MY INTERVIEW WITH ROWAN ALTWOOD

 

 

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

My name is Rowan Altwood. I have one book that is YA contemporary romance and another that is YA M/M paranormal horror. The other books that I am currently working on will all fall under the latter genre and I am more than happy to keep it that way; horror is pretty much my favourite thing in the world.

 

Tell me about your book. How did you come up with that (story, angle, idea)?

I don’t honestly remember how A Light Amongst Shadows in particular came about. Kelley (my co-author and wife) was eager to write another book with me and I was very insistent that it be a horror-type book this time, since that’s where my passion lies. We started throwing ideas back and forth at one another and eventually one just sounded right and stuck with us.

 

 

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

Horror has always just been such a huge part of my life. I was the kid who read mainly the Goosebumps series, moving on to authors like Stephen King and Poppy Z. Brite. I would tape the audio to Nightmare on Elm Street movies and listen to it whilst I slept. I’ve never been one to get scared or jumpy with that kind of stuff; it’s always just been so interesting and fun to me. It was only natural that that’s what I would want to write, too.

 

What kind of research did you do for this book?

There was SO much research put into this book. We both had a very vague idea of the time period and the country, but we wanted to have a solid standing. We read countless books on that era, looked into countless articles, asked experts that we were lucky enough to know to look over things and answer any questions we had. We even took an afternoon and went to a local museum of a Victorian house to get a better visual of what we were dealing with.

 

Can you tell me about your Series?

Dark is the Night is about a group of troubled boys who meet at boarding school and proceed to fall into adventures with ghosts and other things that go bump in the night. Though some of them might have only intended for this to be a one-time thing, fate has other ideas. (As does the MC of the first book, James, who finds his first experience exhilarating and definitely wants more.) 

 

Do you have a favorite book out of this series?

That’s difficult to say because we’ve not progressed very far in it; only the first book is out now, the second book due at the beginning of November 2018 and a novella in progress. I guess if I had to pick one so far, though, it would be… well, the first one. Because that’s where it all started.  

 

Was it always meant to become a series?

Yep! We knew from the beginning that there was just too much to these boys to be able to tell their story in one sitting.

 

 

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

My morning is generally spent taking care of household matters and errands, whilst my afternoon is dedicated to my part-time job.  Writing generally happens in the afternoon, when I sprawl out on the couch and put on some background noise (usually true crime shows, not gonna lie!) and just get to it. I always just write what I have drive for and refuse to set any sort of goal because I really want this to be my passion and not any kind of chore or work for me.

 

Do you have a new book in the making and if so, what’s the name of your upcoming book?

The second book in our Dark is the Night series is called A Hymn in the Silence.

 

 

How important are character names to you in your books? Is there a special meaning to any of the names?

We made sure to do our best to stick with names that would have been popular in the era fitting our book. Otherwise, it was really just a matter of getting an idea of each character and then choosing a name that we felt would best fit them. Something that stuck, so that we couldn’t ultimately imagine them with any other name.

 

Where do your ideas come from?

Under the bed, with the rest of the monsters. 😉

 

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Any sort of deadline. I prefer my writing to be strictly on an inspiration basis, but when you’ve got a series going and interested people, it’s hard to always keep to that.

 

What do you consider to be your best accomplishment?

Actually finishing a book! I cannot tell you how many projects I have started and been really excited for, only for my inspiration and drive to completely vanish. For the longest time the idea of me actually finishing a book was sort of a running joke. (I’m still fairly certain I never would have been able to do it on my own, LOL.)

 

What’s the best thing about being an author?

The fact that there’s people out there who apparently enjoy the weird little ideas that come from my head. That’s still rather mind-blowing to me, but it makes me so happy and means a lot to me. I’m glad that I’m able to entertain people.

 

 

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I am such a day-to-day person that it’s incredibly difficult for me to picture a week from now, let alone ten years. Wherever I am, whatever I am doing, I hope that I am happy and well. I also hope that I have an Italian Greyhound and that s/he looks as goofy and majestic as can be.

 

 

Have you always liked to write?

