Hello, all! Today I'm here with a guest Rachelle Rea! You might remember her from when I interviewed her before about her first book The Sound of Diamonds. :) Now she is getting ready for her sequel to release *excited squealing*.
About the book:
The stalwart saint and the redeemed rebel. One is fighting for
faith, the other for honor…
After Dirk rescues Gwyneth from the Iconoclastic Fury, she
discovers that faith is sometimes fragile—and hope is not as easy as it may seem.
Gwyneth continues her quest to learn more about the love of God preached by
Protestants she once distrusted.
Meanwhile, Dirk’s quest is to prevent his sullied name from
staining hers. Will his choice to protect her prove the undoing of her first
faltering steps toward a Father God? Once separated, will Dirk and
Gwyneth’s searching hearts ever sing the same song?
On to the questions! :D
How does it feel
writing a sequel to the first novel in your trilogy?
I’m so pleased that
WhiteFire is releasing the sequel to Diamonds—and so soon, too! I actually began writing The Sound of Silver immediately after I finished Diamonds, when I realized there was more to the story.
The Sound of Silver was the first
(only, as of yet) sequel I have ever written. And I said I would not have a
semi-love triangle, because so many sequels have them. Slight spoiler alert: I
kinda broke my word. J
I imagine you’ve at
least started writing the third book in this trilogy; is it sad to know that it
is coming to an end after spending so much time with these characters?
Funny story, I had
actually written the last book in the series before I signed my contract. The
Sound of Emeralds is currently visiting
my amazing team of editors and I’m so pleased, knowing that it will be a
stronger finale to the story when they’re done with it. Was I sad saying
goodbye? Yes. Quite. But there was also a sense of satisfaction knowing Dirk
and Gwyn’s story in full at last.
Do you have any
advice for anyone who might want to write a sequel?
Start. I began my
sequel, The Sound of Silver, the
moment The Sound of Diamonds ends.
Actually, I backed it up a few minutes in time; I think that really helped me
stay in the story, remain focused, and just flow right through to how I wanted
the rest of the story to play out. If you’re a plotter and start all your books
that way, that may work for you better! Or you may want to just try writing
like it’s a continuation of book one, as if you never even typed The End, and
see what happens J
Is there anything you
wish you had done? Anything you wish you hadn’t?
I wish I hadn’t
bemoaned the time it took me to write the last book in the series. The
Sound of Diamonds took me a summer (three
months between college semesters) to write; The Sound of Silver took twice that many months. But The Sound of
Emeralds took a year. A YEAR. And most of
the time I thought I had lost my mind—or that I was writing a poor story
because it was taking me so long. Looking back, I see now that I needed that
time to let the story be what it is. I needed to grow as I wrote it. It is my favorite of the series
because it took so much out of me.
If a reader was to
take only one thing away from your book, what would you want it to be?
Hold to hope.
What helped you to
continue writing when you really wanted to quit?
The same. I hoped I
would be a novelist. I hoped I would be published. I hoped my dream would come
true. Not because I deserve it, but because I want it and I want my words to
glorify the God who gave me the dream. Dear writer who’s where I was and
wondering, don’t quit. Just, write.
As a writer of
historical fiction, do you have any go-to places where you can look things up?
Google. And I saw that
eye-roll. I actually don’t have a list or anything of favorite sites (except
maybe thesauras.com) because Google brings up different resources every time
and I’m not very loyal in that respect. J Maybe it’s because I’m
searching for random things like what-did-they-eat-at-Christmas and
how-far-can-a-horse-ride-in-a-day.
Rachelle Rea plots her novels while driving around the little town she's
lived in all her life in her dream car, a pick-up truck. An Oreo addict, she is
also a homeschool graduate and retired gymnast. She wrote the Sound of Silver
the summer after her junior year of college.
You can follow Rachelle on Twitter and Pinterest, like her Facebook page, and keep up with her on her website! You can also see pictures from her life if you follow her on Instagram
@RachelleDianeRea
(Due to my computer being possessed I couldn't get the picture of the cover to work, I apologize! But, if you hop on over her website I'm sure you'll see it there. :) )
