why I'm so bad at taking writing breaks....
HARPER: I'm with you on both of those points. I feel like that's the "trap" many self-pubbed authors fall into: racing to the end product. I suppose when we have enough books published, we feel less urgency, but I do wish more self-pubbed authors would take the time to enjoy the process of building and polishing their works.
From one fantasy author to another: how in-depth do you get with your worldbuilding?
MORGAN: I definitely agree. Honestly, when you can do everything yourself, it is really hard to make yourself slow down. I'm trying to be more conscious of that.
Aha, worldbuilding. Gonna be real with you, worldbuilding is my least favorite part of the process. I am always insecure about it in my books and I'm convinced it's never interesting, unique, or vivid enough. But that's exactly why I give it extra attention. When I'm starting a new project, the setting/world is a big focus—secondary only to the characters. I spend a lot of time establishing the setting and how the characters are affected by it. I used to go into way more detail than necessary and map out these huge worlds and all their histories and whatnot, but that is just…so much work. And when it never gets woven into the story, there isn't much of a point to it. I think, at this point, I've gotten better at building and developing the smaller settings that the characters do interact with.
HARPER: That's a very honest take, which I appreciate. As much as I love worldbuilding, I don't think I could ever make my own worldbuilding so dense and detailed when I know most of it won't be referenced in the story. You've nailed it, I think: just enough to affect the characters.
In a similar vein, what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started?
MORGAN: Ooh, good question. I think that my narrative voice has gotten stronger with every book I've written, especially since entering the indie circles. I used to think that my books had to sound a certain way or fit a certain mold for tradpub, but now that I know I can write pretty much however and whatever I want as an indie author, I feel like I'm allowed to be much freer with my prose. And finding that narrative voice has also let my characters come across more genuinely, I think.
HARPER: Yes! It's wonderfully freeing, I agree. I'm glad you've noticed some development in your craft!
Coincidentally enough, you've even delved a bit into my next question: Do you think you've discovered your author's voice yet? That your work has a distinct tone or vibe that you enjoy?
MORGAN: It's kinda cool to see how my writing has changed! But it's also like “Oh god, now I can never re-read older stuff…”
And honestly, I don’t know! I couldn't tell you what my writing voice is, although others have told me my writing has a distinctive tone to it. I can't see it myself, so I'll just have to take their word for it. The tone I aim for changes with each book's vibe, of course, but since I write in third person, it's fun to play with that narrator's voice as a sort of character in itself. That voice can be a bit snarky in some cases, which I think comes across as something like an inside joke between the narrator and the reader. I want the books to feel as though you're being told a story around a campfire, or something to that effect.
HARPER: Well that's certainly sweet and cozy. I think it perfectly suits you, to be honest! Very on-brand for a librarian, too. ;)
My final question for today: what are your future writing plans, goals, or ambitions? Anything particularly special you're gunning for?
MORGAN: Oh geez, big question. I mean, we both know how wonky the publishing world is; everything is random and up to luck or chance. I try not to place hopes or ambitions on anything super unlikely to happen, so really my only goal is to pretty much keep doing what I'm doing. I definitely want to get better at the marketing side of things and be more consistent with that, which is exhausting, but y’know, I do want people to read my books! For now, I'm super happy with my little self pub circle, but I do have a couple of books on the backburner that I might consider querying to small presses eventually.
HARPER: Simple and sweet! I dig it.
Thank you so much for spending the morning with me! I hope the publishing journey for Truthseeker goes smoothly, and I look forward to seeing what else you dish up this year (no pressure, of course)!
For more information on Tea Room Talks, please read this post!
