Rising Stars: Meet Amber Brown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Brown.

Hi Amber, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been a writer, but I didn’t realize it until I was a freshman in high school. I used to obsessively play with Barbies, but not just in that fun dress them up, make them talk to each other way. I “wrote” out full skits and intricate storylines that I would continue every day sort of like a soap opera. But when I joined my school’s book club in high school and was introduced to contemporary books by black authors for the first time, it was the start of a brand new obsession. I became a voracious reader, which evolved into a burning jealousy. I desperately wanted to make readers feel how I felt when reading those books. That was the impetus of my desire to become a writer, which in its earliest iteration was to become a New York Times bestselling author. Writing became a compulsion for me. I literally would sit in the back of my classes at school with a binder filled with loose-leaf paper and write manuscripts longhand with a pencil.

At the time, I had no idea there was even a such thing as being a Hollywood writer or that there were people specifically designated to writing the scripts for TV and film. If I had been aware, I probably would have been drawn to writing in this arena much sooner.

I didn’t formally study creative writing at any point, thought I did major in communication in college and my favorite class was a feature writing class that was essentially about how to write feature articles for magazines. I thought I would work my way up to being an editor at a major fashion magazine while I wrote those bestsellers on the side, but quickly after working in fashion, I realized it was not a field for me and I mainly got mindless day jobs to pay the bills while I busted my butt to try and find a literary agent who would represent me because my focus was always being traditionally published.

After an entire decade of nonstop writing and rewriting and querying and rejection, I finally signed with an agent and quickly got a book deal for my debut thriller that I co-wrote with my sister called Someone Had To Do It. It’s the first of many we hope to publish. Our second, Perfect Little Lives, is currently available for preorder now. I’m also working on a solo manuscript that I’m hoping to sell very soon.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’m the perfect representation of the paradigm that says it takes ten years to create overnight success.

I completed and sought representation for my first novel in 2012 and my debut novel came out in 2022. And no, these are not the same books. I was consistently working at securing a literary agent all ten years, which meant querying a new project every year. That means I wrote and queried 10 manuscripts (many others got lost in development for various reasons and never made it to full completion) in eight years, all of which will likely never hit a bookshelf anywhere.

Towards the tail end of the struggle to find an agent, I almost gave up on writing books and becoming a traditionally published author. Self-publishing never appealed to me because the amount of work that goes into marketing a book without the behemoth that is a traditional publisher was something I knew would drown me; I was self-aware enough to understand and accept that I simply do not possess the amount of entrepreneurial skills needed to be a successful self-published author, though being a traditionally published author and working screenwriter does take quite a bit entrepreneurial skills in itself.

But speaking of screenwriting, after five years of getting closer and closer to being signed with a lit agent, which means getting thoughtful, personalized rejections that are at the end of the day, still rejections, so even more painful, I grew very disillusioned and got quite discouraged, to the point where I thought maybe writing books just wasn’t my thing. (In hindsight, if I can whittle it down to something specific, it might be that while my writing was super strong—many agents were extremely effusive—I wasn’t writing books that were as commercial as the market dictated for the genres I was writing in. If I were to start all over again, I would absolutely focus on writing books wrapped around more commercial concepts that hit the zeitgeist more.)

I happened to be invited to a local film festival by an actress friend where we attended a panel that was about how to turn your novel into a screenplay. This was the first time I’d ever heard of the term and was immediately intrigued. I’d always fantasized about writing books that for adapted into films, so I was astounded by this shortcut of simply writing the script and sending it out to Hollywood.

Now, of course that’s a farce—the road to becoming a working screenwriter, especially in the feature film side of things, is not short at all. But I felt invigorated as I studied a new skill set, and within a year I’d made a plan to move to LA. Once I got here, the road got increasingly more bumpy. It was less disheartening than the road to being a published author, but perhaps only because I’d already experienced so much disillusionment. But ironically, I wouldn’t find much success on the Hollywood side of things until I found some success on the publishing side of things.

