Author Interview: Christiana Miller

This week, we have paranormal author Christiana Miller for our author interview. Her books include:


Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead (paranormal)
A Tale of 3 Witches (paranormal novelette)
Every Witch Way But Wicked (paranormal anthology)

You can find her on:

Her website
Facebook
Twitter

Her books are available on Amazon.

Fill in the blanks: Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead is like [book/movie/TV show] meets [a different book/movie/TV show].
It's really not like anything else I've read. It would be like... Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie meets The Witches Bible by Janet and Stewart Ferrar.

Do you remember the first story you ever finished? If so, tell us about it.
Yes. It was a Christmas story about an old man and his horse. The man was alone in life, he had lost his entire family, and now he was out in the snow with his horse, while a blizzard swirled around them. It was a happy story as far as the man was concerned -- he died in the snow storm, and was reunited with his loved ones. I was 10 at the time and it was for a Christmas story contest in one of the equine newspapers.

What's your favorite part about the writing process?
Having written! I have the hardest time with the rough draft, but once it's down I love rewriting. I can happily rewrite for years. My favorite part of the writing, however, is creating the characters and writing their dialogue.

What's the best piece of writing advice you've ever received?
It takes 10,000 hours to master your craft. So, you can either write a little bit here and there and spread that 10,000 hours over the course of your lifetime, or you can sit your butt in a chair and put the work in now.

You're stranded on a deserted island, and you can only bring one person with you. It can be someone dead or alive, but it has to be a real person (no fictional characters!). Who is it and why?
Dang. I was going to bring MacGyver, so he could get us off the dang island! I'd bring someone who could build a boat out of trees and a radio out of coconuts, navigate by stars and spear predatory sharks. So I'd look through NASA's scientist database for the strongest/smartest scientist I could find. But if you're asking who I could happily spend the rest of my life talking to, it would be my daughter. She's pretty awesome.

You get to go to Disneyworld with one of your characters. Who do you choose and why?
Hmmm. Well, Gus would be the most fun, but he'd probably get me arrested, or at the very least, banned from Disneyland. Tillie could scare our way to the front of all the lines, but that wouldn't be fun for anyone else. So, I'd probably go with Mara. She'd be fun and less likely to cause a major ruckus.

You get to travel to the country of your choice for one week with any fictional character of your choice (not your own). Who do you choose, where do you go, and why?
Indiana Jones. We go to Greece or England and have an archeological adventure in either the Parthenon or Stonehenge. Or maybe I'll go with the Ghostbusters team (the movie, not the TV show) to New Orleans, where we have a comic paranormal adventure.

The world's scientists have just released the first time machine, and you've been chosen to get a free ride (with assurance that you'll be able to come back, of course ;). To when do you go and why?
Late 1800s to meet Emma Goldman. She's a pretty awesome character. I've written a play about her and she features pretty strongly in one of my historical scripts.

Recommend a self-published book to the readers. Not your own ;)
J.R. Rain's Samantha Moon series. Barbra Annino's Opal Fire series. Bonnie Turner's brilliant book "Down the Memory Hole." There's so much good work right now in the in indy-published world!

It's Saturday night. Where are you most likely to be?
At home, curled up on the couch with my baby girl. Unless I'm out and about, doing research!

If you weren't writing, what would you be doing with your time instead?
Looking for a day job while wishing I could be a stay-at-home mom. Actually, even if I wasn't a writer, I'd probably be working on behalf of writers.

What do you want readers to come away with after reading your books?
The desire to read more about Gus and Mara and their wacky world!


Christiana, your books sound very fun! Thanks for stopping by!