Some interviews don’t just inform you—they reach into the messy, tender places of the writing life and remind you that you’re not alone. This feature with Evan Hulick, Ph.D. is one of those. So, get your favorite drink and savor this one.
Evan has been writing his epic fantasy novel since 2016. He’s a scholar who draws deeply from Tolkien’s mythic structures and Hemingway’s precise prose, but more importantly, he’s a writer who has fought the same battles so many of us face: the ruthless inner critic, imposter syndrome that feels deafening, the loneliness of carrying an entire world in your head, and the long, long road of a book that refuses to be rushed.
In this honest, heartfelt Q&A, Evan shares how he stared down the abyss of self-doubt, the childhood bullying and life-altering car accident that shaped him, and the hard-won truths about patience, surrender, resilience, and why love is ultimately stronger than death. He talks about what it means to keep writing when no one is reading yet, how to silence that chorus of invented critics, and how to find your worth beyond publication.
Whether you’re on year one or year ten of your manuscript, this conversation is full of the kind of encouragement that actually sticks. Be sure to comment and let him know what resonated with you!
Read the feature here:
And here’s some bonus content. While this content didn’t make it into the feature (no fault of Evan’s) this is still rich and deep. Enjoy!
If you could go back to your early writing days, what one piece of advice would you give your beginner self?
EH: Be kinder to yourself and get out of your own head. You can do this. Don’t stop yourself. Keep writing. While I haven’t published my novel yet, I have published a bunch of poems in various places along with one short story.
What rituals or tools help you stay productive without burning out?
EH: My teaching schedule! Laughs! That stray office hour became quite useful for writing poetry!I’ll often have to make time, so long as it’s a sustainable effort.
How do you tackle writer’s block when you’re stuck mid-plot or with a flat character?
EH: I’ll take a break- do something physical. I’ve often noticed that a long walk or swim or some form of exercise can spur lots of creativity. Also, going somewhere new.
Do you have a go-to technique that’s saved a manuscript?
EH: Yes. Say “no” to your inner critic. Also, look for the gaps; look for what’s missing, what’s not communicated. My editor Jason was great at pointing-out these areas. Look for the balance between the “info dump” and basic reader comprehension.
What’s your secret to creating characters that feel alive and unforgettable? Do you start with backstory, flaws, or something else?
Often, the characters tell me!!! They show me who they are. Sometimes, I’ll even hold them to the wall and question them if they’re too flat. I’ll usually get a good answer.
Revision can often feel endless. How do you know when your book is done?
EH: When a consensus builds, whether from beta-readers, an editor, an agent, etc. Generally though, I want to avoid repeating myself through a process. For example, I’ll be more averse to sharing my manuscript with multiple critique groups, etc., because I’ll end up with a bunch of competing visions about what “this book should be,” and the comments will never end. Sometimes, you have to prioritize some voices, and you have to try to keep things building in a certain direction. I learned this with my doctoral dissertation. For instance, I used my EGO group at CUA as “beta-readers” of some chapters; my editor Jason Letts has been of great help to me for a couple of years (*while I was finishing my Ph.D.) to show me ways to get the manuscript to be agent-review and publication-worthy. My next step is for my agent to consider approving my manuscript, and so forth.
That doesn’t mean, however, that I stop participating in critique groups (oh, I’m in a couple!). It means that it’s time for me to start working on multiple projects (*I am!!!) and getting some commentary cooking with those. Now if there’s some aspects of a manuscript that getting more beta-readers involved would help with, then that’s a viable route.
But generally, for me, it’s a balancing-act. There’s such a thing as the law of diminished returns; if you put too many revisions into something, those revisions can start not yielding any desired results, and so, it’s important to take a longer break from a project and then refresh the process.
From querying agents to hitting bestseller lists, what was your biggest publishing hurdle, and how did you overcome it?
EH: Well, so far, it was simply giving myself permission to engage in the process. As I told myself at the Atlanta Writers Conference (AWC) in May 2026: “Get thee downstairs!!!” If that in itself beat ten years of self-doubt and criticism, I’m ready for the rest of it.
