About

Riley Kifer is a writer born, raised, and currently living in California. Because she worries about family, future employers, and potential friends googling her real name and unfairly judging her off the things she writes, she uses a pen name. Riley is her favorite gender neutral name. Kifer is a street she used to frequent a lot for her old job. She graduated from college with a BFA in digital media, and a minor in psychology. This was a mistake, since college killed her interest in art, and today she jokingly calls herself a “failed artist.” Her current day job is something someone fresh out of high school can do.

After graduating college, the depression it had given her left, leaving her with a sudden motivation to write. She had written several short stories as a child. The kind of stories only a child would write. At the time, she was more interested in art though. Later on, in her high school years, she blogged about her every day life on Xanga. Then, later on in community college, she took a creative writing class as a fun elective. There, she received more praise for the things she’d write than anything she ever made in an art class. Teacher and students alike. If only she realized it then, and took it more seriously.

Though she did work on writing a story about a girl who went on a quest to find a quest. It was never finished past chapter 6, and, looking back, was poorly written. But maybe someday she will revisit that idea. A few characters from it, however, make an appearance in her second novel, “Runaway with Faye.”

After earning her BFA degree with straight B’s, she wanted to write a book that contained every teen romance trope ever. But that didn’t happen. Instead, she ended up with “The Riveting Lives of Russell and Sal.” And it changed her world.