Saturday 7 June 2014

Interview: STORM Author Natalie Rivener


1. What inspired you to write your stories for the STORM anthology?
Beyond and The Gravic Exacerbation are two stories I've used to discover a little more about a fantasy world I've been working on for over a decade. 

2. Tell us what your stories are all about.
Beyond is about a band of myhrr who have to overcome the impossible to save their people from extinction. Many have been sent before them, and none have returned. Dare they hope against hope that they might make it past the deadly Serpent Storm?

The Gravic Exacerbation - Jaten doesn't know why Mestrae Corvic is going on and on about greater castings being layered. Nothing seems to be going wrong...aside from the usual 'unforseen inconveniences' of the latest magical advances, like that tail he grew last week or the new lighting caused by Mestrae Yundra's shroud. Then again, his mestrae seems more worked up than usual. Maybe, just maybe there's something to old Corvic's rants after all. 

3. What excited you about taking part in the STORM anthology?
This is the first time I will be able to hold and smell a book that contains stories written by me. It's a life dream.

4. What is your next project about and when can we expect it to be published?
My next project is a fantasy, scifi and horror anthology called Flight of the Phoenix. If all goes well, it will be available by the end of September 2014.

5. What is your biggest challenge in writing?
Taking my dreams serious enough to keep writing. It's really easy to give into the world's opinion that writing isn't a real career.

6. How do you deal with this challenge?
I remind myself how absolutely awesome it felt to publish a short story on Smashwords and see my friends and family actually downloading it. And, then, I remember how fulfilling it is to use my gift and how no other high in the world can beat that.

7. What advice would you offer to other authors having to deal with this same challenge?
Don't let the world tell you that you can't make it work. If anything, remember that most people are insanely jealous of the fact that you are not afraid to live your dream.

8. Please explain to my readers your writing process and how you manage your life to accommodate your writing.
I can't really say that I have a standard writing process. Every time I write, I do it differently. 
I have a novel-length story I've been trying to write for a good 14 years and it's changed a lot. I guess, I started with a general concept of where I want to start and where I want to end up, but the middle has been a process of writing, tearing it all up and writing again.
When I started out, Beyond was a little piece of background to the story I mentioned above. The details came to me in a flood as I started writing.
The concept for The Gravic Exacerbation came to me in a rush one afternoon, but the first draft morphed and wobbled a lot. Then, I had to re-engineer most of it and change it far more than I had anticipated.
Who knows what will happen next time?

You can find all Natalie's books on Smashwords

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for visiting my blog today. For more updates about the #CreativeLife, follow me on Twitter @LinzeBrandon, and remember to subscribe for more stories about the things that inspire me.

Theme reveal: My A-to-Z blog challenge 2024

  It's been a while since I have taken part in the blog challenge. The problem is always coming up with new ideas so it isn't boring...