Author Interview- Seven Questions with Carole Gill

What’s news?

– Today is the LAST DAY for the The Imaginings September-only .99 e-book sale!  Click here for more information

What does the future hold?

Next Friday is going to be a post mostly for my writers.  It’s a topic I’ve seen tackled in a few different arenas, but I’m going to throw my two cents in on getting past writer’s block (and I believe I’ll have some advice you haven’t heard or tried, because I have a couple of things I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere).

But without further ado…

When I first started this crazy adventure into the world of e-publishing and self-promotion, I found a great site:  www.bookblogs.ning.com. 

This is where I first met horror author Carole Gill, author of The House on Blackstone Moor.  She was so very friendly from the start and soon invited me to join the Masters of Horror group on Facebook, an invitation which has opened so many doors for me, both to publishing opportunities and to simply more crazies like myself who find their pleasure in the darker side.

I’m pretty sure Carole was also the one who introduced me to Vamplit Publishing (which makes sense as they are the publisher for her book) and the Friday Flash phenomenon.  Every step of the way, Carole (and I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention fellow horror writer Blaze McRob) have been extremely helpful and supportive of me as a newbie in the publishing/promotion field.  And I’m eternally grateful.

So NOW without further ado…

Seven Questions with Carole Gill

1- As far as writing is concerned: A- your favorite hobby, B- your fiery passion, C- your full-time profession, or  D- a combination of the above. Feel free to expand.

It’s mainly my fiery passion. I do it full-time as well. I don’t think I could if the passion wasn’t there.

By passion I mean I’m driven. I cannot stop writing.  After I do my daily 1,000 words for my novel sequel, I turn to something else. A short story I’m working on, a flash piece for Vamplit’s Friday Flash–something.

I have to be working on some sort of fiction just about all of the time.

It is not a hobby, because I think hobbies are fun ways we fill up our time. My writing isn’t always ‘fun’. It’s excruciatingly hard work. It involves total commitment.

It’s not easy to deal with an obsession and it is an obsession.

It was always there in the background of my life, something I had no time for. It was only after a series of traumas and deaths and after a first very bad marriage that I found myself on my own and able to turn back to it.

That was 10 years ago and that’s when I turned very seriously to writing.

[PDD: I agree that writing isn’t always fun, especially when it comes to the seventh or eighth edit on a book.  Glad to see you brought your passion out of the background.]

2- What was the last book you finished reading? What are you currently reading? If it doesn’t seem obvious by title, what are the genres? Do either of these fall under your favorite genre (you know, the book you pick out when you’re going on vacation)?

The last book was The Hellfire Club by Daniel Mannix, this is nonfiction and is for research. It recounts the story of the naughty wealthy gentry of 18^th century England and all of the things they got up to in a club that purported to hold Black Masses and orgies.

I think though the more I read about them (and I have actually been to the Hellfire Caves), they were actually just concerned with having a very good time if you know what I mean and little else.

I am however using the caves and the research in my sequel and I will make it scary and depraved!

Now I think I’ll name two fictional books. The last fiction I read was Haunted Summer by Anne Edwards. It recounts the story of Mary Wollstonecraft and Percy Shelley and Clair Clairmont her half sister as well as Lord Byron and Doctor Polidori.

It’s written as though Mary Shelley wrote it which I love. It gives great intimacy to the story told in the deeply dramatic gothic narrative.

It recounts that fantastic summer at Byron’s Villa Diodati when the 19 year old Mary and Polidori surprised everyone by writing Frankenstein and The Vampyre respectively. Both Bryon and Shelley were in shock as it was they who had the literary reputations!

The book I am now reading is very different. It’s Thomas Harris’ Hannibal Rising.

That should give you a good insight into my writing and reading tastes.

Although I love gothic and historical novels, I love contemporary thrillers. Further, I have never discovered a more perfect villain than Hannibal Lecter. He is evil beyond question but brilliantly so. No mindless killing machine. This is one clever man who happens to be a diabolical monster.

And reading of his beginnings is fascinating.

I think in many ways my demonic character Eco (demon spawn) who appears in The House on Blackstone Moor and is featured in the sequel, Unholy Testament owes a great deal to Dr. Lecter.

As Eco would say, “Evil is evil, whether it is supernatural or not.”

He would go on to say how much he admires the doctor and finds himself studying his methods, particularly his bedside manner.

Harris’ presentation of utter evil in the person of Lecter I feel is sheer genius.

[PDD:  So it sounds like the Hellfire Club was 18th Century hippies with money? ha ha.  As to Lecter, I agree that Harris has created an amazing and frighteningly real monster.  Haven’t read Hannibal Rising, but I’ve enjoyed other books by Harris.]

