The White Raven - April 1, 2017
Ms. Miller,
Thank you for
taking your time for me ~
Who
are your influences?
My writing influences have varied
greatly over the decades. From Piers Anthony and C.S. Lewis, to Anne McCaffrey
and Robert Asprin, to James Rollins and J.K. Rowling. I'm all over the place!
My tastes change all the time and I take away a little something from every
author I read. Who has affected me more recently is Paula Brackston (The Silver Witch, The Witch's Daughter). Her writing style is like a song in my head.
When
did you begin writing?
I started writing little stories when I
was in my pre-teens. I dabbled in poetry in high school where I won a couple of
awards. In my professional career, I wrote a lot of marketing content and user
software documentation. Off and on for many years, I tried to get a book out of
my head but life kept getting in the way. That's my excuse, anyway. But once
the stars aligned, I quit my job as an executive at a software company to
follow my dream of becoming an author. It's been an amazing adventure, to say
the least.
How
do you come up with your stories, characters, character names, POV, etc.?
A great deal of my ideas come out of
nowhere. I'll be walking the dog or taking a shower and bam! Or, I'll see
something or hear something that sparks an idea. That happened recently at the
gym. I saw a millisecond flash of an image on the TV and out of that grew my
next project—a 3 book series. I love my brain!
I let the story dictate its point of
view; it tells me how it wants to be told. My first novel, The White Raven,
needed to be told in mostly first person, but the series will be third person,
probably. Characters and their names spring out of my mind along with the
story. Sometimes I have to google if I'm looking for names from specific
countries, but fantasy names are so easy and fun to invent.
If
you could actually meet one of your characters, who would it be? Why?
I would love to meet Jo Riddle, a key
supporting character in The White Raven. She's always positive and has a wicked
sense of humor, plus a bawdy side. She could be my mother and best friend all
rolled into one. Quick witted, snarky, and she likes a good whisky.
Do
you work from an outline?
You bet I do. I make that outline as
long and as detailed as I can. My outline for TWR was 18 pages. But I don't
treat it as gospel. It's a guideline only. If my story veers off into another
direction, I go with it to see where it will lead. I scraped many pages of my
TWR outline and very happy I did.
Tell
me about your favorite scene in your novel(s).
I absolutely love the past life ritual
in TWR. The incantation Jo recites, the imagery of the energy flowing from
nature and the moon into the main character, Aven, and the resulting vision
into the past is so vivid and rich. I had an amazing time writing it. I saved
it to almost the last because I knew it was going to be difficult. It took me
days to just write the incantation.
Can
you tell us a little about your writing philosophy?
I hear so many people say "I would
love to write a book but..." I
let those "but"s hold me back for years. If there was an excuse to be
had, I used it. My philosophy now is shut
up and write. Self-doubt be damned, excuses be gone. Write down everything
you have in your head; organize it later. Just don't not write.
Have
you ever tried writing in any other genres?
My first novel is contemporary
fantasy/magical realism, but I have high fantasy and science fiction stories on
deck. Maybe one day I'll resurrect the high fantasy I started 15+ years ago. I
even created a world map. It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself.
Do
you have any interesting writing-related anecdotes to share?
During the beta reading phase of The
White Raven, I had a male friend of mine tell me he couldn't read the sex
scenes because he kept picturing me!
Do
you listen to music as you write?
I must
listen to music when I write. I use Pandora and created my own stations of
composers like Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman, but also of artists Lindsey
Stirling and Loreena McKennitt. Here's also some Gregorian Chant and Techno. I
mostly listen to Hans, Danny, and Loreena while writing.
On the behalf of my reader's, I thank you again Carrie for your time.
Would you like to add anything Carrie?
The creation of this book sprang out of
frustration. At the time, years ago, I couldn't find any books featuring
witches that weren't annoyingly cliche or that didn't perpetuate the Hollywood
or Christian stereotype. I wanted to write the kind of book that I wanted read.
Since then, I've discovered several authors that pen wonderful stories
featuring witches and magick that I just love, so I'm very happy with the shift
that's taken place over the years.
What I think will resonate most with
readers of The White Raven, particularly women, is the strong female
protagonist. I mean truly strong—not whiny and unsure of her powers, afraid or
unwilling to use them, or scared of the consequences. If something needs to be
handled, Aven will handle it (but sometimes not well). And it's also a story of
acceptance, about the need to be yourself and having friends love you for who
you are. Even though Aven's case is a bit extreme, it's a struggle that many,
many people can identify with.
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About the author ~
 |
| Carrie D. Miller |
Connect with Carrie
Carrie D. Miller was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, on Halloween 1970. She credits her vivid imagination, as well as her sugar addiction, to being a Halloween baby. Carrie had always dreamed of being a published author and gave it a few attempts over the decades. But too much of life interfered each time so it wasn’t until her mid-forties did she take the high-dive plunge. Carrie quit her executive job to become a full-time writer.
In a former life, Carrie D. Miller was an executive in the software industry for many years. Her career in the technology world included software product management, website design, training, and technical writing just to name a few. Although she’s written a great deal over the decades which has been read by thousands of people, software documentation allows for as much creativity as pouring cement. At the age of 45, she decided to chuck it all to become an author which had been a life-long dream.
In a former life, Carrie D. Miller was an executive in the software industry for many years. Her career in the technology world included software product management, website design, training, and technical writing just to name a few. Although she’s written a great deal over the decades which has been read by thousands of people, software documentation allows for as much creativity as pouring cement. At the age of 45, she decided to chuck it all to become an author which had been a life-long dream.
Inspired as a child by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Carrie has a deep love of all things magickal and mystical. Her parents introduced her to the silliness and humor of Robert Asprin and Piers Anthony, and then her teenage years led her to the haunting and disturbing V.C. Andrews, and of course, Stephen King.
Carrie lives in a suburb of Dallas with a man who can put up with her, a cat who hates everyone except Carrie (but only sometimes), and a derpy German Shepherd.
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