AUTHOR INTERVIEW - RIANNE MOSS, AUTHOR OF SHATTERPROOF!

I've had the pleasure of interviewing the lovely Rianne Moss, writer of Shatterproof! 

You can read more about Shatterproof here.

Please check out the interview and find out what inspired Rianne to write such a moving story!! 

When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always had a itch to write for as long as I could remember. It wasn’t until I reached my teens where I started to really have a strong interest in writing. In 2014 is when I discovered self-publishing and then that is where my writing went from a hobby to a career in the making. 

How many books have you written?

I have written many novels through the years but one that I finished to completion: edited and published.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on a sequel to my first novel “Shatterproof.”  It takes place 6 years after the events of the first novel. In addition I’m also working on a mystery/thriller which is about a teenage girl who discovers her father isn’t her biological father. She starts searching for answers and what she finds out puts her and her family life in danger.

What inspired you to write Shatterproof?

I watch a lot of reality tv shows, talk shows and documentaries. One night I was watching reruns of the show “Intervention” where I got the idea I wanted to write a novel about addiction. I pondered the idea for a while but felt like something was missing. I was watching an episode of Dr. Phil sexual abuse came up. I debated back and forth on whether to make it an element of the novel.  It such a touchy subject which could offend some people. In the same thought it was one of those issues no one talks about. I felt like it would be a good opportunity to show the issue firsthand, but at the same time tells a story about a real life issue.

Who is your favorite character from Shatterproof?

The main character Natalie is my favorite.  She had been a character I had set aside for many years without a story to go along with her.  This character is complex and if she were an actual person she would be someone I’d admire.  Her struggle throughout the novel and even into the sequel shows someone who has been through a lot, has a lot of courage, strength and vulnerability. I built the rest of my characters around her and what I imagined her life path to go. 

Your book touches on some dark themes such as addiction and abuse. What research did you do to prepare yourself for writing this book?

I did some extensive research on addiction and abuse.  It was difficult because I never had firsthand experience with either or known anyone close who had dealt with this first hand.  I started off my research with watching every episode of “Intervention” which dealt with opiate addiction and intravenous users. I wanted to get a general idea of how these people lived, and learn about their struggles.  Next I went to the internet to search addiction in greater detail: symptoms both physical and psychological looked up other persons struggle with addiction.  The topic of the abuse was a little more difficult to research. Some of the information I gathered was hard to read. A few times I considered changing the topic from sexual abuse to physical abuse but stuck it through.  I did extensive research in PTSD, anxiety disorder, depression, high risk activity as these also played a huge part in the creation of this book.

Why did you choose the grandfather as the abuser?

During the brainstorming stages, I wrote up character profiles for all the major character’s and I just imagined the grandfather to being an asshole. He was always the bad guy so it fit to let him fill the role as the abuser. It wasn’t any special reason except it just fit in with the plot.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I spend time with my spouse and our two children. I’m an avid reader, like to cook, bake and play video games. 

What is the strangest writing habit that you have?

I don’t know if it is strange but I haven’t met anyone who I know writes like this. I always start a novel from the middle of the plot. The beginning is usually the last thing I’ll write.

What advice would you give aspiring writers?

I found one of the most difficult things I’ve encountered with writing is the dreaded “writer’s block.” My advice is to not fight it, and not to give up. Work on something else; come back to it in a week time and re read what you have written.  Nine times out of ten the juices started to flow again.

What book could you read over and over again?

Room by Emma Donoghue:  I’ve read it at least a dozen times and the plot never gets old.

Who would you say has influenced your writing the most?

My family. Writing is an important part of my life. It had been my dream for a long time to be a published writer. After having my children, I made it my goal to fulfill that very dream. I want to teach my children to follow their dreams. 

If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could have ONE character from a book on the island with you, who would it be and why?

I’m a bit bias but I’d choose Natalie because I feel like she is someone I could be friends with. Someone’s life story I would want to know and someone I could learn from. 

