Interview with H. Raven Rose
"A civilization is as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamt by artists." is one of H. Raven Rose's favorite quotes. This author definitely falls into the category of artist, having published five very different books, written film scripts and stage plays. I had the opportunity to interview this unique author and find out what makes her tick. Check out the intriguing interview below.
How many books have you published?
I've published 5 books, 'Shadow Selves: Double Happiness V. 1', ' Bugacolypse: La Cucaracha V. 1,' 'Dark Eros,' and 'Caffè Latte' one is novella, one a novelette, and one a collection of poetry and prose), plus the first part of some serial fiction: 'The Trouble: The Black Widow V. 1.'
Tell me more about these books?
Most books are available for Kindle or as ePUBS and a few are also in paperback. I write mixed genre, almost all survivor chick lit, a heroine in a situation of peril, some of which is drama, sci-fi, or horror, with supernatural overtones.
I've also written a number of feature film scripts and stage plays, and have a large number of works-in-progress in various genres and mediums (including non-fiction).
What inspired you to write these books?
From childhood I always knew that I would be writer. I read most every day as a child (and still do, generally). I read cross genre, whatever appeals to me, exactly the way that I write. Sometimes a character, or several characters, with something to say (usually related to an underlying life them that some part of my own consciousness wishes to explore) comes to me. In a certain sense, I am a voice for beings (my characters) who would be unable to speak otherwise.
Do you feel that you have a specific writing style?
I tend to write differently based on the genre and diversity of the main character(s), so my "voice" can be quite different. People who have read several of my books have commented upon how different they are. I suppose I think of books as worlds, with unique landscapes, and in my mind and writing they are all different.
One Amazon reviewer, describing how different my books can be wrote:
"I've read Dark Eros and now Liquid me and they are chalk and Camembert, yet Raven excels in both. " ~Sadsack
The hero of 'Caffè Latte' is a young gay man, traumatized by his childhood, afraid to fall in love until he meets a possible love interest that is irresistible. A few of my books, like this little novella, are based on plays so that naturally effects the story, and prose, to some degree.
As I shared, many of my stories are what I think of as survivor chick lit. A woman, often in a situation of peril (for some period of time during the story), struggles to escape with her life. I had a traumatic upbringing and in some ways these stories are explorations of certain themes, questions, that I am still anwering in my own consciousness.
In 'Dark Eros,' a novella based on a play that was stage in Los Angeles, as readings, Leila is in the woods with a sociopath, a serial killer, who means to murder her. As a woman relatively alone in the world, her parents are dead, and she's stuck in an abusive relationship that has really degraded her self-esteem further.
In writing a story like that, I really excavate the emotions and actions of myself as a girl and younger woman, when I failed to take action, or felt trapped in certain circumstances, because I felt powerless or afraid (even though I wasn't aware of it at the time).
The novella version of 'Dark Eros' was much harder to write than the play, because, as a book, the story evolved and new scenes came forth that were painful to write. In the novel, Leila's best friend Shannon has a larger role, in fact she is a victim of the serial killer, and writing that scene was impossible to write for several days.
I finally dreamed about the solution, woke up knowing how to approach the work, and managed to write the scene from the perspective of her soul, outside her body, while her body is being brutally beaten and murdered. It was only from the perspective of karma and the nature of the soul, and her life lived as a soul lesson, that I could face and write about that kind of evil act.
I also dressed Shannon in the clothes of an actual girl who was murdered (may G-d rest her soul) and never identified, though the serial killer, who killed men young women, in that case was caught. Dressing her in that same outfit was meant to honor the loss of all of the women, named and unnamed, who have died at the hands of sociopaths.
Have you ever experienced writers block? If so, how did you overcome it?
Related to what I just shared about the difficulty of writing the scene where Shannon is murdered in 'Dark Eros,' a brief bit of writer's block, I do sometimes suffer from writer's block. In fact it took me 8+ years to write my first feature film script (of roughly 120 pages). For me, an empathic person, and an intuitive, I have found that exploring writing blocks with tools drawn from spirituality, depth psychology, brain science research and expressive arts has been hugely helpful.
My undergraduate degree is in Screenwriting and as part of my degree requirements I did research into traditional and alternative story development for screenwriters, using those spirituality, depth psychology, brain science research and expressive arts tools, to determine how to access word flow.
For me, when I experience a true writing block, when I'm unable to write (for reasons not related to story development issues--such as not knowing where my story is going or not understanding how to approach a genre or medium and unrelated to my life schedule), I use those tools (which can include meditation, journaling, non-dominant hand dialogues with my own self, or one or more characters, or the story, expressive arts, psychosynthesis, and so on) to explore the issues.
Often the inner work to break through writer's block reveals an Inner Child or Inner Critic issue, fear of failure or success, vulnerability around visibility (people traumatized as children may unconsciously associate self-expression, having a voice in books or otherwise, with the dangers of visibility. At least, that's been the case for me.
So far, in my writing career, connecting to word flow (and breaking through writer's blocks) is a periodic ongoing issue. I've worked as a freelance writer and ghostwriter for many years and in some ways that is easier (the personality is less fearful of that type of expression) but ultimately, in my opinion, the ideal for a creative is to work through unconscious blocks that prevent creative expression.
Tell me more about you.
I sometimes teach about whole-brain writing, breaking through writer's block and accessing word flow, and offer those teachings through a site dedicated to writers and writing (wordflow.org). The types of tools that I use have a deeply healing benefit and the results, in terms of breaking through blocks to new levels of writing productivity, can be astounding. I'm developing a book on word flow for writer's but, since October of last year, I've been mainly focused on writing fiction.