How do you balance writing with the business side—marketing, social media, or day jobs—and still protect your creative energy?
EH: I can actually talk about this from the teaching perspective— and can probably apply it the same way. All that matters is good time management. You need slower, incremental steps. Sometimes, it might be task-driven, like, “by the end of this week, I wish to answer a third of my editor’s comments,” or it might be content-driven, “By next Friday, I must resolve X plot point.” The “quantitative” side is tricky; I’m always getting-in Wordsworth’s 500 words per day, though the genre always changes, whether that’s lesson plans or work emails or that next development of my research article or preparing that survey or writing that poem or page. Sometimes, it’s a whole bunch of them happening simultaneously in incremental steps. So, adding marketing, social media, etc., is just a matter of fitting things into the schedule a bit more. As a university professional, I am fortunate to have the Summers.
What’s one book (or author) that transformed your writing?
EH: It’s a tie between J.R.R. Tolkien and Ernest Hemingway: Tolkien for his vivacity of imagination and world-building, Hemingway for his economy of prose, and both for their remarkable, steadfast characters—exemplars of courage. I already know that I’m no Tolkien; I don’t have his philological precision. I also am aware that there’s only one Ernest Hemingway in human history. Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood have since entered that tie, as well as Junot Diiaz.
After years in the industry, what keeps you excited about fiction writing?
EH: It better be “the thrill of the chase” ten years from now. We’ll rain-check that.
Every writer faces self-doubt. What’s a moment in your career when you questioned your work the most, and how did you overcome?
EH: The whole writing process of the past ten years at various turns. I kept telling myself, “Tolkien was stuck in Balin’s Tomb for five years. Get out of Moria.”
How do you reconcile the tension between writing what you love and writing what the market demands? Have you ever regretted following (or ignoring) trends?
EH: I believe that every good story has “it’s time” where what you love and market trends align. Sometimes, you may need to start with something else and then reveal your other work at the right moment.
What’s the hardest storytelling lesson you’ve learned—perhaps a technique or perspective you initially resisted—and how did embracing it elevate your fiction?
EH: The hardest and best lesson came from Valerie Hemingway herself when she read a middling first chapter of a “modern novel” of mine and taught me: “A novel is entertainment, not instruction!”
I had to learn to separate my literary-consciousness-academic-side from my writing-for-pleasure side: a task far easier said than done.
When crafting a novel, how do you decide which themes or messages to weave in without making the story feel preachy or heavy-handed?
EH: Prune the lecturing! Every single time a character starts pontificating or lecturing or sermonizing others, or philosophizing, or otherwise getting lost in their own speech: Cut, cut, cut!!! (It’s a hold-over from Tolkien, with his endless “Many Meetings” and drawn-out “Council of Elrond”—and these are my “darlings”; Stephen King said I have to kill them).
Was there ever a time when you had a project fail—a book that flopped, or a rejected manuscript? Did that setback teach you something unexpected about yourself, your craft, or your career?
EH: Believe it or not, it was that chapter I sent to Valerie Hemingway that paused “my first novel.” It led me toward my epic fantasy writing. Yet what would happen if this manuscript is rejected? Well, a rejection is simply a stepping stone toward the right moment of a “yes.” Every “no” leads to an eventual “yes.” Sometimes, that might mean focusing on something else in the interim, letting the other one breathe and take its time.
Looking back on your career, what are you most proud of?
EH: “Going downstairs” at the Atlanta Writer’s Conference. Surviving a doctoral dissertation defense may have helped with that.
Success can be as daunting as failure. After a major win (like a dream contract, a bestseller, or an award), how did you handle the pressure?
EH: If I was so fortitudinous for that to happen, I’d imagine I’d handle it the same way I handled moving from teaching two classes to five classes on the university level- while balancing several projects. You learn to adapt. When you have to “sink or swim,” it pays “to swim.” So, swim. Don’t sink. Flee for a weekend in the Catskills, shout it out at the upper reaches of the ethers. Do what you have to do. Then get back to it!