An Interview with Orange Pebbler
Orange Pebbler is a pen name. I’m a small-island-born academic currently focused on computer science research – algorithms and applied work – and I tend toward aiming for practical benefit that can hopefully reach actual people beyond the papers. Research like that can be incredibly strict, so there’s freedom of thought in creative writing that I cherish. Here, as Orange Pebbler, I’m a new author who writes fantasy and romance.
Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?
During a difficult time when I was struggling to get myself to do anything, and even watching comfort shows was a tall ask, I managed to re-watch the Harry Potter movies. The Dumbledore quote near the end, “Words are the truest form of magic,” made me think about magic systems where words are literal magic. I started writing the details of one I had in mind, and then a little more of a story around that, one I would want to see or read. I specifically thought, “I’m not writing a novel, I’m writing an idea I like,” to make it feel less like a daunting new task since I’d never written long-form fiction before. That ‘little by little’ started building up along with my confidence in writing, and from there I started more of it with complete stories in mind. That book hasn’t been published, although it is a special one I’ll return to when I can. This is a different, later book, but that’s how I started.
More generally, music, manga, manhwa, and manhua have had a strong influence on the stories I think of, especially storytelling in rap, combat fantasy, and slice-of-life romance. In terms of books now, I’m open-minded, but tend to prefer medium-pacing with a literary element below the main genres.
What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?
This isn’t an author ‘success’ story, and I use a pen name, so my readers wouldn’t know anything about me. But if I had to pick one detail to share, it would be the role of immersive daydreaming in imagining and planning stories. It’s a similar effect to pacing while thinking, but I also like to bounce or toss around a tennis ball to keep my hands occupied, too. Even though I’ve never played or watched much tennis, those are common and the ideal palm size.
For me, it helps with sinking into the focus of the story more than usual, and with that immersion, details and natural outcomes feel easier to come up with. I also saw on her website that ML Wang does something similar, so I think a successful author lends this some credibility.
Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?
My book’s title doesn’t set the most accurate tone, but it’s a very direct punch to the main premise. I like the simplicity of it, how it fits to a more whimsical, folktale feeling, and how that contrasts against the heavy sadness in their lives and behind the magical realism.
It’s also four words, and throughout the decision-making process, I kept to a pattern of four where I could. Fitting with the four seasons of a cycle. And even my pen name, Orange, is partly because of how I saw the fall season for the first time a few years ago.
As for coming up with the title, yeah, it was a choice that took a bit of time. But Ann Liang’s stuff specifically helped. I like her covers and titles, and those helped me realize the snappiness of titles like these. This whole author side of things is very new and unknown to me. And authors who share more of their experience on social media really help to bring those pieces of info and smaller realizations closer and accessible.
What part of publishing your book made it feel real for the first time?
From the moment I finished writing the book, and felt the surreal feeling of crying over an ending I made up with characters I made up (although they’re more than just characters I made up to me), it became something special in my life.
The rest of the process in self-publishing was more like part of an attempt to give what I wrote a real chance, and an attempt at getting to a better position to write more.
If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?
I listened to a lot of music while writing the book. Actually, a cover of Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Natsumi Kiyoura helped me overcome the initial hurdle of starting to write during a challenging time. And the soundtrack for Your Lie in April was on repeat a lot, too. Those songs, especially, felt right for it, and the book itself has a similar tone and style to Your Lie in April, mixed with a low fantasy setting and a theme that’s closer to Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. So I’d say a mix of slow classical piano and violin music.
What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?
Empathy over judgment, and the critical role of that empathy in any genuine attempt to help someone. That’s two things, but one is short, and it’s one sentence, and they’re connected, so it’s kind of like one thing expanded.
What was the most rewarding/meaningful part of publishing your book?
I love stories in all their forms. Having one that I wrote and care about, that I can read again and enjoy anew when I inevitably forget some of it (because even though I’m not old, I do have a few older traits) that I put my mind and heart into, that feeling, more than pride in work, it’s a love for words and the images they shape.
What creative projects are you currently working on?
I’m currently writing a high fantasy novel about an intelligent underwater clan of people who must complete an unjustly grueling journey to the shoreline by the time they turn twenty-three or else their bodies deteriorate. There’s strategic action, but still romance and politics, with some dark academia as well. It’s about new adulthood, how often we find the young leading the younger, and how new challenges can stack up to test and break even the most prepared in those crucial first years of exposure. Following on socials or subscribing to my mailing list at pebbler.substack.com are the best ways to find out about new completed projects. Thanks for reading my interview!
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