To purchase Shatterproof follow these links! 
Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) 

Let's Talk About the 'F' Word In Books

Warning: Lots of 'F' words in this post. 
Let's talk about the 'F' word. Mainly, a writer's use of the 'F' word in a book. 

Now, before I get too deep in this post, I am a writer that has used the word "fuck" in a book. Several of my characters use it throughout the book in times of anger, frustration, and even friendly barbs at each other. That being said, I get it. I get why you would use the word in your writing, especially if you're trying to portray a character a certain way. 
That being said....
There is such a thing as too much "fuck". 
I refuse to out the book because it hasn't been published yet and I am reading an advanced copy so there may be changes before it finally goes to print but I am currently reading a book that had 15 'F' words on the first page. The first fucking page. (See, that's a legitimate use.) And then I turned the page. And there were 15 more. 
Listen, I have a foul mouth sometimes. In the almost 4 years that my husband and I have been married he's threatened to invoke a swear jar, wash my mouth out with soap, and put hot sauce on my tongue about a million times like my grandmother used to do when I was a kid. I promise you, nothing is going to work. Sometimes it just feels good to cuss. But I don't get that same good feeling when my eyeballs are assaulted with f-bombs every other sentence. 
After a while it just becomes exhausting. The writer is trying to portray this character as a big, scary bad-ass and he's just coming off as a little boy who is trying to get out as many cuss words as he can before his mom comes back in the room. 

To me, it takes away from the actual story. I'm so distracted by all of the weirdly placed 'F' words that I can't focus on the characters and what's going on with them. All I'm thinking about is how ridiculous someone would sound actually using all of those 'F' words the way the author wrote them. "I think I want a hamfuckingburger with french fucking fries and a fucking coke and don't you skimp on the mayofuckingaise you fucking burger flipfuckinger"  (Okay, so that's not actually a quote from any book, thank goodness, but you get the idea!) 

If you must use cuss words in your books, that's okay! Just make sure that they're actually necessary. If there are so many cuss words in your writing that those words outnumber regular words, you should probably try eliminating some. Maybe try reading it out loud and seeing how it sounds? 

Maybe it's just me? 

Does this bother anyone else or am I just being a pansy? 

Book Writing Voodoo

While I've been researching ways to promote and sell the book I've already written I've seen a lot of blog posts and articles recommending that you as an author have several books out a once. This sounds like a great idea. It gives your readers a few options and it gives you an opportunity to let your readers sample some of your other works in order to sell more books. I get it, I really do. 
But....
I cannot find anywhere on the internet exactly what kind of voodoo, hoodoo, hinky-jinky, black magic, devil spell authors are using to crank out books in such a hurry! 

I've been working on my second book since right after I put the first one out in January. I'm not even half-way through the book. My characters do not seem to want to cooperate with the story line or I would be farther along than I am. I've been writing (almost) every day and I still have so much left to do before I can actually finish this story. And I've also been trying to write a prequel to The Letters, partly to draw more attention to the book and because I've had several people ask me about the characters in that book. It started out well but has kind of fizzled out so it's on a shelf right now just waiting for me to pick it back up. 
I did all of that whining to say that....

Just kidding. You guys already knew that. 

I do wonder, though, how writers can bust out five complete novels in the blink of an eye. How does that happen? And I know that some people have actually worked on those cluster of stories for a really long time and just decided to release them all at the same time but I'm talking about those writers who are publishing a new book every one to two months. WHAT IS YOUR SECRET? I really need to know what the secret is for slinging out stories like this. It's not even for the marketing aspect of it for me at this point. I'm genuinely curious to know how one does something like this. Is there a formula or something I'm missing? I need someone to enlighten me on this so that I can see if I am capable of it as well because right now I'm pretty much in Limbo while my characters are just screwing with me. 

