Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
The Trouble With Dreamers, a science fiction novel about dream analysis, was published on June 22nd 2017 on Amazon. I have the professional goals of partnering with a cinematography company and contributing to responsibilities in screenwriting and music composition. I wrote The Trouble With Dreamers as a novel and published it with the intention of seeing the story hit the big screen. I plan to publish four projects, each between 8,000 and 50,000 words, within two years.
I am in my third year of college studying for a Bachelor of Business in Entrepreneurship at the Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business, in partnership with Paradise Valley Community College. I made the decision to pick this major based on my passion for novel writing.
There’s a feeling in my heart when a piece of writing speaks to me. It’s like being a child and seeing the ocean for the first time. I made my own reality interesting by getting lost reading a book. I felt an inclination to create another world by writing my own story. I began to know the type of person I wanted to be. I wanted to be the girl in the movie. Writing is silent speaking. Allowing careful thought to swarm the page, either for someone to read or to be hidden forever.
Writing stories felt natural to me as soon as I could work a pen and computer. It was seventh grade that the socially dramatic switch from elementary school to middle school sparked a need to write. That was when I told my family, “I’m going to be an author.” Now, I look at each heartbreak in life and love as another opportunity to create art. I feel that dreams are messages from the subconscious, which turns into a thrilling story. You can count on the knowledge that most of my writing is from my own dreams and nightmares as well as the amazing inspiration I find in the works of other writers. The best way to describe my writing is dark, romantic, and surrealistic.
After publishing my first novel, The Trouble With Dreamers, a futuristic science fiction about dream analysis, my plan is to write the screenplay. Following in the steps of one of my largest role models, Kent Moran, I set out to be involved in the many aspects of movie production, such as music composition, screenplay writing, and acting.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I enjoy a story that has a secret throughout the entire plot and that plays tricks on the reader’s sense of reality, such as Vanilla Sky by Cameron Crowe. I began writing The Trouble With Dreamers when I was a freshman in high school. The book was planned, written, and edited with the help of several different mentors, peers, and professors throughout the course of seven years. Inspirations for my first novel include:
· Black Mirror (2011) by Charlie Brooker
· Vanilla Sky (2001) by Cameron Crowe
· The Eye (2008) by Sebastian Gutierrez
· Listen to Your Heart (2010) by Kent Moran
· The Notebook (2004) by Nicholas Sparks
· The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009) by Audrey Niffenegger
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I create very long and detailed storyboards before I begin a project. I can write a story out of a picture, song, movie, quote, or dream. To seek inspiration intentionally is to tell oneself that the point of every beautiful and tragic part of life is another area to write about. For myself, inspiration is sought out visually, emotionally, and mentally.
I create my story structure using worksheets for the character, world, mood, and setting, which can be found on the mobile app Character Story Planner. The character information worksheet outlines the basic components of the role, history, and life of each character. After the worksheets are completed, the next step would be to condense the material into chronological order in ten scenes, serving as the storyboard. In partnership with the storyboard, the outline relates to the specific details using imagery and description. The portfolio would serve as a map to the story’s setting, mood, and order.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Vanilla Sky (2001), screenplay written by Cameron Crowe, brought about the surrealistic and
dreamlike themes into my writing. Black Mirror (Charlie Brooker), The Eye (Sebastian
Gutierrez), and Divergent (Veronica Roth) continued to provoke my imagination inside
psychological thrillers as I struggled with the plotline of The Trouble With Dreamers. Vanilla
Sky manifested an artificial state of dreaming with the potential of technical malfunctions. Black
Mirror presented the idea of technology dictating the entire human experience. The Eye was
based on an eye transplant recipient who became delusive with the donor’s visions. Divergent
introduced the idea that the government had the ability to view dreams. My genre of preference
is romantic science fiction. I remember being fascinated when Stephenie Meyer’s novel Twilight
became a film because the story I imagined had become a form of reality on the big screen. One
of my favorite brainstorming methods is reading the scripts to movies that fascinate me. My
favorite romance novels are The Notebook, The Best of Me, The Lucky One (Nicholas Sparks),
and The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger).
What are you working on now?
Everything That Happened- A superficial woman of the future lands in limbo as her teenage self and must watch her own heinous actions in the eyes of the classmate she degraded the most before being permitted into the afterlife.
Stepping on Glass- A modern Cinderella runs back to her stepmother after her husband is found with another woman. Stepmother encourages her to seek revenge on mankind’s dishonorable intentions by casting a spell that enables Cinderella to torture people inside their minds between nightmares and hallucinations.
Finish the Story- Two classmates discover they have identical dreams after an anonymous letter instructs them to dig up a dream journal and write a book by connecting the stories. They attempt to identify the author as they fall in love with the journal’s surrealistic content.
Future Professionals- Psychological and academic struggles in underage students could be prevented by emphasizing strategies for self management in creative educational literature. For students K-12, this project will moralize and inform about psychological, professional, and organizational skills.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Talking one on one with social media users who express an interest in reading, writing, science fiction, suspense, and romance.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s a good strategy to self publish your longest work and enter writing contests for shorter works. Don’t wait to publish, because the more work you can claim the better!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Have the ending to your story planned out before writing. Create storyboards and outlines.
What are you reading now?
Looking for Alaska by John Green. “So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.”
What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing short stories for a larger variety of audiences genres. Entering contests and submitting movie proposals. Submitting screenplays to Amazon Studios.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Kissed by an Angel by Elizabeth Chandler, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and The Notebook and The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
Author Websites and Profiles
Starlight Tucker Website
Starlight Tucker Amazon Profile
Starlight Tucker’s Social Media Links
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