Aimee Donnellan is an author of queer fantasy novellas, and has very quickly become one of my favourite indie authors. Her current series is a DnD-esque adventure fantasy series of novellas with a host of wonderful narrators. Each novella has a different POV character with a story focusing on them as a main character but all with a connecting overarching plot. The most recent, The Survivor Stands, was published yesterday. I am so excited for you all the read it, I finished the ARC copy a few days ago and I really enjoyed it! You can find my review over on my instagram.

Aimee Donnellan’s Catastrophe Incoming series features a cast of vibrant characters (including an evil talking goose), adventure, mystery, and a great mix of action and heartfelt moments. The writing style is entertaining, and the dialogue makes me laugh. I love this series so much!

The Interview

Anna: A hopefully easy one to start off! What got you into writing?

Aimee: Like many, I got into writing by reading. I was reading a certain wizarding school series by age 6, with my mother withholding the third book until I turned 7 because she thought the monstrous prison guards would scare me too much. I devoured a book a day in my preteens (and wondered why I didn’t have many friends!) and the interest in writing stemmed from there. I got started in Twilight fanfic and then Doctor Who fanfic, and then Dungeons and Dragons kicked me into a new love of epic and heroic fantasy storytelling that got me onto the works I’m writing and publishing now.

Anna: That was the same for me, the reading, to fanfic, to storyteller pipeline (DW for me too!) a crazy but fun path.
I definitely found that DnD vibe (which I love) from your books. Did you set out to write in that essence or did you find that the characters you created suited that kind of world?

Aimee: I didn’t exactly set out to write it as much as be definitely inspired by it. The world of Aboria, where my books take place, is the third world that my partner has created for our Dungeons and Dragons games at home. Our games in Aboria have directly inspired/outlined some of my future works, and are set about 150 years after the dragon war setting of my novella series. When I had the idea of the series, one specific detail meant that I immediately thought of the dragon war as a perfect historical setting! Not exactly a historical when it’s the first books I’ve published, but I think of the later time period as “present day”. The world is so real to me!

Anna: That is so cool, having that history in the fictional world, especially when it feels so real.
I love that! With such world building, to encompass it all, do you find that you are more a planner or a pantser with your novellas? Or both? (I’m a bit of both!)

Aimee: For the novellas, it definitely has an aspect of both. I had a very holistic view of the series from the start, knowing where it would begin, a few things that needed to happen in the middle, and what needed to happen at the end. But because it’s so episodic, knowing the series shape meant that every individual book still had a lot that needed to be worked out. Book one is a chase, book two is a claustrophobic mystery, book three is a hero’s tale of saving a village. Book four is different again. My outline is complicated, but in each book I let the outline be more a skeleton that the characters can fill in. I always rewrite from scratch, so I am happy for the first drafts to be a bit messy and not as tightly structured, because I fix it the second go around.

Anna: That’s a similar approach to mine. Having a loose enough outline for change, but still knowing where you’re headed.
I love that each novella has a different structure and reason for the story, and similarly a different narrator for each (so far). Of the three POV you’ve written already, do you have a favourite for you to write? (I understand if this one is difficult – I’d have trouble picking which is my favourite to read, I enjoy them all!)

Aimee: I adore writing Lark because of the rambling and awestruck yet comedic and self-deprecating way they perceive everything going on. We’re going to be returning to their POV for book 4 and it’s been hilarious how easily they’ve accepted the lack of dignity in the situations they’ve been finding themself in. Reverie might be my ultimate favourite because I’ve been in her head the longest as I actually stole her from an ongoing campaign! (I think I’ll publish it as a fiction within the fiction later on, because her original story is so good but I knew she was a perfect addition to the series.) I love characters that are just such an emotional mess, and she has so much going on that I can’t wait to get into it more. She’s so dramatic and selfish and kind all at once, and she’d never admit to either of the latter two.
I also have one more POV character still to come in, which I am very excited for!

Anna: I love this! That would be so cool to see some more of Reverie’s story. One more POV character!? This excites me greatly. Also to be reading more of Lark’s POV soon makes me very happy!
In a similar vein, what drew you to writing novella’s as opposed to something a bit more long form? You’ve really got me hooked on the format – I am loving the more episodic feel novellas give the series.

Aimee: It would be more of an alternative to Reverie’s story, but it’s definitely something I’m excited to share down the line. 
The novella series itself was inspired by an audio drama series that had different adventures that were 1 hour long, so when I got the idea to try and make a fantasy thing inspired by it, novellas were instantly what made sense to me for that!

Anna: Such a great idea for a series! I think it fits really well.

I find the publishing world is wild at the best of times, and I’d say so especially as an indie author. Why did you go the self publishing/indie publishing route?

Aimee: There were a lot of factors! Part of it was impatience — like hell was I going to wait years querying and waiting for a publishing house to make decisions. I loved the idea of full creative control and that included the schedule. I already had an amazing artist who was keen to do the covers, and that vision helped my confidence. It was also seeing that trad authors still have to market, which seems so unfair and truly I wish every person in trad pub better advances and better marketing teams bc truly they deserve it and it’s not fair they don’t get it. 
It hasn’t been easy and I haven’t turned a profit yet but the numbers have me hopeful that I’ll get there and I am constantly trying to learn everything I can to give it all my best shot. I am lucky to have some amazing readers at my back and I am SO grateful for them.

Anna: I can imagine! I had a similar thing with the self pub vs trad pup thought process. Having complete creative control is great! The artist has done a wonderful job with them too – I love the spine art lining up.
Yeah, I know that feeling, anything I make goes into the next book, but I think (as cheesy as it sounds) the achievement of publishing and doing the work for your self is worth the effort. Profits would be nice though! Readers are the best right!?
I just have a few more questions, this one is something I love to ask authors. If your books were adapted into any other form of media what would you choose? Would you want that at all?

Aimee: I would absolutely chose an animated TV series for Catastrophe Incoming, i think! It would allow the chance to show the colour and magic of the world but also amazing character design opportunities. It would make a great limited series if I do say so myself

Anna: Big yes!! I think that would be perfect!
And last question, is there something you wish you could have been asked about in this interview (or in others) that you haven’t been asked before about your work? If yes, please answer it too! If not, then is there anything else you’d like to mention about your work or writing process? 

Aimee: I think the only thing I can think of is that I have been loving getting started on adventure as a genre but I cannot WAIT to get into releasing my sapphic and bi m/f romances 🥰

Anna: Yesss! I am so excited for all your new work both in your Catastrophe Incoming series and beyond 🥰
Thank you so much again for doing this with me 😊💜

Aimee: Thanks so much for such a lovely interview 🥰

I will be continuing this series with a host of wonderful indie authors. I can’t wait to share these interviews with you all!