Author Q&A: 'Threads of the City' by Wren Archer

After several years spent querying agent after agent with no luck, I decided that what I was writing simply wasn’t working, and that I needed to come up with something that was solely for me. The idea of writing an urban fantasy world with an autistic lead in such a dangerous place of power seemed inconceivable at the time, and I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off authentically – an autistic teenager who could inspire both fear and respect – but during those early drafts, it came so easily to me and I wondered why I hadn’t been writing characters like Ash from the beginning. I found that all I needed to do was use my own experiences and my own feelings, those that I would typically bury and ignore and mask over, to create Ash. From there, the city where she lives – a place of crime and vice and deception – quickly formed around her.

2. You have mentioned before that you like to write stories where the main characters are autistic. Why do you think this is important, and how do you think this type of representation affects the wider conversation around autism?

Over the year I have been a part of the community, I have learned that neurodivergent representation is deeply rooted in indie author spaces, and I have read some truly wonderful books with some truly wonderful representation about autistic characters existing in dystopian settings and sports settings and settings with vampires. I think it’s a simple fact that we – having complete control of our stories – are given more space to write about our authentic experiences without any judgement or pushback. Although autistic representation is slowly becoming more visible in media, it’s not always the representation we want or connect with. That being said, some of my favourite depictions of autistic characters in recent fiction are by the traditionally published author Andew Joseph White, whose characters are written with a raw authenticity that continues to inspire me.

Personally, my desire has always been to write autistic characters who exist in worlds detached from our own, to see how they would navigate magical powers, fantasy realms, mythical creatures and monsters, because disabled people should be allowed to exist in any kind of fantasy world, where their disability remains an integral part of their identity and their story, shaping the way they interact with and navigate that setting. By reading about experiences that aren’t our own, in worlds that aren’t our own, I like to think there will be more understanding surrounding what autism really is and how it effects different people in different ways – whether that person is someone far too young to be the heir to a criminal empire or the author writing the book in the hopes that other people like them feel seen.

3. Tell us about the writing process. Did the story unfold as you went, or did you have a clear vision for where you wanted the story to go as you wrote?

Luckily, story ideas often come to me in vivid colour with a movie-reel of scenes that get stuck on repeat in my mind. It will be a character, a scene, a conflict, a song, an aesthetic – and from there, I can slowly build up a world and the people who will inhabit it, who they are and what they are to the story, what connection they have to their surroundings and to each other. With all of those elements ready and waiting to grow and evolve, I can craft the bones of the story piece by piece in chronological order, but not before I have a concrete plan for how it’s all going to end.

That said, Threads of the City started off as something completely disparate to the finished product, but I chipped that all away to find something new and different underneath: a city loosely based on Amsterdam and set in a fictional 1980s, a city with corruption built into the very foundations. A girl incapable of letting injustices go unpunished, who would chase down all that wasn’t readily presented to her and tear the truth out of the dirt, roots and all, if she needed to.

4. You’ve done a fantastic job online at outlining the ‘vibes’ of the book, as well as supplying content warnings so readers can be mindful of what they consume. But can you give a brief summary of what type of readers Threads of the City may appeal to, or what themes they can expect?

Though there are a few different themes I’ve veined throughout the story, Threads of the City is, at its heart, about what it takes to survive in a place that doesn’t necessarily want you to succeed. The way certain groups of people are taken advantage of and mistreated by capitalist ideals of society. There is definitely something about recognising and understanding that the people in charge don’t exactly have the best interests of the collective at heart, and from that deciding to take care of your own community as a sort of rebellion against that.

My main character is autistic and asexual, and the majority of the cast are also within the LGBTQ+ community, so my story is first and foremost for people with those identities and within those communities, and I hope they find a safe space in this world and these characters like I did when I was writing it.

5. As you’ve been working on your writing, you have also been a service user of our in-house employment service. Would you say that this has helped you as you navigate the waters of publishing a book, and if so, how?

Being a writer has been a very solitary endeavour, especially coming from someone who lives with autism and struggles consistently on a daily basis with their diagnosis. Many work programmes and other such services had seen no merit in my goal of becoming a published author, but the people at Autism East Midlands – my advisor, most of all – have offered nothing but understanding and support.

I wasn’t made to feel as though I was wasting my time or theirs, which is exactly the reassurance I needed. Upon hearing that I was self-publishing my book, my advisor was extremely helpful and more than happy to focus on aiding me in getting the book where it needed be, including contacting both libraries and independent book shops with queries. Knowing that I had outside support through this stressful process was so incredibly helpful and reassuring for me.

For any autistic person who is interested in getting support from Autism East Midlands, I highly recommend their services. They have been nothing but patient, supportive, and understanding with me and my personal journey.