Prof. DeAndra Miller spent her childhood obsessed with the word “paleontologist”—not because she loved dinosaurs, but because the syllables felt delicious in her mouth. She didn’t realize this wasn’t how everyone chose their career aspirations until decades later when autism therapists described her son’s traits, some of which mirrored her own, and she found herself thinking: “Wait, that’s not normal?” When she showed up to graduate school classes with that same sleeping child on her stomach, she wasn’t just challenging academic norms, she was rewriting them. Now, as a professor of creative writing who’s logged over a thousand hours in virtual worlds and can draft an entire novel in a mere (and astounding) nineteen days, Prof. Miller brings that same joyful defiance of convention to everything she teaches.
Interview by Meredith Pruitt
MP: Tell me about a moment you realized that you thought differently than everyone around you. What was that like?
DM: Oh, that’s so hard. I feel like that’s a hard question to answer, because me realizing that I think differently than the people around me… I think that came more with hindsight than realizing it in person. Does that make sense? So I didn’t even realize that I thought differently until one of my kids was diagnosed with Autism. And so it wasn’t until my second son. And, mind you, I didn’t recognize typical autistic traits in terms of social traits, but my son…When he was about fifteen months old, he was talking and then he stopped. And then he was walking, and then he started crawling, and then his crawling was a little bit weird. So that was the only thing that sparked me to say, okay, maybe he should be tested for autism, because I knew that regression was like a really, really red flag. And then in him being tested for autism and as things went on he was in speech therapy and occupational therapy, he was doing certain things and they were like yes, yes. They were telling me about all of these autistic traits and I was like…hold on…this feels a little personal. Right? I’m like what do you mean that’s not normal? So, I think a lot of it was actually hindsight for me, being able to realize it and then get myself assessed because I really was not assessed until I was an adult. The truth is, like, I come from a cultural community where things like that, it’s not normalized. Like in that community, to rush your kid to a psychologist or a psychiatrist or to get assessed for those things and because I didn’t have the same deficit that my son had, it was something that wasn’t paid attention to, right? But when my mom goes back and she talks about things it’s so easy for us to pinpoint now where, you know she says “Yeah, you were talking in full sentences like a four-year-old when you were 14 months old.”
MP: Oh, wow.
DM: Yeah and she said “And you were reading when you were completely by yourself, but you weren’t walking until you were almost two,” that kind of thing. And you’re like, oh!
MP: Like, wait, that wasn’t normal.
DM: That’s weird.
MP: Exactly.
DM: That’s the uneven motor development. A lot of people don’t know or understand that sometimes autism does come with physical things, like me, I’m very, very clumsy. I can barely walk in a straight line. I walk and I bump into things, I could know something’s there and I’m gonna hit my leg on it every time. I have bad spatial awareness. I’m barely aware of how close things are to me, like my brain just cannot process those things. But those are also things that because I’ve always felt that way I just thought.
MP: That’s just how it is.
DM: Yeah. I just thought that that was wrong. So, yeah, I think it was me understanding what those traits almost looked like in someone else for me to be able to say it about myself.
MP: Going back to childhood as well, what did you want to be when you were ten and what would that version of yourself think about who you became?
DM: A paleontologist. Not for any other reason than that I like that word.
MP: Oh, okay, did you like dinosaurs?
DM: No, I just like the word. It sounded really, really good. It sounded like a fancy thing to say. I figured out what it was after the fact, but I learned the word paleontologist and it just felt like a really good thing to say. Like, if someone asked you “What do you want to be?” and you say “Oh, a paleontologist,” doesn’t that just sound great? You’re scientific, you’re smart. It was something about, like, the sound of the word that I just really enjoyed. So, yes, at ten, I was not thinking very clearly. I don’t like dirt. I do not care much for dinosaurs. I probably would not have wanted to be digging anywhere for anything, but the sound of a paleontologist…it just sounded fancier than other things. And my mom was like “You like science. You want to be a doctor.” But, doctor sounds boring. It’s two syllables. But “paleontologist…” oh, there. Do you see that length? And then I think I moved from that to, because my mom was just like “She loves science,” I think somewhere around that same year I moved from paleontologist to otolaryngologist, which is like an ear-nose-throat doctor. But, I refused to say ears-nose-throat doctor or ENT, because then it was too simple. I had to say otolaryngologist because it sounded good. So, yeah, at ten, I just wanted to be whatever sounded really, really fancy.
