An interview with Donna Fox

It's time for our weekly indie author interview! This has been way more popular than we expected and we're really honoured we get to showcase so many cool indie authors on our site. This time, we're chatting to Donna Fox.

"A little bit about me: I’m born and raised in Alberta, Canada, currently located in Calgary. My main hobbies are reading and writing, I love supporting other indie authors by doing book swaps and leaving reviews where I can! I also enjoy puzzles, baking, camping and spending time with my four fur-babies; three cats and a hedgehog.

Book info: My latest book came out May 16th, 2025 - Out Foxed. It’s something I’ve been working on for around ten years. It only took so long because I have this habit of deleting the entirely of my work until it’s “up to par”. Out Foxed is a dystopian, fantasy-romance. Think Maze Runner meets Mocking Jay with shapeshifters. It has betrayal, love triangles and a little bit of spice.

Current WIP: Currently known as “A Turn of Maze”, title may be changed later on. It’s a trilogy I’m drafting. Think Maze Runner meeting The 100. For now, it’s about a young man in a prison-like setting looking to get back to the outside world. Along the way we uncover lost memories and rediscover an old flame that may or may not be the reason he’s in this situation.

Inspiration: Honestly, I think I’ve always been called to writing. I have memories of scribing line on pages, before I even knew how to form letters. But what really kickstarted the dream was when I was a teenager I read the Hunger Games Series, and I thought about how it made me feel. That series was the first to actually make reading enjoyable for me. It gave me a character or two I could relate to. I had this urge to write my thoughts and feelings down in a way that was not only relatable to others but healing for me. Even though I had that outlet and drive, I still shied away from putting anything REAL on a page. It took until I was in my twenties to find the courage to actually start putting pen to paper, so-to-speak. But I found that once I let the floodgates open, there was no way I would ever be able to close them again. Since then I write any manner of things from novellas, to full-out novels, short stories, poems, etc. You name it and I’ve used it as a medium to express myself. What keeps me motivated to continue sharing my work is the want to connection through it, the ability to be vulnerable and have someone say “me too”. It means so much when I know my work has touched someone, and that they know they aren’t alone!

Opinion on indie vs trad: Honestly, part of why I chose to be an indie author is I’m a bit of a control freak. I feel like trad has so many hoops and waiting periods to go through, it’s almost unfair to the authors and readers as they wait for the story to find the light of day. Plus, as I grow into my “author era” I’m finding more and more that I enjoy being a piece of every aspect of the book. I even design my own book covers, because it gives me a feeling of accomplishment to know that these books are entirely of my making. So honestly, I’m not against trad publishing, just have a preference to owning my work completely.

Challenges: I find the writing/creating part very easy as I just pull from my vivid imagination and run with it. It’s the marketing and after publishing part that I find the hardest. My biggest challenges are gaining visibility and finding people willing to take the chance on a “no-name” author who has so much to prove! As well as, balancing social media content creation and my actual writing time, as a way of seeking “my audience”. 

Advice: Just make it exist first. Don’t burn yourself and your story out by over-editing, and fussing over single words/sentences. Also, don’t be afraid to do the thing that scares you! The only thing holding you back from your dreams, is fear. Lear to embrace it!

Author inspiration: Suzanne Collins, she wrote the first book/series that I actually finished (Hunger Games). She showed me that books don’t have to be particularly lengthy or wordy for them to still be engaging an enjoyable. There’s also just something about dystopian genres that just pull me in, and she was my introduction to it.

Fun fact: Honestly, I’m drawing a blank! I’m not that interesting, but my books are!"