Interview with Sarnai Briar: Author of Changing Waters
Fantasy writer, illustrator, and indie publisher Sarnai Briar talks about storytelling, horror, music, and the power of original ideas.
Written by Screaming Eye PressSarnai Briar is an author and illustrator who combines her love of storytelling, art, and psychology to craft emotionally rich, imaginative worlds. Her debut novel, Changing Waters: Jiol, launched in 2025 as the first in an action-fantasy trilogy. She’s also the creator of Greek Skits-ology, a comedic anthology inspired by mythology. Drawing from her wide-ranging interests—from travel and science to music and fandom culture—Sarnai aims to inspire readers to explore their own creativity without limits.
Interview with Sarnai Briar
I’m an American writer, but I’ve always been fascinated by other cultures.
What are some of your earliest memories of stories or literature that inspired you?
Some of my earliest memories of stories are Aesop’s Fables and similar books with morals in them.
Did your upbringing or family influence your path toward storytelling?
I come from a creative family, so telling stories has been a way for me to hone a skill that I’ve admired in my relatives for as long as I can remember.
Who are some artists or musicians that inspire your creative process?
You could say that I’m a bit of an old head, so some of the musicians that inspire me are the classics like Chopin. Even though he was often ill, he was still able to compose such beautiful music. A more modern inspiration is Jorge Herrans-Rivera because I feel like it’s obvious that he cares so much for his work. I want my passion to shine through my writing the same that his shines through his songs.
Aside from writing, are there other creative outlets you pursue?
Aside from writing, I am also an illustrator. I use digital art to make my own book covers and sometimes include traditional black and white art within my books.
You’ve mentioned wanting to help bridge the gap between authors and readers. Can you tell me more about that?
Eventually, I plan on having a website to help authors and readers connect. There’s this separation between them both, but I think that there’s a lot of potential in bridging the gap for both sides. As an author, I love it when people talk to me about my works and as a reader, I love gushing about authors’ works to them directly. This site would help a lot of indie publishers like me also get our names out there more.
Has your environment or personal experiences influenced your writing in any way?
In a way, yes, I think the environment has helped. Mostly, I see this with my relatives. Otherwise, I have done a bit of traveling, so that sparked my interest in learning about and representing cultures that you don’t see too often in books.
Books by Sarnai Briar
What’s your writing process like? Has it changed over time?
For my techniques, I used to be a notebook writer, but I am strictly a computer writer now. I love the search function since it saves me time. Without that, I’d probably spend half of my writing time just flipping through pages to figure out where I wrote something down.
How do you feel about the direction pop culture and entertainment are heading in the next decade?
For pop culture in ten years, I’ll admit that I’m both worried and hopeful. Considering mainstream entertainment, I see a lot of reboots, sequels, and prequels. There are some original works, but I don’t see as many. I think that companies are focusing more on tested formulas to see what people have liked in the past instead of relying on passion; however, I have seen indie authors and smaller companies make extremely compelling, creative works. So, I’m very excited to see what they’ll be able to do in more time.
What’s the most unusual or surprising thing you’ve been asked to draw?
As an artist, the oddest thing I have been asked to draw was a roasted dinner in the sky. That was certainly a surprise, but I think it turned out pretty well and I did it with acrylic paint.
What are your thoughts on the horror genre as both a reader and creator?
Ah, horror. I’m the type who doesn’t get scared easily (when the content is on the screen anyway). So, I have this unofficial quest I’ve put myself on. My goal: Getting scared by horror. I might just need to read more horror books, so that can really get my mind going places that add to the frightening aspects of the story. When done well, I think horror can be really fun as well as funny, or it can be thought-provoking and chilling. Either way, I’m normally excited when I’m checking out a new horror.
What projects are you currently working on?
I have a few projects I’m working on at the moment. This upcoming January, I’ll be publishing the 2nd part of my trilogy, Changing Waters. It’s an action-fantasy about a young sorcerer who lives in an underwater kingdom. Unfortunately for him, he’s one of the mutated subjects (those who look like mermaids or have fins and webbing). They’ve been getting attacked on sight by the royal guards, so he is trying to decide if he needs everyone to evacuate or if they should stay and start a revolution. I’m also in the editing stage for a pirate and psychology novel that will be getting published in May of 2026. I’ve had some heavy metal sea shanties that I couldn’t stop listening to, so I wanted characters who could sing those. Before I knew it, I added psychology to make it stand out and now, we have a new book on the way.
What inspired you to become a professional writer?
What really made me want to be a professional writer was watching different TV shows, oddly enough. I would see these plot points that I wanted to explore. It started off as fanfics, then I kept coming up with brand new ideas that no longer were connected to anything I had seen. Regardless, I wanted to write about them.
You’ve written across different genres. What draws you to explore such variety in your work?
Regarding genres, I’ll admit that I get bored fast, so I actually want to write basically a bit of everything. I’ve already written action-fantasy and comedy (that one was called Greek Skits-ology and got published this past May). Outside of those, I have a few sci-fi projects in the works and a thriller that I really want to make. The way that I see it, the best-case scenario is that readers buy each one of my books. If they do, I want them to get a brand new, fresh experience each time. Whenever they see a new story from me, I want them to know that they’ll be getting something uniquely fun and engaging.
Would you like to know more?
Date Modified: 10-24-2025
