Idaho’s own Brooklyn Ann has the rare talent of being able to write across several genres, including romance, horror, and urban fantasy. However, no matter the genre, all her characters are really eccentric or damaged in some way, which is where her tagline comes from!
Before becoming an author, Brooklyn was a mechanic. She’s currently restoring her first car, a 1980 Datsun 210 that she’s lovingly named Little Beast. She also enjoys making art and likes doing scratchboards, drawing, painting, and making painted block quilts.
Brooklyn has a deep love and appreciation for horror movies (especially the bad ones!), which I can absolutely relate to as some of my favourite horror movies are the extremely ridiculous 80s cheese! It is my absolute pleasure to introduce Brooklyn to you today!
Q: Who has been your biggest supporter(s) throughout your writing career?
A: My partner. We were originally friends and I rented his kitchen for office space shortly after I got my first book deal. He’d cheer on my writing progress and has come to all of my book signings. So, it’s no surprise I fell for him.
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from in your work?
A: My holy trifecta is horror movies. Stephen King and heavy metal music. Though I also grew up in a haunted house and have a lot of trauma in my past, so that definitely contributes to my work.
Q: What does it mean to you to be an author?
A: I’m pretty simple. To me, it means a completed story, that I wrote (Not AI or a ghostwriter), with my name on the cover.
Q: What is your writing process like? Do you listen to certain music, snack, make loads of phone notes when inspiration randomly strikes, etc.?
A: I sometimes use Plottr for character and setting notes, or I just jot down the basics right in my Word document. I then get together online with other writers and we do writing sprints using the Pomodoro method, which is getting things done in 25-minute chunks. One member uses that time for household chores. The rest of us report our word count, reset the timer, and go again.
I often have a playlist for each project. For my coming-of-age horror novel, I’m listening to horror movie scores, especially the Phantasm ones.
Q: Is there a genre or subgenre that you want to explore that you haven’t yet? Conversely, are there any that you’ll never write?
A: I’ve learned the hard way to never say never, especially since I write so many different genres and subgenres. I am interested in dipping my toes into high fantasy someday. And now that my coming-of-age horror novel is coming along so well, I look forward to writing other types of horror.
Q: What has been the hardest part of your career as an author so far?
A: Marketing. Publishing is a very pay for play industry when it comes to getting your work out there so readers can find your books and it’s hard to keep up on my budget. Balancing my social networking with writing is a challenge as well.
Q: What do you consider to be your greatest strength and weakness as an author?
A: My greatest strength is probably my determination to keep writing and to finish my projects. My greatest weakness is that I’m a slow writer. Not George R.R. Martin slow, but slow enough that I’m lucky if I can write two books a year.
Q: Who is on your radar as someone you’d love to work with?
A: Dark fantasy author, Layla J. Omorose, is a fantastic critique partner and sprinting buddy, but our friendship came about from our mutual love of horror, and we do intend on collaborating on a horror novel someday. I’d also love to cowrite something with Jeff Strand.
Q: At some point in our lives, we’ve all heard the negative comments: “You’re not good enough.” “You’ll never make it.” “This is the worst thing I’ve ever seen.” “You don’t belong.” How do you move forward when faced with negativity?
A: I’m one of those people who, if I’m told I can’t do something, I will do it out of spite. That’s how I ended up rebuilding the engine of my beat-up Datsun wagon. Maybe I need more naysayers about my writing, lol.
Q: What advice would you give to women who are wanting to write, especially if it’s something other might perceive as “outside of the norm”?
A: Never let anyone dictate your goals and dreams. Chase after what you want and either ignore those who discourage you, or use their hate for fuel to prove them wrong.
Recently, Watertower Hill Publishing released an anthology called House of Haunts. Brooklyn’s story, “My Fairlady” is included in the anthology and features a haunted Datsun Fairlady. If urban fantasy is more your speed, she’s currently working on the next Brides of Prophecy novel which will be dropping in late summer or late fall!
If you want to support Brooklyn, take a look at her website, follow her on Facebook and Instagram, and give her novel, His Scream Queen (I loved it so much I immediately had to grab signed copies of this whole series from her), a vote in the upcoming BoH Indie Brawl contention polls! If you’re like me and get really excited and impatient (the good kind, though, not the mean kind) for new releases, Brooklyn recommends reading The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. Brooklyn loves historical stories and this one horrified her all the more because of the real history it was based on!
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