Interview With... R. A. Sears
To all who are reading this,
Dip into this interview of myths and legends with Darq Deviant Press author, R. A. Sears, also known as Randi Hesseltine.
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Name: R. A. Sears /Randi Hesseltine
Age: 27
Location: Edgewood, MD.
Hi Randi, thanks for joining me! So what are three interesting facts about yourself that you'd like to share with the readers?
1. I'm a fan of the music group, Insane Clown Posse.
2. The only time I've ever been on a motorcycle, I was thrown off it - into traffic - and didn't have any injuries other than bruises.
3. I absolutely despise green beans, but I love broccoli.
What made you want to be a writer?
I've always been a reader, but I love to tell stories. The logical jump for me was to become a writer. Luckily, I'm now a stay-at-home mom, so I can devote any non-baby-wrangling time to writing.
What motivates you to write?
I hate blank pages. There's a story in my mind that I'd like to share with the world, and getting it down on paper means that I'm not dealing with it is constant nightmares. Making a bit of money is a bonus.
Do you have a particular writing process?
I usually have music going but that's really it. I tend to just draft the story down in order, then go back and polish. Up until this book I'm working on - the sequel to Lunacy - I've never been much for planning or outlining. This project is fairly complex, so it's requiring more legwork than I'm used to.
How do you manage the deadly problem that is writers block?
Uhh... Lots of frustrating swearing! Not really. If I've hit a block, I re-read my piece, because I took a wrong turn and wrote myself into a plot corner. I'm a very visual person, so I scour Deviant Art Pinterest, and a few other places for visuals that could ignite that spark and get the story engine rolling again. If those don't work, I put the writing away for the day and try again the next day. Trying to force writing always ends badly.
What is a piece of writing advice that you will always remember?
Read your work aloud. You can check punctuation for natural pauses, see if sentences flow well, if your dialogue is believable etc.
What is the most influential book you have ever read, and why do you think so?
I'd say Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. So many of the negative things he wrote about are becoming our reality and they shouldn't be. I think it should be mandatory reading in high schools. I had to read it, and it turned my stomach then just as much as it does now. It might be even more disturbing now. When the positive things in society become so heavily outweighed by the negatives, something needs to change and people need to wake up.
Have you ever derived inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?
Not really. I tend to be influenced by people than places. Setting is important, but I think character development comes first.
Your first publication is The Ragnarok Legacy. Have you had any publications prior to this?
Lunacy is the first book in The Rangnarok Legacy. I've had a short story through Hot Ink Press in their Darkest Desires anthology. It's called From Top to Bottom.
What is The Ragnarok Legacy about? It certainly sounds interesting!
Thank you! The series revolves around Kacea Meade, a girl whose body is a vessel for the soul of the Norse goddess Skadh, beloved of the wolf. The Aesir, godlike beings from another plane, need her to bring about Ragnarok - their apocalypse. On top of all that, she's just found out that the boy she's been crushing on for five years is an ulven, a werewolf. Their blossoming romance is put in danger by Kacea's predicament, and things kind of snowball from there.
I'm working on book two now, so I can't elaborate on it without giving spoilers!
What is it that attracted you to the paranormal and the occult?
My parents read everything to me when I was little. Mom read me The Hobbit when I was young, and the taste for fantasy just sort of snowballed. I was raised in a religiously open household, so I got to explore things and choose my own path. From doing research into different belief systems, it's opened up my mind to a lot of ideas that I would never have come across if I hadn't been doing so much studying. I like it because, quite honestly, mundane life is boring. I've always been drawn to the fantastic, the otherworldly. It just sounds so much cooler to write a story about a Pegasus from Mars who only eats chocolate than a normal high school student who is - in every way, shape and form - terribly ordinary.
You write erotica under the name Kassi Darq-Chylde. Does this give you the chance to live out your deepest fantasies and urges?
To some degree, yes. I was originally worried about my readers getting my work mixed up when The Ragnarok Legacy was new and more like a YA series. But now that it's geared towards an older teen audience, I don't know if I'll ever publish under the other moniker again. I want my work to be easily assessable to my fans. I don't want them to have to do three separate searches to access each of my pen names. If I was a grade school teacher and didn't want people to know about the naughtiness that dripped from my pen, I'd still be hiding. But I think that, as a writer, embracing everything I do under one name is much more liberating than feeling shame and needing to shove the dirty laundry into the corner.
What does the future hold for you as a writer?
Lunacy has been in Amazon's Top 100 for Norse & Viking for nearly a month now. So hopefully, more successes along those lines. maybe holding #1 spot, in any paid category, for a while. At the very least, it'll be seeing a few more novels from the series, and a few other series' I've been formulating.
Thank you for such a fantastic interview Randi!
Be sure to check out Lunacy on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Smashwords.
You can also find Randi here:
http://theragnaroklegacy.blogspot.com
http://www.rasears.net
http://www.facebook.com/rasearsfiction
http://twitter.com/mkdarqchylde
http://pinterest.com/mkdarqchylde/boards/
http://www.goodreads.com/rasears
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101437185827186077215/posts
http://www.amazon.com/R.A.-Sears/e/B00ANGTX1S
---
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Alterant by Sherrilyn Kenyon & Dianna Love
Dip into this interview of myths and legends with Darq Deviant Press author, R. A. Sears, also known as Randi Hesseltine.
