Ask the Author: Rachel Kovaciny
Answered Questions (16)
Rachel Kovaciny
Absolutely! I really enjoy reading the great older westerns by Louis L'Amour, Jack Schaefer, Luke Short, Zane Grey, and Max Brand. I grew up watching the classic cowboy movies and TV shows from the 1940s-1960s, and books by those authors have a similar flavor. I try to write books with a similar flavor and values -- that hard work and determination will win the day, that honor and justice are of paramount importance, and that evil must be fought and conquered.
Rachel Kovaciny
I definitely love getting to "fix" things that bother me in the original fairy tale. Like how the parents of Sleeping Beauty are such utter fools in the fairy tale -- who snubs a magical being known to be easily offended and malicious? Why on earth would you NOT invite her to the party you invited all the other fairies to? So dumb. And thus, I gave my Sleeping Beauty character a wise and intelligent father, and also gave the "bad fairy" character a more logical reason for being angry with the family than just "you didn't invite me to your party," which is so petty.
Rachel Kovaciny
Yes, I do, Marquise! In fact, I'm rewriting Beauty and the Beast right now, and am absolutely loving it. It's from the 'Beauty' character's point of view, and she is turning out to be one of my favorite female characters that I've ever created. I'm tentatively hoping to release it in the fall of 2021.
As for a Cinderella retelling, it's coming! I'm planning to retell it for book 6. So there will be one in between Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella yet. But I can tell you that I think it'll be set in New Mexico!
Meanwhile, I'm putting the finishing touches on a short story sequel to One Bad Apple. Newsletter subscribers will get it next week, I hope, and then it will eventually be out for Kindle and Nook for free like my other short story sequels.
As for a Cinderella retelling, it's coming! I'm planning to retell it for book 6. So there will be one in between Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella yet. But I can tell you that I think it'll be set in New Mexico!
Meanwhile, I'm putting the finishing touches on a short story sequel to One Bad Apple. Newsletter subscribers will get it next week, I hope, and then it will eventually be out for Kindle and Nook for free like my other short story sequels.
Rachel Kovaciny
I would love to visit Middle-earth and drink tea with Gandalf, browse Elrond's library, and get to know some of the Rohirrim enough that they would let me ride their horses.
Rachel Kovaciny
I'm hoping I'll have "Dancing and Doughnuts" out this spring -- I started writing it about a week ago, and right now it feels like it will be a longish short story, not a full book, so hoping it'll be done fairly quickly!
Rachel Kovaciny
I'm hoping I'll have "Dancing and Doughnuts" out this spring -- I started writing it about a week ago, and right now it feels like it will be a longish short story, not a full book, so hoping it'll be done fairly quickly!
Rachel Kovaciny
Actually, no. While MBTI types fascinate me, I don't know enough about them to try to build characters around them. My characters are who they are. But after I'm done with a story, I do sometimes try to "type" some of the characters. For instance, I'm confident Deputy Small is an ESFJ. Mary Rose? I am kind of guessing ENFJ.
Rachel Kovaciny
Thanks so much, Nina! I'm glad you enjoyed that one :-) Nope, I'm not writing anything for this year's collection because I'm actually going to be one of the judges. Instead, I'm putting the finishing touches on a western retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. It's called "Cloaked," and I plan to publish it in September. Thanks for asking!
Rachel Kovaciny
Thanks so much for letting me know you liked my story, Allison! I love hearing that :-)
Currently, Rooglewood Press owns all printing rights to "The Man on the Buckskin Horse." In the past, they have selected one story from their contest anthologies to release as a stand-alone e-book. I don't know if they plan to do this also for a story in "Five Magic Spindles," but if you'd like to encourage them to do so, the person to contact would be Anne Elisabeth Stengl, either here on GoodReads ( https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ) or on her blog ( http://anneelisabethstengl.blogspot.c... )
Thanks for your question! If you liked "The Man on the Buckskin Horse," you might be interested to know that I'm currently writing a western re-imagining of "Little Red Riding Hood" that I call "Cloaked." I intend to publish it as an e-book this summer, possibly as a paperback later on.