MP: Okay, so do you think you’re okay with being…what would you say you are now if you had to lengthen it as long as possible for your ten year old self?
DM: For my ten year old self…I think my ten year old self would really just be happy with the fact that we’re an author.
MP: Okay, that’s good.
DM: Yeah. Even though it’s a short title, ten year old me would really be happy to know that we’re an author.
MP: I feel like I remember you saying you write fantasy… is that your genre?
DM: I do, but that’s not what I’m published in.
MP: Oh, okay. That makes sense.
DM: I write a list of things.
MP: Oh, like what?
DM: Actually, I say I write a list of things, not really. I write fantasy, contemporary, which I guess is just the young adult way to say literary. But, I write fantasy, contemporary, and horror. Those are more my wheelhouse and those are the things that I like to write in. I am currently published in contemporary. And, you know, there are under the table things happening in other things…but I’m currently published in contemporary and I do love to write fantasy and write horror.
MP: (pointing to books on her shelf) Are some of these yours?
DM: One of those is mine, the pretty colorful one right there.
MP: Ah! I like that.
DM: I actually do have a short story coming out in an anthology tomorrow.
MP: Oh, congratulations!
DM: Thank you! It’s exciting, and it’s fun because it’s a Dungeons and Dragons anthology. Well, not specifically, it’s a TTRPG anthology, which is just us thinking about the ways in which we interact with those spaces and all of the short stories are really fun. Mine is still contemporary, leans a little bit more romance, but, yeah. I write contemporary, horror, and fantasy. I could probably do other things, but I think that’s just where my brain goes.
MP: Sure, yeah. And I remember you saying, and I think I saw it in your profile on the College of Arts and Sciences website that you love video games?
DM: I do!
MP: What is your favorite video game?
DM: Oh, don’t ask me that!
MP: Okay, haha, never mind then.
DM: Oh my God, that’s a horrible question!
MP: Okay, how about your top three?
DM: Okay, wait, okay…hold on…I’m gonna give you a short list. Okay, I’m sorry, you shouldn’t take me so far! Alright, so I think my overall favorite video game franchise is…and I know you said game, but I feel like I have to say the franchise as a whole is the Witcher series. Mind you, I say that having played it before everyone hopped on the bandwagon after TheWitcher3, and then it got turned into a show! I love the Witcher, but it was like a long time ago…like, to the point where I had The Witcher 2 and played all sixteen possible endings. And that was on the Xbox 360. I love the Witcher series, I love the story. I’m a big story girly, I love playing as Geralt, I loved experiencing the world and that it had so much to do. It was just so fun, so that one is definitely one of my favorites. I think after that I would say the Dragon Age series, but I can actually pinpoint a game for that one. And so, while I love the Dragon Age series, the first one, Dragon Age: Origins is my favorite one. I love the fact that you get to choose an origin story. Like, if you are an elf, but you’re a city elf, you have a very, very different starting point…like, literally the way that the game starts, starts differently than if you were someone who does magic; than a human noble versus a human commoner, or a dwarf, they all had different ways that the story started. And I always found that that was so fun. And then, like your origin would also impact the way that the game played out, and I just love things like that. I love it when games have consequences and things that change based on the decisions you make in a game. That’s also why I love The Witcher, that’s why I like Dragon Age: Origins, and that’s why I also like the next franchise. And, for this one, I would like to highlight the entire franchise as a whole. I love it. The Mass Effect series. And that’s also by BioWare, who did Dragon Age, so, go figure. But I love the Mass Effects series. I love the fact that you have this trilogy where the decisions that I made in the first game impact what happens in the third game.
MP: Oh, really?
DM: I love the fact that these games are building on each other from games one to three and all of this is, I mean, in the second game, literally, you can completely screw up and everyone can die. And I love that! I do, I love that. I like when my decisions matter and I like when there are consequences, and so that’s probably, like, the name of the game for me. And so the Mass Effect series is my absolute favorite—the second game is probably my favorite out of all three, but I love that series. It is amazing. But, I think if I step away from RPGs, I also love Persona, the Persona games…well, that’s not stepping away from RPGs, it’s a JRPG, but Persona 5 is one of my favorite Persona games and I love that series. That’s less…decision-based? Because the game plays out the way it plays out. I just love it so much. Yeah. There’s something about it, I don’t know, maybe the music, maybe the atmosphere, but the Persona series I cannot, not talk about when I talk about my favorite games, because with those I have literally like, over a thousand hours logged. But, I guess, honorable mentions go to, like, God of War. Like, new God of War, not old God of War. New God of War that’s more RPG from the 2018 games on…I don’t know. Yeah. And then, like, shoutout to farming games, like Stardew Valley.
