Exclusive AFI Interview
with AUTHOR Renda Knapp

Last year, one of our students, Renda Knapp, received a two-book deal. I caught up with her to ask her a few questions about her writing journey. 

STEVEN: During the institute, was there a specific insight, exercise, or conversation that changed the way you think about storytelling?

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RENDA: The first was Donald Maass's work on the emotional architecture of fiction, how to make readers genuinely care about your characters, and how the emotion a reader experiences is, in many ways, the entire point of the story. It sounds simple when you say it out loud, but the way Donald broke it down and showed us how to engineer those emotional moments from the inside out was revelatory. It fundamentally changed how I approach every scene I write.

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STEVEN: How did attending affect your writing process or your approach to writing?

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RENDA: On the discipline side, I came away with a much sharper eye for cliché. I now catch the tired phrases, the predictable character reactions, the familiar plot beats, and I cut them. I ask myself whether I'm reaching for the easy answer or the true one.

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STEVEN: Can you tell us a little about the moment you received the call about your two-book deal? What went through your mind?

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RENDA: I remember my heart racing, that full-body rush of disbelief and joy all at once. Every emotion seemed to arrive simultaneously. But underneath it all was this quiet, profound shift: I was no longer an "aspiring author." I was an author. Someone had read my words, believed in them enough to offer money for the right to publish them, and said yes.

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STEVEN: What are you most excited about next in your writing journey?

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RENDA: Book two is already written and I'm deep in edits now, so that timeline is moving as well. But it's the debut I keep thinking about. All the hours, the rewrites, the workshops, the doubt, the determination; it all leads to that moment when a reader opens the first page. I hope they fall in love with my characters the way I did. I hope the story pulls them in and doesn't let go.

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STEVEN: For writers who are considering attending the Advanced Fiction Institute but wondering if it's worth it, what would you tell them?

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RENDA: I want to be honest about what AFI is: it is intense. The days are packed from early morning to late evening with teaching, and they don't let up. But that intensity is the point. You are there to be immersed, and the environment is designed to support that completely. Accommodations are comfortable, the food is excellent, and all the logistics are handled for you. All you have to do is show up and absorb.

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But then add the lectures which are precise and advanced and genuinely next-level, and you have something extraordinary. AFI is not for writers who are just starting out. It's for writers who already know how to write and want to do it better. If that's you, don't hesitate. I still refer back to my notes from those sessions.

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STEVEN: If you could go back and give yourself on piece of advice before attending the institute, what would it be?

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RENDA: Bring your manuscript and bring a specific problem you're trying to solve.

The teaching at AFI is exceptional in the abstract, but it becomes transformative when you have your own work in hand and a real creative challenge to apply it to. Every lecture I attended, every conversation with faculty, landed differently because I was turning it over against the pages I was actually writing. The writers who got the most out of the experience, I think, were the ones who arrived not just open to learning, but with something specific they needed to figure out.

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And on a practical note: bring a dedicated notebook and write everything down by hand. Yes, they provide handouts, but my notes are specific to me and what I needed to learn. You will want those notes long after the conference ends. I still go back to mine.

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Thanks, Renda! We wish you all the best with your books and look forward to seeing them in print! The Advanced Fiction Institute is for serious, committed writers who are obsessed with excellence and ready to take their work to the next level. Space is extremely limited.​​