About the Author

1. Let’s start at the beginning. Who is B.W. Alan in your own words?

B.W. Alan is someone who notices what lingers, what hurts quietly, what love leaves behind when it goes. I’m a writer drawn to the in-between moments: the pauses, the unspoken truths, the ache beneath everyday life. I write for the people who feel deeply and carry their stories a little too close to the surface.

2. Saving Hampton Grace is your debut novel. What inspired this story?

For most of my life, I’ve experienced the world quietly and deeply, always feeling slightly out of step. I was the girl next door in every sense: present, familiar, but rarely seen. People often knew who I was because of my sister, never because of me. I learned early how to stay small, how to hide in plain sight.

I felt everything too much. I noticed everything. I was often the one who got caught doing the same things everyone else did, as if vulnerability itself made me visible in the wrong ways. Writing became a place to put all of that, to give it shape, to give it meaning.

Grace is, in many ways, me. I wanted to tell her story honestly, but a story about a girl who is simply broken wasn’t enough. Life is never that singular. So I layered love, loss, and longing into her world, to make the pain readable, and the healing possible.

3. Your work is known for exploring love, loss, and longing. Why are these themes important to you as a writer?

Because they’re universal and unavoidable. Love shapes us, loss undoes us, and longing keeps us reaching even when we’re afraid. These themes are honest. They don’t allow us to look away, and neither does life.

4. Your writing is described as lyrical and poetic. How do you cultivate that style?

I listen closely: to language, to rhythm, to emotion. I care deeply about how a sentence feels, not just what it says. I let scenes breathe, and I don’t rush moments that deserve to ache.

5. The novel dives into complex emotions and relationships. How do you balance darkness and beauty in your storytelling?

They coexist. You cannot have one without the other. It’s something people say often, but rarely sit with long enough to truly understand. No one moves through life entirely in the light, and no one lives fully in the dark, even when it feels that way. I know that intimately.

Darkness gives beauty its weight. Beauty gives darkness its meaning. They need each other to exist, and my writing lives in the space where they meet.

6. How do your personal experiences shape the characters and emotional arcs in your work?

Every character carries a piece of truth I’ve lived or witnessed. While the story itself is fiction, the emotions are real. I write from a place of understanding what it means to love deeply, to lose, and to survive both.

7. Is there a character in Saving Hampton Grace that surprised you while writing? How so?

Yes - Grace.

She is, in many ways, me. I thought I understood her completely, but she surprised me when I realized I couldn’t leave her in the dark. I had to let the light reach her eventually.

As that shift began to take shape, I was startled by how clearly I could see her: stronger, softer, braver than I expected. I haven’t fully arrived at that place in my own life, and writing it felt almost impossible. But Grace found it anyway. In doing so, she showed me something I didn’t yet know how to claim for myself.

8. If one of your characters could step out of the book, who would it be and what would they do first?

This answer may surprise some readers, but it would be Joanna. She is inspired by my childhood best friend, someone I loved deeply and lost far too soon.

If Joanna stepped out of the book, I think she would go straight to her family. I imagine her holding them, reminding them she is still with them in every way that matters, and choosing, this time, to keep fighting. Writing her was my way of keeping her present, of giving her a voice that didn’t disappear.

9. What scene in the novel was your favorite to write? Why?

The prologue, and then later, when the story circles back and the rest of the letter is revealed. That letter is where everything began. It carries the weight of what’s been said and what’s been withheld.

Watching it come apart and then finally come back together felt like uncovering the heart of the story. It’s the spine of the novel, and without it, nothing else could exist.

10. How do you hope readers will connect with Saving Hampton Grace emotionally?

This book is for the people who feel broken, lost, or unseen. For those who carry their struggles quietly, the way Hampton does. I hope they recognize themselves in these pages, even if only in fragments.

If a reader feels seen, heard, or held, if even a small part of them feels less alone, then the story has done what it needed to do. That is enough for me.