MP: Oh, yeah.
DM: The Stardew Valleys, the Story of Seasons, the Coral Islands, love y’all. Y’all work out for me.
MP: Yeah, absolutely.
DM: Sorry, so many! I have so many.
MP: No, I’m very interested! I’ll make sure when I write this to put the whole list in there so everyone knows.
DM: So many! There are so many things I did not mention, because I play so many things.
MP: I bet, yeah!
DM: Truly, I’m playing like five games right now, like Baldur’s Gate—I didn’t say Baldur’s Gate 3. I’ll throw that in there too. I don’t know how I didn’t say that, but also a master work in “your decisions matter”. I just love a game where your decisions matter.
MP: Do you think that’s why, or, like, the biggest part of why you like video games is being immersed?
DM: Well, most video games are not like that. But I do think immersion is a big one. I love being in a world different than my own, but I also love…I just love a story. It’s the reason why I love to read, it’s the reason why I…I just love a story.
MP: Yes, it all comes together!
DM: And like, I will say for me, like I definitely prefer games that are more story heavy than anything. Like, some people, they just like exploration, so like, it’s so funny, me and my husband have both played Skyrim. But it is now 2025, fourteen years later, and he has never beaten the game. He’s never beaten the game because he gets in and he just wants to run around. He just wants to explore, he just wants to see the world. And me, I’ve done every nook and cranny of every storyline possible because I want to experience it. I am big on story. I love a story. I love a good story.
MP: Okay, interesting. I don’t know video games very well, so I like hearing about them when people know them, that’s always very interesting to me. Okay. So, I guess back on the academic side, what’s the most unconventional thing about your path to this job?
DM: I think the most unconventional thing is that I was a non-traditional student. And so I think I was that kid that was, like, such an overachiever that I got burned out by the time I started college. And, so, it’s very, very interesting because I was that kid where, in high school, I was like a dual-enrollment student, and so I was taking classes at the college and I was doing so much stuff. I was taking all these AP classes and then I graduated and I told myself “I’m going to go straight through, I’m going to be a doctor, this is what I’m going to do.” And then, I think, like, I shadowed my mom and got around blood and I was like…I don’t want to do this at all. I was like, I like the science, but Jesus, this is horrible. And, so, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and then I was so burnt out because I worked so hard only to get to a certain point and be like, I don’t know what I want to do anymore. And so I took time off of school and in that time that I took off of school I had my first kid. I was really really young. And then I had a second and then I was like, oh my goodness, I have these two kids and I still don’t know what I want to do. And, I mean, that was with my—I’m still with my husband, he’s stuck with me forever. But, yeah, like me and my husband, we had two kids and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I told myself you know what? I like reading. Maybe I’ll just do English. And so I went back to school, I started with English education, I dropped the English and I told myself, you know what? I think I want to go all in and try to be an author. And so I do think it’s interesting because I did my undergrad experience—although, I still had a relatively traditional undergrad experience because I was still super young, because I graduated when I had just turned seventeen. So, even though that time off wasn’t, like, all that much time, I went back to school when I was nineteen, it’s not like I wasn’t college-aged! It wasn’t all that much time off, but I went back with kids.
MP: Okay, yeah.
DM: And, I also think that changed the way that I approached things, and I think that it also changed the way that I went about graduate school and how I continued to go through. So, I do think probably the most unconventional thing is the fact that like, I essentially did all of my undergrad and graduate school with kids in tow. I literally had classes where sometimes I showed up with a child. Like, sometimes I had classes where I showed up and there was a child sleeping, just dropped on my stomach and I just had to get things done. And so I think that for me has been the most unconventional way, however I approach things, but I think it’s also given me a certain level of resilience and it’s also made me more understanding. I think, as a professor, when students have things going on. Just letting them know, like, I’m willing to be understanding, I know that you have a life. And I’m also more willing to back up a student who is willing to try, despite the things that they have going on because that’s what my professors told me. I used to apologize to them, I used to say “I’m so sorry I had to bring my son” and they’d be like, “I’m glad you came anyway.” They’re like, “I’m glad that even though you had them you didn’t just say ‘Let me stay home,’ you still brought them and still showed up. You did it anyway.” So I had people who encouraged me in that way, and I think that that approach makes me willing to work with students, as long as they want to succeed. And it has made it so I’m willing to work with you in whatever way we get there, as long as you want to do it.
