PHOTO: Angela White, award-winning author of Life After War and Bachelor Battles, creates expansive, emotionally-driven post-apocalyptic worlds from her writing haven in Ohio.
Award-Winning Author On Survival Fantasy And Layered Storytelling
Angela White delves into the creation of her post-apocalyptic series, character continuity, gender themes, and the exhaustive discipline required to sustain expansive, emotionally resonant worlds across dozens of novels.
Angela White writes with the weight of worlds in her hands—worlds ravaged by apocalypse, rebuilt by grit, haunted by memory, and driven by unrelenting hope. Her Life After War series pulses with raw emotion, brutal survival, and the subtle power of supernatural intervention. It is a universe that never intended to house fantasy, yet now breathes it as naturally as air.
What sets Angela’s work apart is the emotional fidelity of her characters. In her stories, scars matter—physical, emotional, historical. They are mapped with care, revisited with precision, and honoured through continuity. These aren’t simply plot devices, but lived experiences drawn in shadow and light across dozens of interlocking volumes. And in the centre stands Angela herself—or rather, the heroine who bears her name, becoming over time the version of strength and resilience she wishes to see in the world.
In series like Bachelor Battles, Angela flips the lens on gender dynamics, not just to provoke thought, but to offer catharsis and challenge inherited assumptions. Across genres—science fiction, fantasy, romance, adventure—her stories are threaded with rebellion, reflection, and the urgency of change.
Behind this sprawling literary architecture lies intense discipline: ten-hour writing days, detailed character logs, layered revision processes, and a mind constantly spinning new arcs. Angela White doesn’t just imagine other worlds—she constructs them with rigour and grace, and invites us to live there, one page at a time.
What inspired you to blend post-apocalyptic survival with supernatural elements in the Life After War series?
Well, it was one of those things where I didn’t plan it, I didn’t want that at all, and now that it’s in there, I can’t imagine it being any other way. Funny, right?
I actually wanted to write a realistic PA series that didn’t have any fantasy elements, but when I began to write, this is the story that came out. I stopped fighting it by the end of book one. Fantasy just fit in too well; it belongs there.
How did you approach building such a vast and emotionally layered world, particularly one that spans dozens of books?
I wanted this series to stick with the reader and the number one way to do that was to make sure the characters weren’t shallow. I wanted the reader to bleed with them, to laugh and cry with them. That could only happen if they were as real as possible, with flaws and doubts and mistakes.
As the series grew, I developed an editing and layering process. I keep a running file with each character’s name and the big events they’re currently going through, along with the details of what they’ve already experienced. One example would be injuries. A lot of my characters get hurt, but if I never mention those scars or a limp from having an ankle broken, then it wouldn’t be as realistic.
I do the same thing for action moments in the story, apocalyptic threads, the bad guys they’ve faced, battles they’ve had, and even the weather. You can’t have a flood in one book and then forget to mention the effects of that flood in the next book. I also use a timeline, because all of my series cross over each other. It’s a multi-layered layering process that adds an extra week to every book I write.
The character of Angela is central to the story—how much of yourself did you put into her?
At first, it was all me, but as the series went on, that character has become everything I’d like to be. I don’t have a real role model, so I created one in her.
With so many complex characters and intersecting plots, how do you keep track of continuity across the series?
That’s where my editing process comes in, but I also have 13 amazing beta readers who go over each release and help me catch errors.
In Bachelor Battles, you explore themes of gender power dynamics—what sparked your interest in flipping societal roles in this way?
I hate it that women have been so badly treated throughout history. I wanted to know what it would be like if men had to live that way. Would they fight back? Would they just accept it? How would things be different? Once I began writing, it was easy to see that there were no differences. Men would keep going until they gained independence, just like women have and will continue to do.
How do you balance action, romance, and character development in such an intense dystopian setting?
I have a file with a list of plot threads that have to be in every book. There are seven genres included, and each book has to have something from each one, with apocalyptic and action needing the most to keep the feel and setting true to the story. Most of these books have 35-38 chapters. At least 15 of them must have action scenes. I also follow the three-act setup, so all of my endings have 3-5 chapters of climax and then 3 aftermath chapters that set up the next book.
The scale and scope of your work are enormous. What does your typical writing and revision process look like?
Wow. It’s rough, honestly. Five days a week, I write a full chapter based on my notes, usually about 16 pages. In the same day, I also do two edits on that chapter, fill in details from my lists, pull out any new plot threads and add them to the draft, then prep the next chapter. I put in 10 hours most days. On the weekends, I do another edit on the chapters I finished that week. Once I reach 350-400 pages, I take a week to do my big editing process, which includes checking for specific errors, pulling and replacing repeat words, and giving it all another detailed edit/read. Then it goes out to my beta readers while I start the next set of chapters.
What advice would you give to authors trying to write long-running series or build intricate, multi-book worlds?
Be prepared to put in 60+ hours a week and organize it. I would never be able to get three 750-page books done every year without all of my files and lists. Organizing it as you go will save you hours of time and those hours will really add up!
