SPFBOX Interview with Claire Trella Hill

Our SPFBOX interviews continue with Claire Trella Hill, author of Black and Deep Desires.

SPFBO (the Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off) is a free online contest run by author Mark Lawrence. 300 authors compete across ten judging teams to see who will be the winner! You can read more about the contest here.

Cover of Claire Trella Hill's Black and Deep Desires. A beautiful brunette woman in nineteenth-century attire looks out at the audience with trepidation on her face while a brooding man with chin-length, wavy black hair stands behind her. His eyes are pale, nearly colourless. The woman is holding a candle, which illuminated the scene and the stained glass windows behind the pair.

INTERVIEW WITH CLAIRE TRELLA HILL

Tell us a little about yourself and let our readers know which blog you’ve been assigned to for SPFBOX!

Hi! I’m Claire Trella Hill, author of gothic romance and romantic fantasy, currently sweltering in Texas’s summer heat! I like all things fantasy and I have a cat named Adora Belle Dearheart, for all those Discworld fans out there! I am assigned to the Fantasy Book Critic Blog for SPFBOX.

What inspired you to write this book?

I had a growing interest in gothic fantasy for years, inspired by my love of history and taking a gothic novel course in college. The vampire piece came together because I had a friend running the Curse of Strahd Dungeons and Dragons campaign a few years ago, and he would keep me updated on what all his players were doing and different things they ran into. We ended up talking a lot about vampires, and that really made several half-baked ideas I’d had for years and years finally come together!

Can you tell us a little bit about your writing or editing process? What’s most exciting to you about writing or editing?

When I get an idea, it usually comes with a main character, a setting, and a hook. I used to just take that and run with it, but I was always surprised when at about 20 or 30% of novel length, everything would drop off a cliff into nothingness. I learned that I needed more gas in the idea tank to make the story keep going. I’ve learned how to outline more and have a feel for the story, as well as some idea in mind of how I want it to conclude. But I need to keep room for improvisation; otherwise if I know everything that happens I won’t want to write the book.

Writing that first 30% is always my favorite. The words flow and “every action’s an act of creation,” as the Hamilton earworm goes. The story feels organic and alive. And then I have to put in the work of making all that pay off.

I wanted it to harken back to older-style gothics and vampire books a la Dracula where the characters really don’t know anything about the supernatural, rather than in paranormal or urban fantasy where monsters might be scary, but the characters “know how they work,” so to speak. The fear and the mystery is all in the unknown.

Who or what have been your major literary influences?

Truly there might be too many to name, but I owe a very big debt of gratitude to Patricia C. Wrede and Robin McKinley. I have read almost if not all of their extensive backlists and they were the fantasy building blocks I clung to as a kid.

What makes your SPFBOX book unique?

It’s low fantasy, with no dragons, or spells flying around, or many people in the world aware that anything supernatural is happening at all. I think that makes the gothic element and the spooky factor heightened, because you’re never sure where the danger is coming from.

Do you have a favourite character from your SPFBOX entry? Tell us about them!

I love all my characters. Ophelia, the protagonist, full of compassion and heart and fierce when she’s put to the test, too. And I love to roast my ridiculous, Shakespeare-quoting vampire nerd Salem. I think they’re a great duo.

Writing that first 30% is always my favorite. The words flow and “every action’s an act of creation,” as the Hamilton earworm goes. The story feels organic and alive.

How does your work fit into (or challenge) its genre?

I wanted it to harken back to older-style gothics and vampire books a la Dracula where the characters really don’t know anything about the supernatural, rather than in paranormal or urban fantasy where monsters might be scary, but the characters “know how they work,” so to speak. The fear and the mystery is all in the unknown.

What do you hope readers take away from your SPFBOX entry?

I hope readers have fun! I used all the classic gothic tropes I could stuff into it as an homage to all the works that have come before, both “serious” and “campy.”

I also hope that no matter what family environment or situation they come from, they know that they are worthy of love, and not too far gone for redemption, two things the main characters have to struggle through.

What are you currently working on?

My current WIP is a secret right now! But I am also prepping the second book in my fae fantasy series for release next year, as well as another novella set in the same world.

Black and Deep Desires

Is the vampire in Ophelia’s cellar a man she can save, or a monster out for blood?

From an early age, Ophelia learned to keep her pets away from her unfeeling scientist father or they would disappear into his laboratory, never to be seen again. When her father unexpectedly returns to their isolated Yorkshire estate with a mysterious box, Ophelia’s suspicions are aroused…but nothing prepares her for the bloody business she finds.

Caged in silver and hungry, Salem is out for blood. Someone has betrayed knowledge of vampire existence to humans—but before Salem can discover who, he must escape diabolical experiments seeking the source of immortality. He cannot afford to trust the frustratingly intriguing girl who says she wants to help and smells of orange blossoms. He especially cannot wonder how she would taste.

Even though the darkly mysterious Salem insists he has no soul, that he’s dangerous, Ophelia can’t leave him to be tortured. But to help him escape, she must risk her family’s wrath—which may be a bigger threat than the monster in the cell.

The supernatural bleeds into Victorian England in this captivating YA gothic paranormal romance novel, perfect for fans of Lakesedge, Down Comes the Night, Erin A. Craig, and anyone who longs to run across a dark windswept moor in a nightgown.

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Claire Trella Hill will read anything, but fantasy romance and gothic fiction are her favorites. When Claire isn’t writing, she can be found with her nose glued to her library app, assisting with the last tricky pieces of a puzzle, swilling Dr. Pepper, collecting vintage romance covers, or cuddling with her cat.