Today I'm shining the spotlight on another author who has tried coauthoring and self-publishing. A round of applause for Robert Rand, please! Read on to grab yourself a FREE BOOK.
Author Interview with Robert Rand
1) Tell us a little about yourself and any hidden talents that are totally worth mentioning.
I'm 50 years old, I am a reformed career criminal who found freedom through writing. My hidden talent is my ability to listen.
2) What do you like most and least about being a writer?
I enjoy most the ability to exorcise my demons through writing and don't care much for the work involved in promoting my work.
3) If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
Robert R. McCammon wrote a massive novel titled Swan Song. It is an apocalyptic tale along the same vein of Stephen King's “The Stand”. To me it exemplifies the difference between good and evil. I have been both good and evil in my life and the way this novel takes the reader on the path the characters travel to find their destiny is the epitome of what a writer should strive for.
4) Is there anything (drink, food, writing tools etc.) that you can’t write without?
I have to have a pen and paper. Writing in long hand rather than on the computer for my first draft of any novel allows me to lose myself in the story. It is almost as if the words fall out of the tip of my pen.
5) Do you prefer a specific genre for reading and writing?
I write primarily crime/thrillers. However, I read everything other than YA, and erotica.
6) Tell us what inspired you to write “A Family Betrayal”.
A Family Betrayal is the third in the Rourk Family Saga. It takes a major turn from the first two, in that, it develops a strong female character that is essential to the story. I decided to utilize a strong female because of the respect and admiration I have for my mom. She is the strongest, most honest person I know.
7) Which of your books was the most challenging to write, and why?
The first Rourk novel, “Criminal Option” was by far the most challenging of my books. At the time I wrote it, I was in Los Angeles County Jail. I was defending myself and reading dozens of legal books in order to be able to mount a successful defense. But all that legalese was frying my brain! A fellow inmate suggested I spend time each day writing a book in order to free my mind from the law. What I ended up with was a means to rid myself of the pain and horror of having been kidnapped, beaten and raped when I was 10 years old. I had long maked that trauma with drugs and was finally able to get past it by giving the experience to the lead character of my novel.
8) If you had to describe your writing style in 3 words, what would those be?
Visual, fast, realistic
9) What book(s) are you tackling next?
I am working on the follow up to With Mother's Approval. I co-wrote that book with Mike Wells and am writing the sequel on my own.
10) Do you have any advice for other authors or aspiring writers?
Don't stop. Even if you have to force it, make time daily to put words on paper. You may never find financial success, but you will achieve more satisfaction within yourself when you complete your novel than you ever thought possible.
I'm 50 years old, I am a reformed career criminal who found freedom through writing. My hidden talent is my ability to listen.
2) What do you like most and least about being a writer?
I enjoy most the ability to exorcise my demons through writing and don't care much for the work involved in promoting my work.
3) If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
Robert R. McCammon wrote a massive novel titled Swan Song. It is an apocalyptic tale along the same vein of Stephen King's “The Stand”. To me it exemplifies the difference between good and evil. I have been both good and evil in my life and the way this novel takes the reader on the path the characters travel to find their destiny is the epitome of what a writer should strive for.
4) Is there anything (drink, food, writing tools etc.) that you can’t write without?
I have to have a pen and paper. Writing in long hand rather than on the computer for my first draft of any novel allows me to lose myself in the story. It is almost as if the words fall out of the tip of my pen.
5) Do you prefer a specific genre for reading and writing?
I write primarily crime/thrillers. However, I read everything other than YA, and erotica.
6) Tell us what inspired you to write “A Family Betrayal”.
A Family Betrayal is the third in the Rourk Family Saga. It takes a major turn from the first two, in that, it develops a strong female character that is essential to the story. I decided to utilize a strong female because of the respect and admiration I have for my mom. She is the strongest, most honest person I know.
7) Which of your books was the most challenging to write, and why?
The first Rourk novel, “Criminal Option” was by far the most challenging of my books. At the time I wrote it, I was in Los Angeles County Jail. I was defending myself and reading dozens of legal books in order to be able to mount a successful defense. But all that legalese was frying my brain! A fellow inmate suggested I spend time each day writing a book in order to free my mind from the law. What I ended up with was a means to rid myself of the pain and horror of having been kidnapped, beaten and raped when I was 10 years old. I had long maked that trauma with drugs and was finally able to get past it by giving the experience to the lead character of my novel.
8) If you had to describe your writing style in 3 words, what would those be?
Visual, fast, realistic
9) What book(s) are you tackling next?
I am working on the follow up to With Mother's Approval. I co-wrote that book with Mike Wells and am writing the sequel on my own.
10) Do you have any advice for other authors or aspiring writers?
Don't stop. Even if you have to force it, make time daily to put words on paper. You may never find financial success, but you will achieve more satisfaction within yourself when you complete your novel than you ever thought possible.
Download a FREE book
Follow these easy steps to receive a free download of "Criminal Option", The Rourk Family Saga, Vol. I:
Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/532882 and enter the coupon code WV98R at checkout.
This coupon expires July 1, 2016.
Please note that this book contains adult content (violence) and the site requires the user to accept adult content before allowing the book to be viewed or purchased.
Go to https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/532882 and enter the coupon code WV98R at checkout.
This coupon expires July 1, 2016.
Please note that this book contains adult content (violence) and the site requires the user to accept adult content before allowing the book to be viewed or purchased.
About the Author
At 50 years old, Robert Rand has spent nearly 25 years of his adult life in some of California's most notorious prisons. Now a reformed career criminal, Robert lives in Arkansas with his family where he writes crime thrillers using personal experience and knowledge to create stories that some readers have dubbed "The OMG genre". With three novels in the Rourk Family Saga crime/thriller series that have 5 Star reviews, Robert Rand is giving the readers something different, exciting and uniquely realistic that keep them turning the pages! Look for my work co-authoring with best selling thriller novelist Mike Wells in the new thriller/mystery "With Mother's Approval, An Allie & Jeremy Branson Detective Novel" Look under MIKE WELLS on Smashwords!!!
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