Indie Author Spotlight: T.R. Prouty
“T. R. is a self-taught author who began her work in 2008 at ten years of age. Always in her own world with her imaginary friends, T. R. strives to turn a blinking cursor and blank page into a humorous world of pure, absolute chaos and mayhem.” -Prouty’s official author bio
Welcome to my inaugural Author Spotlight! I’m beyond excited to have TR Prouty as our first featured author. Her Tomorrow Is Another Day(TIAD) indie series delivers on her promise of chaos and mayhem, offering a large cast of colorful and wild characters. On top of TIAD, Prouty has started to explore the fantasy genre, though she continues draws inspiration from a childhood of imagination and friendship.
MT: First and foremost, tell us about your Tomorrow Is Another Day series? What were your inspirations?
TR: Tomorrow Is Another Day is a big ball of chaos, filled with humor, satire, and a little bit of every genre mixed together! My inspiration was (believe it or not) drawn from my sister and my Barbie dolls. That’s right. This series here is based on the characters we created as children, and a storyline we played out. That’s why certain parts might seem a little crazy, or unbelievable-because they come from a child’s imagination. Being as my main character starts off as a five year old, I feel it’s fitting.
But as DJ grows and the story grows, so does the writing and the content. It starts off as middle grade (though most of my readers are honestly adults!), then eventually will transition to teen/young adult.
MT: What does your writing process look like?
TR: My writing process consists of scheming and planning before I touch the keyboard. Once I start writing, however, I literally will binge-write for hours to the point of refusing to so much as take a bathroom break!
Oh, and of course my best ideas come at the most inopportune times. Like 3am in bed, in the car, the shower, or pretty much anywhere when I don’t have access to write it down. UGH!
MT: What can we expect to see of Dennis in the future? How many books do you anticipate being in the TIAD series?
TR: Dennis June is a treasure, but of course we can expect lots of embarrassing, ridiculous, and awkward things occurring in her life. She has no filter, and with her family and the friends she has… you know it’ll be outrageous.
As for the number of books, I anticipate it will be comparable to the amount of Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. The books will grow with her, probably through every year of her schooling. After that, there will be maybe a few to show you where she is and what her life is like as an adult. So it will be lengthy, for sure.
MT: You also co-wrote Of Tubes and Tides with Anne Stryker. Can you tell us more about it?
TR: OTAT is a book that is quite dear to my heart. Anne and I had so much fun writing together, and it is filled with great messages. We placed a large emphasis on disability representation, and the idea that disabled people can be heroes, beautiful, main characters, etc. too. And most importantly, they don’t have to change or “cure” their disability to do so.
In this case, the main character shares a condition with myself, known as gastroparesis. It’s a little known, rare disease, and we wanted to bring awareness to that. As a disabled person, I wanted to highlight the struggles that the disabled community encounters and give readers a glimpse into that life.
On a lighter note, this novel has a Kraken fae-shifting prince! We need more Krakens in the literary world.
Plus? This was my first fantasy novel! I plan on branching out into this genre in the future
MT: How different is the writing process when working with another writer?
TR: It’s quite different. In our case, we meshed together well, which is SO important when you co-write. We wrote the full length novel in just twenty two days, but that’s because we are a little mad.
Most people who have read our book commented in their reviews that they couldn’t even tell two different people were writing. And that’s the goal.
We took turns, alternating POVs for chapters. Anne wrote the part of the Kraken Prince, and I wrote Cordelia’s. It was much more like role-playing, because anytime there would be dialogue we’d both hop on our computers at the same time, and carry on a conversation as if we were the characters and not ourselves.
MT: What has been your favorite part of Indie publishing so far? What's been the biggest surprise?
My favorite part has been getting to communicate and have a more personal connection with my fans, readers, and reviewers. I love getting to keep my creative freedoms, and my overall dream and picture, rather than conforming my book to meet the norms and goals of traditional publishing.
The biggest surprise has probably been the overwhelming amount of love and kindness I’ve received from readers. I unfortunately feel that there is a negative stereotype with Indie publishing, and it’s wonderful to see people overlook and ignore that. Indie writers deserve to be given a chance too!
MT: When did you first start writing? Is it something you plan on doing forever?
TR: I started writing TIAD in 2008, when I was just ten years old. I’d never considered writing once. But my sister Lindsey (find her on Instagram @fierymermaidbooks) inspired me, and told me to write in the first place. So I gave it a shot, fell in love with it, and decided that’s what I wanted to do in life. I do plan on doing it forever, whether I make considerable profit or not, or whether I’m considered “successful” by normal standards or not. Because it’s my passion, my dream, and part of what makes my heart keep beating.
MT: Who have been your biggest influences and supporters?
TR: Definitely my family—my siblings, my mom, my grandparents. They always support me, laugh at my story, and sit through long hours worth of reading sessions to test out my books.
MT: Finally, if you could sit down and eat dinner with any of your characters, who would you choose? Why? What are you eating?
TR: In a realistic sense, I would have to choose Cordelia and we would both sit and talk while our tube feeds infused.
If I could eat, I would 100% choose my alter-ego, Dennis June. In a heartbeat. We would both unbutton our pants so we could eat ginormous stacks of choccy chip pancakes. I suppose we could go to her favorite restaurant, iHOP. Tee-hee!
MT: Thank you so much to TR for being the first author featured in my new Author Spotlight! If you enjoyed reading about TR Prouty and her works, check out the buttons below to follow her on Instagram and Goodreads and purchase her books.
