Author Interview: Rachel Brune

So once upon a time, during my life as a self published author - I had another blog that I was doing. During this bleak and lonely time, I did an amazing interview with author Rachel Brune. It was so incredible, that I broke it up into two weeks. Rachel has sat down with me again to catch up with me and let me know how her life has changed since she became the mother of the baby of a thousand faces (seriously, her baby is adorbs to the highest order).

Before we get to her current interview, treat yourself to the first interview to get to know her:

Rachel Brune Interview with Musings of a Manic Blonde - part 1

Rachel Brune Interview with Musings of a Manic Blonde part 2

BGP: Introduce yourself to the readers.

RB: I am a 13-year Army veteran, former combat journalist, and current full-time mom and freelance writer. Readers can get to know me through my books, or at my blog, The Infamous Scribbler. In addition to writing, my husband and I foster Basset hounds through the local Carolina Basset Hound Rescue (CBHR).

BGP: How was the transition from Army girl to full time mother?

RB: It was a little scary. I was going from something that had its challenges, but that I had been doing for the past 13 years and so had a measure of confidence in my ability to handle those challenges. In fact, the main reason I got off of active duty was not because I was going to have a baby, but because I just needed to do something different with my life, pursue some parts of me that had been lost. I was leaving a secure paycheck, 100 percent health care, and a situation where I didn’t have to hustle for my next job. Now, I spend every day pretty much in a constant state of discovery at how little I really know. I am the oldest of six siblings, so babies used to not make me so nervous, but of course all that changed once I had one of my own! My rock and support through this transition has been my husband. We wouldn’t be able to go on this journey without his support. He loves LauraJean, or LJ as we call her for short, and it’s incredible just seeing them together. That’s when I know I made the right decision.

BGP: You worked full time before you had the baby, but babies tend to keep their own schedule. Is your writing schedule any different than it was when you were working?

RB: Absolutely! And in a way, it’s actually become easier to work. The times when LJ is asleep or sitting happily in her bouncy chair are discrete and finite opportunities for me to sit my butt in the chair and get to work. For example, I’m typing this as she takes her early morning nap, and typing as fast as I can before I hear her wake up. Having that circumscribed period of time to get words down (or pages edited) gives me that little bit of deadline panic that seems to work so well for me. Then, when I’m feeding her, I’m either reading or using my smartphone to do some social media work or send and answer emails… And I knew that typing that would be tempting fate, so now I’m typing this with LJ on my lap. :D

BGP: Does being a mother open your mind up to wanting to write children’s stories or other genres?

RB: Well, I’ve actually always loved children’s stories. My husband and I have collected some our favorites for years – Walter the Farting Dog, Ladybug Girl and Bingo, Charlie the Ranch Dog, and many more. I believe there is a very specific art to writing a good children’s book, and although I’d like to try it, I don’t know if I have it in me. On the other hand, I’ll never say never – the future is wide open.

BGP: What made the two of you decide to become a Basset Hound foster parent?

RB: When we moved to North Carolina, we already had our two rescue dogs (Captain, a Basset hound, and Brandy, a cattle dog mix) as well as our rescue cat, Schnapps. I really wanted another dog. Actually, I’ve always wanted a pack o’ dogs. Rob, on the other hand, was less sanguine about sharing the house with all of Rover’s long-lost cousins. By this time, however, we had come to love the Basset breed – their personality, their friendly, goofy temperament, their crazy droopy looks, and all their quirks. So, I researched CBHR in the hopes that Rob would give the thumbs up to adopting a new pooch. We compromised at becoming foster parents, and that experience has been great. We meet other Basset-loving folks, get to help take care of dogs who are on their way to loving, forever homes, and help open space in local shelters for other dogs that haven’t been as lucky. I really encourage anyone thinking about adopting a dog of a specific breed to check out their local breed rescue. There may be fees involved, but those cover vaccinations, veterinarian care, food, medications, and the clearing of the dog through a foster family. It’s a really good deal.

BGP: What first inspired you to become a writer?

RB: I can’t remember when I wasn’t writing. When I was in college, studying film, I concentrated on screenwriting (my recent feature-length screenplay was chosen as a finalist in the 2014 GI Film Festival in DC). When I joined the Army, shortly after graduating college, I chose the MOS of print journalist, which effectively meant that for the next five years I was getting paid to write full-time. Eventually I went back for a graduate degree and commissioned as a military police officer. Around that time I started getting back into fiction writing. I wrote my first novel (still unpublished – and it needs SOOO much work – but a friend of mine texted me yesterday, told me he finally got around to reading it and that he REALLY liked it, so maybe I’ll go back to it.) Right before I got out of the full-time Army (I’m currently still a Reservist), I began freelancing for the military-interest Web site, Task & Purpose, as well as a local magazine, CityView NC. I also published my second novel, Cold Run, with Untold Press. I’m currently working on two or three more novels … and a story for CityView that has a deadline of Saturday and I should probably be working on it right now.

