An Interview with Cindy Sell

Cindy L. Sell supposedly lives in the Midwestern United States with a home full of furry critters, including her two boys and doting husband, but she really spends most of her time on Dessos battling sorcerers or negotiating trade deals with pirates.

She graduated from Washburn University with a BA in creative writing, but didn’t bother to do anything with it until COVID when she ran out of excuses. When she’s not writing, she enjoys bowling, crochet, and riding her ’82 Sportster.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

It’s just in my blood, I think. I’ve been writing stories since I was ten years old. I started off saving really terrible Pokemon fanfiction on those old 3.5-inch floppy disks. Through middle and high school, I had full notebooks of really terrible poetry and short stories that have since been burned (thank goodness). Then I moved on to Star Wars fanfics that stuck with me until college.

What inspired you to start writing this book?

Definitely have to credit my D&D crew for this book and all the work with The Last Draegion Saga. I played TTRPGs for a long time just as another body at the table until my friends bugged me enough to run a one-shot myself. I didn’t want to run in a world like Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance since those were already established and my players would know more about them than I would, so I decided I’d make my own world instead. That one-shot turned into a two-year campaign, a planned four-book series, and several standalone and spin-off series that will take me years to get down on paper.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

Remnants of a Scarlet Flame came way easier than I expected. Daeya (my female MC) is a fire savant and her flames turn scarlet when this ancient power awakens, so it really was just a seamless choice.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Oh my goodness, where do I even begin? Let’s see… “Atlas Falls” by Shinedown, “The Unforgiven” by Metallica, “How Villains Are Made” by Maladen Duke, “Fire Away” by Chris Stapleton, “Fortunate Son” by CCR…there are so many. I guess that’s the benefit of having a large character cast, right? They each have their own flavor.

Describe your dream book cover.

Someday I’m going to have enough money (and hopefully a big enough audience!) to do a limited run at a really nice printer, not a print-on-demand service, and when I do, my book cover is going to have all the pretty embossing and shiny filigree that the traditionally published books have. I’d love to do a beautiful box set of my series with custom illustrations once all the books are out. We’ll see, though.

What books did you read (for research or comfort) throughout your writing process?

I spent a ton of time on rabbit-hole dives researching things like sailing ships, wound anatomy, and battle strategy. Sun Tzu’s Art of War has a permanent spot on my bookshelf, and I have a few writing craft books that I bought with good intentions, swearing I’d read them someday. For comfort or inspiration, I’ve read Patrick Rothfuss, RF Kuang, Raymond Feist, and Robert Jordan.

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

More than anything else, Remnants of a Scarlet Flame is a message to never assume you know what’s going on in someone else’s world. We should always stand up for others and practice kindness and understanding, even if that sometimes means we’re standing alone. My ideal reader is a lover of good-vs-evil, elemental magic, dragons, and character-driven plot lines that are super-charged with emotion, personal connections, and told through multiple POVs.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.