Do you have a special formula for cranking out book after book? Or are you struggling to get your next project out like I am? Do you know the voodoo spell? 

Book Publishing Depression

When I finished my book at the end of NaNoWriMo last year I was incredibly excited. I was so proud of myself that I had finally, at long last, actually FINISHED a story and accomplished a goal. It may not seem like a big deal to you but to someone who is a chronic procrastinator and my own worst critic, it was incredibly satisfying to see that little screen saying that I had won. It was like being on a drug high. I was ecstatic! 

While still riding that high I decided to use my coupon from NaNo to get to free paperback copies of my book from CreateSpace. And that is how The Letters was published. Like a premature little baby that was exactly quite ready for this world, I pushed it out there anyway. I was so proud and top of the world that I thought surely someone will read it and like it. Then came the pep talks to myself of "Well, even if no one else ever buys it, I wrote and published a book, which is something I've always wanted to do so there's that." And there it was, indeed. 

I should have done more research beforehand instead of learning as a I go. I'm sure it would have made this process so much easier. But I didn't, and here we are and I'm not complaining because I've actually sold almost $100 worth of books and I had maybe $10 total invested in it? 

But.....here I sit, researching ways to market this book and promote it and feeling not necessarily discouraged but depressed. That's the only way I can describe it. My book has gotten several good reviews. And those reviews were from people who didn't even know me! I've started on a prequel to The Letters to introduce more back story of some of the main characters but I can't seem to stay focused on it. A part of me just doesn't want to write about those characters anymore. At least not right now. The high has worn off and my inner critic has come back and all I can think about are all the things I have done wrong when it comes to this book and publishing it. Not to mention that I'm really on the fence about Amazon and I'm sliding more and more to the side of wanting to tell Amazon to suck it. 

I just can't seem to get out of this funk where my book is concerned. I've got it on a few review sites. I've done some promotional pricing. I've done giveaways. I'm still researching how to do more but it just seems to depress me more. Don't get me wrong, I love The Letters and I'm proud of my writing. I'm just....in a funk? 

Has anyone else had these feelings of depression after putting out a book? Am I being weird or is this a writer thing? If it's a writer thing, how do you overcome it? And as a bonus, what are your thoughts on Kindle Unlimited? 

Writing Prompt Wednesday: Robot Love

This week's prompt: 
You're a robot who was designed to menial tasks around an office. You are not designed to have any emotions yet you're having strange feelings of attachment towards the person who performs the maintenance on you. 

Writing Prompt Wednesday: Scorpion Swallower

Welcome to another Writing Prompt Wednesday!! 

I found this week's inspiration on Pinterest. (I might have a slight addiction.) It was such a unique prompt that I couldn't resist using it for this week. 

My Story: 

Lemon, a loud-mouthed gnome sitting in the cell next to me, was beating on the iron bars with a sharp-edged rock he found in the corner of the cell. He'd been beating the same spot on a lower bar near the left side of the cell for nearly ten minutes now. 

"What are you going to do when the guards catch you?"

"Drop the rock. For someone who is supposed to be a being of higher intelligence, you sure are stupid."

I scratched at the scabs on my wrist where Eric's fingernails scratched my skin as I had tried to get away from him. The fairy thought that I came to this world to kill him. I actually had ended up here by mistake. An accident, really.  

"You're not a very nice troll." 

"TROLL?" Lemon's eyes grew two sizes larger as he turned and screamed at me. "I'm not a frackin' troll! I'm a gnome!" 

"A roaming gnome?" 

He threw his rock at me. Evidently, Travelosity commercials were not very popular in this realm. 

"I wish the guards would let me talk to Eric. If I could just explain to him how I got here and that I'm just trying to get home, maybe he'll let me out." 

"You're going to try to reason with a man who swallows scorpions for fun? Did I mention you're stupid, already?" 

"Well, anything sounds stupid when you say it like that." 

Let's see what you've got! Send me your stories and yours could get featured next week!