Please welcome Stacey Pierson to my blog this morning. Good morning, Stacey! I’m glad you were able to join us today. Shall we have a chat?  

1. Please introduce yourself to those reading this blog post.

I’m Stacey L. Pierson. I am a horror writer living in Louisiana. By day I take notes and door dash, by night I write.

2. Has writing always been part of your life and when did you “know” that it was time to start writing your first book?

For me writing has always been my escape and the one thing I constantly had morning, noon, and night. I was a military brat, so moving around it was hard to keep friendships. But I never lost and made friends with the characters I created in wild adventures I put them through.

3. How difficult was it writing your first book?

With Vale, my YA bayou murder mystery I rewrote it 17 times. I didn’t have the voice for a long time until one day I placed a new character into it. Dark Descendants, my Creole Island horror, I knew what was happening with every key stroke. And my third not yet out Static, had it own floe. I was just riding the waves.

• Have you ever wanted to give up and what stopped you?

Oh yeah. I love twisting tropes in everything I write. When it came to finding my novels homes, it was hard. With every query, I felt I was taking a few steps back when someone said that what I was writing was too different. I wanted to quit, but didn’t because if I love the idea, then someone out there will too.

• Who is the most supportive of you and your dream to be a writer?

My parents for sure. They are the best when it comes to beta reading and tossing ideas out. They have never had a problem telling this or that could be better, work on this, and I am blown away I forgot I was reading your word. And always telling how proud and howe much they love me.

6. Anything specific you want to tell your readers?

Get through the first chapter. Lean into the characters words, and more importantly remember you are not in control when you fall for the words. And enjoy the ride because things are going to get bumpy with my stories. But fun.

7. What is the best advice given to you (book or otherwise), and by whom?

Look at everything like a reader. Would you read that book? Would you read that type of story? If yes, then write it because if you love it, then others will too. And the person who told me this is my mom.

8. What is your target audience and what aspect of your writing do you feel targets that audience?

I love horror. I want to have horror readers on the edge of their chairs like they are watching a movie. But I also love good thrillers. I want thriller readers to find the thrill inside the lines between the horror. It may be hidden but it’s there. I love the aspect of my writing, always asking the question what if in everything chapter. You never know where and how far I will write a character and scene.

9. Did the cover evolve the same way, or did you work with someone to make it come together for you?

For Dark Descendants I had a wonderful cover designer, A.A. Medina. All I did was mentioned a few things and let him take over. He buried the body in the right place with DD’s cover. Pure horror love.

10. What are you working on now? Can we get a peek, an excerpt?

I am working on a few things right now. But yes, I can share a line from one of them. It’s from my smalltown horror – “I might regret it in the end, but I am going to do everything I can to prove what I saw.”

11. Any last words before we wrap things up?

When writing a fist draft, don’t worry how long it is, how many notes you write in the margins, or writing in caps PUT SOMETHING HERE…just get it done. Once you feel you have sone the best you can, print it off, and have a blast editing and adding all through it.

My poem, “My Little Dragonfly,” appeared in Collected Whispers, The International Library of Poetry, in 2008. My YA novel, Vale, was released by Darkstroke Publishing in July 2022, as was my haunting poetry, Carnival, which appeared in Abditory Literary Journal’s Issue One: Mirabilia. Dark Descendants, my Creole Island horror novel, was published by Anuci Press and came out in May. Static, a different kind of ghost story, will be released in October 2024.

Website – StaceyLPierson | Links to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube – Linkr

 X – @SuperStacey318

Instagram/Threads – @superstacey318

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/httpslinkrbiostaceylpierson

Amazon – https://a.co/d/cepODWB

B&N – Dark Descendants by Stacey L Pierson, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Anuci Press – Dark Descendants | Anuci Press (anuci-press.com)