What is your name/pen name/name you are comfortable giving us?
Michelle Dornish, though I am considering publishing my fantasy series under M.A. Dornish.
What project or projects, if any, are you currently working on?
Pen & Pier is a big focus for me right now, especially the first published anthology which I am very excited about. My ongoing writing project continues to be my 5 book fantasy series. The first book is very close to ready and while I am exploring some agent/publishing options, I think I will self-publish later this year if things do not pan out soon.
What project or projects, if any, are on your back burner?
Soooo many! I have a bunch of books I have started and never finished. I also have lots of ideas that kind of simmer in the back at times. However my fantasy series has been an obsession since I was in college. So I want to see that to completion before I work too hard on anything else.
Why do you write?
May as well ask why I breathe. I can’t really imagine living without it.
How long have you been writing? How much of that time seriously? (You define what seriously means.)
I remember in 4th grade I got a writing assignment in class that I think was supposed to be this one page quick write sort of exercise. We were supposed to imagine what life might have been like for this woman whose ashy mummified remains had been left in the aftermath of Pompeii and archeologists had dug her up.
“I am a vicious, vicious goddess and would not survive under the onslaught of my own dark mind and rapid finger clicks.”
Anyway, I was mesmerized by this woman and felt strongly she had a story to tell. So I wrote this 10–15 page story about her last day of life. It starts with her giving birth (the video we saw in class mentioned that they could tell the woman had children and this stuck with me) and it ends with her on the beach, dying as she breathes in the ashes of the volcano, but happy because her older daughter got away with the baby in a canoe.
The story made all the adults in my life get all emotional and I remember thinking I wanted to keep writing stories like that one, that really made people feel something deeply. So since 5th grade, with brief respites when my life got so busy writing fell to the background.
Do you have any published works?
I have been previously published in The Best of SLO Night Writers (2009-2013), Twisted Laughs Anthology (2024) and Alien Buddha’s House of Horrors Vol. 7 (2024).
“Nothing is better than when a character is driving the wheel and there is a part of me that is really not sure what is going on, because it doesn’t feel like I came up with half the things on the page.”
What is the best part of writing for you?
The moment an idea strikes and the sizzle of a good idea makes your brain buzz and you get excited. Also when characters start talking to you and through you, which means they really are coming to life. Nothing is better than when a character is driving the wheel and there is a part of me that is really not sure what is going on, because it doesn’t feel like I came up with half the things on the page.
What is the hardest part of writing to you?
I’ve gotten better at using it and taking it, but getting feedback from others on a piece is still pretty tricky. I get frustrated, both with the reader and with myself, because their feedback feels like it is telling me that they did not get the piece.
But if they didn’t get it, ultimately that is my fault. I will say, figuring out what was missing and fixing it always makes the story better, which is great, but that moment of getting constructive feedback still rubs the wrong way every time.
How do you overcome writer’s block?
By continuing to write. I have to write through the scene sometimes, even if it sounds awful. Or I might switch to a scene that sounds more exciting at the time.
When nothing is exciting me about my current project, I might do a sprint to get the words moving, sprinting with friends is even better. And if all else fails, I’ve taken lately to opening a sub call or two to see if I can get inspired that way.
Have you ever seen the sun set over the ocean? (We’re Pen & Pier, we have to include the Pier somewhere.)
Yes, many times. I have also painted it.
How did you find Pen & Pier?
I mean, feels like I’ve helped shape it at this point. I did join through NaNo originally, in 2023. However I’ve been on board now since it got its own name and through the creation of the website. So founding member doesn’t feel like that much of a reach.
What is your favorite genre to write? What is your favorite genre to read?
Answer to both is fantasy, but I tend to write a lot of darkness into my stories and into my characters. However when I look up dark fantasy, its not always my favorite to read. I also like reading/writing romantic stories and I usually include some element of that in my stories.
If you could collaborate with any writer, who would that be?
I mean, I would do anything to work with pretty much anyone I have read because anyone who has been published I know would have so much to teach me. The first name that comes to mind honestly is Stephen King, but a younger King (in an alternate reality where time travel was possible). The King who wrote The Stand is someone I would want to study from intensively.
Would you like to live in your own stories? Why, or why not?
Hell no! Everyone is constantly dying or being betrayed by loved ones. I am a vicious, vicious goddess and would not survive under the onslaught of my own dark mind and rapid finger clicks.
Do you have a favorite joke?
I’m a fan of the kind of natural jokes people throw at one another during witty banter. The jokes Darrian and Rose throw at one another constantly, as an example. I enjoy self-deprecating humor or jokes at another’s expense better than a traditional “joke” …
Though if we are going classic cheese, you can’t beat the interrupting cow.
What book(s) or stories would you want everyone to read?
The one(s) that keep you going all night, if someone asks about them. Problematic author aside, the first books to really make me read all night were the Harry Potter books. I can’t endorse the author (though I would be lying if I tried to deny she was once my writing idol) but those books are solid fantasy world building and a well crafted series. I love the way they thread into one another and build up to the climax in each book, while also building blocks toward the ultimate climax of the series.
I have been obsessed with similar series since then, and I think because I am always chasing perfect series’ like that one. Others that come to mind are the Hunger Games Trilogy, The Gone Series, Abarat series, His Dark Materials, and so many more. I really could go on!
What are you looking forward to the most for your writing within the next year?
Getting the P&P anthology is a huge goal for me this year. Self-publishing my first book is also something I would like to get done this year, but technically I am trying to do a couple more things to get an agent or publisher first so not sure this will happen this year or early next.
Find Michelle on Bluesky at @mdornish.bsky.social