Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Carina Alyce is a real-life medical doctor that worked in the ER, Labor and Delivery, radiology, pulmonology, sleep medicine, and outpatient medicine. That sounds very boring, but it is exciting that she practices her slow-mo running between patients and will do the ‘I told you so dance’ with her stethoscope too. It makes sense if you watched Scrubs which is the most realistic medical show ever.
Writing has been a passion since elementary school, and in the early 2000’s she was a very active fanfiction author in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She’d been tossing around a genre-bending medical romance and tried her hand at fanfic again last year. With enough positive feedback, she went back to her original works and what was old became new again.
While she is not schizophrenic, she writes under a couple of different pen names. This particular pen name has one book published on Amazon. She writes (more) serious non-fiction parenting advice books and has two of those out. She also writes erotica with a work in progress novella that she’ll publish this summer.
She has also decided to switch to ‘first-person’ for the next questions.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Flatline: Book 1 of MetroGeneral 216
I love medical drama TV, but I hate watching bad medicine and bad drama. For example, the only doctors in the hospital on Grey’s Anatomy are surgeons – no pediatricians, radiologists, cardiologists. Where are the nurses and the lab techs? Why are firefighters dating all the doctors? (As a medical student, I dated zero doctors, zero firefighters, one patient’s relative, and the ER clerk!) You can write a nice dramatic romance and still have a real plot and real emotions with real medicine.
There was also some particularly bad medicine where a patient escaped from the hospital, the doctors ignored HIPPA, so that we were forced to watch the love interest die from a treatable condition – maybe he’d have been fine if he’d been treated by a pulmonologist rather than a cardiac surgeon.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
It’s not a secret that I’m married with a bunch of kids. I have to write at night when the kids are asleep, and it’s been a little harder since they learned to read on the sex scenes!
The kids have been listening to me tell the story of my main characters through walks (minus the sexy part) and they are great at pointing out plot holes or asking questions. It’s like in Denzel’s Philadelphia movie – explain it to me like a six-year-old.
In addition, I believe in copious research. Medical research is easier, but, for the firefighter stuff, I took the firefighter entrance practice exams eight times and have about 600 pages of research from the CDC and OSHA on my dining room table. I also went down to the firefighter station five times (pre-quarantine) with the kids to ask questions about protocols and their equipment.
I did stop at the end of a serious medical lecture that I WAS GIVING to discuss a (fake) pregnant patient’s end of life care options with a critical care doctor and an anesthesiologist. Doctor’s call that ‘curbsiding.’
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Romance wise – I loved Victoria Dahl, Karen Hawkins, Lisa Kleypas, Sarah MacLean, Miranda Neville
Strong female characters – Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce, Timothy Zahn, and Rick Riordan
Books that I found so compelling recently – I read ‘When Breath Becomes Air,’ ‘Only Plane in the Sky,’ ‘Walk on Water,’ ‘ The Fire Line’ which are all medical or firefighter/disaster related. I’m waiting for the library to reopen for my copy of ‘All Available Boats.’
What are you working on now?
The MetroGeneral 216 series is part of the greater MetroGeneral Downtown Universe. There’s a ton of colorful characters getting themselves into sticky situations. It’s not only fun and games though because since its more real life, they deal with serious topics like PTSD, end of life decisions – all the stuff in those police/medical/firefighter TV shows with actual research and plot.
During the story Flatline, a bunch of firefighters come and go from the hospital. I’m writing a sister series called ‘FireHouse 15’ that deals with the romantic and professional lives of those firefighters. The first book is called Siren Song and should be out in July.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have been kicking around awesome gang, topless cowboy, and knights. I got my link to here from self-publishing school.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Ask your (close) friends for special skills. One of my friends ended up being my copy editor and another family friend was a professional book cover designer.
Look up Pinterest early so you can start selling your ‘brand’ to people who are looking to buy.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
‘Explain this to me like I’m a six-year-old.’ ie – if the six-year-old can’t follow the plot, it’s too complicated or you need to be hired to work on the next Marvel Universe movie.
What are you reading now?
Umm, Ocean City Hight-rise fire standard operating procedures and 18 CDC/NIOSH firefighter fatality reports. Very uplifting.
Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski which is supposed to be the Bible of female sexual pleasure books – see – my kids shouldn’t read that sentence.
What’s next for you as a writer?
The Flatline book is 1 of 4 following my main characters Angela and Michael which takes at the same time as Siren Song which follows Erin and Noah so I plan on getting Siren Song done this summer and trying to put out the next book in the series every 2 months or so. It’s an eight-book series. Plus my other pen name series . . . so mysterious! 😉
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Lord of the Rings, Winds of Fate by Mercedes Lackey, Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce, and any book by Victoria Dahl.
Author Websites and Profiles
Carina Alyce Website
Carina Alyce Amazon Profile
Carina Alyce’s Social Media Links
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