Gothic Bite Magazine always welcomes amazing authors on their website! This week, we have the pleasure to interview, Rayna Crimson

Who is Rayna Crimson?

I am a 35-year-old mother of three. I grew up in the small rural town of Mount Airy, Maryland and later relocated south to Alabama with my husband and then later back to Maryland.

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Aside from writing my other passions include my family, music, and my career as an Assistant General Manager of a hotel local to me. I always imagined as a child that I would grow up to pursue a career in music, but I used to write short stories in a spiral notebook throughout my school years.

The Interview

ALEXA WAYNE (A.W.): When did you find out you would want to write novels?

RAYNA CRIMSON: Honestly, I never thought that I would pursue writing as a career. I think as an author we are often too hard on ourselves and doubt that our stories are good enough to publish.

I sometimes have a habit of letting my own self-doubt hinder my aspirations, but that is something I am working through one day at a time.

My first novel was a story that I had started five or six years ago after my creative wheels began turning. I was watching an episode of The Vampire Diaries, one about Siphoner witches and I caught myself thinking, what if? How about?

What if this caused this to happen, so on and so forth. I started writing and then life got busy. I picked it back up over a year ago and finished it. Even if people don’t like it, I am proud of it. It was my first step in following
a dream.

A.W.: You mentioned to me your work, all set in paranormal or Gothic settings, would you let our readers know why you are more attracted to that genre?

RAYNA CRIMSON: I think what attracts me to the paranormal genres and sub genres is the versatility of it all. You can research fables, legends and myths and come out with a believable story or you can make up every last detail and still come out with a masterpiece.

A.W.: When writing about paranormal, do you do research and if so, how far do you go?

RAYNA CRIMSON: My main characters are from Ireland, so I did have to do some research on Celtic myths and creatures, Celtic symbols, and even traditional Celtic vows, but as for the main story line, I made it up.

I just felt for this particular story; research would have taken away from it. I have a work in progress that I have to do a lot of research for. Truthfully, I think it depends on the book.

A.W.: What is most important to you when writing your novels?

RAYNA CRIMSON: The most important thing to me is creating characters that you either love or despise, maybe a little of both.

It’s important to me to try to make my story as believable as possible so my readers can actually feel what my characters feel as if they are living in the moment with them.

A.W.: Which authors influenced your writing?

RAYNA CRIMSON: I read so much by so many authors but if I have to choose the ones whose writing has influenced me the most it would be Jeaniene Frost, Susan K Hamilton, Gena Showalter, and Laurell K Hamilton.

A.W.: Which of your novels is your favorite and why?

RAYNA CRIMSON: This is a hard question to answer. I have to say my favorite one to have written so far is, Different Breed of Witch. I always said that I didn’t like stories where there was an immediate attraction or relationship between the two main characters, but with this story it was vital to the storyline.

Everything seemed to just fall into place with this one whereas with The Succubus Bond, I really had to work for it. My current work in progress titled, Purgatory, I think could take the spot as my favorite once it is completed.

A.W.: Do you believe in the paranormal, by that I mean in hauntings, that there are creatures out in the wild that we still don’t know the existence of?

RAYNA CRIMSON: I absolutely believe in ghosts. I don’t believe that experiencing their presence is as common as people say, but I do believe they exist.

I worked at a restaurant as a dishwasher and it before it was a restaurant it was a psychiatric facility for women and children. There was a lot of crazy things that happened there during my shifts that none of us could explain.

A.W.: What what made you decide to be self-published?

RAYNA CRIMSON: Right now, I am self-publishing. Like so many Indie Authors I have started this dream with nothing to my name. When I picked my writing back up, I was a stay at home mom with no money to my name.

I started out doing my own editing and then when I moved back to Maryland from Alabama, a good friend of mine offered to edit my work
for me.

I have since managed to put some money into cover designs, writing apps, and marketing but not as much as I one day hope to.

A.W.: What sets you apart from other paranormal authors and Gothic authors?

RAYNA CRIMSON: Um, I’m not sure exactly. I don’t know that there really is anything that sets me apart from anyone else.

A.W.: What can readers look forward to in 2019?         

RAYNA CRIMSON: While I don’t have an exact release date yet, my third installment of The Saraid Maddox series titled, Purgatory will be releasing this year

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