MP: That’s very inspiring, I think that’s a great thing. Okay, next, what do you wish you could tell every first year college student?
DM: Oh, gosh. I think the one thing I would tell my students, especially first year students, and I know it doesn’t feel like you have it, but, take your time. Right? I think a lot of times I find students overload themselves or they’re rushing and they don’t know where they’re going. Does that make sense?
M: Absolutely.
DM: I think a lot of times, too, like, take your first year to think. Some of you might be sure that you know exactly what you want to do or you know exactly where you want to go. If you don’t, that’s okay. You can change majors if you want. No one’s going to judge you. If you don’t have it all figured out, that is also okay. But, like, take your time. It is worse to overload yourself and then get to the point where you are burnt out and now you just need to drop everything, rather than to take a minute, figure it out, and then proceed. So, I think take your time, but, also alternatively, it’s…don’t be afraid to accept when you’ve messed up. I think a lot of times, we define ourselves by our worst moments. And, like, just because you messed up, that’s not the end all be all. You can come back from it. Give yourself the space to come back from it. Like, take a breath, give yourself the space, and know that, like, it’s not all over. Just give yourself a minute and come back.
M: Yeah.
DM: Right? Like, don’t just quit because, you know, you’ve reached a certain level of hardship, right? Know that like, even if it’s your fault, right? It’s okay. Just say, like, okay I messed up, but how can I do better? And a lot of times your professors will appreciate it more if you come to them with honesty and saying, like, hey, I know I screwed this up, but what can I do? And don’t wait till the last minute either. I know that’s like three things. But, don’t wait till the last minute. If you feel yourself slipping, say something to us now. Don’t wait until you’re, like, at the bottom of the hill and all the snow is on top of you. Say something while you’re still rolling.
MP: I like that. I always appreciate when people are like, it’s okay that you don’t know where you’re going, because no matter how many times I hear people say that…it’s so encouraging every time…it’s like, wow, maybe if you say it enough, one day I’ll believe it.
DM: Yeah, honor that about yourself. Honor your ability to change.
MP: I like that, too. Okay, so, going back to your writing, what’s your creative process like, and how do you break through writer’s block?
DM: Oh, I am a horrible person to ask this question. I am. I’m a terrible person to ask this question. Because my writing process is, I mean, at its simplest, it is like, if I get a spark of inspiration, I have to write it down immediately, or I will genuinely forget. I have forgotten some really, really good things that make me so mad. Where it’s like, in my soul of like, I know it was good, but I forgot to write it down. So like, now, it’s just gone to the wind. Hopefully it’ll come back. But if I get an idea, it depends on how much it speaks to me in that moment, whether or not that’s something that I start an hour or later. Sometimes, even if something speaks to me, I don’t feel like I am at the point where I can write it. Sometimes, I feel like ideas can be so good and or so big and or so complex that maybe my writing’s not there yet, and I need to keep working up to it. And I know sometimes we don’t like to admit that to ourselves. Sometimes, we think that just because you have the idea, that means you’re ready to write it now, sometimes you’re not. Sometimes, you gotta get a little better. And so, my process is looking at what speaks to me now, what I feel like I’m ready to write. And then— again, the reason why I’m horrible to ask is, I mean, I have literally written an entire novel in like nineteen days.
MP: Wow.
