Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Interview with Angeline Trevena

Okay, so I've been a very bad blogger, but I have a good excuse! (Kind of.) My computer is broken. Seriously broken. There are pictures at the end of the post. (I put them at the end instead of here because I didn't want that to be the pic to show up in Blogger instead of this awesome cover!)

I'm back today because Fear: Volume Two is released today! Yay! And it has a short story in it by Angeline Trevena.

Angeline Trevena is one awesome writer, artist, and blogger and I am thrilled to have her on my blog today. She has an amazing short story coming out in an anthology from Crooked Cat Publishing called Fear. Her story is called Charmpeak House. It's about a couple that inherits an old house, and gets more than they expected. (Ps. It's really totally awesome.)



What do you enjoy about reading/writing horror?
I've always been a big horror movie fan for as long as I can remember, but I only really got into reading and writing horror in the last few years - in fact, I only read my first Stephen King novel two years ago! The whole idea of human fear fascinates me; how some people are terrified by certain things that don't bother other people at all. I love seeing how other writers play with people's fears, and I've really enjoyed playing with them myself. Horror is a genre that pulls on so many emotions, plus it's great fun to write!

Do you ever scare yourself?
Yes - I guess that's the inevitable byproduct of having such a vivid imagination! When I was writing Charmpeak House I found myself turning all the lights on in my house!

Do you have to get into the mood to write scary things like this? (I'm picturing you in front of a glowing computer in the dark of night, rubbing your hands together and laughing an evil laugh.) ;)
Actually some of Charmpeak house was written during a thunderstorm! Like with whatever I'm writing, I only need to read back a little to get back into it. But I think it's more about getting into the characters again rather than getting in the mood for any particular genre. Plus, I think I'm sort of always in the mood for something scary!

I know you are a cat lover and cats definitely make an appearance in this story. Do cats often have candids in your writing?
Cats are always turning up in my writing. I find cats fascinating creatures and they have such great personalities. Plus, they can be pretty creepy animals so they lend themselves to horror well. I often find my cat, Neko, staring at me and I can't help but wonder what she's plotting!

Because I think writers are always curious about this, where did you hear about the call for submissions for this anthology?
Actually I think someone else in my writing group stumbled across this one. But I do hear about a lot of calls for submissions on Twitter, and also on other writers' blogs that I follow. I've always got one ear to the ground!

You have quite a few short stories published, how is writing short stories different from writing novels? What do you enjoy about writing short stories?
Again, short stories are quite a new thing for me. Through writing them I've learned about all the differences between short stories and novels - they have to be very plot driven, very focused and rely heavily on your reader filling in the gaps. They need to be clear and concise because you simply don't have the spare words to describe or explain things in detail. Telling a story in a few thousand words is a challenge, and it's a challenge I've really grown to love.

Where did the inspiration for this story come from?
I'd actually spent the best part of a month writing a totally different story for this submission, but it totally stalled and it wasn't going anywhere. So in the last week before the deadline I decided to start over. I'm currently reading Bram Stoker's Dracula and decided to move away from the fantasy horror I had been working on and go with a classic Gothic horror instead. You can't beat a big scary mansion full of creepy cats!

The link to buy the book is here.

I know I'm excited to read the rest of the stories in it.

(Oh, and here is my computer. Because of those loose & unattached wires the Internet only works about 35% of the time.)

21 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for hosting me today Rachel, and I'm sorry to see that your laptop is poorly.

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  2. Great interview! I'm looking forward to reading Charmpeak House, I love a good Gothic horror! :)

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    1. I love gothic horror too! And just to let everyone know that Laura here also has a short story in the same volume of the anthology.

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    2. Oh that's so cool! Thanks for letting us know, Angeline. I look forward to reading that one, too. :)

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  3. Great interview, poor, sad little computer.

    I've sent many to the parts shop in the sky, so I feel your pain.

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    1. Thanks Rena. A new one has been ordered and should be here soon! :)

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  4. Nice interview. Cats can definitely be creepy, especially en masse!

    I've just joined Twitter, and will definitely keep an eye out for interesting contests.

    Hope you get your laptop patched up, Rachel!

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    1. After writing the story I found myself suddenly very suspicious of my own cat Neko!

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    2. I've always been suspicious of my cats. ;)
      And the cats in the story are very, very creepy indeed!

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  5. As a huge horror fan, I loved this interview! I'm in total agreement that having a vivid imagination makes it easy to scare yourself. I know I too often scare myself for the very same reason, haha. This Fear anthology sounds like something I'd really enjoy, so I just added it to my wishlist. :)

    And whoa, you weren't kidding about your computer. Hopefully you're able to fix it or get a new one sooner rather than later!

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    1. Hope you enjoy the anthology; I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my copy!

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    2. Great! I hope you enjoy it, Heather! I'm looking forward to reading the other stories in it, too. :)

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  6. I totally could not write horror! I do my best plotting waiting on the sandman, and if I had creepy stuff going through my head, I'd be an insomniac! Leave those stories to the brave among us.

    Best of luck Angeline and congrats!

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    1. Horror's not for everyone! I do often freak myself out, but a bit of mindless tv before bed always keeps the nightmares at bay!

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    2. I've found that while I'm not a huge horror movie fan, I love horror writing! I love reading it and writing it. (Although I'm not nearly as good at it as Angeline.) :)

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  7. Oh- I was worried about you Rach! Glad you are alright, just some computer problems. Hope you get them all straightened out soon.

    Congratulations to Angeline. I love how she includes cats in her work. I find my cat so incredibly fascinating to watch and hang out with, I enjoy reading about them too. This story sounds really great- I would love to read this, but would definitely have to leave all the lights on as well!

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    1. Cats are just so full of personality that they're great fun to add into fiction!

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    2. Thanks Jaybird. Just stupid computer stuff. :-P The good part is that while the Internet only works part time, Word totally works. I've gotten a lot of writing done. ;)

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  8. Awesome interview! I love horror movies even though I get scared every time! When I read horror, I freak myself out. That's part of the fun so I keep watching and reading scary stuff!!! :D

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    1. I'm the same; I am so easily scared and freaked out. But I just love it!

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    2. I think horror writing is often scarier than horror movies. I don't care for the gore, and it often just makes it seem fakier. A writer can totally get in your head though and freak you out!

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