An Interview with Whitney Healy

Whitney Healy specializes in poetry, creative nonfiction, memoir, and fantasy. In 2025, Whitney’s small poetry series, Blackberry Winter: Songs of the Appalachian Trails, received first place in Appalachian Literature with West Virginia Writers, Inc. A lover of hot tea, watching her son at first base, and Stranger Things, Evermyst: The Awakening will be Whitney’s debut novel.

In her spare time, Whitney can be found volunteering with local organizations to raise funds for both cat adoptions and the ‘Adopt Don’t Shop’ initiative; spending time with her husband, son, and three cats; re-watching the entire House or Stranger Things series; and learning to play the ukulele.

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What inspired you to start writing this book?

Ha! This is such a fun question to begin with!

So, it should be known that I have very vivid, sometimes almost existential, dreams: Often I can be found talking in my sleep, so immersed in whatever I’m dreaming that the line between sleep and wake is blurred.

Evermyst, as the book was originally titled, began from just that. I had experienced a highly detailed, graphic dream about Dark Elves warring with High Elves in the middle of a forest. Ordering the high elves was a powerful young heroine with piercing, almost otherworldly purple eyes leading a legion of soldiers. Clad in warrior gear, armed with a bow, and riding atop a silver steed of inhuman size, she led her army to win the forest fight. That one scene inspired the initial idea, and the more I began to think about it, the more it grew, surmounting to the now full-length work it will become.

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

The name for the kingdom, Evermyst, came quickly. I knew I wanted to include some word that meant (or was a variation of) ‘forever,’ for no other reason than I wanted it to seem invincible. The second part, ‘myst,’ is actually an homage to the old PC gaming MYST series, first released in 1993, which my dad and I would spend hours playing together. One of the main characters in the novel, Riven Unterheit, is also an homage to this series. Then, I just put the two words together – Evermyst – and it just worked.

Describe your dream book cover.

I’ve thought very little about this, in all honesty, as, much like with many of the other hyper-creative fixations I have obsessed over, that sort of information usually comes at odd, inopportune moments, like when I’m in the shower or when I’m trying to sleep. When I think about it, though, I suppose I would really like the cover to feature the heroine, Ellewyn – with her tanned skin, piercing purple eyes, and drawn bow – staring exactly at you, as if you are her next target for whom she has no remorse. Oh, and the pages’ edges must be dark purple.

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

So, if I can be completely honest, I’d require the publishing company to hire John Williams to write the entire, bold, engaging epic soundtrack. However, that’s quite unrealistic.

Some of the songs I may include would be Something Wild by Lindsey Stirling and Andrew McMahon (likely Ellewyn’s theme song); the song God of War by Bear McCreary from the God of War soundtrack to represent the corrupt Emperor Magnar; and perhaps Linkin Park’s Heavy is the Crown to represent Ellewyn’s internal battle with self-identity and evolution.

What books are you reading (for research or comfort) as you continue the writing process?

When I first ‘rebooted’ this project in 2024 (which, mind you, is like the third ‘reboot’ at this point), I was re-reading some of Aleron Kong’s The Land RPG literature series. Initially, that was the idea of genre I had for Evermyst: to have it read like a video game, complete with different interfaces that showed where a character ‘leveled up’ while being appropriate for a pre-teen/young adult reader.

But…my writing is mysterious. Often, I think a piece of writing is going to go one way and then it surprises me. By the close of what ended up being the first chapter of this novel, I realized I was writing for a much darker, much more mature audience. With that realization, I instead focused on a balance between deep exposition and witty, face-paced scenes of dialogue.

All those things now into consideration, I plan to read Dungeons and Dragons manuals to help me develop more character dynamics for the difference races my main character will meet and monsters she will encounter, will read other ‘how-to’ books for writing fantasy, and most likely, as an escape, will continue to read the books suggested by the ‘Lesbian Book Shelf’ group I am a member of on Fable – books there have so far included The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Last Night at the Telegraph Club, which both proved to be exceptional ‘breaks’ from the darker, deeper, complex writing found in much of Evermyst: The Awakening.

What other professions have you worked in? What’s something about you that your readers wouldn’t know?

I am a teacher by trade, and I have taught some level of high school English for sixteen years. Currently, I work at a career-tech center in a rural West Virginia town, where I teach mainly twelfth grade students and what we call ‘embedded English.’

Readers may be surprised to know that I began competing in pageants in adulthood, and I currently hold a pageant title for a West Virginia festival. I plan to continue to compete and represent for at least a few more years. I just like the pageantry world.

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

In first grade, I had a super rad teacher that required us to free-write every day. We didn’t have to write about any subject, from what I can remember, but we had to take time every day (or it may have been every Friday) to write. That decision of hers made me want to become a creative writer.

I wrote my first short story in fourth grade, which was about my childhood dog and cats going to space. I even illustrated it. Later, I would write a soap opera based on being sucked into the Bermuda Triangle (the past soap opera Passions was garnering interest at this time) and I would begin dabbling in poetry in seventh grade. I continued to write in different poetic forms (even things like the archaic ‘villanelle!’) throughout high school, found a love for creative nonfiction in college, expressed my strong political and personal beliefs through spoken-word (performed live to an audience) poetry in early adulthood/college, and only recently (‘big picture’ speaking) decided to try a longer format. Fantasy just happened to be where I landed.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Most often, I write at my dining room table, only because of convenience and space availability. However, some of my best poetry has been written outdoors, inspired by the Appalachian world around me.

What advice would you give your past self at the start of your writing journey?

Keep obsessing over things. Throughout your life, you’ll find a creative ‘something’ that you will fixate on, and on almost all occasions, you’ll come up with a semi-decent product.

What’s one thing you hope sticks with readers after they finish your book?

My world building. Early, Evermyst was going to be based on Norse mythology, another random interest of mine. However, when I drew the first draft of the map for Evermyst (Hell yes, there’s a map!), I realized I wanted my cities to be of German inspiration. Thus, readers with cities like Innenstadt (Middle City, roughly) or Trockendorf (Dry City, essentially) that created this strange, new yet familiar world that, if taken the time to translate, would make a lot of sense to the reader, as they are all based on the biomes in which they exist (in the world of Evermyst) or are named as their definition (in the literal sense).

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