Tiffany Nicole Terry, or TNT to her friends, has wanted to be an author since the sixth grade. After years of professional writing for executives, she finally pursued her dream of writing and self-publishing a young adult fantasy trilogy. TNT shares her story of healing from trauma through her stories and creates clean books where the girls don’t choose to change the bad boy.

Q1 – What is the name of your latest project? Tell us more about why you embarked on this project. If a writer, share your synopsis.

I recently published the third book of my Sister Worlds trilogy. This story has been with me a long time, ever since I was fifteen. The worlds I created were once one planet divided into two by a hybrid dragon. One civilization advanced while the other stayed traditional. But the real story is how my characters, three girls from different traumatic upbringings, come together to help save their worlds. They bond as they heal from their trauma. I finally focused on finishing this story while I was healing from my own trauma.

Q2 – What inspired you when you encountered struggles along the way?

Creating a story with young adult characters who not only heal but rise above their upbringings was really important to me. I needed to write these books for girls who may need them someday, and that’s what inspired me to finish the stories and publish them.

Q3 – Have you ever traveled as research for your work/project/story?

I am from Oklahoma and have lived in Seattle, Orlando, Denver, Dallas, and now Boise. I have definitely lived in many places but haven’t traveled as much as I probably should have. I prefer staying in one place where I can see mountains and writing about far off worlds. I adventure in my mind and haven’t been brave enough to explore other countries in person.

Q4 – How has your lived experience influenced your work/project/story?

I ended up marrying the man who had once been the boy I imagined my story around. But my fantasy turned into a nightmare, continuing a generational pattern that I was ignorant to. I became very passionate about helping girls identify and then end familial patterns of abuse. I hope I can do that through my writing.

Q5 – What do you want readers to take away from your work/project/story?

I hope that readers who have experienced or are experiencing some form of abuse in their lives find strength in reading my characters’ stories. The message is not in your face, but I hope they relate to my characters’ experiences and connect with their strength. These are clean young adult and should not emotionally trigger anyone, but my goal is to write characters who are introspective about the trauma they have experienced and use that awareness to make healthy decisions.

Q6 – Do you believe books can inspire social change? How?

I really do. I’m concerned that a lot of social change is now being inspired by social media. My kids go down crazy rabbit holes on the internet and I’m always trying to steer them back to reality and research through books. Media is very polarizing, but writers have this ability to show deep nuances of personality and experience over time, which I think is a much better educator than quick videos with dramatic narration and images designed to keep you watching. I want to write books that empower young women to look deeper, to spend time finding meaningful information that inspires change within them. We can’t heal the world without first healing ourselves.

Q7 – Anton Chekhov said, “The world is, of course, nothing but our conception of it.” What is your opinion of this statement? How does it coincide or conflict with your perspective of the world?

If I allowed myself to dwell in the victimhood of my previous marriage, I would not be where I am now. My ex almost bankrupted me, but I came out of it and tripled my income. He threatened to take my home from me and my kids, but I ended up making money on that home and using that equity to build us a dream home. He told me that nobody would ever love me, and then I was pursued by a big, strong, handsome, loving man who showers me with love and bought us a castle of a house. I believe that our world is good, good things happen, and love is all around us. We can overcome anything. I think people who believe the world is out to get them end up experiencing exactly what they expect.

Q8 – What personal experience had the greatest influence on your worldview?

Every encounter is an opportunity to have your worldview influenced. I think it’s good to keep eyes and ears open. I think growing up in an environment where I wasn’t allowed to talk back, or question allowed me to be more open minded now. I am always listening and looking and learning. After I had children, I felt an intense need to protect them. However, I wasn’t looking after or protecting myself. I took control of my life, of our lives, and shifted from a worldview of letting things just happen to me. I started steering my own ship.

Q9 – What perspectives or beliefs have you challenged in your work/project/story?

I am writing against the idea that girls who have a history of abuse or trauma should choose the bad boy. That’s my belief. It is so easy to continue a pattern you’ve always known. The concept surrounds us in media and entertainment. The bad boys are the dark, mysterious, handsome, and dangerous ones. I want to challenge the idea that a girl can change them. Instead, I want her to pick herself or pick a better option.

Q10 – How do you see the relationship between writing and culture? How about the boundaries between fiction and reality?

I could write essays about this question. The bible was a piece of writing that inspired generations of cultures. There is a lot of power in writing, and you know how they say that with great power comes great responsibility. I believe that if you write stories about regular people making the tough but right decisions, you can inspire people to be better. Since I write YA fantasy, I love blurring the lines between fiction and reality. Post-apocalyptic fantasy is a great way authors warn us about what could be if we don’t make cultural changes to our current worlds. Every story is an opportunity to teach and every book an opportunity to learn.

