10 Questions with Ellie Piersol
1. What has been the reaction of your classmates to you being a published author?
It was actually kind of interesting, because besides my classmates thinking it was really cool, they were proud of me. It was such a cool feeling to be proud of by my peers, and not just my family and teachers. They were inspired by me and also so incredibly supportive by buying copies and following my Facebook and Twitter and sharing my links for everything.
2. Who is your favorite writer?
It’s hard to pinpoint a favorite person now, just because I’ve been so busy with either writing my series, doing homework/writing for school, or reading for school since about the beginning of high school. It’s very difficult for me to set aside time for myself to just chill out and read, since it’s so time consuming and very involved.
3. What is the genesis of your Mysterium Excelsum series?
I started writing the first Mysterium book when I was about 15 and a freshman in high school. The two major inspirations were when I was on a plane to California and there was a stewardess that was really rude to me when I was trying to walk to the bathroom (there is an exact recreation of that event in the beginning of the first book) and also when I was 13 my dad died from heart failure, which in the book is the reason why the main character is moving from Louisiana to Nebraska.
4. What type of scenes do you most enjoy writing?
My favorite scenes to write are action scenes that have a lot of different things going on and also really emotionally motivated scenes. I love the action because it’s fun and I get to do a lot of research about fighting and I get to include magic and lots of different visual perspectives to paint a picture of what’s going on like a movie would. I like the emotional scenes too because I often like writing with music and including music to go with specific scenes in the book, and when I read/write a scene and have the perfect song to go with it with really strong dialogue and description and high emotions, it makes me feel like I’m watching a movie and like I can actually feel what’s going on.
5. What made you start writing?
I’ve been writing since I was in about fourth grade, and when I was a kid I read quite a bit and I liked even more to write stories that were based off the books I read, basically that were fan fiction but I never published or finished any of it. I also for as long as I could remember played the Sims computer games and I loved being able to put myself into a different and new experience or situation and create a story out of it.
6. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
I don’t like to limit myself but if I have to, the subject would have to be something that I either couldn’t make up myself or have no experience or research in the subject. I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing a story from the first person perspective of someone that was trans or a person of color, or just anything that’s something way out of my experience level. Because of that though, I do quite a bit of research for those kinds of topics so I can do them justice, if I do choose to use that perspective.
7. What is your best quality as a writer?
I think my best quality is that my experiences as a person are different than a lot of other people and also my imagination and the way I’m able to craft something. Off first glance, Mysterium very easily looks similar to the Harry Potter books or really anything that has to do with teenagers in a magical school, but that’s more of an influence than anything. My perspective and my stories are different.
8. If you could pick one other author to collaborate with on a novel or story, living or dead, who would it be?
There are so many to choose from, it’s so hard to just pick one. I think it would be really interesting to collaborate with Stephen King, or possibly even YA authors like John Green or Rainbow Rowell. I think they all have different styles, specifically from myself, and if we were to work together I think we could create something interesting but still different.
9. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
Done with college, hopefully with a degree in Creative Writing but also maybe film production, screenplay writing, and directing experience. Maybe I’ll have a few cats, a decent house or apartment, enough money to buy groceries. As of late I’ve been interested in having a job in TV production, so I might do that to keep my writing/movie career stable.
10. If Hollywood was making a film adaptation or movie series of Mysterium Excelsum, and the director asked you to cast the role of Stella, who would you choose?
Well first off, I plan on actually directing the movie, or maybe even Netflix TV series in the future, once all the books are out or however I can work that out. I’ve been as of late commissioning people that are indie/small business artists like myself and then working with them to create cover art or bookmarks or stickers or anything like that and helping them out and also getting their name out with mine. I’m not sure that I’d pick anyone out in the scene right now, but I’d for sure want to pick someone up and coming and give them a big opportunity. Kinda like the Stranger Things cast, most of them had never really been in anything big and then they all blew up once the show got popular.
Plus, I’m not sure that it helps that all the characters, especially Stella, have very specific looks to them that can’t just be recreated with clothes, hair, and makeup and I feel like there would have to be someone especially talented and understanding to be able to play her and give her justice, at least to my standards.
