PHOTO: Tyler Svec at home on his Northern Michigan farm, where stories come to life between chores, coffee, and quiet late-night hours.
Farming Life Fantasy Realms And Family Storytelling
Tyler Svec, Michigan-based author and farmer, discusses co-writing fantasy with his brother, superhero satire with his wife, and how everyday life shapes the stories he brings to readers.
Tyler Svec writes with the heart of a storyteller grounded in the rhythms of the land. Living and working on his family farm in Northern Michigan, Svec brings to his fiction a deep-rooted sense of place, kinship, and authenticity. Whether crafting epic fantasy or comic adventures, his voice remains warm, sincere, and unmistakably his own—woven from late nights, strong coffee, and the quiet conviction of someone who knows how to listen to both the world around him and the one within.
His Drake Thomas series explores identity, memory, and purpose through the lens of a hero who must relearn the world before he can save it. With each instalment—from Rise of Grimdor to the award-winning Idols & Trinkets—Svec and his brother Jordan delve deeper into their richly imagined realm, threading moral courage into a tapestry of high adventure. It’s fantasy, yes—but filtered through the steady gaze of someone who values not only the stakes of the story, but the soul of the character.
In a completely different key, Svec’s Crunch saga bursts with offbeat humour and heartfelt chaos. Co-written with his wife Jessica, it offers a superhero world stripped of polish and full of personality, grounded in small-town quirks and family grit. These books reveal a different side of the author: playful, honest, and unafraid to find truth in the absurd.
Whether writing alone or in collaboration, Tyler Svec brings a rare balance to his work: imagination that soars and roots that run deep.
In Rise of Grimdor, Drake Thomas’s lost memory plays a pivotal role—how did you develop his amnesia-driven character arc across the series?
The Amnesia aspect of Drake Thomas serves a two-fold purpose.
1. It allowed us to introduce you to a new world in a way that didn’t require you to understand everything about the world in the first few pages, because Drake didn’t understand it either.
2. The Amnesia, helped give Drake’s character something to work on, because we all like to think that we know everything and we can control everything, but with amnesia, he couldn’t do any of that, so it forces him to trust in something bigger than himself, which is the purpose behind having him start with no memory.
The Dead Mountains sees Drake settling in Avdatt—what inspired this shift in setting and its impact on his character development?
We really felt like there was more of a story to be told and we thought that by putting Drake in a little different place, it would allow us to explore the world more and really get to dial in on Drake and who he was. It had a dramatic affect on all of the characters as we get to see each of them on a deeper level and see how they react to what is happening around them.
Idols & Trinkets won a 2024 Book Fest award—how did its themes differ from earlier Drake Thomas installments?
It’s the first time you see Drake Thomas making a bold stand for what he believes and I think that is what makes it stand out. And as a side note when I entered it in the contest, I had just finished it and I didn’t have the first three revised, but I thought it could stand on it’s own, so it got entered into the contest before any of the other books did.
As coauthor with your brother Jordan on the Drake Thomas series, how does that collaboration shape your storytelling?
Being brothers and co-writers is unique and our process is even more so. We talk and discuss many of the themes and ideas that go into the stories. I ultimately do all the writing and editing, but it has been a fun venture together.
In Crunch: A SuperHero Story, you blend humour with YA superhero tropes—what inspired Walter and Amanda’s family dynamic?
I got sick of superheros. So I asked myself what was the one superhero story that no one had told? As I pondered I wondered if you gave Tony Stark too much caffeine, a microphone, and told him to tell you his life story…what would you get?
I wanted a story that was just about life, those little moments that make life what it is. I really wanted to show the superhero family at a truly relatable level.
Boom! continues the Crunch saga—how did you balance escalating stakes with comedic tone in the sequel?
The biggest change for the sequels is that we get to hear from Amanda who is written by my wife Jessica. I’m sure someone in the first book thought, I wonder what his wife thinks of all this? Now we get to find out her take on the hilarious stories that Walter tells, as well as contributing her own.
And I must admit, a lot of us comes through in the book, including a number of stories that are more real than you might expect.
Farming life in Northern Michigan seems influential—how does your daily routine on the farm inform your worldbuilding and characters?
In some ways it doesn’t seem like it’s had much influence, but in the end I am a country boy and I love fantasy worlds because you get to create that countryside. As far as the Crunch saga goes, I knew I didn’t know anything about big cities so I chose to place it in a small northern michigan town. So I think in the end the characters and overall landscapes were influenced by my love for the country/farming life.
What advice would you give aspiring authors based on your own journey from farm to publishing seven novels?
My advice would be
1. Writing for enjoyment is great, but writing with a purpose is far better. These words will last long after you, so make sure you are leaving the legacy you want to be remembered by.
2. Be patient, it doesn’t matter how fast you write a book. Quality is more important. I write much slower than I used to but the books are far better.
