Rachel Stanley
A Grim Affair
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for taking part in my blog. I'd like to start off by finding out a little more about you.
How long have you been a writer?
This is harder to answer than you might think because I don’t really consider myself to be a writer. I started writing A Grim Affair, which is my first novel, in February 2017 and published it in April 2020. So that long!
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Nope! I grew up wanting to be a doctor. I even applied for med school but ended up studying psychology. I’ve never really thought of being a writer as a career choice so it’s not something I ever wanted.
What have you found the most rewarding and frustrating aspects of being an indie author?
The most rewarding thing about being an indie author is the reviews...well, the good ones anyway! They make all the hard work worth it. The most frustrating thing about it is that it’s really hard to get noticed. I’m reasonably confident that A Grim Affair tells a good story but because I’m not a marketing guru I’m not sure how to convince others of that fact.
What do you think reading adds to the world?
I’ve always loved reading. I was into everything as a child and in the end my Mum taught me to read to keep me quiet. Ever since then I’ve been an avid reader. Books present an opportunity to learn, to travel the world and to look back at our history, to guess at what the future might hold...
You're going to be transported to a desert island for a year. You can choose three books, three films and three music tracks, what would you choose?
Well, I wouldn’t bother with the music tracks because I rarely listen to music. From a book perspective I’d take parts one, two and three of The Belgariad by David Eddings and then for the movies, I’d dump the DVD’s and hide books four and five of the The Belgariad in the DVD cases so that I had the full set of books with me!
What are you passionate about?
Reading, writing, travel, my furbabies and my family. Not necessarily in that order of course! Family first.
If you could choose a superpower what would it be?
Oh this one is easy! I’d love to be able to talk to animals. I’d love to know what Cooper and Watson, my pussy cat furbabies, have to say for themselves.
You have a Saturday night free. No work to worry about (post lockdown), money is no object, what would be the perfect way to spend it?
I’m a cheap date, my favourite way to spend a Saturday night is to snuggle up on the sofa with my hubby, Cooper and Watson, a good film and a big bowl of sweeties! Don’t get me wrong, if money was no object, the sofa might not be the sofa in my own home!
Describe the perfect date with your movie star crush.
So, I have a bit of a crush on Daniel Craig (don’t worry, hubby already knows!) and I wouldn’t say no if he wanted to take me out on a date. I’m thinking something low key and romantic. Maybe a picnic on a deserted beach followed by a long walk as the sun sets over the sea. How does that sound?
What's the craziest thing you have ever done?
I published a book on Amazon!
Tell us all about your book.
Here’s the blurb from the back of my book...
Wait! What? The Grim Reaper’s real?
I most definitely did not believe in the supernatural. Until the Grim Reaper showed up in my bedroom demanding to know why I’ve been controlling him. Which, of course, I haven’t. He also said that I am the only one who’s seen him in around about a thousand years. Which, of course, can’t possibly be true. Something peculiar is most definitely going on…
Emma lives a normal life, so normal that her own mother has been known to accuse her of being boring. But then she sees a mysterious stranger, one that no-one else admits to seeing, and her life changes forever. Emma becomes convinced she is being stalked but the Grim Reaper says it’s not him. And if it isn’t him, who is it?
Unbeknownst to Emma her life is in danger. Can she find the answers she so desperately needs before it is too late?
What was your inspiration for your book?
Believe it or not I actually had a dream about the first scene of my book and I just couldn’t get it out of my head. A Grim Affair exists today because of that dream. I kept puzzling over what the scene meant. To be honest, when I started writing I was writing as a way to get the ideas out of my head. Actually all I did though was fall deeper into the world I’d created. It took me three years to finish it because I have a day job and because I agonised over every single word and every single comma. In the end I set myself a target of publishing it before I turned 40 and so published it in April 2020.
Which of your characters is most like you?
To be honest my main character is probably the person I would have been if I hadn’t met my husband! We don’t look alike and there are some differences but, yeah, she’s someone I might have been.
Tell us about your characters.
So, Emma is my female lead...she’s a fairly normal young woman who lives a relatively small life. She lives in a little cottage in a little village. She works in a small veterinary practice with her best friend. Her life is purposely written to be small because my male lead – Blake – has a massive life that he can’t actually live because he’s incorporeal. The more I wrote the more I wanted to explore what it means to be alive.
What motivates your main character/ characters?
In A Grim Affair Emma is motivated mostly by fear and by anger. Blake, on the other hand, is driven largely by compulsion to fulfil the obligations of his role and by desire. I cant really say too much without giving away key elements of the story though!
What do you think is your main character's best and worst trait?
Let’s talk about Blake for this one! Blake is fundamentally lonely. He’s spent almost 1000 years on his own and as a consequence he’s lost interest in everything around him. He can also be quite selfish because he feels hard done to. This makes his a little bit of a douchebag in A Grim Affair. But when you start to understand why he is the way he is, you can’t help but feel a huge amount of empathy for him. To find out his best quality, you’ll have to read the series! He’s learning to be a better man after all so he’ll get better over the course of the series.
What sort of emotions will readers experience when they read your book?
Hopefully my readers will experience the highs and the lows of the story. Hopefully they’ll laugh (or at least raise a wry smile!) and then they’ll cry (there is a part in the book that makes me cry every time I read it even though I wrote it) and at the end they’ll be afraid for Emma.
What sort of reception has your book had?
Here are some of my favourite quotes from the reviews that have been left on Amazon...
“This is a wee gem of a book...The author’s style is open, friendly, easy to read with a glint of humour and a great imagination.”
“A thoroughly engaging first novel, an original idea with a great story.”
“This is a fast paced supernatural romantic thriller.”
“I found the story a unique combination of mythical fantasy and modern day thriller.”
“Absolutely fantastic. Really enthralling.”
“A unique storyline, with intrigue and an imaginative plot that keeps you guessing.”
And my absolute favourite quote because this is exactly what I was aiming for... “This is a homely tale filled with family, friends, cats, mouth-watering baked goods and a side of chilling suspense.”
Do you have anything interesting in the pipeline that you'd like to give us a sneak peak of?
A Grim Affair is designed to be part one of a trilogy so readers will (hopefully) be glad to learn that I am working on A Grim Haunt, which picks up not long after the end of A Grim Affair and takes the readers further into Blake’s unusual world.
Where can readers connect with you?I’m on Instagram – @rachel21stanley! Find me and connect. I love hearing from my readers.