Interview With Author Troy Ford
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a later in life author with my debut book “Lamb” just out in June 2025, though I wrote one previously and am still deciding how to bring that one out – I tried querying lit agents with that one back in 2022 with no luck, but my author platform has grown quite a bit so I may try again.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Lamb: A novel in snapshots” was inspired by the death of a high school friend. I received a letter from our school in 2003, and it took me almost 20 years to discover his cause of death. In the meantime, I often thought of him and the “missed connection” of our friendship since we were both gay and in the closet at the time. This story grew out of those musings.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I trick myself into writing by saying that I’m only going to sit down for 10 minutes – you can do anything for 10 minutes, I tell myself, and it’s how I get over my bad procrastination habit. It usually turns into an hour of writing; do that enough times and, voila! You’ve got a novel!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Margaret Atwood’s “The Blind Assassin” was my first introduction to a story within a story, which I employed heavily in “Lamb” with several short stories and writing by the main character. I like to think that I absorb some of the mojo of every author I read.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a follow-up to “Lamb” based on the narrator, his best friend “D” who is unnamed throughout the first book but will get a fuller treatment in the second in which we discover his own journey after Lamb’s disappearance and death.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m heavily involved with Substack – I write two newsletters, Ford Knows Books and Qstack. FKB is geared toward writing and publishing books, and Qstack is a platform for queer creators. I’ve written about building my author platform on Substack in Writer’s Digest. I call it a “writer incubator” because it allows for building a great network, and experimenting with different writing styles – “Lamb” was first serialized there, and it’s helped connect with other writers, opportunities, and ideas I would never had found elsewhere.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Start building your author platform early. Start a newsletter, find a social media platform you enjoy and really master it – start as soon as you can, even before writing your book. Nowadays, the old agent/publisher pipeline is experiencing some upheaval, and it may even be easier to attract agents with a robust platform than to chase after them with querying. Writers still get discovered through querying, but it’s harder than ever. Make your own success.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Meditating is like money in the bank. – David Lynch
What are you reading now?
“Masculine Protest” a book of short stories by Irish writer Frank O’Connor that I found in a Little Free Book Library. Enjoying it.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing more books. A new media project – I’ve just finished a short film called “Unsung: Queer Portraits of Authenticity and the Cost of Its Absence” with Kimberly Warner of Unfixed Media, and I’m looking for a new project.
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?
“Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien
“Little, Big” by John Crowley
“Orlando” by Virginia Woolf
“O Caledonia” by Elspeth Barker
Author Websites and Profiles
Troy Ford’s Social Media Links
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