The evolution of a creative writing style with A.M. Mawhiney

Author A-M Mawhiney

A-M Mawhiney announced she wanted to be an author at age eight. It only took 60 years. She retired in in 2018 from a career as, first, a social worker and then as a university professor and senior administrator She began writing again during the first lockdown in 2020.

Her first novel, Spindrifts. which was a finalist in the eight annual Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writers’ Prize and shortlisted for the Whistler Independent Book Awards in 2022. Its sequel, Spelldrifts, was released in 2023, and her latest book, Fugitive Rifts, was published in July 2025. When she isn’t writing A-M enjoys reading, taking in local basketball games, time with family and friends, and travelling. She lives in Sudbury, Ontario with her partner Dave. In this interview, she explores the evolution of a creative writing style, and how her careers as a social worker and then a professor taught her so much about the world.

Navigating the evolution of a creative writing style

OCW: What life experiences have shaped your writing style?

AMM: In elementary and secondary school, I loved the times when we studied creative writing. I always did well on assignments and several teachers encouraged me to pursue my writing. I credit my obsession with reading as having been, at that age, my writing instructor; I have always been a voracious reader and still am. Reading taught me many things about good writing. She is a pantser writer, and values the importance of a writing community.

My early career as a social worker and almost-forty years as a professor who did research and taught courses related social issues helped me to understand the world and what challenges people and communities can face. I also have concerns about the condition of our planet based my grandparents’ and parents’ early teachings about protecting our environment. These experiences explain why my writing includes social and environmental themes and why some reviewers say my characters and world-building are authentic.

OCW: Has your writing evolved over the years? If so, how has this happened? Through writing experience? By reading a lot? From writing courses, writing communities, or something else?

AMM: Two experiences in my academic career negatively influenced my writing style when writing my first novel, Spindrifts. In my early years as a professor, I taught in French, my second language, and became a proficient writer in that language. In my creative writing, always in English, I still need to fight against using sentences structures that are more consistent with the French grammatical style of writing.

My second challenge has been transitioning back from an academic to a creative writing style. Based on kind but shattering (at the time) feedback when I proudly presented my first draft to friends to read, I soon learned it was far from the solid draft I had thought. The story, they said, was riveting, but the writing style required a great deal of challenging work. They suggested I needed to transform my academic sentence structures and paragraphs into creative prose that flowed and immersed the reader rather than creating an objective distance from the story. Self-reflection and guidance from others helped me re-work the writing. This took several iterations before I could see the story shape into its final version.

This wake-up call was a sobering lesson for me, as I have always been proud of my writing ability. In the six years since these conversations, I have found my way back to a more engaging style of creative writing, but I remain vigilant because, on occasion, the influence of French and academic writing styles return, especially when I am tired.

Imagination in action: The pantser method and community

Spindrifts by A-M Mawhiney

OCW: Do you use social media to engage readers, writers, or publishers and, if so, which platforms?

AMM: I am active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, Threads, BlueSky, and have a website. Over the last six years, I have become part of a very active on-line community of supportive and inspiring authors and have broadened my connections with readers as well.

OCW: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

AMM: I am the definition of a pantser. Even when I mentally map out a scene, it never turns out the way I planned. I have learned that my imagination is most active and my writing more fluent in the moment of writing. Frequently, the story paints me into a corner where I can’t find what comes next. A long walk, a nap, or a reflective cup of hot chocolate gives space for a spark of an idea. When I return to my laptop, the characters take over, saying or doing something I would never have imagined without the break. One minor and “temporary” character in my first book liked where she was visiting so much she stayed and became a key secondary character in the sequel.

Refining the narrative: A rigorous editing process

OCW: Do you edit as you write, or write and edit later?

AMM: Because I am self-published, I edit at every stage from the start to the date the book is released.

When I need a break from writing I will go back and look through what I have just written to check for typos and words that I have used too often. I also check for sentences and paragraphs where I may have reverted to structures from my time as an academic.

Each new day I review what I wrote the previous day to lead me back into the storyline where I left off. I may replace words, discover duplication (saying the same thing but with different words), and will revise.

When I have finished a rough first draft, I start at the beginning and begin my next version by shaping the prose, finding plot inconsistencies, places where the scene needs more description, and typos and grammatical issues I missed previously. I will take a break and then do another read-through. Then based on a manuscript review, I make further changes. Then I pass the manuscript over to Beta readers, then professional editors. At each of these stages I use the feedback I receive to do further edits.