---
Name: R. A. Sears /Randi HesseltineAge: 27
Location: Edgewood, MD.
Hi Randi, thanks for joining me! So what are three interesting facts about yourself that you'd like to share with the readers?
1. I'm a fan of the music group, Insane Clown Posse.
2. The only time I've ever been on a motorcycle, I was thrown off it - into traffic - and didn't have any injuries other than bruises.
3. I absolutely despise green beans, but I love broccoli.
What made you want to be a writer?
I've always been a reader, but I love to tell stories. The logical jump for me was to become a writer. Luckily, I'm now a stay-at-home mom, so I can devote any non-baby-wrangling time to writing.
What motivates you to write?
I hate blank pages. There's a story in my mind that I'd like to share with the world, and getting it down on paper means that I'm not dealing with it is constant nightmares. Making a bit of money is a bonus.
Do you have a particular writing process?
I usually have music going but that's really it. I tend to just draft the story down in order, then go back and polish. Up until this book I'm working on - the sequel to Lunacy - I've never been much for planning or outlining. This project is fairly complex, so it's requiring more legwork than I'm used to.
How do you manage the deadly problem that is writers block?
Uhh... Lots of frustrating swearing! Not really. If I've hit a block, I re-read my piece, because I took a wrong turn and wrote myself into a plot corner. I'm a very visual person, so I scour Deviant Art Pinterest, and a few other places for visuals that could ignite that spark and get the story engine rolling again. If those don't work, I put the writing away for the day and try again the next day. Trying to force writing always ends badly.
What is a piece of writing advice that you will always remember?
Read your work aloud. You can check punctuation for natural pauses, see if sentences flow well, if your dialogue is believable etc.
What is the most influential book you have ever read, and why do you think so?
I'd say Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. So many of the negative things he wrote about are becoming our reality and they shouldn't be. I think it should be mandatory reading in high schools. I had to read it, and it turned my stomach then just as much as it does now. It might be even more disturbing now. When the positive things in society become so heavily outweighed by the negatives, something needs to change and people need to wake up.
Have you ever derived inspiration from your home or from anywhere you have visited?
Not really. I tend to be influenced by people than places. Setting is important, but I think character development comes first.
Your first publication is The Ragnarok Legacy. Have you had any publications prior to this?
Lunacy is the first book in The Rangnarok Legacy. I've had a short story through Hot Ink Press in their Darkest Desires anthology. It's called From Top to Bottom.
What is The Ragnarok Legacy about? It certainly sounds interesting!
Thank you! The series revolves around Kacea Meade, a girl whose body is a vessel for the soul of the Norse goddess Skadh, beloved of the wolf. The Aesir, godlike beings from another plane, need her to bring about Ragnarok - their apocalypse. On top of all that, she's just found out that the boy she's been crushing on for five years is an ulven, a werewolf. Their blossoming romance is put in danger by Kacea's predicament, and things kind of snowball from there.I'm working on book two now, so I can't elaborate on it without giving spoilers!
What is it that attracted you to the paranormal and the occult?
My parents read everything to me when I was little. Mom read me The Hobbit when I was young, and the taste for fantasy just sort of snowballed. I was raised in a religiously open household, so I got to explore things and choose my own path. From doing research into different belief systems, it's opened up my mind to a lot of ideas that I would never have come across if I hadn't been doing so much studying. I like it because, quite honestly, mundane life is boring. I've always been drawn to the fantastic, the otherworldly. It just sounds so much cooler to write a story about a Pegasus from Mars who only eats chocolate than a normal high school student who is - in every way, shape and form - terribly ordinary.
You write erotica under the name Kassi Darq-Chylde. Does this give you the chance to live out your deepest fantasies and urges?
To some degree, yes. I was originally worried about my readers getting my work mixed up when The Ragnarok Legacy was new and more like a YA series. But now that it's geared towards an older teen audience, I don't know if I'll ever publish under the other moniker again. I want my work to be easily assessable to my fans. I don't want them to have to do three separate searches to access each of my pen names. If I was a grade school teacher and didn't want people to know about the naughtiness that dripped from my pen, I'd still be hiding. But I think that, as a writer, embracing everything I do under one name is much more liberating than feeling shame and needing to shove the dirty laundry into the corner.
What does the future hold for you as a writer?
Lunacy has been in Amazon's Top 100 for Norse & Viking for nearly a month now. So hopefully, more successes along those lines. maybe holding #1 spot, in any paid category, for a while. At the very least, it'll be seeing a few more novels from the series, and a few other series' I've been formulating.
Thank you for such a fantastic interview Randi!
Be sure to check out Lunacy on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Smashwords.
You can also find Randi here:
http://theragnaroklegacy.blogspot.com
http://www.rasears.net
http://www.facebook.com/rasearsfiction
http://twitter.com/mkdarqchylde
http://pinterest.com/mkdarqchylde/boards/
http://www.goodreads.com/rasears
https://plus.google.com/u/0/101437185827186077215/posts
http://www.amazon.com/R.A.-Sears/e/B00ANGTX1S
---
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Alterant by Sherrilyn Kenyon & Dianna Love
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