The Imaginary Worlds of R.E. Carr

R.E. Carr used to review video games and now writes novels. While many writers might say they have imaginary friends, she doesn’t stop with those. She keeps going into imaginary universes, which she enjoys sharing with other people through her work.

Photo courtesy of RE Carr

Daily Dragon (DD): When did you know you wanted to write fiction?

R.E. Carr (REC): Well, I wrote my first book with chapters when I was eight. That might have been a slight clue I was interested in words. The bug only intensified once I started playing TTRPGs and wrote whole novels as character backstories. I submitted my first full-length epic fantasy novel for publication at the ripe old age of sixteen.

DD: What was the first fiction you wrote?

REC: It was totally horror. “Jinkie the Ghost” was the name, and I remember it was very scary to my cousin but not to me since I was already reading Dean R. Koontz at that age. My mother never looked at the books I popped in the cart at the supermarket. It involved a hyper spirit trying their very best to be a good ghost and haunt the local cemetery, but they always got distracted by things like a cat. Did I mention I wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until I was in my forties?

DD: What kinds of video games did you review?

REC: I have literally reviewed everything from Barbie Horse Adventures to Halo 2. The unglamorous side of writing about games is that for every A-list title, there are boatloads of smaller games from indie gems to monstrosities that crash your system every five minutes—and you end up appreciating those crashes as they break up the monotonous gameplay. My specialty, though, was RPGs, the Final Fantasy series holding a special place in my heart.

DD: Would you briefly describe your journey from game reviewer to novelist?

REC: I started writing for MyGamer.com in the early 2000s, worked my way up to editor in chief for a spell, and then took time away to raise my son. Stepping away from that grind, and probably the lack of sleep, too, made me rethink my priorities and throw myself back into my true love—writing novels. It hit me that life was too short to stay away from my biggest passion, and I’ve never looked back.

DD: What was your first published work?

REC: Fast forward to 2016, and I was about to give up on my childhood dream of writing. My friend forwarded me information on the Kindle Scout program from Amazon, and my coworkers dared me to write one more book based on a series of rules they listed. My vampire comedy, Four, ended up being the result, and somehow I was selected as one of the winners. Seriously, I’m still waiting for the email to come that it was somehow a mistake.

DD: What is the Rules Undying series about?

REC: If you ever wanted to find out what the love child of Interview with the Vampire and Office Space would be, throw in Arthurian lore, and throw out the idea that vampires have magic, then you’d get Rules Undying. It’s a black comedy series that follows all the people on the fringes of vampire society, a.k.a. newborn vamps, werewolves, and their abused human assistants. It also throws in a splash of romance and a dash of science all to make some urban fantasy shenanigans. Warning—you’ll never think of a blender the same way again.

DD: Who are the False Icons?

REC: So, this happens to be my take on the Icons of the Tome of Bill/Bill of the Dead universe. All the characters in False Icons are the also-rans, the impostors, the B-squad, if you will. The main character, Jessie, is basically a bioengineered Buffy who is constantly trying her best while always in over her head. There may also be death otters and a song about toast mixed into the insanity.

DD: You write that series with Rick Gualtieri. How did the two of you decide to collaborate?

REC: We discovered through years of moderating a Facebook group together that we share a brain. He was thinking about opening up his world to have collaborators and side stories, and my try-hard soul immediately wrote a twenty-eight-page outline and pitch for him. Please note, he has yet to read this, but we worked together anyway.

DD: For writers considering collaboration, will you briefly describe your joint process?

REC: The biggest part of the process is to communicate clearly and trust that anything can be fixed in edits. We tend to alternate passes on the project to make sure that both our author voices fuse into one (like Firestorm on a whole lot of caffeine). I fully confess to being a pantser, but on collaborative fiction I will acquiesce to a rough outline so that we don’t get too confused.

DD: Has anything about collaboration surprised you?

REC: The utter joy, when you are writing alternating chapters, of writing your co-author into a corner just to see how crazy they are in writing their way out of it. Also, it’s amazing how many random messages you can send to each other at 7AM.

DD: The two of you also collaborated on a book called Sins of the Past that’s a crossover between two series. Please tell us how you went about weaving the two together.

REC: It started as a “what if” conversation. We took two side characters and played around with the idea of them getting stranded together and used to uncover a sinister plot under the city of Boston. It also gave our two amazing narrators, Andrea Emmes and Christopher John Fetherolf, a chance to interact. Considering how popular audio is with our audiences, it was a dream come true.

DD: You participate in the Authors & Dragons series Shingles. What is that series about?

REC: Shingles is basically Goosebumps but for adults. It’s a chance to have fun with shorter fiction. As I was a big fan of the ’80s Super Mario Brothers Super Show cartoon series, I did my own take on the once-a-month The Legend of Zelda cartoon that snuck in there and actually inserted a series within the series. My G.I.R.L (Guy in Real Life) saga had its beginnings in the bowels of Shingles, and it’s where I have fun both with LitRPG and paying homage to the games that helped me get started in professional writing.

DD: Who is the accidental summoner?

REC: Meg Ryan Reynolds is an ordinary girl working a dead-end job and stuck living at home because she can’t afford her own place. All that changes when she gets one hell of a bad burrito. You’ve heard how there are no atheists in foxholes. Well, there aren’t many when you get epic food poisoning either. She ends up making a deal with “Charlie,” a demon also stuck in a dead-end job and unable to get his own place because the boomer demons won’t retire. Hijinks ensue.

DD: Do you have any advice for writers just starting out?

REC: Whatever you do, don’t give up. I know it sounds cheesy, but I had one manuscript that was old enough to drink by the time it got published. Ninety-nine percent of writers who start a book don’t finish it. Be that spectacular one percent of one percent. Be the sparkling, creative unicorn that lives deep within your heart. I believe in you, so internalize that and be awesome.

DD: What’s next for you?

REC: I am currently about 700 pages into the world’s most epic cozy fantasy, Xenia’s Bakery for Beasts. I wanted to write an isekai [a Japanese word for “different world” that refers to a genre of fiction where the protagonist is transported to or reincarnated into a different, unfamiliar place] that combines The Great British Bake-Off and Blazing Saddles. Assuming I finish it and get it edited sometime between now and the heat death of the universe, we’re gonna be golden.

To learn more about R.E. Carr and her work, visit her website, https://www.rachelecarr.com or find her on social media:

Author of the article

Nancy Northcott is the Comics Track Director for ConTinual. She's also a lifelong fan of comics, science fiction, fantasy, and history. Her published works include the Boar King's Honor historical fantasy trilogy and the Arachnid Files romantic suspense series. Collaborating with Jeanne Adams, she also writes the Outcast Station science fiction mystery series.