Writer’s Block: Coltrane Seesequasis

All Lit Up: Is there a stand-out moment when it was clear you wanted to be a writer?

Coltrane Seesequasis: It’s difficult to say if there was one stand-out moment that sparked my decision to be a writer. Rather, it was an accumulation of little stand-out moments that eventually forced this world and these characters out of my head. I’ve always had an active imagination since I was very young, and I would always lose myself in my own little worlds of dragons, swords, and magic, and I think I always knew that whatever I did later on in life would have to exercise my creative side. 

I guess the story I’m writing currently is an outlier since it’s the only one that had a clear ending from the very beginning. I knew it would be a series of three or four books from the start and I knew roughly what would happen in each individual novel. Without that certainty, I don’t think I would have taken writing as seriously as I do now. Something just clicked together in my head, and I knew this was the story I had to tell. 

ALU: What’s the most surprising thing about being a writer?

CS: The most surprising thing about being a writer for me is how much I think about my stories and characters when I’m not in my writing space. Either I figure out plot points while I’m driving to work or I have this great idea for character development when I’m doing daily activities outside the house. Sure, I make an outline of the story and base my chapters off that, but so much detail is filled in by wandering thoughts that hit me when I least expect them. Sometimes, entire scenes are given new context by a single idea that pops into my head at random, and I’m like oh, yes, this makes perfect sense. Why didn’t I think of that before?

ALU: What was your most rewarding moment as a writer? 

CS: Without a doubt the most rewarding moment for me was when I completed the first draft of my novel Secrets of Stone. There’s this sudden feeling of accomplishment you get when you write down the final word and look back on the many months you spent getting to that point. It’s like acing an exam you studied hard for, and you can finally take that well-deserved breather.

Then comes the desire to start fine-tuning the novel that I find exciting. Once a first draft is completed, it’s essentially the skeleton of the story, and now you have to start working on the body until it’s strong and healthy.

Being a writer is much like being a builder in my eyes. The more you work on the structure, the more solid it gets, and once that structure has withstood the scrutiny of your mind, you know you’ve built something to last.

ALU: What do you enjoy reading?

CS: I almost exclusively read fantasy books, specifically the ones that take the time to immerse you in another world with deep history and lore. The series that did this the best in my opinion was Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time—a 14 book masterclass of rich world-building and epic storytelling with literally thousands of named characters.

When I don’t feel like diving into tomes as thick as dictionaries, I enjoy reading middle-grade/young adult adventure stories. One series I really adored for its humour and surprisingly rich world-building was the Wings of Fire series by Tui Sutherland. Her dragon characters are each so unique and quirky that they stick with you long after you put the book down.

The thing I love about the fantasy genre is that it often ticks multiple boxes. It can be a character study and a thrilling adventure. It can be a romance and an action-packed tale. It can have strong horror elements while also being light-hearted fun at times. Every story is a unique mixture of themes and characters, and I think fantasy is the most compelling way to blend this mixture together.

ALU: Have you ever experienced writer’s block? What did you do about it?

CS: Unfortunately, as with many authors, I have experienced writer’s block. It happened during my first few attempts at writing Secrets of Stone where the plot just got overly-complicated during the middle section and I ended up writing myself into a corner I couldn’t get out of. It was extremely frustrating, and I had to spend a lot of time undoing the web I got myself tangled in. I don’t know why my brain functions the way it does, but I tend to hyper fixate on a lot of issues that could easily be solved if I just took a breath and relaxed, but as it stands, I try to resolve those issues by getting myself all worked up and stressed out until I finally find a solution. Eventually, my obsessive brainstorming paid off, but I had to go back and rewrite the novel from the very beginning and revise some lore about the setting so it would make sense with this newer draft.

ALU: What are you working on now?

CS: Well, I recently finished writing what is hopefully the final draft of the sequel to Secrets of Stone, called The Threads of Time. So now I’ll soon be working on outlining the first draft of the third book called The Crucible of Pain, and I’m very excited to get started on that one, mainly because of how character-focused it’s going to be compared to the previous novels. I’m anticipating a lot of drama and moral dilemmas that will affect established characters and change them for better or worse. And of course, a lot of epic—or should I say, titanic—moments are in the works.

ALU: Why do you write?

CS: I’ve always been an imaginative and creative person. Growing up, I would often get lost in my own ideas and fantasy worlds, and I suppose that trend still continues to this day. At some point I realized that it just made sense to put my ideas to paper and see what came of it. The A Wolf in The Sun series in particular has been brewing in my head for a long while, and it’s the project I feel most passionate about. When I type out Silversong’s
story, it fills me with motivation and a thrilling sense of accomplishment, and I often lose track of time because it’s so fun writing from this brave wolf’s perspective.

On the more technical side, I love the steady progress of completing a book. Every page adds more to the story and when the last chapter is finally done and you look back on all the struggles, all the events you were looking forward to writing, all the moments of excitement, frustration, or relief, you realize that you built something truly precious to you, and I wouldn’t trade that feeling for the world.

About Secrets of Stone

Centuries have passed since the forces of nature won the war against humanity. Sentient animals now rule a healing world, and as the stain of mankind continues to dwindle, a young wolf called Silversong is determined to rise in the hierarchy of his pack. Strong at manipulating wind and air, all he needs is a way to prove himself to his Chief.

Before he can gain the respect he deserves, however, Silversong’s aspirations are cut short by the Heretic and his outcast wolves. Against all odds, the Heretic and his band of exiles escape their imprisonment far to the west and wreak havoc on Silversong’s pack. The exiles pose a threat unlike any other, and their enigmatic leader won’t stop his brutal conquest until all wolfkind submits to him.

Silversong can’t let a monstrous wolf like the Heretic roam free. With the wind at his back, he pursues the leader of the exiles into forests of shadow and into ancient places better left forgotten. But the further he strays from home, the more he comes to realize that maybe his enemies aren’t so evil after all. Maybe there’s a reason for the destruction they seek…and maybe there’s a far greater danger lying in wait.

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Coltrane Seesequasis is a young fantasy writer of Indigenous heritage who grew up in Gatineau, Quebec. He first began his writing journey on long bus rides to school where he would alleviate the boredom by daydreaming of fantastical worlds, noble heroes, and unwavering villains. Eventually, he put those ideas to paper and started writing stories of his own with the hopes that they would one day morph into something more than just a passion. His debut novel, Secrets of Stone, is the first book of a planned series that follows a young wolf called Silversong, in a fantasy world similar to our own. Inspired by a love of nature as well as myths and folklore that challenge the limits of creativity, Coltrane joins a new generation of writers, adding his voice to the immersive genre of fantasy.