Advice from IR Approved Author Scott T. Barnes: “By serving others in this way, it will give meaning to your work even when you aren’t selling what you’d hoped.”

1. What is the name of the book and when was it published?

Chaos Woods, Chronicles of the Ever-Guise Book I, Published November 14, 2025.

2. What’s the book’s first line?

“Telyn spit on her hand, placed her elbow on the greasy table, and leaned forward.”

3. What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.

The Cornic Empire functions on three rules: Humans shall not own horses. Humans shall not own magic. Humans shall not own wheels. But when a thieves’ auction goes bad, young Telyn winds up with a relic from the Age of Lies-a fragment of a magical mask. She and her friends use the Ever-Guise to improve their mountain village, but each suggestion backfires in some fundamental way. Each suggestion erodes their humanity.

The cornics are closing in. The buyer sends a daemon to seek the missing piece. Telyn’s only hope lies deep in the Chaos Woods-that mysterious forest with the power to transmogrify magic-and more.

4. What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?

I can see much of my childhood in this book. I grew up in a small mountain town, just like the fictional town of Harlech in Chaos Woods. I raised sheep and showed them at the county fair, much like the Spring Sale in Harlech. Forest hikes have always been where I feel most at home, and of course there is the reading and re-reading of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

5. What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?

This is first and foremost an adventure. If you like that feeling you get from exploring new worlds, and from cheering on flawed, outmatched heroes, then this book is for you.

6. What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character?  Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?

Telyn begins the story somewhat irresponsible, self-serving, and bitter at the way humans get treated in this world, but she’s fiercely loyal to her friends and to her beloved town. These traits help her come through in the end. She’s more like a young and reluctant Clint Eastwood-type than one of today’s comic book heroes.

7. When did you first decide to become an author?

When I was eleven years old. I have a photograph of me typing my first manuscript to prove it. The first draft of Chaos Woods—albeit a completely different vision of it—was completed in 1989.

8. Is this the first book you’ve written?

This is my second young adult fantasy and the first series I have embarked on. The second installment in the Chronicles of the Ever-Guise should be out in fall 2026. There will be 3-4 books total.

9. How much time do you generally spend on your writing?

I try to put in two hours a day, at least five days a week.

10. What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?

Writing is a lonely business. Try to create or join a circle of writers who understand the journey. Offer to help them in any way you can. By serving others in this way, it will give meaning to your work even when you aren’t selling what you’d hoped.

11. Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?

Robert Enstrom, a science fiction writer from the 1970s, became a Dungeons and Dragons partner when I was in high school. He has inspired me in many ways, not the least of which is simply knowing that, “Hey, Bob is just a guy, and yet he wrote and published these great books. I’m just a guy also—I can do this!”

12. Which book do you wish you could have written?

So many! Today, I’ll say Encounter Program by Robert Enstrom.