BGP: So I have this debate with someone close to me who is a screen writer. Since you do both, which one is easier?

RB: Oh geez … It really depends on how you frame the question. I definitely think that the novel form (word count, genre tropes, plot conventions) is easier to pick up than the mechanics of writing a screenplay, many of which are incredibly specific, not outlined anywhere, and change depending on what’s going on in Hollywood right now. Also, as a new or independent writer, it’s definitely easier to get away with bending novel fiction rules, whereas with screenwriting, if you try that, you’re toast. However, when it comes to plotting and writing story, I think that the amount of creative work involved in the process is about the same. You need to figure out how to keep the story moving forward, write well-rounded characters, and maintain the reader’s interest. All of the tools for that are in the writer’s toolbox, it’s just a matter of picking out the medium you are going to be working on.

BGP: Tell us about your screen play and the contest it won.

RB: Babylon Tide is an action adventure feature-length screenplay about a military police soldier deployed to Iraq during the waning days of military operations there. The Army brass task him to investigate a break-in at the National Museum at which thieves stole precious ancient artifacts and killed several guards. As he investigates, he begins to realize that there are many influential people who have a powerful stake in making sure that he doesn’t complete the investigation.

So far, I haven’t actually won any contests, although I have been on the semi-finalist and finalist circles in a few. The GI Film Festival occurs annually in Washington, DC (as well as a few other locations), and 2014 was the first year they accepted screenplays into the festival. Nine screenplays were chosen, and mine was one of them. With that came an invitation to attend the festival as a filmmaker, so I had the opportunity to go to DC for the week and spend it watching films and talking with other filmmakers, as well as touring DC. That was an amazing experience, and also provided some of the first articles that I wrote for Task & Purpose. Although my screenplay didn’t win the grand prize, it was an honor to be chosen – and in a lucky turn of events, I actually did an in-depth interview with the gentleman who actually did win the grand prize, and was able to include that in an article. So, good times all around.

My next screenplay, tentatively titled Jokers, is the story of an ex-secret agent whose daughter is kidnapped, and she has to round up the team to get her back. It’s Taken meets The Expendables, only with women in all the main parts. I don’t know if anyone will be interested, but I have fun writing it and imagining Linda Hamilton, Geena Davis, Sandra Bullock, Angela Bassett, Felicia Day, and all the other awesome women actors out there getting together to make this film. I would totally pay money for that.

BGP:  What do you do to prepare for a story?

RB: It depends on what I’m writing. If it’s non-fiction or journalism, then there will be some Internet research, then an interview, and then probably some more research as I’m writing the article. When I’m writing fiction, there will likely be some research. For example, for Soft Target, I think I read my way through the entire shelf of terrorism and crime non-fiction at Fort Leonard Wood, as well as bookmarking several resources online. Even for urban fantasy, I’ll do research. I’ve read a huge cohort of literature for Cold Run, everything from German Army manuals on sabotage and guerrilla warfare, to the history of the anti-Soviet partisan post-WWII, as well as global crime trends, country studies, etc. Then all of this research and information jumbles around in my brain, and comes out in the form of extensive notes. Finally, I’ll get to the point where it’s time to organize the notes and get to writing. So, I’ll do a lot of prep for writing, but a lot of it won’t actually look like writing prep.

BGP:   Who is/was your biggest support for your writing career?

RB: I’ve received amazing support from my fellow author friends, most of whom I have met through writing workshops. They encourage me, beta read for me, and beat me about the head when I am slacking. (OK, I’m exaggerating on that last part, but not very much.)

I also receive a huge amount of support from my spouse and my family. Rob (my husband) thinks it’s great that I’m starting to get published, although I think that he wishes I would get paid a little more. I do tend to refer to writing as my “full-time job that pays me on a part-time basis.” J

BGP:  What genre do you write and what lead you there?

RB: I write journalism, urban fantasy, suspense/thriller, fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk, and whatever else strikes me, in both long-form, i.e. novels, as well as short stories, articles, commentary, screenplays, etc. (In fact, much of my work tends to be mash-ups of genre, and I’ll sometimes joke that I write “transgenre” fiction.) I’m working on a category romance, as well as a non-fiction book proposal. I also have a list a mile long of things that I would like to explore that I just haven’t gotten around to yet.

