Young Writer Interview: Ella Em

Posted On December 14, 2022

Hello and welcome to the third installment in my Young Writer series! I had the honor of interviewing an amazing writer and friend of mine, Ella Em. I hope you enjoy reading this interview! Be sure to find her at her blog, Ella’s Tea Table, where she shares her beautiful writing.

Hey Ella Em! To start off, why don’t you tell us a little bit about who you are and how you got into writing? 

Hi Abby! Thank you so much for having me! 

I am a teenage writer from South Carolina with a passion for writing about beauty and light. My writing journey began right before I started high school. I read Pride and Prejudice and Emma in a week and caught the writing itch! It was crazy! Several years later, I still haven’t stopped writing, though the stories I write are vastly different from what they were when I started.

That’s so cool! What sort of things do you currently write? 

Right now I am working on a seven book series titled Stars of Lumbulae. It’s set in a fantasy world I created and designed to highlight themes of our brokenness and need for a rescuer. It’s semi-allegorical, but it’s not a one-to-one allegory like Narnia or anything like that. I’ve written several drafts of one of the books, and I’m in the process of another but it’s going veeeery slowly.  

Wow, seven books! That’s awesome. Do you always write fantasy? 

Yeah! Sometimes it’s more than a little overwhelming. 😳

When I first started writing, I dabbled in historical fiction for around six months before I ended up writing a novella called Moving Fire with decidedly fantasy vibes. (I was actually reading Narnia for school at the time. Coincidence? I think not!) Anyway, I’ve completed two other books since Moving Fire and both were somewhere in the fantasy genre. Somehow it’s just easier for me to express the themes I care about when I can illustrate them through stories that probably wouldn’t happen in the current day or historical reality. 

Awesome! So, I know your faith is very important to you – how would you say it influences your writing? Any specific ways?

I don’t think I would still ultimately be a writer if I did not know Christ. Writing is one of the ways I feel most used by God. Especially within the last year, I’ve noticed that brainstorming doesn’t feel as though I’m creating a story. Rather, it’s as though I’m discovering a story that was designed just for me. A story that is important and God wants me to write. I am chosen to be the vessel the Lord uses to share His story with the world! It’s a pretty amazing feeling. 

I also pray about writing. A lot. It seems like half of my journal entries are prayers that I would find the story He wants me to write, that I would write well, that I would actually write…

I love that! Thanks for sharing.
Would you say there are any specific stories or movies, etc., that have influenced your writing?

Well, Pride and Prejudice and Emma were the books that first started me writing. For at least 6 other book ideas, the story was always very similar in genre and style to what I was reading at the time, whether that was Anne of Green Gables, The Lord of the Rings, or Ella Enchanted. (The last of which doesn’t exactly please me. I could rant about the quality of writing for a long time!) 

Thankfully, I have gained more of my own voice over the past year or so, instead of imitating whatever I’m reading. That being said, there are a few books that have greatly influenced my style. Anne of Green Gables would be one of them. I love Montgomery’s style and the beauty spilling across her pages. One of my biggest goals is to make my prose sing and my stories feel like hers. But the series that got me to my current WIP was probably The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. It’s a space fantasy, which is almost the last thing I would ever have pictured myself writing. But the settings for several of my stories collided after I read that series and became different planets in my world. 

Do you have a regular writing routine? What does a typical writing setup look like for you?

If I’m feeling disciplined and serious (which is about 50% of the year) I get up at 5:30 AM. I stay in bed and do my devotions until 6:00 and then I write for 90 minutes (still in bed). I have a pair of fingerless gloves with the scene from Anne of Green Gables where Anne breaks her slate over Gilbert’s head printed on them, and they’re one of those things that get me in a creative mood. I can’t wear them unless I’m writing, no matter how cold my hands are! (And yes, I am currently wearing them.)  But at other times of the year, especially when it’s super cold in the morning (like now, ahem) I try to write later in the evening or whenever I get the chance. It’s rarely as productive, but I enjoy sleeping in! 

I have to admire your discipline! That’s amazing.
Do you ever experience writer’s block? If so, how do you get past it (or do you?) 

Thank you! It’s always hard but it’s so worth it. 

If I’m having what people typically refer to as writer’s block (or what I call plot block), I just talk out that part of the story with a friend. So I don’t have writer’s block like most writers do. My problem is more that I can be so disciplined that I burn myself out. I’ve learned the hard way that if I start feeling dread when it’s time to write or I’m procrastinating to do things I dislike, it’s time for a break. When I tried to power through my burnout in June I ended up with such a hard case of “writer’s block” that I couldn’t write a word of fiction until September. It was scary because I was afraid I’d never write again, but I learned from the experience and now I know that after a prolonged period of getting up early and being super disciplined, I need to take two weeks or longer to read, refill my creative well, and rest so I don’t end up burning myself out. 

What would you say is one of your biggest struggles in writing? 

One? Haha, you’re kidding right? How could I choose? (Kidding. Mostly.) It might be that I am a majorly auditory processor. This is great when it comes to school because it’s easy for me to memorize things, but it isn’t great when it comes to plotting a book. I usually have to call up a friend and talk part of the story out in order to really understand what I want to write. This used to work great but as my story has gotten more complex, I only have one friend who really understands everything. When she isn’t available I have to figure out what to write on my own. So I’m definitely working on that. 

Another thing I struggle with sometimes is just getting overwhelmed! I am currently working with a 3rd draft and a sort of second, sort of unfinished draft and they’re both still so messy. Sometimes I wonder if they will EVER be finished. 

Where do you see your writing heading in the future? 

My prayer is that I will become a full-time author. I would love to write all the time and publish books for a living! But I also know the Lord could have other plans for me. Either way, I plan to continue writing and blogging for many years to come. 

Yes! Speaking of your blog, why don’t you tell the readers a bit about it! 

Absolutely! My blog is called Ella’s Tea Table, and can be found at ellasteatable.com. I started it so I could talk about books, beauty, light, and hope (four of my favorite things!) and it has already been such a blessing. I hope the Lord will use it to shine light into people’s lives! 

How fun! I know that I for one have loved reading your blog.
Alright, last question! Do you have any advice for other young writers? 

Thank you so much! 

Wow. There’s so much I could say. I think the biggest thing for me in the past few years, though, is that writing is not a competition. I find myself worrying so often about how I can write like Montgomery or Tolkien or Lewis or a menagerie of other writers, when the truth is that I can only write like me. I worry that so many authors are better than I am, and that people will not want to read my writing because there are better stories out there. I turn it into a contest. But the truth is that there will ALWAYS be someone “better” than me. Do I expect to top The Lord of the Rings? Nope. This can turn into a “why even try?” attitude, or it can help me find my own identity as a writer. I am not competing with other writers. I am worshiping a God who wrote the story of my life and the story He is giving me to write. “Better” does not matter to Him. 

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Ella Em falls into plot holes, converts mountains of yarn into snuggly footwear, and sets overly ambitious reading goals from her home in South Carolina. She enjoys writing fantasy and creative nonfiction. Her passion is reminding people that though at times life may seem hopeless, this is not the end of the story.

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