DM: Like, I hyper focused the crap out of that situation. So, I really—and it depends, right? But I think I spend more time in the revision process. I don’t spend as much time drafting as maybe some people do, and I know that sometimes people will say, like, oh my goodness, if it’s drafted fast, it must be bad. Not necessarily. Some of us just lock in and just get it done. And so, for me, I don’t spend all that much time drafting. I think, at most, it’ll take me about a month or so to finish a book. As long as I have the idea. But the time from idea to writing tends to take a lot of time for me. I think that’s possibly why I can draft so fast. I genuinely do think I’m the type of person where—a lot of people, they may meticulously have outlines or they may meticulously make a synopsis. That wasn’t the way that I’ve ever done something. And it may just be the way that my brain works, but I will sit and I just think about something a lot. I know that sounds weird, but, like, if I have an idea, I will almost play it out in my head like it’s a movie as many times as possible from beginning to end, until I smooth it out as much as I think, and I’m just mentally, mentally, mentally planning it and just thinking about where do I feel like I want to go, and then I’ll just sit down and write straight through. And sometimes, characters do what they want and that takes me off track and that’s fine, and I just follow that lead wherever I want to. But I’ll sit, draft, and then, for me, most of my writing process is in revision. I love revising. I love brainstorming with people. I have never done a revision without brainstorming with another person. So, that might be different than other people, but I find that there is a lot of value in talking to other people. I tell my students in my creative writing classes now that, like, writing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Every time we do a writing exercise, I encourage them to talk to each other, to talk to me, to bounce ideas off of each other because I think that the more experience you have the more that you’re community-based, the better your writing will get. And, so, I like to turn outwards as much as I can and work on the revision process and I like revising. I like building upon what I have and changing things and fleshing out characters and things like that. So, yeah, for me, my process— it’s a lot of thinking. Yeah. Like, I think for my debut, I feel like I had the idea sometime in 2016. And I thought about that a lot until it became a short story in 2019 that I think I adapted into a screenplay, which then became my book. Yeah. And it’s taken so many shapes over time. Like, it’s changed who the main character was, who he was…was changed and everything, everything changed over time. It’s always had the same core concept, though, if that makes sense. But it grew, and it morphed, and so for me, I really have to, like, think about things and I’m not afraid to write something the first way and say maybe this needs to be written differently. Like, I’ll write something all the way through and say, okay, maybe you’re not my main character. I’m going to rewrite this entire story, but this person’s the main character now. And so I think I experiment a lot. And that may be more writing than other people are comfortable with because more people may be like, I just want to outline and stick to that. I’m more of, like, an exploratory way.
MP: Yeah, no, I like that. I think that…it gives more room, I like the idea of fiction as kind of malleable in that way.
DM: It is. Yeah. I personally think that every story is a living, breathing thing. I think if your story has not gotten to the point where it’s doing things on its own, you may not have figured it out yet. And I may be alone in that, but truly, I think if it’s not doing things on its own you haven’t figured it out or not. If it’s not, like, yelling at you to do or if you’re not trying to make it do something, if characters are not just telling you things about themselves that you didn’t know about them, then you may not know them. They’re not real enough to you. I feel like I have to…I have to feel like anything that I’m creating is a world unto itself that I’m just jumping into and looking at, and then jumping out. Like it really is this living, breathing, existing thing that I’m just taking it in.
MP: Like you’re just the vessel recording it.
DM: Yes, I’m just recording it like it’s there.
MP: Right. And I guess this will be our final question, I think I’ve gotten through everything. What do you hope stickers with your students long after they take your class?
DM: I feel like…I feel like I can say a lot of things about writing. But I think the thing that I guess—when I think about what has made me proud in terms of classes I’ve taught before is definitely community. I think the things that have made me most proud are when I see students even years after they’ve taken a writing class with me and they’ve told me, you know, “I still talk to this person, and we have a little writing group and we meet up on these days and we still exchange stories,” and like, for some reason, that, to me, is like the biggest thing that makes me so happy to know that they came out of it with a writing community. To know that they came out of it with people to share things with, to know that they came out of it, knowing that they’re not alone in this. Because, I do think that, and this is something that I’ve even told just like first year students in general, you’re more likely to stick with something if you have community. So, like, statistically, for example, students are more likely to stay in colleges if they’re part of clubs. Right? If students join clubs or if they do things, they’re more likely to stay in university, not because of anything else other than once you feel like there’s people keeping you there, you don’t want to leave. And I think that by having students build writing communities, it puts them in a position where now they’ve done something, they have people who are holding them accountable and they don’t want to leave. And so I think that maybe that’s one of the things that I really, really want my students to try to take away is like finding your people and having community so that you’re more likely to stick with it. And I hope that they can stick with it and that they can continue to have people to bounce off of and that it can continue to push them. And so, yeah, I hate that it’s not something specifically writing-related, like writing advice. But the thing is, I feel like I tell you all the things and I always tell my students “Hey, take what works and leave what doesn’t.” But I think that the thing that I want them to take the most is a sense of community.
Photo of DeAndra Miller and her book