BGP:  Tell us about your books.

RB: Echoes & Premonitions is a collection of black and white photos, poems, and essays, many of which came from my first two deployments in Iraq. I am proud of this venture, which was also an experiment in self-publishing, and I learned a lot from it. I’ve had many people connect to this project, but I don’t really promote it any more, although it is still available.

Soft Target is a suspense thriller, which takes place in NYC. I wrote, revised, and was querying this to agents when I received a “lightbulb” reply from one publisher. He stated that the premise – that terrorists attacked the media in order to get more attention – sounded really interesting, but that he was getting so many terrorist-in-NYC stories that he couldn’t take it. So I thought, well, in this case I’m probably my own best advocate. Thus, Soft Target ended up being my second experiment in self-publishing. Between the two books I learned a lot about the state of publishing, the sorts of things that will work, and what I need to concentrate on to get the word out about my stuff.

My third book, Cold Run, is a shifter urban fantasy, with a main character who is a werewolf secret agent – or rather, was a secret agent and is now comfortably retired in the woods of Vermont, until they pull him back in for one last job. I had a lot of fun with this book, and when I was done, I considered publishing it again myself; however, I wanted to try something different, and so I submitted it to a number of small press publishers. Untold Press picked it up, and it’s been great to be a part of their family.  It was great to publish with a team, instead of trying to make everything happen by yourself. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not living the life of Richard Castle having supernova book sales and lots of extra time to solve crime on the side – but I’ve learned a huge amount not only about my craft, but also about the business of publishing.

As I mentioned above, I’m working on a category romance and a non-fiction book proposal, as well as another urban fantasy about an itinerant blues musician and combat vet who begins to encounter the American Fae on the road. It’s heavily influenced by writers such as Charles de Lint, Jim Butcher, and Tanya Huff, who are some of my favorite fantasy writers.

BGP: So tell us about the journey from being self-published to being published. What made you decide to go for a publishing house?

RB: I’m the sort of person who likes to move around and try different things. Once I had self-published two books, I wanted to try something different, and see if I could get a publisher interested in what I had to offer. There is a certain amount of satisfaction when someone else believes enough in your work to take on the enormous task of publishing it. Working with Untold Press has really been a lot of fun, especially in how they have believed in my work and helped me launch it out there. My next step is to keep refining and improving my craft, and maybe even one day to get an agent to help me get my work out into the world.

BGP: Give us advice on how to start down the road of becoming published.

RB: Everyone says, “Just write a lot!” And true, you do need to put your butt in your seat and your words on the paper. But there are some other things you need to do. What worked for me was years spent in various writing workshops, getting and receiving feedback. Also, I did a lot of research, reading everything I could on the state of modern publishing. I met as many other writers as I could, especially ones who had contracts with publishing houses and agents, and I picked their brains shamelessly. Finally, I was lucky to meet people who were willing to share their time and hard-earned wisdom in the form of reading my work and giving me honest assessments so that I could improve.

I can’t stress enough that there isn’t a magic secret, as well as the fact that the process of becoming a published author takes time. I was writing fiction for two or three years before I had my first short story accepted by a publication. I told myself, I wanted to get six stories published, and then I would have some credits to put on a query letter. So I spent another year writing and polishing short stories, until I had enough accepted to give me the confidence – and publishing credits – to start querying Cold Run. I also had my Web site and blog and Soft Target. So everything comes together – you just need time. And good networking skills.

BGP: Give us advice on how to handle the dreaded rejection letter.

RB: Sometimes the rejection letter is just a simply form letter, and when I get those I just trash them and move on. There’s no use obsessing over rejection. Sometimes, like the reply I got for Soft Target, there will be some wisdom to glean. So I’ll take it, think on it, and then incorporate it into my learning process. And sometimes you get a rejection letter that says something along the lines of “I just didn’t feel the magic.” In that case, there’s nothing to do but continue to query the story until someone does find the magic. And then you can go, Na na na na na!

Or not. If you happen to be more mature than I. :D

BGP: So what’s next for Rachel Brune? World Domination? More children? Disney World?

RB: I am about to start querying a manuscript I just finished editing, and working on another novel that is half finished (I had to take a break to finish plotting.) Also, I am working on starting a coaching and editing business for writers who are looking for someone to help them improve in a positive, mentoring manner.

February 6 also marks the launching of a feature on my blog where I post writing exercises and invite other writers to sketch something out, post it on their blog, and share by linking in the comments, or Tweeting with the #WriteFridays hashtag. There’s a great community of writers out there, and I think that the opportunity to share what we can do is going to be a lot of fun.