Rachel Tonks Hill is an eldritch abomination from deep within the Stygian abyss known as “Yorkshire”. She craves sleep, tea and the souls of the damned. She can usually be found in bed, writing feverishly, or over on Twitter crying about the faces of fictional people. Further ramblings can be found at her blog. Her self-published fiction can be found on Amazon or at Smashwords.
How long have you been writing and what got you started?
Sometimes it feels like I’ve been writing my whole life. I think I started writing seriously when I was about 14, which makes it about half my life. Some of the stuff I wrote back then isn’t as terrible as I expected.
What is the best piece of advice you have for new writers?
Just keep writing. Write the stories you want to read. Write the stories you needed when you were younger. Write the stories you need right now. Don’t worry about bad reviews or rejections or poor sales. Just keep writing and putting your stuff out there.
If you could go back and find yourself five years ago, what advice would you give yourself?
I’d tell myself to be kinder to myself.
How do you measure success when it comes to your writing?
Having more words at the end of the session than at the beginning. Doesn’t matter or how many, just that I keep writing. Some stuff will be good, some less good but I’ll only get better if I keep writing and keep putting stuff out there.
Do you favor the traditional route or self-publishing?
Self-published at the moment but if I trad publisher came knocking with a great deal I probably wouldn’t say no. The trad route isn’t something I’m actively pursuing though.
Are you an outliner or discovery writer? Or somewhere in between?
Somewhere in between. Different stories require different approaches I’ve found, but I’ve had a lot of fun lately just starting a story and seeing where it goes.
How do you deal with rejections?
I feel sorry for myself for a bit, then cheer myself up, remind myself it wasn’t the right home for the story and put it back out there as quickly as I can.
What are your writing goals for the next twelve months?
To self-publish five novels. One is done, one part way through and I have a trilogy to finish so it’s eminently doable.
What are your writing goals for the next five years?
I’d like to be making the majority of my income from writing in five years’ time.
Is there anything you’d like to plug? Feel free to share a link.
I self-published my first novel in ebook format at the end of October 20016 and it’s available at both Amazon and Smashwords (as well as most other ebook retailers), Print copy hopefully available in the near future as well.