It was actually kind of interesting, because besides my classmates thinking it was really cool, they were proud of me. It was such a cool feeling to be proud of by my peers, and not just my family and teachers. They were inspired by me and also so incredibly supportive by buying copies and following my Facebook and Twitter and sharing my links for everything.
2. Who is your favorite writer?
It’s hard to pinpoint a favorite person now, just because I’ve been so busy with either writing my series, doing homework/writing for school, or reading for school since about the beginning of high school. It’s very difficult for me to set aside time for myself to just chill out and read, since it’s so time consuming and very involved.
3. What is the genesis of your Mysterium Excelsum series?
I started writing the first Mysterium book when I was about 15 and a freshman in high school. The two major inspirations were when I was on a plane to California and there was a stewardess that was really rude to me when I was trying to walk to the bathroom (there is an exact recreation of that event in the beginning of the first book) and also when I was 13 my dad died from heart failure, which in the book is the reason why the main character is moving from Louisiana to Nebraska.
4. What type of scenes do you most enjoy writing?
My favorite scenes to write are action scenes that have a lot of different things going on and also really emotionally motivated scenes. I love the action because it’s fun and I get to do a lot of research about fighting and I get to include magic and lots of different visual perspectives to paint a picture of what’s going on like a movie would. I like the emotional scenes too because I often like writing with music and including music to go with specific scenes in the book, and when I read/write a scene and have the perfect song to go with it with really strong dialogue and description and high emotions, it makes me feel like I’m watching a movie and like I can actually feel what’s going on.
5. What made you start writing?
I’ve been writing since I was in about fourth grade, and when I was a kid I read quite a bit and I liked even more to write stories that were based off the books I read, basically that were fan fiction but I never published or finished any of it. I also for as long as I could remember played the Sims computer games and I loved being able to put myself into a different and new experience or situation and create a story out of it.
6. Is there any subject that is off limits for you as a writer?
I don’t like to limit myself but if I have to, the subject would have to be something that I either couldn’t make up myself or have no experience or research in the subject. I wouldn’t feel comfortable writing a story from the first person perspective of someone that was trans or a person of color, or just anything that’s something way out of my experience level. Because of that though, I do quite a bit of research for those kinds of topics so I can do them justice, if I do choose to use that perspective.
7. What is your best quality as a writer?
I think my best quality is that my experiences as a person are different than a lot of other people and also my imagination and the way I’m able to craft something. Off first glance, Mysterium very easily looks similar to the Harry Potter books or really anything that has to do with teenagers in a magical school, but that’s more of an influence than anything. My perspective and my stories are different.
8. If you could pick one other author to collaborate with on a novel or story, living or dead, who would it be?
There are so many to choose from, it’s so hard to just pick one. I think it would be really interesting to collaborate with Stephen King, or possibly even YA authors like John Green or Rainbow Rowell. I think they all have different styles, specifically from myself, and if we were to work together I think we could create something interesting but still different.
9. Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
Done with college, hopefully with a degree in Creative Writing but also maybe film production, screenplay writing, and directing experience. Maybe I’ll have a few cats, a decent house or apartment, enough money to buy groceries. As of late I’ve been interested in having a job in TV production, so I might do that to keep my writing/movie career stable.
10. If Hollywood was making a film adaptation or movie series of Mysterium Excelsum, and the director asked you to cast the role of Stella, who would you choose?
Well first off, I plan on actually directing the movie, or maybe even Netflix TV series in the future, once all the books are out or however I can work that out. I’ve been as of late commissioning people that are indie/small business artists like myself and then working with them to create cover art or bookmarks or stickers or anything like that and helping them out and also getting their name out with mine. I’m not sure that I’d pick anyone out in the scene right now, but I’d for sure want to pick someone up and coming and give them a big opportunity. Kinda like the Stranger Things cast, most of them had never really been in anything big and then they all blew up once the show got popular.
Plus, I’m not sure that it helps that all the characters, especially Stella, have very specific looks to them that can’t just be recreated with clothes, hair, and makeup and I feel like there would have to be someone especially talented and understanding to be able to play her and give her justice, at least to my standards.
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