Thank you Elizabeth and ReadersMagnet for reaching out to me about Authors’ Lounge. I’m so excited to be able to share my work with you! My name is Vivian Rolfe and I began writing my debut novel, SHAPESHIFTERS when I was 13.
SHAPESHIFTERS is the first of four books in the series. I’m hoping to get all four books out, regardless of how well they all do. Being an indie author—self-publishing on my own without a team—makes it a bit harder to do as well as those with a publishing team and backing. I have somewhat low expectations that SHAPESHIFTERS will do well on the shelves, therefore, anything will make it all worth it. The crazy thing about SHAPESHIFTERS publishing journey is that I ended up releasing the ebook before the paperback, not at the same time. Something was wrong with my cover, so I made the tough decision to postpone the paperback release.
I was home a ton and played quite a bit of role-playing games with my sister. Sometime during our games, we created a Supreme Animal Shifting chart—the only way to become an awesome shapeshifter. Throughout elementary school, I had really enjoyed the Warriors series by Erin Hunter and began developing my own story using that as a basis. That’s how the journey of Light and Dust was born.
As I began planning and writing the first draft of Shapeshifters, I kept in mind the late elementary and early middle school kids as my focus—trying to phrase my book in a way that would keep them engaged. My main thing that I want the readers to get from SHAPESHIFTERS is that we are our own person and can conquer anything with the right people in our lives. Sometimes, we need to be aware that just because someone we know has a lot of friends, doesn’t mean that we need quite a few friends. Some people are better off with just one or two good friends.
Light’s journey is much like my own. She starts off by herself and learns that she does need others to help her push through the new and crazy life she’s living. Her story takes her through the ups and downs of life, but in a way she never thought. When her life first turns upside down, she is confused and alone. A couple of people try to help her, but Light only lets them so far. Light’s best friend from her old life shows up, and Light immediately takes him under her wing and together they learn the value of a good friend.
My goals with SHAPESHIFTERS is to spread whatever joy and happiness I can in these crazy times. When I first started writing Light and Dust’s journey, I didn’t have the goal of publishing in mind, but when COVID-19 hit, that mentality changed. Many things began falling into place for this to happen.
To me, writing begins with me and turns to my readers. I started writing SHAPESHIFTERS to give myself something to do. Once I began looking at publishing about 3 years ago, my perspective changed to be directed at my potential readers. I rewrote SHAPESHIFTERS for that reason. The first draft was for me—to know I can write and I enjoy writing. The second draft was for them—to give them a product I was proud of.
A few fun tidbits about me, both as a person and as a writer. My first attempt at a story is now lost somewhere, but it was called “The Princesses of Magiloka” and was about twin princesses separated at birth, but grow up as best friends only to learn when they were 15 they were princesses of a different world. I ended up using a similar idea for my 6-book series ISLA REGIUM. I’ve moved 11 times and lived in 6 states, but currently call the state of Idaho my main home. My family lives in Washington state so I spend the months of September through mid-April in Idaho and mid-April through August there. I am the oldest of 5 kids, three brothers and one sister. I’ve always liked writing but really found a love and a knack for it when I was around the age of 13. Once I learned I could write and I was semi-decent at it, I write quite often. If I’m not working on SHAPESHIFTERS, I am either writing a different series, jotting down new book ideas, or even planning something more in-depth for a current series. I have four series in the works right now, all started.
While I’m still a student, I can find time to write, edit, and get published. More importantly, I cannot wait to see where SHAPESHIFTERS goes and hope you join me on Light and Dust’s journey.
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