Today on my blog I have special guest author, Renee Novelle. She is a multi-published journalist and is now the author of psychological and paranormal thrillers.

Renee is preceded by a long line of published family members, including Pulitzer Prize nominated author and Poet Laureate of Kentucky, Jesse Stuart. As a child, Renee was already gaining recognition for several of her works, and in her formative years, she continued this trend by earning local awards for her short stories and poems.

Inspired to cultivate her talent, Novelle pursued freelance journalism and has found placement of 75 of her pieces in both online and print publications since 2008. Additionally, she has written multiple screenplays, and contributed her savvy, effective writing style to many non-profit and for profit organizations. She launched several blogs over the years, which garnered international attention.

In 2013, Novelle returned to her first love – fiction. She writes psychological and paranormal thrillers, as well as contemporary fiction and new adult fiction. For a complete schedule of upcoming releases, please visit www.RSNovelle.com

Though she received her Bachelor’s of Science in Communication, Summa Cum Laude, she considers herself a constant student of the written word. She’s an avid reader, an enthusiastic quote poster, and rarely takes “no” as a final answer. She has an unhealthy obsession for theater, dance, music and art, and strongly believes that wine is simultaneously the beginning of, and resolution to, all of life’s problems. She believes in following dreams, and that in the end, you always end up where you meant to be.

LL: Thanks for being a guest on my blog, Renee. It’s really exciting to have you here.

RN: Thank you so much for having me, it’s an honour. J

LL: Tell us a bit about your new thriller, Calculated.

RN: Calculated is the first book in a series of three. It’s a psychological thriller that follows journalist Ana Meyers after she receives a tip from a mysterious informant who quickly turns up dead. As she follows the story, twist after twist leads her to believe that a prominent religious leader and a governor are conspirators behind one of the largest murder cover-ups the city has ever witnessed. But by the end, she’s left to wonder if any of it was true, or if she had merely been used as a pawn in an even greater scheme. The readers will have to determine it for themselves. It’s currently available on Amazon as an eBook.

LL: Calculated is part of the Discovered series – I love a good series. Can you fill us in on what makes this a series? Is there a linking story? Characters?

RN: I love a series too! They’re great for both the writers and the readers. In this particular series, the first book, Calculated, is told mostly from Ana’s perspective. We’re following her story and watching as a series of events unfolds according to her. In book two, Driven, I use a mirror plot technique to show the exact same timeline, but tell how the events occur for Mara – who you’ve met in book one. In the third and final book, Avenged, the timeline progresses forward, the two women are thrown together and readers see the story from all angles.

LL: Sounds fascinating. What inspires you to write thrillers? What’s their appeal to you? Where do your ideas come from?

RN: My ideas come from all over, but I guess I must have a bit of a dark side to me. My imagination tends to go down the “what-if” direction – what if this happened, what if they were lying, what if something was never real to begin with… that sort of thing. I’m fascinated with how the mind works and interprets things. By how five people can be looking at one thing and each walk away with their own interpretation of reality. It’s all about perspective, and I enjoy exploring this in my writing. I’m also a fan of writing tight, fast paced stories. I guess the combination just lends itself toward thrillers.

LL: I love thinking about perspective as well. It’s a fascinating subject. You have had a successful career as a journalist. Tell us a little about yourself, how you came to be a journalist and what led you to writing fiction.

RN: Fiction has always been my first love. I’ve been jotting down stories since I was nine. At twelve I attempted to conquer my first novella. I’d always dreamed of having a book published, like so many of my relatives have. But, like so many writers, I believed all the people who had always said that no one can make a living off novels. Unless you’re that one-in-a-million person like Stephen King, or James Patterson, or JK Rowling, that is. So journalism was my attempt to stay connected with writing while still paying my bills. It worked. But after a while, I found it was actually stifling my creativity, so I began the slow return to fiction. Once the eBook revolution hit, it just solidified that decision for me.

LL: Aside from being a writer of thrillers, you also write contemporary women’s fiction and new adult. Do you have a favourite genre?

RN: Not really. I think all genres have something beautiful and interesting about them. And I’m a big fan of mixing genres for a really unique story. But after writing something dark and serious, like a thriller, I enjoy turning to something more light and playful. It keeps my mind and life balanced I think.

LL: Apart from writing, what hobbies do you have? What gets you up in the morning and going every day?

RN: Every morning I make sure I get my workout in – a nice long jog, yoga class, dance class, something to get the creative juices flowing. I really enjoy traveling and discovering how other people live. I’m addicted to the arts – theatre, dance, music, art, sculpture, anything! – so any chance I get I’ll attend performances or gallery openings. I live close to the beach so I spend a lot of time there too. I think I just enjoy life, and living it fully.

LL: Sounds great. Filling the well is a so important to stay creative. So, what’s Renee Novelle’s pet peeve? What’s your favourite thing?

RN: In writing? Hmm…My biggest pet peeve is seeing established authors discourage up and coming writers. We’ve all had to start at the beginning, we’re all betting against a thousand odds, and we’re all just trying to turn our dreams into reality. I don’t like when people try to crush another person’s passion just because they had a hard time themselves.

LL: I’m with you there. What about your favourite thing?

RN: My favourite thing is getting a five star review J There’s absolutely no greater feeling in the world than knowing someone else fell in love with and connected to something I’ve written on that level. It’s so rewarding.

LL: I know what you mean. I love that too. I know authors love to tell their ‘Call’ story, but with the rise of indie and self-published authors, not everyone has a ‘Call’ story. But there must be something about being indie published that is really exciting for you to. Can you share your exciting published moment with us?

RN: I’m indie published, so I’m still waiting to get “The Call” lol. But when I first got the email that my book had “gone live” and was available for people to start buying, I literally started hyperventilating. I was a total ball of excited, anxious energy. I couldn’t sit still, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat; it was a really thrilling time. J

LL: That does sound exciting. What’s been the most surprising aspect of your career as a journalist and moving to being a published author?

RN: Good question! I think the most surprising realization has been how I’ve been received by others. The support has been tremendous, and people seem to treat me differently now that I can say I’m a journalist AND author. It’s been very rewarding.

LL: What’s up next for you? Any projects on the boil that you’re particularly excited about?

RN: Right now I’m trying to finish the Discovered series, which I’m very happy about. I also have a short paranormal thriller that will be finished soon that I can’t wait to share with everyone. And next year I have two books – White Butterflies, and The Seventh Second – that I’m on cloud nine about releasing! They’re mixed genre thrillers and I really think readers will connect well with them.

LL: Thank you so much for being a guest on my blog today, Renee. It was fun finding out a little bit more about you and your writing.

RN: Thank you for having me! It was a pleasure to share with you today.

LL: You can buy Renee’s new novel, Calculated, from:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EW6J7G6

You can find out more about Renee at:

https://www.amazon.com/author/rsnovelle

https://www.goodreads.com/RSNovelle

https://www.facebook.com/ReneeNovelle

https://twitter.com/RS_Novelle

Finally, Renee has kindly offered to give away 1 Kindle copy of her novel, Calculated. All you have to do is leave a comment and answer the question:

What do you love about psychological thrillers and why do you keep coming back to them?

Good luck. It’s always great to read a new author and discover a great new book.