FAQ – Erato Hayden

1. Do you have a college degree?

Yes, BA Sociology & Psychology

2. Did you always want to be a writer?

When I was young, early high school, I wanted to be a journalist. Like a boots on the ground, in the war zone, kind of journalist. I would have very vivid dreams about it.

I fell into that trap of being marked as a Talented and Gifted kid for creative writing when I was in middle school. Which in my school system meant nothing extra at all. Just my teachers and parents acting weird about it. In college, my theater and English professors encouraged me to write both memoir and creatively. I went down a different path-social work.

3. Is this your first attempt to get into writing as a job?

No. After I had children, I decided to start a parenting blog. I have also written memoir-like stories under that banner.

4. What have you written?

I have published “Extraterrestrial Destiny,” which came out of nowhere when I was writing a book I have wanted to write for years. I am still working on that book. However, I finished the sci-fi romance first and decided to learn the process with it because it was complete and the one I have wanted to write forever is still not quite done.

5. What are you working on?

I am working on a fantasy book about various cryptids living among us. This is a series of stories I have wanted to write for a long time. I love horror and mythology, so these stories are my personal reimaginings of classic ‘monsters’.

I am also working on the sequel to “Extraterrestrial Destiny” and a post-apocalyptic story about a girl coming of age and taking over the mantle for her father to save her people from occupiers.

6. What is your writing process like?

Honestly, I write several stories at once because sometimes I reach a writer’s block on a story and need time to think how I want to move through it. In the meantime, I switch to a different story as my muse allows. For me, it is frustrating and quite useless to only focus on one project at a time. I have been known to write over 20,000 words in a couple of days when the mood strikes. Writing large chunks at a time like that allows me to keep certain threads weaved through the whole story.

7. Why do you write fanfiction?

Honestly, because it is fun. Until recently, I was never sure that I would have anything to contribute to the fanfiction community. Then I had an idea, then it has morphed into other ideas. Some of them are alternate takes on how the lore could have gone. Other times, it is more fleshing out a character and adding my interpretation of the lore. That is the thing about media, we can all interpret it differently and make different connections than the original creator intended. Fanfiction has also been a great vehicle to get feedback on some stories I want to tell or on my style of writing. I get to play with characters and worlds that have meant a lot to me over the years. And it is just fun!

8. Would you be okay with people making fanfiction of your work?

Yes! It would be the highest honor to have someone that invested in my stories. It means that I wrote something that stuck with them like a little seed in their brain. I honestly find the whole fan community to be extremely flattering. It is incredible to see how different characters resonate with people differently. I would be so proud to have a character like that.

9. What does success look like to you?

Honestly, for me, success would be having fanart or fanfiction made from my work. That would be incredible. Some of these writers and artists pour hours and hours of their time into these works. To be able to have even one person that invested would be absolutely amazing!

My family is shocked by how much I have written since I finally decided to actually do this. I started writing again in November 2025 after a decade of not writing anything. As of today, I have posted a third of a million words on AO3 and written so much more that will be going up at some point. I finished my first finished novel and have three more in the works. It is like the line from “Hamilton”, “writing like I’m running out of time.”

10. How do you keep track of your different projects?

“Extraterrestrial Destiny” has its own notebook full of details to help me keep track of everything. It will probably be a trilogy when it is finished based on the planned story progression. I have descriptions of the alien races, planets, and recurring characters. Also, a cheat sheet of lore and facts of their universe.

Most other projects are not that big and so heavily fabricated. The horror fantasy books about cryptids is much more straightforward with each book being about a singular ‘monster.’

I do not really have to keep track of the fanfiction. I have very few large scale projects there and it is all based on existing franchise lore.

I also have a little notebook I carry around to keep ideas for future projects or projects I have not started writing yet, like future cryptid books. I actually have a very fleshed out dating sim video game idea I am hoping to make someday.

11. Did you make your logo, thumbnails, or book cover?

No. Those were all created by my partner. Some of it was drawn on their tablet, other parts were taken from free stock images (creative commons), and it was all put together in Photoshop and Illustrator.

Recently put up a thumbnail for my big Fallout fanfiction which uses a game still in its creation, but I am not selling it or the fanfiction that it represents.