I essentially wrote one more manuscript after swearing I was done with books indefinitely, but this time I co-wrote one with my sister and had a unicorn experience of getting multiple offers from agents within days of sending out the queries, getting repped within a couple of weeks, going on submission to books editors at the Big Five publishing houses within a couple of months, then getting my first offer within a week. The book ended up selling at auction for six figures to a HarperCollins imprint and was also part of a two-book deal, which is truly the dream experience every writer hopes for one day. Shortly after that, we sold the rights to the UK as well. So, the road included a ton of meandering and forks and bumps and setbacks, but all the hard work and consistency did eventually pay off.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a storyteller, first and foremost. It’s my passion, my obsession, my compulsion. My goal is to never retire from writing professionally. My loftiest dream is to be moments away from my death and jotting down a new idea for a story.

At this point, I’ve been paid to write books and screenplays, but I also have aspirations of breaking into TV writing as well and am actively working to sell more manuscripts, screenplays and TV pilots. There are a lot of cookies in the oven.

I am a fundamental believer that characters are why people love the things \they read and watch, so I always make sure to have intricate character work in anything I do. But I also love plot. My mantra is complex characters and a simple plot. But simple doesn’t mean boring or basic. I live for twists and turns and reversals and unpredictable moments. So that’s why I do love to write thrillers (books) and action (films). Dialogue is definitely my thing. I live for witty banter. That rhythmic back and forth between characters that’s something between a duel and a dance. But I’m also a prose girl at heart. I die for beautiful, lyrical writing, which isn’t something you get to flex all that much in screenwriting, and my imprint that I’m with at HarperCollins is all about commercial fiction, so I have all the line-to-line fun when I’m writing my solo novels.

My goal with my books are to write catchy, commercial books with strong hooks that are elevated and have something to say, but I also have stories inside of me that lean more upmarket/literary fiction and is character-driven and really saying something yet is still written in an accessible way and immersed in a propulsive plot. When it comes to the Hollywood side of things, I want to make films that I desperately wanted to see as a young girl and movies I’d like my future kids to see one day. I feel it’s my duty to write roles for Black women that they will feel empowered by.

There might be a few outliers, but across all mediums, my tone tends to be fairly consistent. I wouldn’t call myself a comedy writer because I’m not so much of a joke person, not the best at delivering setups and punchlines. I’m more of someone who loves to bring levity and wit to situations, especially unexpected ones. My modus operandi is a fun, sexy, propulsive stories that center black women and features cultural commentary whether it’s about race, class, misogyny or religion. They’re not “issue books” or message-heavy stories but rather an authentic representations of the perspectives I choose to tell stories through.

Above all, and most importantly, I write stories that I want to read and watch, not what is popular or selling in a particular moment. I can only write from a place of authentic passion and my greatest hope is that this is apparent in all of my work.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
I am a firm believer in that you haven’t failed until you quit. Technically, I failed for ten years, but I never truly became a failure despite the constant onslaught of rejection because I kept pushing. My journey took a really long time and was filled with tons and tons of setbacks, so really the only thing I can say that got me through is persistence. Obstinance. And consistency. And then, of course, luck. I can’t tell you exactly why the book that got me my book deal sold over the many others I failed to even get an agent to represent me with, but the timing was definitely a factor. All the stars finally aligned, and so if you’re persistent, obstinance and consistent, one day the stars will align and you’ll have your break too. I also want to give a shout-out to discipline, though I wouldn’t necessarily say I am the most disciplined person. When it comes to writing, I am extremely passionate and compelled to write. It’s my therapy, my escape, my favorite thing to do, even more than eating. So the discipline comes naturally, but it is something all creatives need for success. Extreme dedication to one’s craft despite the distractions, the noise, the naysayers, and the odds.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.amberanddanielle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/amberanddanielle
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ambersharelle