MY INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR RUSSELL NOHELTY!

 

 

What’s your name and what genre would you consider your books to be?

My name is Russell Nohelty. I’m going to say fantasy, but they have elements of science fiction and horror as well, depending on the series, but they are squarely fantasy in my mind.

 

How did you get interested in writing this particular genre (historical novels, mysteries, sci-fi, children’s books, etc.)?

I think about death a lot. Like…a lot a lot. And that let me to thinking about the afterlife, which led me to creating a mythology, and thinking about cheating death, and magic, and boom. Fantasy author who talks about Hell and the afterlife all the time. I kind of fell into my genre. I’m still searching for good comp authors.

 

 

What kind of research did you do for this book?

I have always read a lot of mythology books, throughout my life, and it gave me a good base of knowledge to pull what I wanted out of the various mythologies to serve my purposes and my narratives.

 

Can you tell me about your Series?

My series is weird, because it’s no less than four series. So, there is the Katrina series, which is the trilogy that starts off the whole universe with a biblical Apocalypse and its ramifications.

Then, there is The Lobdell Chronicles, which follow another main character after the end of the Katrina series.

Then, there are the Freeman Files, which show what happened on Earth and in Hell 40 years before the Apocalypse.

Then, there are the Pixie Dust books, which show what Hell and Earth were like thousands of years ago. It’s my deconstruction of epic fantasy.

From there, things start to get complicated, but the main idea is that these trilogies interconnect and show the main facets of the universe, and then other books splinter off from there.

  

 

Was it always meant to become a series?

No. It started with two graphic novels, Katrina Hates the Dead and Pixie Dust, and people loved them so much they asked for more, and so I decided to build out the universe, show how the world was created, and give fans what they wanted. I love these character, but I didn’t expect fans to love them as well.

 

 

 

What’s a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?

It depends if I’m writing or editing. However, I generally get up at 6am and do busy work until 8am.

If I’m writing, then I try to have 5 good hours of writing where I get through 1,000 words.

If I’m editing then I try to get 20,000 words of a first draft, or 40,000 words of a second/third draft done in a day.

I’m pretty strict with myself. My writing schedule looks like this:

Outlining – 1 day

Writing – 8 days

Editing – draft 1 – 4 days

Editing – draft 2 – 2 day

Editing – draft 3 – 1 day

 

Then it goes off to the editor and I start on a new thing. Once I’m done with one book, I edit anything that is left before I go onto another book.

 

 

 

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Getting through the first draft, and then going back and editing it into a cogent second draft. Once I get through the second draft, I have a story I’m happy with and I’m just tweaking, but until then it’s very tough to read.

 

What’s the best thing about being an author?

The fans. Seriously, my fans are the best. I know every author says that, but that’s probably because it’s always true. I wouldn’t be anywhere without them supporting me and encouraging me to write more. I would write without any fans, but I now write because of and for them.

 

 

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Writing more books. I do a lot of conventions now, and I would like to be off the convention circuit for the most part. I am already a full-time writer and living where I want to live for the most part. I would like to travel more, I guess, but I have pretty much the life I want right now.

 

What writing advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Your first book is going to suck. It’s gonna be soooo bad. Like so bad you don’t even want to show people…but that’s okay. Every author sucks at first, and you are going to get better if you keep writing. It might take you 20-30 projects to get great, but if you stay at it then one day it’s going to click. If you are an aspiring author, I recommend reading my book Sell Your Soul: How to Build Your Creative Career, and joining my Facebook group Authors and Creators Making Money Selling Books.

 

 

If you didn’t like writing books, or weren’t any good at it, what would you like to do for a living?

I am a very good salesman, so I would probably be selling things, or doing marketing in some capacity.

 

Do you read reviews of your book(s)? Do you respond to them, good or bad? How do you deal with the bad?

I read every review. I don’t mind the bad reviews. I have been doing conventions for a long time so almost nothing a person can do will phase me. I’m immune to it at this point, even though it stings a bit

  

 

What are you working on now?

I am still building out this universe. I am releasing 18 books in 2019, so I have to write a book a month for the next 9 months in order to hit my goal of getting all these books out.

  

Why did you choose to write in your genre? If you write in more than one, how do you balance them?

I write in a bunch of genres at once. I don’t write to market, except that I write to my market, which are the thousands of people who have bought my books over the years, and that means combining horror, fantasy, and science fiction together.

 

 

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Both almost simultaneously.

 

What is your writing Kryptonite?

I don’t like writing prose very much, and I can’t write elegantly. I envy writers who can talk about a table for ten pages and make it interesting, because that is soooo not me.

   

 

 

Where can your fans find you and follow??

I’m on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @russellnohelty. I will admit I rarely use Twitter anymore, but I am on the other two platforms regularly. I’m also on Amazon and Bookbub.

 

However, the best place is to join our mailing list, where you receive four free books for joining. www.russellnohelty.com/mail

 

 

 

THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO DO THIS INTERVIEW WITH ME!