Q11 – Aldous Huxley said, “I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” How have you changed throughout your creative process? How do you improve yourself every day?

Creativity and genius are bedfellows. If writers can imagine the problem, maybe the scientists can fix them before they happen. Same with politics. If we write how bad things can get, maybe the kids who read our books will grow up to make policies that avoid an apocalypse. As far as science, I was writing about a world with artificial wombs that grow in a tank in your living room and my husband, who is in the medical field, said the technology already exists. Many of the technology we saw on television in the seventies came to our reality in the nineties. If creators think it, science builds it.

Q12 – To what extent can fiction affect or improve the developments in science and technology in human life? What about religion and politics?

My best friend is an intactivist. I had girls, so I didn’t have to think about circumcision. But she is dedicated to creating more awareness about how circumcision is genital mutilation and is culturally driven for cosmetic reasons. That awareness drove me to read more and wow, what I learned shook me. I started having conversations. I started sharing my awareness with others. As a victim of many forms of abuse, helping young girls break the cycle of abuse by first becoming aware of the abuse is my cause, just like intactivism is my friend’s cause. As writers, when we have a purpose and passion to create awareness about an issue, I think it does help spread that knowledge to others and I think it wakes people up to make changes. You can’t make changes like stopping a culture from mutilating the genitals of baby boys, until you start making people aware that it is an issue.

Q13 – Eckhart Tolle said, “Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” In your opinion, what is the next step and how can writers affect this?

Inspiring self-love to me is the most important step in healing ourselves and our world. How can you love others if you can’t love yourself? I watched a true crime story on a child who wanted to kill people because she had been abused. Through therapy, she was able to find empathy within her and become a human. My audience is girls, young women, and women who are experiencing or who have experienced any form of trauma. I only ask these readers to start looking for how they can start by healing themselves. You will make a difference by first healing yourself. Love yourself.

Q14 – Intolerance and divisiveness are prevalent across the globe. Our voice may not be loud enough to right every wrong, but it is enough to make a difference one person at a time. Small acts move mountains. What one thing would you ask your audience to do to help inspire social change?

Domestic abuse as a continuation of child abuse is definitely what drives me to write my books. I also have to support my friend’s cause of spreading awareness around the barbarianism of circumcision. However, I actually think the polarization of our social issues is the biggest issue we all face. We choose to fight for the extreme side of a cause because we see our enemies fighting on the other extreme end of the spectrum. I think if we just had more conversations with people we don’t agree with and came more toward the middle of causes, we’d be better off as a culture. People who sit at the end of any spectrum are the ones preventing our culture from maturing and growing.

Q15 – Pick 1-3 social issues that are most important to you. Explain why you picked these and how we can help raise awareness/impact change.

My stepfather and my ex-husband ruled through creating fear. I made a decision in my life to stop making decisions out of fear. I started to believe more in my own intuition and to believe in the Universe or God. I also stopped dating and focused on writing. After my divorce, when I was a single mom struggling to heal, I made a lot of mistakes and found myself asking what I was doing. I was letting the fear and the pain control my life, and it didn’t make me happy. I started praying, I started therapy, and I started writing again. I focused on what kind of life I wanted my girls and I to have.

Q16 – Maya Angelou said, “I did then what I knew how to do, but now that I know better, I do better.” We have all made choices that we regret. We are all flawed humans. Together, we are experiencing this human story unfolding. Share a transformative experience where you learned from a mistake. How do you actively choose to make better choices?

When my ex was doing drugs in my home, we were living paycheck to paycheck with a toddler and a baby. I was the only one working and keeping us afloat. I could have left, but I would have lost my home and ruined my credit. Since I’d worked in the mortgage industry, I knew that without credit I wouldn’t be able to buy my girls another home. I also knew that I could get arrested, even though the drugs were his, simply because he refused to leave my house. I saw how close we were to being homeless, so when I donate it’s to shelters for women and children. I ask to look for those in your community that need help and don’t judge, because they could have escaped something truly dangerous.

Connect with Tiffany Nicole Terry

An author is only as good as her audience. Support this amazing writer by connecting with her and checking out her books.

Website – https://www.tiffanynicoleterry.com/

TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@tntauthor

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/tiffanynicoleterryauthor

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tiffanynicoleterry/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19938302.Tiffany_Nicole_Terry

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B61DCRV2

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Michael Camarillo