Today’s spotlight is shining on someone I am happy to call a friend. When I started on the perilous journey of gaining followers on Twitter for Stormhaven Rising, Brian offered a hand, some good advice and lots of support. This interview, I think, reflects some of what a great guy he is. It’s my pleasure to introduce Brian Rella.
DQ: Some authors say they have always written stories, while others chose it as a career, but only started writing fiction later. How about you? When did you first start writing? Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
BR: I have a friend who knew he wanted to be a lawyer since the seventh grade. That wasn’t me at all.
After high school, I wanted to take a gap year and figure out what I wanted to do for a career, but I was nudged (with the best intentions) by my parents to go to college, which I did. Halfway through my sophomore year, I withdrew from school and went on a road-trip across the US with friends that started in New York and ended two years later in Alaska. It was during that adventure when I started to write. Journaling would be a better word for what I was doing, but still, it was the first time I wrote on a consistent basis.
When I came home from that trip, there was still resistance to write in me, and I went on to finish my degree in Finance and Information Systems, going to work on Wall Street.
Fifteen years later, I got the writing bug again and in December 2014, my first short story, “Scarlach”, was published in Stranger Views Magazine, and I will never forget that moment, the feeling of accomplishment, and the inspiration to keep going.
DQ: Who have been your greatest influences in choosing “the path of madness?”
BR: Stephen King has always been a huge influence on my storytelling. I remember going through his backlist when I was in junior high, methodically moving from book to book. I read The Stand cover to cover in three days and then immediately read it again. It’s still my favorite book of all time. I remember thinking, “I wish I could tell stories like that.”
But it was author and teacher, Joe Bunting, that actually got me to jump off the road of sanity and onto the path of madness as you so eloquently put it. I took his Story Cartel course in the summer of 2014, and was off and writing stories from then on. I published my second short story and first anthology with a group of writers from Joe’s course. We still keep in touch and help each other out regularly. Story Cartel was an amazing experience.
DQ: If you were a rich and famous bestseller, what single thing would you say most contributed to getting you there? What tidbit of advice would you give others that were just beginning to consider writing professionally?
Consistency and practice have been key for me. Writing is hard work and takes a lot of energy and practice. A lot of people, including me before I learned better, believe that authors like Stephen King and James Patterson have some kind of superhero-writing-power, and just sit down and the story pours out of them in one draft. That’s a fairy tale. Writing is an iterative process, and I don’t know anyone that knocks out a perfect first draft.
So my advice would be, every day, sit in a chair, close yourself off from the rest of the world, and write. Don’t aim for perfection because there’s no such thing, but revise until your mostly happy with it. When you have something you’re mostly happy with, publish it. Publishing includes posting to your blog, fan fiction on Facebook, self-publishing on Amazon, traditional publishing, etc.. Just get it out there.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
DQ: Writing takes up a lot of time, so when you find (make) time, what do you read for pleasure?
BR: A bit of everything really. Online periodicals and dailies for news and story ideas. Some non-fiction about writing craft and self-publishing. I also enjoy reading religious mythos and of course, genre fiction.
I read a lot of horror, but I also read science fiction and fantasy, and the occasional thriller.
I’m an eReader convert, and my Kindle is always backlogged with a full “to read” list. Right now I’m finishing The Psychonaut by Tom Adams (Horror). Here are the next several books in my queue, in the order of most recently purchased first, though I probably won’t read them in this order:
- Prometheus and the Dragon by Eric Michael Craig
- The Sundered by Ruthanne Reid
- 5,000 Words Per Hour by Chris Fox
- Jet by Russell Blake
- The Colony: Genesis by Michaelbrent Collings
- Monster Hunter Vendetta by Larry Correia
DQ: Can you give a sense of what your books are about, without revealing too much of the storylines?
BR: I am focused mainly on writing horror right now, and most of my stories have a supernatural evil antagonist, and a protagonist that must fight against it, or else something incredibly bad will happen.
My current project is a horror urban fantasy series called the Second Death, based on a short story I wrote called “Arraziel”. There are three books planned, and I also rewrote “Arraziel” into a prequel novella called Rising: A Second Death Novella. Book One, Watchers of the Fallen, is published, and Book Two, tentatively titled Queen of the Fallen, is in editing and rewriting stages. I hope to release it in September 2016.
The story begins with a fourteen-year-old girl named Jessie, who unleashes a demon (Arraziel) to help her — let’s say overcome — her difficulties with an alcoholic mother, her abusive boyfriend, and the boyfriend’s daughter.
Jessie is seduced by a supernatural evil, and as the series progresses, Jessie comes more and more under the evil being’s influence, and the two of them plot to raise an army and take over the world.
If H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Jim Butcher had a book-baby, I like to imagine it would look like this story.
DQ: Rising gave hints of the darkness under the surface. (I particularly liked the Cthulu clock in Olga’s bookstore.) Where do you gather inspiration for the horrors you create?
BR: H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos was part of the inspiration for the Second Death Series. The other part was the Book of Enoch, a Christian manuscript, which was considered for inclusion in the bible, but ultimately rejected.
The opposing groups in the series, The Watchers (good guys) and The Fallen (bad guys) are my interpretations of good and evil beings from those two works. The antagonist and the Fallen are characters from the Cthulhu mythos with my own little twist on them. The backstory about who the Fallen and the Watchers are, comes from the Book of Enoch.
I also get ideas from the news (lots of horror stories there, unfortunately), and I put a little of myself into my fiction as well.
DQ: What sort of things can we expect to read from you in the future?
Books 2 and 3 of the Second Death will be released this year if all goes as planned. Following that, I have outlined a more traditional fantasy story in the same vein as Tolkien or George R R Martin.
I also have my “junk drawer” of started and unfinished stories that I’ve been collecting for two years, and there’s definitely some stories in there I want to tell.
I would like to write science fiction one day, but I honestly find it difficult to write, so that may be a while.
I’d like to thank you, Ducky, for your thoughtful and interesting questions, and for the opportunity to share my thoughts and work with your readers. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know you over the last couple of months and I’m so grateful we connected.
Thank you, as well, Brian Rella for your participation and your well thought out replies to my questions. I am not a horror fan, but I am looking forward to reading more of your Second Death series.
Brian’s Author Spotlight
Review of Rising: A Second Death Novella
