Meet R.S. Twells: Spy Thrillers, Self-Publishing and the Craft of Writing

I had the pleasure of interviewing award-winning author R.S. Twells for FVRL’s ReadRadio Podcast. Her series, The Agent Bennet Saga, has captivated readers since the release of the first book, The Field Agent, in 2021. The series currently includes three books, with a fourth set for release in Spring 2026.

In the podcast, we discussed her creative process, from the initial idea to the published book, including all the challenges she encountered along the way. 

R.S. Twells will be joining us in person for a writing workshop at four library locations. In Boldly Describing Characters With R.S. Twells, teens will learn how to build engaging and strong characters that move their story forward while keeping readers engaged. These workshops are ideal for teens who want to elevate their character descriptions and improve their writing skills. 

Find your closest workshop:

• Sardis Library: Saturday, October 11, 2 pm to 4 pm
• Mission Library: Saturday, October 25, 2 pm to 4 pm
• Clearbrook Library: Saturday, November 8, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
• Chilliwack Library: Saturday, November 15, 2 pm to 4 pm

To find R.S. Twell’s books and the books that inspired her to write, visit R.S. Twells Best Picks.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Listen to the full conversation on FVRL ReadRadio podcast.
 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your book, The Field Agent?

My name is R.S Twells. I live on a farm with 18 chickens, two cats and a horse. I had no writing background. One day, I just decided to jump right into it.
 

How did you come up with the idea for the book? What got you writing?

Probably 10 years ago now — it's been a while in the making — I was working at a horse barn at six o'clock in the morning. And when you're shovelling horse poop, the horses don't talk back to you. I had music going on my iPod, but my brain would still wander. I created stories, and usually I was the main character of these stories, because I wanted to be doing anything else besides shovelling horse poop.

Eventually, over time, these two teenage boys popped into my head — Bennett and Colin, twin brothers. And I'm like, oh, this is interesting — these guys are shoving me out of my own narrative. Slowly, over time, I just kind of explored:  Who are these boys? Where do they come from? What do they do? And then, before I knew it, this whole organization was created that took unwanted babies and trained them to be field agents. So, Ben and Colin are 16-year-old boys who tag-team out in the field and are still in school and learning to do the impossible.
 

Did you always plan on making this a series? Or did that kind of happen in the process of writing, where you thought, oh, there's a lot more of this story that I want to tell?

I always knew it would be a series. I tried so hard to shove the plots into three books, but I realized that would do their stories and their development an injustice, and so it became a four-book series. So, it's a saga. The fourth book comes out in the spring of 2026.
 

The Field Agent is an action spy thriller. What drew you to that genre? Have you always been interested in thrillers?

I grew up watching Mission Impossible. I love those movies. When I was in high school, one of my biggest inspirations was the author Ali Carter. She wrote the Gallagher Girls series. It’s about a girls’ school training the students to be field agents, like CIA or MI6 agents. So that was a huge inspiration for me.
 

What other types of books did you read that inspired you to write? And can you tell us some of your favourite titles?

Twilight was coming to the movie theatres, and everyone was reading it. I didn't want to feel left out, so I borrowed Twilight from my friend, and I binge-read the whole series in two weeks — and that was the first time I had ever done that. I wouldn't call it my favourite book series, but it is the book series that kick-started my love for reading. Then I went into my sister's room and started grabbing Meg Cabot books. I just couldn't put a book down after that.

I try very hard to branch out into books that I think I may not like, and then usually I end up liking them because I'm so easily swayed. Like The 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. But then, I'm also currently reading through the Percy Jackson series, so there's everything in between for my taste in books. I just love reading.
 

What’s the hardest part about writing your books?

The hardest part of writing is actually sitting down and writing. 

The hardest part of the publishing process in general is editing. When I got edits back from the editor in the first book, it would take me weeks to do them, because it was just such an emotional rollercoaster ride of opening the document and seeing harsh criticism. Just the constant red on the page. So, I'd usually open it up, look at the chapter and walk a lap around my house. Then, eventually, I’d sit down and look at the edits. Once I finished a chapter, I’d reward myself with a piece of chocolate.

I know that when my editors say something, it's not personal. They're doing what they can to elevate my work.
 

Do you have any advice for authors who are looking to self-publish? Or for those who are writing their own books right now?

It’s not a bad thing to move slowly. Take more time to research a self-publishing company. Take more time to learn about editing your own work. If I had just taken an online writing course, I would have saved myself the embarrassment of handing in my first manuscript and the publisher asking, do you know what a comma is? Because there wasn't a single comma in my manuscript. I had no clue what I was doing. So, the fact that they still kept me after that was insane. Give yourself grace, because you may not know what a comma is, so just take a second to breathe. Things don't need to happen right away. 

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Deanna is the FVRL Events Specialist and an FVRL Reading Adviser.