Currently, Rooglewood Press owns all printing rights to "The Man on the Buckskin Horse." In the past, they have selected one story from their contest anthologies to release as a stand-alone e-book. I don't know if they plan to do this also for a story in "Five Magic Spindles," but if you'd like to encourage them to do so, the person to contact would be Anne Elisabeth Stengl, either here on GoodReads ( https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... ) or on her blog ( http://anneelisabethstengl.blogspot.c... )
Thanks for your question! If you liked "The Man on the Buckskin Horse," you might be interested to know that I'm currently writing a western re-imagining of "Little Red Riding Hood" that I call "Cloaked." I intend to publish it as an e-book this summer, possibly as a paperback later on.
Rachel Kovaciny
My kids lost an action figure weeks and weeks ago. A book about her adventures while she's missing could be great fun :-)
Rachel Kovaciny
Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester, all the way. Theirs is a marriage of equals, which it would not have been if they'd married when they originally intended to. At the end of the book, they can be happy, because they are free and equal at last.
Rachel Kovaciny
A western re-imagining of "Little Red Riding Hood." It's called "Cloaked," and I just finished the first draft, so now I'm heading into the revision process. I hope to release it as an e-book this summer!
Rachel Kovaciny
Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it, Allison! I don't know if Rooglewood Press has any plans to release my story separately at this time, but I know that they have released one story from each of the previous collections as a stand-alone ebook, so... it could happen! You could always visit their blog or Facebook page and request it.
Rachel Kovaciny
Forget "write what you know." Write what you love. You can learn enough about any subject to "know" about it, but if you don't love that subject, you're going to be miserable eventually.
Rachel Kovaciny
I don't usually have the luxury to write only when I feel inspired. I'm a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom, so I mostly write at night after my kids are in bed, or sometimes on Saturday morning when my husband takes them to the library. So I've had to learn some tricks that help me get into a writing "mood" even if I'm not feeling "inspired."
When I sit down to write fiction, I try to know ahead of time how the scene I'm working on plays out. That helps me stay focused and not get stuck wondering what happens next. I listen to a lot of music while writing -- movie soundtracks and Bobby Darin, mostly. Sometimes the flavor of what I'm listening to will impact my writing, and sometimes I go looking for music with a tone or feel that matches what I'm working on.
As for where I get inspiration for the things I write, the answer is short, if not particularly simple: I get ideas everywhere. Movies, books, historical research, bouncing ideas around with writer friends -- I never quite know what will inspire me. I generally dream up new characters first, figure out what's going wrong in their lives, and see what happens from there.
When I sit down to write fiction, I try to know ahead of time how the scene I'm working on plays out. That helps me stay focused and not get stuck wondering what happens next. I listen to a lot of music while writing -- movie soundtracks and Bobby Darin, mostly. Sometimes the flavor of what I'm listening to will impact my writing, and sometimes I go looking for music with a tone or feel that matches what I'm working on.
As for where I get inspiration for the things I write, the answer is short, if not particularly simple: I get ideas everywhere. Movies, books, historical research, bouncing ideas around with writer friends -- I never quite know what will inspire me. I generally dream up new characters first, figure out what's going wrong in their lives, and see what happens from there.
Rachel Kovaciny
If I get blocked on one project, I switch to another -- that's the main reason I generally have at least two writing projects going at any given time. Usually one in the first draft and another in revision. Then even if I'm a bit stuck, I don't have to waste any of my writing time, which is much too rare and precious to throw away on banging my head against my laptop or begging characters to cooperate.
Rachel Kovaciny
Getting to play with my imaginary friends, even though I'm an adult. I love spending time with fictional characters, getting to know them and learning from them. Every character I create teaches me something about myself and how I view the world, and through them, I can grow and explore new ideas.
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