Interview With Author Raine Fielder
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in a very small town. There wasn’t much to do if you didn’t play sports so I was an artist. I liked to sing and dance. I loved drawing and writing. All of it was natural and personal. Then I started writing stories. Though it wasn’t until much later that self-publishing became easy. I finished a book that I wrote as a teenager and then couldn’t stop. Like turning on a faucet.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The last book is called “Skin Deep” and it started as a simple idea. Tattoos that come to life. It was supposed to just be a simple horror, but the flow stopped there. I had a couple starting pages but it went nowhere. Then one night after watching an incredible documentary on pirates, I remembered meeting a woman who had named her daughter Arabella. For some reason that named opened up a whole alternate timeline and backstory for the tattoos. I had it all mapped out almost in a few minutes. I rushed to write down the major plot points and the whole story got so much deeper.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have so many unusual habits but with writing I’m sure most things I do to “get in the zone” are pretty common. I listen to music to set the mood. One thing I try to do is light a scented candle. I use a different scent for each story. Then if I’m blocked I can light the same scent and be right back in the world I need to get into. Scent is a powerful tool that is severely underrated.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been reading all my life. I wouldn’t say that most of the books or authors I’ve read have singularly influenced me in genre or style. But just overall learning from the greats. I did write a novella about Shakespeare so I guess that is the most direct thing. I grew up reading such a variety though, Stephen King, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Lord of the Flies. My favorite book though is one hundred percent “Wicked” by Gregory McGuire, I’ve read it fifteen times.
What are you working on now?
I have a four part Series called Invictus. I’m working on the fourth now, it’s called Vixen. The series follows four college aged girls with superpowers. Each book focuses on one of the four girls. This is the last one that I have planned, I wouldn’t say that I will never write about them again but for now, this will be the last, I’m wrapping up this particular story.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I do like posting to Vocal but mostly I’m still trying to figure out the marketing of it all. I love everything else about being an independent author. I like doing it all myself, down to font choice for book covers. I can’t imagine not having complete control of every piece. But the marketing and promoting is the one drawback of being indie.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
The candle thing is one. When you’re writing good, light a candle. Of course make sure to use one scent per story because the scent will take you back to that specific world. Other than that, just be yourself, write like you. Don’t try to sound smart or impress with big words. People want to be told a story and get carried off into a fictional word, not have to pause and get a dictionary out every few pages.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I don’t know if people find him problematic now or not but Neil Gaiman said something that stuck with me.
“Imagine you’re a bricklayer, and each word is a brick. On some days you can only lay one brick at a time, slowly. Others you are laying them faster than a machine. But when the wall is built, you step back and you can’t tell which bricks were laid on the slow days or the fast ones. That’s what writing is like, so don’t worry about the slow days, you’re still building a story. And once it’s done it won’t matter at all.”
What are you reading now?
A book of short stories called, “the end of the world as we know it.”
It’s a collection of stories from different famous Authors. They are all different stories of people set in the world of Stephen King’s “the Stand”. It’s very interesting.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope getting more sales and readers. I’m kind of at a place where I know the routine of writing a story and getting it all set up. Making video trailers, covers, editing. I am happy with doing it like this and don’t see changes to that. I do hope for more of an audience. Something new is that I just started a mystery series of short stories all featuring the same detective. She’s a mystery author too. Think Hercule Poirot, Sherlock, Dupin, etc. But it’s almost like if Agatha Christie was her own detective or something because my detective is a whodunit writer herself.
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?
First of all, the Bible.
I would take “Wicked” and the fourth book in the “Wicked” series called “out of OZ” it’s about *spoiler* Elphaba’s granddaughter named Rain (which i love for obvious reasons)
And for sure something by Charles Dickens
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