So many of my more recent ideas, such as my new book, my first sci-fi book, 'Bugocalypse (La Cucaracha V. 1)', come from practicing a new way of writing--I outline very briefly (after years of really mapping stories very carefully and extensively) but then allowing myself to write off the story map--letting myself write the book that wants to be written, and not the book that I "think" that I should write.
What advice would you give an author who has "run out of creativity" while writing?
The advice that I would offer to a writer who has run out of creativity is to first be very gentle with themselves--really relax and soften into exploring what is going on emotionally, mentally, energetically and physically. Life can be hectic, people often are stressed and overly tired. Sometimes we need to take a step back and relax. Our creative flow is sometimes moving at a much slower place than our lives are. Then again, sometimes a creative needs to use tools to get a sense of what is happening in the unconscious. Unexpressed emotions, and experience in cellular memory, often childhood trauma, can sometimes prevent us from writing--we may want to write but it could be for our higher good to go within and resolve something first. Sometimes the inner child part of consciousness, or the inner critic, has reasons for not writing, when those issues are resolved creative and word flow return.
If you could have any superpower what would it be?
If I had a super power, it would be the ability to eat certain foods with no consequence to my health and body. I know that is very selfish yet, for health reasons, I eat a fairly restrictive diet and sometimes wish that I could just eat regular foods (I'm a huge fan of pizza, cheese, wine, coffee and dark chocolate but have to eat healthful versions of those, if at all). That's really an inner child wish! ;)More seriously, I wish I could transmit positive energy through my words (and I hope I do in some small way), to uplift others and heal people and the planet. There is so much pain in the world, it would be wonderful to heal people with an energy transmission through books (as well as entertain, educate, and inspire).
Tell us something you hate doing.
I hate hurting people and it can be very hard for me to give certain types of feedback. There is no protecting someone if you believe they are selfish, rude, or something equally negative, and you need/should give them feedback to better the relationship (whether a personal or professional relationship). Of course, there is an art to giving creative feedback as well. There is no need to be harsh--honesty and kindness is delivering critical feedback, comments about where the work is stronger and where the work could be strengthened, works well.
Something few people know about me is that I used to be an artist, painting in different mediums and sometimes working in mixed media, before I became a writer. I loved Impressionist and Fauvist art and used to draw and also make large paintings, several feet in size, on linen and sometimes pain in watercolor. Then one day, after having an abortion, I found myself writing, having a dialogue with my then husband, on an art work. That was the beginning of my realizing that I had something to say.
From there it was a path of exploring different writing mediums and genres to ultimately settling upon screenwriting, getting my degree in that, and then coming full circle to novel writing again.
What is your favorite quote?
I really love a certain Spielberge quote. Another of my favorite quotes is a saying and the other is a quote by an author.
"A civilization is as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamt by artists." ~Steven Spielberg
“One may go a long way after one is tired.” ~French Proverb
"You’ve got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.” ~Ray Bradbury
Self-expression is so hard won, for many people and especially women--whose creativity is sometimes put on the back burner while they focus upon other things, including relationships (such as with their children or mate). Those quotes inspire me to make the leap, tired or not, and build the wings as I fall and fly creatively.
What is your favorite Disney tune?
It is hard to name my favorite Disney tune. I am such a fan of Disney and musicals. I left LA to spend 2013 in Florida, on creative and spiritual sabbatical, and so digitized/downsized my life. As part of that I gave away my collection of Disney VHS--I had 'Aladdin,' 'The Little Mermaid,' 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Peter Pan,' 'Bambi,' and many, many other Disney films. I put an ad on the free Craiglist postings and this guy came and got them for his girlfriend. She was in her early 20s--I was touched, and knew that I had given them to the right people, after he left with them and she called me back later that night to tell me how grateful and excited that she was to have the movies.
I do love when Belle sings 'Little Town' (with the townsfolk) in 'Beauty and the Beast':
'Little town, it's a quiet village, every day, like the one before... little town, full of little people, waking up to say, Bonjour... Bonjour... Bonjour...'
That is such a joyful song. I do love 'Beauty and the Beast' so much--and the archetype of Belle really resonates for me, I was a funny, dreamy bookish and romantic girl obsessed with reading (and re-reading) books growing up in a town with a population of less than a thousand people as a child. Yet knowing most of the words to many Disney songs, and loving so many, it's really hard to pick one favorite song.
What makes you unique?
One thing that may makes me unique is that I have several passions, creativity and word flow, spiritual development, and my own fiction and non-fiction writing. Those passions led me to have many interests, so I always have way too many creative projects in progress. I think most people are fortunate to be more focused, more left-hemisphere preferential. I'm an extremely right-hemisphere preferential person so linear, logical ways of behaving don't come naturally to me. I tend to go with the energy, the flow, the magic and the emotion--but more rapid results often come from more focused results. Yet, I am quite the persistent creature, so I plod along, making progress, however slowly, on my creative projects.
How can readers connect with you?
I would love it if readers want to connect with me on Twitter @ChocolateVamp or through my web-site hravenrose.com (I have a review drive for 'Bug,' with raffle prizes, including Amazon gift cards, going on my blog right now, too). I sometimes post book trailers or videos up here >> youtube.com/hravenrose. Writers can connect with me, and cultivate their creativity, through Word Flow on SheWrites.com.
Where can we purchase your books?
My books are available in various places on the web>>
Print and Kindle books:
Amazon: H. Raven Rose
Nook books:
Barnes & Noble
iTunes books:
iTunes: H. Raven Rose
Books through my publisher:
EXU Publishing
Publisher:
EXU Publishing on Facebook
EXU Publishing on Twitter
H. on the web:
hravenrose.com
H Raven Rose on Twitter
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