Without a doubt. I used to get in trouble during school hours because I would be writing short stories or poetry instead of doing my assignments. (Including being made to get up and read what I thought was so much more important than doing my math problems, LOL.)

 

What writing advice do you have for aspiring authors?

It feels so cliché to say ‘don’t give up’ but that’s… honestly my advice. Oh, and don’t think you have to do anything in any way other than what makes you happy and feels best to you because, at the end of the day, I strongly feel that’s what our writing should be about. Making ourselves happy.

 

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

I’ve always had this dream of being an embalmer. I don’t begin to know why, but it’s always fascinated me. Too bad that the degree required for it includes business and speaking classes!

 

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

The only reviews that I read are ones that the reviewer tags me in and those I will respond to briefly, thanking them. Otherwise, I stay away from reviews. It isn’t that I don’t enjoy good reviews, doesn’t everyone, but I want to stay clear of any bad ones. I am an overly sensitive person and whilst I know logically that you can’t please everyone, I’m also aware that my feelings would be hurt regardless and there’s just no use in subjecting myself to that. I know Kelley keeps up with these things and I trust her to let me know if there’s an important issue (something we didn’t handle sensitively, something we didn’t research properly, etc) but otherwise… nope! I’m keeping my nose out of it! (Though I will say that I am not a believer in responding to negative reviews. Nothing I can say will change their mind, they’re entitled to their opinion whatever it may be and I don’t think it adds anything productive.) 

 

 

What is your least favourite part of the writing / publishing process?

Editing! A necessary evil because I don’t like being told to change my work in any way but I know it could always use some help from other eyes!

 

What are you working on now?

We’re just finishing up the second book in our series and are still working on an accompanying novella.

 

Can you give us a few tasty morsels from your work-in-progress?

Foss takes his leave, closing the door behind him. The moment James and I are alone, he thumps me on the back of my head.

I jerk, startled. “What was that for??”

He laughs. “You know exactly what! I thought you were about to start drooling all over that poor girl and really make a mess.”

A blush promptly crawls up into my face. “It was nothing. She caught me off-guard, is all.”

“With what? Her face?”

  

 

Where did your love of books come from?

My parents didn’t want my sister and I going outside when they weren’t home and often they worked late hours, so that meant a lot of down time for me. A lot of down time ended up meaning me going through my mother’s collection of books (which happened to be mostly horror, ha!) and then starting up my own little library. It went from being something to entertain myself with when I couldn’t go ride my bike or play with the other kids to just… second nature!

 

Do you have any favorite authors or favorite books?

My all-time favourite book is White Oleander by Janet Fitch. There is something about her writing style and that story that, despite not being horror, just always stuck with me and I’ve re-read it so many times I’ve probably worn out at least ten copies by now.

 

 

Of all the characters you have created, which is your favourite and why?

Definitely James, the MC from A Light Amongst Shadows. He’s so complex and has so much history but he’s still incredibly light-hearted and easy-going. He can be a lot of fun to write with his endless jokes and nonsense and I also enjoy the fact that, despite everything, he keeps his head up.

  

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Depends on if I’m on a deadline of not, LOL!

 

 Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

I am all about writing what I want! I do try to be sensitive to readers and subject matter, but otherwise… I’ve gotta write what’s creeping around in my heart. I don’t think I could do it any other way.

 

What other authors are you friends with, and how do they help you become a better writer?

I have several that I’m friendly with, but I’m a pretty quiet person. I lean on my wife a lot, who has a number of books under her belt, for advice and guidance. Lucky for me she’s so patient!

 

If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?

‘And Other Awkward Tales.’

 

 

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

I was going to go with my standard ‘why are there no pictures of dolphins in sweaters on the internet’ but I googled it just now because it’s been a while and there are now a couple of images of dolphins in sweaters! My mind is blown. I have to lie down to try to process this. There is hope for us yet.

 

 Where can your fans find you and follow??

I hang out here sometimes, which is technically Kelley’s group, but that’s okay. I’m pretty low-key when it comes to social media (largely because I have no attention span so I can never keep up with things, LOL.)

 

 

Thank you for taking your time to do this interview ❤️