Dragon Soul Press had a moment to interview Sean E. Britten, an author featured in Dragons and Heroes, The Hunt, Rogue Waves, and Apocalypse.
- Introduce yourself.
- My name’s Sean E. Britten, I’m an author and freelance journalist from Sydney, Australia. I’ve
been writing for over twenty years at this point and have self-published several novels. Over the
course of 2022, I decided to publish a short story inspired by a creature from the Dungeons &
Dragons’ Monster Manual every week on my website and really fell in love with the short story
form. I work in the radio industry and also have a weekly podcast called ‘US of Ed’ where I
discuss US news and politics with former Washington insider Ed Blakely.
- My name’s Sean E. Britten, I’m an author and freelance journalist from Sydney, Australia. I’ve
- What prompted you to begin writing?
- When I was around fourteen, it was really about needing a creative outlet. I’d been an artistic
kid, drawing, acting, and I’d always been a massive reader. When I discovered fan fiction, that
combined the two for me. Animorphs fan fiction was the gateway drug but it didn’t take me long to start writing my own original stuff. I think it was inevitable really, I never had a choice in it, I was always going to start writing at some point.
- When I was around fourteen, it was really about needing a creative outlet. I’d been an artistic
- Do you have a favorite story or poem you’ve written? What’s it about?
- I could never pick a favourite! Honestly I’m always focused on the next thing and I’ve written so
many short stories at this point that I frequently remember something I’d forgotten I’d written
like, “Oh yeah, I love that story! That’s a great story!” Just yesterday I was thinking about writing
something with killer toys and remembered I released a story last year called ‘Murder on the
4:40 to Little Americaville’ where a guy realises one of the miniatures in his toy train set is a
serial killer and I thought, man, I should really read that one again.
- I could never pick a favourite! Honestly I’m always focused on the next thing and I’ve written so
- How many projects do you have planned over the next few years? Tell us about one.
- I’ve always got half a dozen things going at different levels of completion. Certainly I want to
keep publishing more short stories and I’m thinking of putting some older novels that have been gathering dust out there by posting chapter by chapter. My biggest project though is an epic fantasy novel that uses one of those stories from 2022 as a jumping off point, expanding on the world and telling the story of what happens next. It’s a setting I really fell in love with and wound up writing several unconnected short stories in during and after 2022, so that one is a lot of fun.
- I’ve always got half a dozen things going at different levels of completion. Certainly I want to
- What is your writing process like?
- I write all of my first drafts by hand, pen and paper. You wouldn’t believe the amount of old
notebooks I have squirrelled away. I find that it means you have to keep moving forward with
the story if you want it to come into existence, you can’t go back and forth and fiddle with it.
Second draft is going back and typing the whole thing up, which forces me to pay attention to
the editing process, and then I’ll edit, and edit, and edit, until I’m happy for other people to read it.
- I write all of my first drafts by hand, pen and paper. You wouldn’t believe the amount of old
- Where do you draw inspiration from?
- Absolutely everywhere, really. An obvious one I’ve already mentioned was the Monster Manual
which helped to inspire a lot of very different stories for me, but they come from everywhere.
Other stories, talking to people, day to day life. Two of my favourite ways to spark inspiration is
to watch a nature documentary, or just to take a walk and keep my eyes open at the world
around me. I’ll always find something.
- Absolutely everywhere, really. An obvious one I’ve already mentioned was the Monster Manual
- Who is your favorite author / what is your favorite book?
- I have a lot of favourites! One author I greatly admire is China Miéville, and just recently I reread
one of his which is an all-time favourite, ‘Perdido Street Station’. It’s such a spectacular book, an
epic story, complex characters, incredible worldbuilding, and so beautifully, beautifully written.
- I have a lot of favourites! One author I greatly admire is China Miéville, and just recently I reread
- What is one goal you have for your writing future?
- I’d love to try exploring traditional publishing for some of my novels again. That’s something I’ll
be looking at with the epic fantasy project I mentioned before. But really I’d just like to get as
many people reading my work as possible and maybe to make a bit of money from it while I’m
at it.
- I’d love to try exploring traditional publishing for some of my novels again. That’s something I’ll
- What do you hope readers enjoy most from your work?
- I really love the opportunity to create a world around the story as it’s taking place, especially if I
can do so in a really small space. I love conserving details and trying to hint at larger things
taking place rather than stating them outright. I want to fire up people’s imaginations and
hopefully make that world feel richer and more real for them, because that’s something I really
enjoy in the stories I read as well.
- I really love the opportunity to create a world around the story as it’s taking place, especially if I
- Where can readers learn more about you?
Dragon Soul Press 