Hey, everyone! I had the privilege of interviewing another great author--today we have Killian McRae!
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Hello, my dear! We've known each other for a few years now, but please tell these lovely readers about yourself.
5’6”. Scorpio.
I’m that eclectic/artsy/poetry-loving girl you knew in high school.
:-) Now I write books.
:-) Now I write books.
What are your
favorite and least favorite parts about being a writer?
It’s the same
thing on both sides: inspiration. It’s such a feast-or-famine creature. Either
your well is completely dry and everything seems impossible, or your well
runneth over and you start having to make personal hygiene-choices in lieu of
finding time to write them down.
I can completely identify with that--it's very all or nothing, and when it's "all", the yoga pants go on for days at a time.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other writers?
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other writers?
Forgive
yourself. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to piss some people off.
You’re going to have become a ninja in the art of no. Like the pursuit of any
dream, you’re going to have to pay your dues and you’re going to have to make
tough choices and sacrifices to feed your art. There will be guilt, both coming
from outside sources, and from within. If this is something you’re dedicated to
doing, learn to forgive where you fail to please everyone and, most
importantly, where you fail to please yourself.
That's great advice! So many people beat themselves up over failures, but failure in anything is inevitable and always passes.
When you're writing, do you prefer silence or to have music on? What kind?
When you're writing, do you prefer silence or to have music on? What kind?
I prefer to have
on music, but if there’s singing involved, it has to be in a language I can’t
understand. Otherwise my concentration gets syphons away by the lyrics. I have
different genre preferences based on what genre I’m writing. Contemporary
romance = jazz. Science Fiction or fantasy = new age or world music (Yasmin
Levy is a favorite the last few years). Historical=baroque.
You're very much setting the mood in your stories with your music--that makes sense!
I love reading
historical fiction and thoroughly enjoyed A
Love by Any Measure. How difficult was it to write in order to capture
Ireland and the feel for the time period?
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| A Love by any Measure's gorgeous new cover! |
Dialog was the
most challenging. I reread some fiction of that period (Tennant of Wildfell
Hall by Anne Bronte; A Tale of Two
Cities by Charles Dickens) to remind myself of the rhythms of speech in
those times. Capturing Ireland, which I’ve been told by natives, was a fluke. I
had never been there when I wrote ALBAM, and still haven’t been (other than the
Dublin airport for about two hours). I’m lucky that I grew up in an area that
was settled by many Irish immigrants, partially because its topography and
climate is similar. When I was writing of Ireland, I was thinking of home.
How’d you get
the idea for your Pure Souls series?
Honestly, it all
exploded into being from that very first line: A witch, a priest and a demigod
walk into a bar. I had aspects of Marc in my head for some time. A wiccan
catholic priest who fights against demons with magic and is a smart ass to
boot? Who wouldn’t want to write about that?
Very true! And will there be
more coming along for the Pure Souls series…inquiring minds want to know!
There are at
least two more installments coming in the series, but I don’t know in what
order. It depends how much writing I get done this summer. :-) One will be out for Christmas, though. It’s
actually a prequel novella about Jerry and Riona’s relationship the first time
around, when Jerry was sent by Lucifer to be a spy and Riona had no idea of her
destiny to be a Pure Soul. The other book, The Devil You Know, will finish off the series, and is more
focused on Marc.
Sweet! I know the readers will be excited. What are you
working on right now?
Time hasn’t
changed me. I’m still a gal that likes to have a few projects up and running at
once. I’m mostly finished now with The Guardian, which is a sequel to my first book ever, 12.21.12: The Vessel. I’m also working on the Jerry-Riona novella
and another project I’m not yet ready to discuss in public, but fans of the
Pure Souls will probably like it.
You write in a
few different genres. What have your experiences been like writing in such a
variety? How is the experience different
from one to another?
I’ve always had
an eclectic personality, and this shakes out in my writing too. I’m naturally a
smart ass, and I really get to draw on that when writing books like those in
the Pure Souls series. But I’m also a huge fan of history and speculation, so
when I approach historicals and SFF, my voice becomes much more serious.
Romance is the hardest for me, as I’m not a big believer in love, but still
long for it, in a stupid, womany way.
What was your
favorite scene to write in any of your books?
The Thanksgiving
scene in Once
You Go Demon, because it was just so rife
with humor. Half the people at the table were drunk, half of the people at the
table had a deep dark secret ready to be exposed, and it was just a ticking
time bomb of awkwardness and revelations with a comedic twist.
Those kinds of scenes are always fun to write! On the other hand, what scene gave
you the most trouble?
Snapped included
several scenes that left me emotionally drained, but I guess that’s to be
expected in a book where the hero and heroine both were sexually abused as
minors.
That must have been very difficult to channel.
That must have been very difficult to channel.
Where can we
find you on the interwebs?
I’m mainly found at my website, but I’m also
pretty active on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AuthorKillianMcRae), Twitter
(www.twitter.com/killianmcrae), and Instagram (www.instragram.com/killianmcrae).
I don’t use Goodreads too much as an author, but I do use it as a reader. You
can find my reader profile here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4389465.Killian_McRae.
If you’re into audiobooks, check out my audiobooks review podcast, Audific: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/audific-audiobook-reviews/id989659360?mt=2.
Where can we
find your books?
The
availability of my titles varies across sites, but you can find me on:
Yay! Thank you for letting me interview you, Killian!
xoxo Sarah
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