Meet Sweet

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sweet and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sweet, why did you pursue a creative career?
I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t telling stories. Growing up, my active imagination was fostered and feed with enough books to fill a semi-truck and playing make believe for hours on end in the summertime with my cousins. Becoming an author was as natural as breathing air to me. Stories are constantly pouring out of me, and I have no choice but try and fill the cups of others with them.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I tend to write stories about subjects that are underplayed by the current mainstream media through the use of easily digestible mediums. My latest novel, The Maiden of the Barren Rime, appears to be your standard fantasy-romance (romantasy as younger millennials and gen-z refer to it nowadays) on the surface, but underneath is commentary on the current state of womanhood in western society, an exploration of the impacts of generational trauma on one’s understanding of reality and self, and an allegory for the journey of mental heath treatment.

The hardest part of writing stories such as this comes from current corporate expectations of creative content. If I were to query my book on the above premise to publishers and agents, it would certainly be met with rejection. To market it based off of the current state of book advertising would misconstrue the message, and current publishers they are looking for authors who can churn out books like fast fashion with one line premises based off of trending keywords and tropes that are so easily digestible to audiences they dissolve like saltine crackers in water.

I turned to indie publishing as the solution but that is not without it’s own issues. However, I would much rather keep my stories true to their form and make little money than to be faced with years of rejection that would pressure me into rewriting my works to the point of being unrecognizable all for the hopes of getting a meager payout from a major corporation.

My stories do not pull any punches. I strive to tell narratives that deliver hard truths like feeding dogs pills wrapped in cheese; that leave their readers with a new perspective to consider or more internal clarity on their own existence.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I currently live in Texas and there is a plethora of things to do. My personal favorite would be to take them on a tour of all the fairs Texas sports. From the Stock and Rodeo Show in San Antonio, to the Texas RenFaire, finding the niche little gatherings people hold is a great way to get a peak at the subcultures that thrive in a state.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to dedicate this shoutout to Ray Bradbury, Arlowa, Kat, and Victoria V. Nunley.

Website: https://storiesbysweet.com/

Other: https://sweetarethediscords.tumblr.com/

Image Credits
Personal Picture: Lou @asdfghjkiri
Mina and Sebastian Prints: Arlowa