An Author’s First Sale: A Conversation with Andrew Cooper

While I’ve interviewed my fair share of professional authors, I thought that it might be fun to talk to someone just beginning their career. Writer Andrew Cooper just sold his first story, and was kind enough to speak with me about the experience.

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Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name Andrew Cooper and I’m 19 years old. I’ve lived many places—big cities and small towns—and I currently reside in a hamlet on the shore of Lake Michigan. Right now I’m attending community college and I have a mind-numbing factory job during the summer.

How long have you been writing fiction? What kind of fiction do you write? Who are your greatest inspirations? What do you hope to accomplish as a writer?

I wrote my first story in second grade, about a little kid who gets transported to medieval times through a magic mirror. I write mostly heroic fantasy, but I’m trying to expand my horizons. My greatest inspiration would probably be J.R.R. Tolkien, followed by Robert E. Howard. I also like the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, because it is so evocative. My grandfather is also an inspiration. He taught Creative Writing at Purdue and would read my stories when I was younger. As for what I hope to accomplish, I want to become as good a writer as I can be.

What’s the name of your story? What is it about? How did you develop this idea? How long did it take for you to write the story?

The story I wrote is called “The City on the Rock” and it’s about a magical city that’s never fallen in siege. However, the magic is dying away and the hero is trying to find out why. This is an idea that has been in the back of my head for a few years, but I don’t think I’ve ever executed it well before now. It took me about a week to write and revise.

Who is publishing your story? What kind of publication is it? When will it be available? Where can we find it?

The magazine publishing my story is Mindflights. It’s a Christian-friendly magazine—the stories don’t have to be religious however, just not anti-Christian. Mine isn’t religious at all. It has a print and an online version and I’m going to be just online. They’re a paying publication, however. Last I checked they’re going to publish it sometime in September, maybe sooner. You can find it when it comes out at Mindflights.com.

How did you feel when you got the notice that your piece was accepted for publication? Is this your first sale? What will you be doing to celebrate? In contrast, how do you normally deal with rejection?

My reaction was a little strange. It didn’t hit me until about five minutes after I read it. At that point, I started jumping around and celebrating. I called everyone in my family and told them. This is my first sale, and hopefully I will have some kind of celebration with my aunt when she comes up here, since she is a published author. As for rejection, I get a little disappointed and then I move on. I try to realize that everyone gets rejected, although sometimes it is very hard to do so. Rejection is never fun, unless they add a positive comment in the email or letter (at least for me).

Does this change the way you perceive yourself? Do you feel more professional now? What are your plans from here?

I feel like an authentic author now, but I know you can never stop trying to improve. I’m at the beginning of a long road. At some point I want to publish a story that I’ve been thinking about since sixth grade, but it would be very long. I hope to one day serialize it in a print magazine of some kind—that would be great. It’s always been my dream to have one of my stories illustrated.