The Stories of Heroes: Writing with Gabriella Gill
Gabriella Gill is a 21-year-old author from Dover, Pennsylvania. After self-publishing her first book at the age of 17, a Young Adult superhero novel called Saving Metropolis, she has kept busy working as an administrator for her parents’ business, writing the next two books in her Saving Metropolis trilogy, speaking at local writing workshops, and most recently, volunteering at local air museums and learning the stories of American war veterans. Her love of comics and superheroes ultimately developed an accompanying appreciation for history, which has led to her most recent project on the centennial of America’s involvement in World War I. Since my writing journey has been similar to Gabriella’s in that we both started after falling in love with Tolkien and trying our hands at fan fiction before our own original stories, it’s been especially fun for me to watch her grow from a driven teenager to an even sharper, more focused writer in as little as the past four years. I loved hearing what she’s learned about herself and her craft recently in our interview below, and if you’re a writer, too, she’s definitely found some good bits of advice and resources to share!
How did you fall in love with writing?
When I was a kid I was always encouraged to read. Part of it came from the homeschool background. Any time I came across anything at the library that seemed interesting or that my mom recommended, I would go on and read it, and the more I read as a kid the more and more I started to think, “maybe I could do this.” I mostly started with fan fiction, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, stuff like that, and then from that love of fan fiction I started doing some original stories. (I was 12 when I first started with fan fiction, then 14 when I started with the original writing.)
What do most people not know about your type of work or your personal creative process?
Well, I’ve found a lot of people either belong in the camp of writing methodically or the camp of “pantsers”— they write by the seat of their pants, and when someone says the word “outline” they’re immediately like “oh that’s going to kill my creative process.” Some people have asked whether I do the outline thing or not, and my biggest struggle is that I can never seem to get OUT of the outline and get away from the rigidness. So that’s something a lot of people don’t know.
As a self-published author at age 17 in 2013, what did you learn from the experience that you’re trying to apply now?
As far as the past publishing experience goes, I’ve definitely learned the importance of editing and rewriting and then rewriting again. [chuckles] Then eventually getting to a point where I can let go of something and say, “Okay, that’s done” or “I should move on to do something different.” Often times I wished I’d held off from doing the self-publishing at such a young age. When you’re 17 you think you can do anything, and now that I’m 21 and so much wiser [chuckles], every year I look back and think “Gosh, I thought I knew what I was doing when I wrote that,” or thought that sounded clever, and now after reading more and writing more and learning more, I’m like “ohhhhh boy.” [laughs]
What caused you to switch gears from your YA book series to your upcoming book on World War I?
The second and third parts of Saving Metropolis are kind of on hold as of the moment. It’s an issue of going over it again and assessing what I’ve done in the first book and thinking I really need to take some time to rethink how I’m going to do this. For this new WWI project, most of it is on the historical significance of the centennial. I’m hoping to get a traditional publisher for that one if I can, and sort of try to do two smaller projects before I go back to Saving Metropolis and see if it makes for an easier approach.
When I was a very young teen I went through this stage of being so into fantasy and thinking real life and history were kind of dull in comparison, but then I started reading more into J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis and their experience in WWI, like how the Dead Marshes in Lord of the Rings were actually a reference to the trenches. Then I started looking at WWI and thinking “this period of history actually is kind of interesting.”
For a brief time I actually tried to write a story about a young woman who was a motorcycle mechanic for dispatch riders, but that sort of fizzled out when I got into superheroes. What dragged me back into this was when over a year ago, right before I was about to go to this Comic Con in Philadelphia and see all these wonderful actors and that sort of thing, I was at an air museum event and meeting a bunch of war veterans. I heard some of their stories and started thinking about how the comic book superheroes were influenced by what was going on in real life at the time. Captain America’s my favorite superhero, too, so that character was an easy connection to that real-life history.
What helps you recharge your creative batteries?
If it isn’t doing stuff like taking walks or listening to music… watching a favorite movie or TV show while I’m working out to try to reset myself mentally. Sometimes that does more harm than good, but other times that can really help to put me in almost a fan fiction mindset, and that gives me a break from thinking about how a part of my story was going to play out. No new movies though, because then it’s something that I start mulling over while washing dishes or taking out the trash and that would definitely be in the “harm” category. [chuckles] Better to watch something that’s related to my creative work but that I’ve seen a hundred times.
What always gets you excited about your craft?
If it isn’t the movies, it’s typically either going to events such as the Comic Cons or hanging out with friends. Even if it’s not about my book specifically, if they’re talking about related topics that get me thinking, I just go home and can pound away at notes — and that can keep me going for like a week, just writing and writing and writing.
What is a daily (or regular) discipline you’re following right now, related or unrelated to writing?
It doesn’t always end up with writing, but just continuing to read — or rather, listen to books on Audible, since I just don’t have time to read physical books anymore. Usually C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien, or some of the Band of Brothers books, or other history books on a subject that I’m familiar with. That’s sort of helped me maintain good grammar, because for me anyways, the content rubs off and it effects the vocabulary that I use, so that really helps to keep me sharp.
Even if you never “succeeded” in your craft, what would keep you writing anyway?
Honestly, again it goes back to where I love to read, and no matter how many times I’ve been discouraged, even in the past year or so with setbacks or realizations of things not panning out like I thought it would, I still love reading and journaling — and before I know it, a snapshot of a character pops up, and even if it’s one of those things you save and don’t know what to do with, that would keep me writing even if I never had the ambition to publish another book.
What are your creative goals right now?
Right now my creative goals are to finish the Saving Metropolis series, writing the manuscripts and trying to see if I can get them published traditionally. Also trying to get the WWI book published traditionally within the next year or so, but trying to take it slowly and focusing on quality rather than speed as I go on. Then just working on setting goals and not rushing into something and not spending too much time on something that doesn’t need it. Trying to find the balance.
Are there any tools, books, or other resources you would recommend to others starting out in fiction writing?
Definitely. I recommend this to anybody who intends to write fiction: short stories, novel or novella, or absolutely if they’re trying to write a movie or script: they need to read Save the Cat by Blake Snyder. Story by Robert McKee is another one, but it’s an extremely long read, and after you’ve read Save the Cat you kind of don’t need to read it. Story would help shed light on some of the older movie plots or book plots or things like that with the three-act structure. For me, Save the Cat was the gateway to finally understanding story structure, so I would recommend that to anyone who’s interested in fiction writing.
I use a white noise app sometimes when music doesn’t really do the trick or my siblings are making a lot of noise — it’s called Coffivity and it’s available on the Goole Play store.
What other advice or words of encouragement would you give to other creators in your field?
Some people have said to me, “I don’t think I could ever have the patience to do what you did.” But it really isn’t that hard to do — whether you’re doing it poorly or really well, that’s up for anyone to judge, but if you really love what you’re doing than what you should do is remind yourself why you love it during the tough times. Even just writing a journal entry about why you started your story — or why you love watching or reading other particular stories, like the way that anyone can learn or relate to others through stories. Even if you’re not writing for the success or any of that, and it’s just something you keep thinking about and coming back to, you should stick with it!
