The Lonely Sun Team Interview

Hello all! Today I am excited to welcome to blogdom The Lonely Sun. This group of bloggers is seeking out Christian Fantasy or clean fantasy with good messages, which I am all for!

What are your favorite fandoms and why?

Carlye: Any fandom is my favorite (except KotLC for various reasons) but I think the Percy Jackson or Lord of the Rings fandom. The LotR fandom because everyone is basically Tolkien nerds who are fine rewatching the movies hundreds of times. And the Percy Jackson fandom because everyone ships Percabeth, there is amazing fanart, and everyone collectively thinks the movies are trash.

Merie: But why would you ask me that. I don’t really get involved in fandoms– EXCEPT FOR the memes. Only when I’m wasting time, though, lol.

Jorja: The Lunar Chronicles fandom is amazing, because everyone in it represents the characters so accurately whether it’s through fanart or memes or just discussions. I also appreciate the Keeper of the Lost Cities fandom because even though there is a constant war between ships, everyone agrees that the story is amazing.

Mya: Maybe Lockwood and Co? All I know is that it has amazing fan art.

What are your favorite books and why?

Carlye: Kiki Strike, Inside the Shadow City. I love how Kristen Miller intertwined all the subplots into one plot. I love the writing style, the characters, and especially how awesome the Irregulars are. You can’t find girls like them anymore. But if you do, please let me know because I will gladly join.

Merie: The dreaded question. Well, the Redwall series is what first got me into fantasy. Melanie Cellier’s The Princess Fugitive is one of my favorite fairytale retellings of all time. I love anything by Nadine Brandes, and Shannon Hale’s Ever After High series are what first got me into writing.

Jorja: That’s like picking a favorite child, but I love everything by Marissa Meyer, everything by Ally Carter, Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger, Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman, Avalon High by Meg Cabot and…. I could go on.

Mya: Keeper of the Lost Cities, Lockwood and Co, Nadine Brandes’s books, The Lunar Chronicles, In 27 Days, and the Legend Trilogy.

If you had one piece of writing advice, what would it be?

Carlye: Write when you don’t want to. If you have hit a dry spell, don’t force yourself to churn out 1,000 words. Settle for a small goal of maybe 300 words. Best case scenario, it gets you out of the rut and the stone starts rolling again. Worst case, you didn’t write anything. But at least you tried.

Merie: You write what you want to write, how you want to write it. But if you’re not writing for yourself, which chances are you’re not, you might want to be more diligent and figure out what you’re doing. People don’t need to read what you write, so make them want to.

Jorja: That’s a tough question, but probably “set consistent goals”. Having a daily goal, as well as a long term goal can do wonders for getting a story written quickly and effectively.

Mya: Have fun. If writing becomes nothing more than an annoying chore, it’ll probably show. Remember why you started writing in the first place.

What stories have you seen that reflect the theme of your blog, light amidst the darkness?

Carlye: If you meant, good solid literature among lesser fiction, then I would say most of the Christian books I’ve read. So authors like Nadine Brandes, Lorie Langdon, Sara Ella, Andrew Klavan, and Evan Angler.
But if you mean things within a book, like good versus evil, than I would say Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Crazy Dangerous and Nightmare City by Andrew Klavan, and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

Merie: Definitely The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. Tessa Afshar’s books. Brittany Fichter’s books. The Weaver Trilogy by Lindsay A. Franklin. Jill Williamson’s books. I could go on forever, but you would rather I not.

Jorja: I think a wonderful example is Romanov by Nadine Brandes. It is clean, is filled with hope even in the darker scenes, has representation of Christianity, and is just an amazing book.

Mya: Definitely the Out of Time trilogy by Nadine Brandes. It’s so underrated, more people need to read it!! It’s sure to resonate with you.

What inspired you to start this blog?

Carlye: My and Merie’s thoughts. We both came up with the idea for Tales of the Lonely Sun and reached out to each other. Mya, Jorja, and Abigail were added and we merged the two ideas into one. Although Abigail doesn’t post on here, she’s the one who judges the stories submitted to the story contest.

These are such great answers!

About The Lonely Sun:

We’re four girls who love reading, writing, and most importantly, Jesus. The Lonely Sun emblem symbolizes the Light amidst the Darkness, an illustration of the world and how it’s always been.

We hope to focus on reading and writing books that are full of light opposed to books centered around darkness. The Tales of the Lonely Sun team are spreading the word about good moral books, and how to write them.

We host a seasonal writing contest for writers looking to share their work, and offer book reviews for the book dragons among us.

The Team:

Carlye Krul

Carlye is a teenager who lives in fictional worlds. She is a fangirl and when Carlye isn’t writing or reading, she’s listening to music and dreaming about books. She’s a follower of Jesus and hopes to spread the Word through her writing. Carlye resides in the southwest of Canada with an unhealthy amount of books. You can check her out on her blog Carlye’s Camera.

Merie Shen

Merie Shen is an artist at heart, a daughter of ministry, and a Chinese-Korean spy. Thanks to a lifetime surrounded by three very different and very strange cultures, her love for world folkways and folklore constantly infiltrates her writing. From the beginning, her stories have been inspired by C.S. Lewis instead of Tolkien, Lewis Carroll instead of Harry Potter, fairytales instead of Disney, and Kung Fu Panda instead of Marvel (don’t ask). She also spends time drawing what appears in her mind or in nature, discovering and rediscovering the magic of books, and staring off into space. Her mascot changes with her daily moods and she blogs at Imperial Scribis.

Merie lives in the fascinating city of Beijing, with her missionary family and their cat, whose name is either Kipling or Mimi or maybe both.

Jorja Ayres

Jorja Ayres (pronounced Georgia Airs) is a 15 year old Christian writer, reader, and fangirl. Her hope is to help the readers of Tales of the Lonely Sun navigate around some of the beginner mistakes that she has made, as well as share some writing hacks that made things simpler for her. Her dream is to one day be able to give her readers the same feelings that she has experienced when reading some of her favorite books, as well as share positive themes that shine bright in this dark world. She lives in Southern Arizona with her family, dogs, and hedgehog.

Mya Gray

Mya Gray is a Christian teen with a love for imaginary worlds and fictional characters. While she spends the majority of her free time reading and writing stories, she also enjoys photography, blogging, and playing piano. Mya is an online high school student who resides in the Midwest with her parents, younger siblings, and cats.