 

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Quick Fire ⚡

11. Character first or plot first?

It depends.  For this book it was all about the character. 

12. Writing in silence, music, or chaos?

I have a very specific way that I write, music and darkness.

13. Coffee, tea, or something else fuels your writing?

Loss fuels it, to be honest. 

14. Draft fast or draft carefully and slowly?

I draft fast, then go back and refine.

15. One word you hope readers use to describe your book.

Real. In regards to emotions.

 

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The Author Journey

16. When did you realize you were truly a writer?

My mother was a journalist, so words were never casual in our house. They mattered. I grew up believing in the idea of being impeccable with language, and I’ve tried to live that way. I was never very good at saying what I meant out loud, I needed to write it, because on the page every word could be chosen, weighed, and made to carry something real.

Writing has always been part of me. It’s how I understand myself and the world. But calling myself a writer still feels strange. I’m not sure I’ve fully arrived at that title yet, and maybe I don’t need to.

17. What has surprised you most about publishing your debut novel?

Honestly, very little has surprised me. I never wrote this book expecting it to go far or make noise. I’ve never been the girl who gets the gold, and I didn’t begin this journey believing that would suddenly change.

Saving Hampton Grace was never about arrival or recognition, it was personal. Writing it was something I needed to do, something I needed to finish. Seeing it published feels less like a beginning and more like a private milestone, one I reached quietly and on my own terms.

18. What advice would you give to new writers trying to find their voice?

Stop trying to sound like someone else. Write what hurts, what matters, what keeps you awake. Your voice is already there.

19. How do you handle writer’s block or creative lulls?

Writer’s block is one of the most frustrating parts of writing for anyone. I draft fast, I let the story tell itself first, then go back and refine. The block usually doesn’t appear until I start tearing the words apart, trying to make them better than they already are. That’s where the struggle lies: chasing perfection in something that, honestly, doesn’t need to be perfect. Accepting that is the only way forward.

20. If readers take away one thing from Saving Hampton Grace, what would you want it to be?
    
    

I want it to be real and honest. Life is life: we all carry struggles, the weight of things no one else can even begin to imagine. We all handle pain differently, and your story won’t look like mine. You might choose a different ending, or see the characters in another way, that’s fine.

But if readers take one thing away, I hope it’s this: even in our brokenness, even when we feel unseen, we are still capable of grace, connection, and holding onto hope, sometimes in ways we least expect.

 

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Looking Ahead

21. Are there more books planned in this world or featuring these characters?

Yes…and no. I’ve done something I swore I never would.  It's a move that’s hard to sell and not usually well-received. But I’ve written a companion story: a journal and a novel told from Walker’s point of view. It follows the same timeline as Saving Hampton Grace but dives deeper into his “why,” his personality, and his backstory. Think of it as a companion piece, another window into the same world, seen through someone else’s eyes.

22. What excites you most about sharing Saving Hampton Grace with readers?

What excites me most is the possibility that someone will see themselves in these pages. That they might feel understood, or less alone, or even just quietly acknowledged. Writing it was my way of making sense of the things we carry, the hidden griefs, the small victories, the moments that pass unnoticed. Sharing it feels like opening a door for someone else to step through and know: you are seen, and your story matters.

23. If your book were adapted, would you prefer a movie, series, or another format?

A limited series. That way we could combine it with Walker’s POV companion novel and give the story the time and space it deserves to breathe and go deep.

24. Is there a fun or surprising fact about you that readers might not know?

I’m probably not all that interesting, but a few things shape me. I have a master’s in psychology, and understanding how the human mind navigates grief and pain has always fascinated me. That, and dogs, they’re my soul.

25. Any final words for your future readers?

This isn’t a grand, bestselling novel.  And that’s not what it was meant to be. Saving Hampton Grace is for the quiet struggles, the mental battles we fight each day, and the slow process of finding yourself one day at a time. If it sits with you, even a little, then it has done its job.