Rachel Caine is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of more than fifty novels in a diverse range of genres and categories. She has been honored with multiple awards from RT Booklovers Association and the Texas Library Association, and was honored with two spots on the 2012 “Most Favorite Books of UK Schoolchildren” list. More recently in 2017, she began writing thrillers with the huge bestsellers “Stillhouse Lake” and “Killman Creek”. In early July of this year, she’ll also be releasing “Smoke and Iron”, her 4th book in the Great Library Series where she continues the adventures of her unforgettable characters from “Ink and Bone”, “Paper and Fire”, and “Ash and Quill”.

In Rachel’s episode, we discuss how she first fell into storytelling, how her musical background taught her to be in the moment with her writing, and how she met her first editor and then sold her first book. Be sure to pay special attention to the helpful advice on carving out time for your writing around a full-time job from the time management queen herself. We also dive into the details about the inspiration behind her stories that helped establish the urban fantasy genre, how she proactively gets the word out about her novels, advice on navigating the world of conventions, conferences, and school visits to promote your work, and how Rachel and her team packages her different genres to make her series distinct from one another.

Further into our conversation, we discuss how to go about the writing business by taking control of your expectations, the different ways to overcome writing difficult scenes in your story, crafting a plot that interacts naturally with your characters, and advice on how to decide which point of view works best for your story. We also discuss why it’s important to keep the passion with your story alive throughout the entire process.

Say ‘Hi’ to Rachel on Twitter! Head over to her shownotes page for a list of resources mentioned in the episode by clicking here.

Happy listening!

Xo,

Yin

PS. Do you know anyone who would love our conversation? Please share this episode to help spread the word!

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“Writing is unique business in that there is so much of it that you can’t control. You can only control what you do and nothing else.” 

-Rachel Caine (Click to tweet!)

“You have to figure out what your expectations are and how you can best apply yourself to the process.”

-Rachel Caine (Click to tweet!)

“You have to learn to balance just like you balance your work and your family life and all that. You’ve got to learn how to balance writing and everything else. If it’s a matter of your health, then I think you have to choose your health.”

-Rachel Caine (Click to tweet!)

“As far as points of view, you pick the person to whom the story matters the most. That’s my general rule.”

-Rachel Caine (Click to tweet!)

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WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN TODAY’S EPISODE: 

• How Rachel met her first editor and sold her first book
• A look into Rachel’s musical background that taught her how to be in the moment with her writing
• Ways you can carve out time for your writing while working a full-time job
• The importance of taking care of your health and the tips and tools that can help you stay healthy as a writer
• The inspiration behind Rachel Caine and her stories that helped establish the urban fantasy genre
• How taking control of your expectations will help you navigate the writing business
• How Rachel proactively promotes and gets the word out about her novels
• Advice on how to strategically navigate the world of conventions, conferences, and school visits to promote your work
• An exciting look at all the projects Rachel is currently working on
• How a conversation on Twitter pushed Rachel and Ann Aguirre together to craft the “Honor Among Thieves” series
• Ways to overcome writing difficult scenes in your story
• How Rachel and her team packages her different genres to make her series distinct from one another
• The importance of crafting a plot that interacts naturally with your characters
• Rachel’s experience with writing from different points of view and advice on how to decide which point of view works best for your story
• The importance of keeping the passion and attraction you have towards your story alive throughout the entire process