3 – What is the TV guide synopsis of your most recently completed project… or whatever project you’d like to talk about today? (I’ve heard several people say you should be able to hook someone in 25 words or less, but I’m not offering to represent your work professionally, so 30 words will be accepted 🙂

The House on Blackstone Moor:

There are hideous secrets in the house on the moors. Nothing is as it seems. But most shocking of all are the inhabitants of Blackstone House.

and the sequel please?

Unholy Testament:

A demon confesses every sin committed during his timeless existence to the woman he loves.

4- Okay, now your book jacket version (200 words or less).

The House on Blackstone Moor

Both supernatural and human evil are explored extensively in this tale of vampirism, madness, obsession and devil worship.

Rose Baines returns home to discover her family murdered by her mad, incestuous father. Thus begins this dark tale.

She survives confinement in two madhouses and the terrifying horrors within, only to find her way to a lonely house on haunted moors—moors that tell of a terrifying legend, a legend of evil and human sacrifice.

Yet perhaps most terrifying of all are the inhabitants of that house for nothing is as it seems nor are they.

Hideous secrets are contained within that might destroy her or at least change her.

Although love comes to her, it might not be enough and it might be too late as the very gates of hell do open to draw her inside…

[PDD:  Sounds like a lot of fun.  I’ve heard amazing reviews and look forward to reading my own copy soon.]

5- What is one of the biggest obstacles you have to (or have had to) overcome in regards to writing? Could be about content, your process, or any other way you interpret the question.

The biggest obstacle is coping with the whole process in general.

I am married to the most wonderful, understanding man in the world and sometimes I feel so sorry for him.

I get moody and weird sometimes, and although I have a basically positive nature, I do have huge doubts and tremendous concerns along the way.

I work 24/7 basically and resent (bitterly) any time away from my writing.

The sequel I am working on now I began in February and as I am a seat-of-the-panster, writing with no outline, it took all this time for the story to evolve in the right way.

Not easy on the nerves as you can imagine.

But I cope as all writers cope because if we don’t, we don’t write, and that, Paul, is completely unacceptable. We write, therefore we are, and in many respects we are what we write.

[PDD: Very insightful, Carole.  I agree that spouses/partners of writers have to be patient human beings.  Getting back to Shelley, I’ve always wondered if I could ever be married to another writer.  My wife is a dancer, but I think that’s as close as I could get to being married to another artist.]

6- What is something that your readers might be surprised to find out about you?

Well you know this, but many don’t. I went to acting school many years ago. This was in New York and it was the same school that Al Pacino went to (sadly not at the same time)!

I took dance, voice, acting, scene study and although I liked it, I wasn’t committed to it, as a matter of fact I wished at the time I had enrolled in their playwrighting school!

The actor’s training though has helped my writing immensely as I say I Method write. That is I live, feel, breathe experience the facets of my characters, whether it is first person or not.

I feel all of their emotions and I love that. It makes writing that much more involving.

[PDD: Yes, we have talked about our common bond of a love for the stage.  I agree that I think it really helps a writer.  As an actor, you have to become a character, much as you do as a writer.  It’s just more private.]

7- If you could spend one year anywhere (or anytime), real or fictional, money is no object, where would it be? Why? What would you do for that year?

Easy! I would live in a lovely little hotel overlooking Lake Como in Italy. There would be a little balcony upon which I would have my laptop.

The hotel would send up marvelous meals to me and my husband. He would be there too, happily busy with binoculars and camera.

I would when not writing, comb all the museums and historical societies. Often I would take side trips to Florence, perhaps staying there as well and maybe even spotting Dr. Lecter and though guarded I would enjoy strolling along looking at the great works of art with said doctor, although I would keep a very wary eye on him!

[PDD: Sounds great.  Here’s to wonderful possibilities and hoping they happen sooner than later.  But yes, keep an eye out for the Doc.  He might take an interest in someone like you.  Thank you so much for taking the time with me.]

What do I want from you?

So what did you think of my first interview?  Any comments that Carole made that resonated with you?

Also, here are all the links for Carole.  I hope you take the time and look into her stuff.  Also, Carole is a regular contributor of Friday Flash at the Vamplit Publishing blog (click here).  In fact, I’ll be heading over there shortly to read her story from this week.  And just like with my writing, if it’s not necessarily your thing, please pass her name along to someone you know would like her style.

-Carole Gill Official Author Blog:  Click here

– The House on Blackstone Moor ebook on Smashwords (Includes free samples):  Click here

– The House on Blackstone Moor paperback: Click here

And don’t forget to check back next Friday for my post on beating the writer’s block.

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