GREETINGS, BOOKWORMS! I’m Aisha Kandisha, Head Librarian at Kandisha Press. Join me in the dusty stacks of the library I will never leave again as I chat with some of my favorite Women in Horror. Today we feature author Renee M.P.T. Kray!
Renee M.P.T. Kray grew up in Michigan with eight siblings and a small army of cats. Her love of reading and writing went into maximum overdrive when she read The Lord of the Rings at age 10 and since then she’s spent her time obsessively scribbling story ideas into notebooks. After being homeschooled all through elementary and highschool, she earned her BA in Literature from Ave Maria University and her MFA in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. She has self-published two collections of short stories: Think Again: A Captivating Compendium and Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories. However, none of these pursuits have been as challenging as trying to get her pug, Potato, to stop eating dirt.
What made you want to become an author? Did you have an “Aha!” moment when you knew you were born to write? Or perhaps a beloved book inspired you?
I can remember wanting to read and write from a very young age; the sight of words I couldn’t recognize across the pages of a book was tantalizing and I wanted to break that code! I often worked on short stories as a child, but I didn’t realize that writing was what I wanted to “do” until I read The Lord of the Rings. Experiencing the power a story has to create an entire world and develop characters who would stay with me long after I closed the book really changed my life.
What do you believe are your strengths in writing? And when you feel you need to improve on a particular writing skill, how do you go about it?
I love detail; I’m a big fan of the way Charles Dickens could elegantly describe a chair for two whole paragraphs. I always hope my audience will be able to see the scene as closely as possible to how I see it in my head. My most difficult moments definitely come in the editing phase, when I usually become so mired in the story that I second guess whether a scene or sentence should stay or go. Thankfully, two of my best friends are also storytellers, and when I’m in a difficult spot with a story they can help me choose what to keep and what to cut. I think having a writing buddy that you can reach out to is one of the greatest assets any author can have. It’s difficult to hear criticism sometimes (I know I hate it), but having a fresh perspective is one of the quickest ways to improve your story!
What are your thoughts on the book industry today, or more importantly, about the book community? Do you feel it is getting harder or easier to make it as an independent author these days?
I love that the book community is so vocal about their devotion to the medium. In this world of social media and video, it would be very easy for books to fall by the wayside, but readers have been so unabashedly proud of their love for collecting and reading books that I think books are back on the rise! As far as being an independent author goes, I think it’s both a blessing and a curse to be in the digital age. Self-publishing is made easy through online platforms, but it’s harder to find ways to stand out among the hundreds of self-published pieces that are popping up. If you don’t have the social media presence to make a splash, chances are your book will just get swallowed up in the internet ether.
Tell us about your work. What story are you most proud of?
I appreciate almost all genres of fiction, and I have plans for high fantasy, modern fantasy, and sci fi projects, but supernatural horror has long been one of my favorite places to dabble. I love stories with an underlying message that a reader can take away and apply into their own lives, so I always try to have my pieces “say something.” Horror is a great place for that, because when a character is faced with a life or death situation, they are forced to lay all their cards down on the table and show who they truly are.
I have a soft spot for my self-published supernatural collection, Restless: A Year of Ghost Stories, because it was very fun to try to match a ghost story with every different month of the year and see how far that genre can stretch. As far as the short stories… that’s really hard! I’m particular to “Soul Skeeter” (If I Die Before I Wake: Volume Three) and “Out of the Box” (Institutionalized: Stories of the Deranged and Demented) because they turned out very close to what I had in my head, but choosing any particular one over the others feels like selecting a favorite among your kids! I’ve been very lucky to get to work with the great team over at Sinister Smile Press for the majority of my short story publications, and they are always incredibly helpful and kind.
What are your upcoming works and plans for the future?
I’m currently working on a supernatural novella set in a 1930s convent, which has been such a fun setting to play with. The first draft is about three quarters of the way done, and then it will be on to editing! I am hoping that with this novella, I will be able to find an agent and start the process of breaking into mainstream publishing so that I can fulfil the childhood dream of seeing my book on a shelf at Barnes and Noble. But no matter the outcome, I’ll always be brainstorming new stories!
KANDISHA PRESS 