Claire C. Riley Author Interview

Claire C. Riley says she is best characterized as an old-school horror writer, creating unique modernizations of classic horror themes.  She likes fusing elements from different genres while making them cutting-edge and fresh.

I'm most familiar with her Odium series.  This is fantastic series with engaging ideas and settings along with real characters that you can care about.  It was my pleasure to interview Claire to get her perspective on horror stories and writing.

What are your works and what can you tell us about them?

My Odium The Dead Saga series is my most popular work so far. Of which there are currently 2 full books and 2 novellas, with both the third full length and novella in the making.

Think zombies, apocalyptic worlds, dystopian landscapes. It focuses more on realistic characters than just the blood  and gore though. Though of course there’s gore a plentiful! 

My other series is My Obsession Series – Limerence – that’s based around old school gothic style Bram Stoker-esq vampires. 

I also have several anthology contributions under my belt such as, Fading Hope: Humanity Unbound, State of Horror Illinois, and Let’s Scare Cancer to Death A charity zombie anthology.

Why do you write about dark and scary things?

I honestly don’t know why. Every time I have tried to write something, shall we say, normal (?) I end up killing someone or having them be a monster of some sort. I’ve no idea why it happens haha. From a young age I was fascinated with movies like The Lost Boys and Bram Stoker and Night of the Living Dead, so it’s obviously stuck with me through the years. I read pretty much any genre though, so I’d really like to be a genre hopper myself and branch out…whether I can do that without killing someone off is another matter though.

What is your latest project/release and what is it about?

I’m currently hard at work on two full length projects and two anthology contributions. I’m working on the third in the Dead Saga series, which I’m hoping will be out January time if all goes well, and I have a Super Secret Project that I’ve been working on also. It’s 90% complete as I write this, but I’m certain once this interview airs it will be completed and with the edited. I can’t say much more about it than it’s a zompoc book and I love it. It’s so far 85’000 words (again, only 90% complete) and has only taken 3 weeks to write it so far., THAT’S how much I've loved writing it.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer and how do you go about the writing process?

I’ve ALWAYS wanted to write. I have notebooks and pads filled with horror stories that I wrote when I was only ten or eleven. (Seriously, why were my parents not more worried?) For my twelfth birthday I got a typewriter but it only lasted a year because I went through so much ink for it my parents refused to buy me anymore and I went back to my trusty pen and paper!

My publishing journey actually only started in 2012 when I joined the writing site Authonomy. I put online a couple of chapters of the book I was currently writing – Limerence and got talking with other writers and learnt a lot about my skill and how to mould it into something useable.

I normally find an image I like and from that image I come up with the plot. I try to write an outline, and in all honesty when I have done it’s made things so much easier. BUT I really struggle with writing them. I’m a seat of your pants writer and my plot changes as my characters become reckless assholes who decide to ignore my demands of staying on one plot path, so I have to constantly alter it as I write.

What advice do you have for other writers?

Keep going, keep writing. DO NOT under any circumstance, write one book and put all of your energy into promoting and pushing it for the next two years. You’ll waste your time and your readers. A reader wants to become invested in a writer, and to do that they need more than one book. So write, write, write.

And I mean that literally. Write every day. I aim for a minimum of 2k a day regardless of if I’m at my boring day job, or my three kids are on school holidays and I have to work until midnight. Write every day, hone your craft and enjoy it. Because it shows in your writing.

What is your favorite zombie movie and why?

Well I have two. Night of the Living Dead because I love the old school zombies, and they are what I write about. But I also love 28 Days Later because it scares the crap out of me! I freaking hate that film, and 28 Weeks Later made me scream and run for my car after me and my husband went to watch it at the movies hahaha! Don’t judge haha, it was midnight and dark, and I would be dead within the hour if the zombie apocalypse began and they were fast zombies!

What’s up next for you?

Well, like I said I have my Super Secret Project coming out Jan/Feb and Odium III The Dead Saga around the same time. Then Odium Origins A Dead Saga Novella Part Three May2015 ish. I also have several other anthology contributions coming up also, so I’m very busy.

In 2015 I’m also at my first book signings. One in London UK in April and another in Birmingham UK in July, so I’m nervous and excited for those.

Her Featured Works

Odium

Odium II

Limerence

Find Our More about Claire

www.clairecriley.com

https://www.facebook.com/ClaireCRileyAuthor

http://bit.ly/clairecrileyamazon/

https://twitter.com/ClaireCRiley

https://www.google.com/+ClaireCRiley

Stories of the Dead - The Undead Works of R.J. Spears

R.J. Spears - Amazon Author's Page

Below are all the long and short zombie works of R.J. Spears

Double Dead Book Release - 2 New Zombie Books

On November 21 (from 6:00 to 10:00 PM ET), I'm releasing Dead Man's Land and Forget America.

Dead Man's Land is the 3rd book in my Books of the Dead series and Forget America is the 3rd and final book in the Forget the Zombie series.

Dead Man's Land follows Joel, the reluctant hero, as he leads his group of survivors as they face off with an army of the dead and and one of the living.  The odds of survival are slim.

Forget America picks up with Grant and his group of zombie refugees on the run again just ahead of the zombies.  On their way to salvation, they encounter a scary group of living and a horde of undead.

Everyone is welcome.  There will be free books, contests, and author interviews

Double Dead FB Release Party

Feast or Famine Anthology

I just received my contributor's copy of Feast or Famine, released by Zombie Fiend Press.  My story, Ticket Out the Deadlands, appears in the anthology.  I both proud and pleased to be a part of this fine anthology of zombie stories.

You should check it out:

Feast or Famine

A New Endeavor

Writing has been a way to satisfy my creative aspirations, but I know that my creative extends past words.

I went to film school dreams of becoming a great director, but that dream didn't pan out.  I've always created visual products such as videos for educational and promotional uses.

As a part of my new writing career, I started creating my own covers both out of economic necessity and for an added creative outlet.  I think over a year of developing covers and studying other successful covers I've developed an eye for what works and doesn't work.

With that said, I'm about launch my service of providing eBook covers for other authors. I've done a few for friends at my press, but I saw a greater need.  As an indie writer, I know how stretching your dollar has to be done.  So, I thought I could help out.

So, here it is:
ebookcovers4you

Here's a couple of the covers I've created.

So, if you come across the blog and need a cover, check out my premade covers.

Cover Fun

I've been working to refine my design skills in cover design.  I feel like I'm maturing and also knowing my limitations.

I recently did a cover for my friend T.L. Decay for his new horror poetry collection.  It's called More Scary Writing.

T.L. and the other folks at my publisher all loved it.  Most said it was creepy.

By the way, it has two poems about scary clowns.

I'm also refining the cover my upcoming release, Dead Man's Land.  It's the third book in my Books of the Dead series.  The first draft of that book is just about completed.  I just looked and I have been working on that book for seven months. I found that shocking.  I have fitted in several other projects while I've been writing this one.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic.  Here's the cover.  I decided to go with a spare design.  The initial reaction has been very positive.

New Short Story Release - A Monster in the Woods

Last week, upon the release of my latest novel, Lord of the Dead, I also released my first short story targeted at young readers.  It is titled, A Monster in the Woods.

I've had this story floating around in my head for awhile.  If you like the movie Super-8, you'll like this story.  It's the tale of Todd Evans and his life-long wish to see a monster.  He learns that it isn't always good to get what you wished for.

A Monster in the Woods (Amazon)