Author Interview: R.R.Virdi

Posted April 2, 2015

I’m RR Virdi, author of The Grave Report, a paranormal investigator series set in NY. I live in Falls Church, Virginia. I’m 25 at the moment, I’d like to keep it that way. I’m predominantly an urban fantasy author, but I have written and will go back to writing fantasy and science fiction. I’m an ex-mechanic and still an avid car lover, video gamer, PC builder and modder. I am also a competitive napper.


  • When did you first discover your love for writing?

Age 18, summer before college, best thing ever.

  • Do you have a favourite place to write?

My room on my custom gaming PC.

  • Do you have a writing routine or process that you adhere to?

No, in all honesty, I would likely benefit from one however.

  • Are there any authors or specific books you aspire to?

Jim Butcher.

  • What inspired you to write Grave Beginnings?

I still don’t have an answer for that, I just did, and do. I don’t decide what I want to write, I just get ideas that I am overly excited about and I chase them.

  • Can you tell us a little about your book?

Grave Beginnings is a paranormal investigator novel set in New York. It follows Vincent Graves, a soul without a body, murdered by the paranormal a long time ago. He is tasked with inhabiting the body of those killed by monsters and using their bodies, skills, and memories to solve their murders for them. The catch with this is that it comes at the cost of his own original memories, the more people he helps, the more of his own memories slip away. The series begins in media res with him having done this for years and no longer aware of his original identity and life.

  • Do you have a favourite amongst all your characters?

Vincent Graves, always Vincent.

  • Does your book contain a message for readers to consider?

Hope, fighting against the odds no matter what. Sometimes you get dealt bad cards in life, it happens, don’t give up, but fight on in spite of that. Play your hand best you can.

  • Would you be interested in sharing a teaser?

Grave Beginnings

 

  • What would say has been your biggest challenge and achievement in writing Grave Beginnings?

Honestly, the biggest challenge was just getting it done. Life kept trying to get in the way. School, oh man, that and day jobs were trying to keep me away from it all. I was working so hard just to try and hit my desired word counts. It’s a challenge that honestly is still plaguing me at this time in my life. But, I’m dealing with it. I don’t have much of a choice otherwise.

  •  What have you learned about yourself as a writer through writing Grave Beginnings?

That I really love urban fantasy, myths, magic and monsters a great deal more than I originally thought. That I can devote a heck of a lot more time to something that I ever imagined possible, even after that something was done. The constant improvements, editing with my amazing editor, the new cover, all of it. It was a lot of work, still is, worth every second of it too!

  •  Do you have any advice for other aspiring authors?

Never stop working and improving on the craft. Never. Write short stories when you can, if you can. Read a lot, write a lot. Everything makes you better. Find excuses to write. I’m still in the process of developing my career, but that advice seems to be working for me. I’m an author with one novel out, and it’s doing pretty well all things considering.

  • Anything else you would like to say?

Give me a million dollars. Please? But seriously, life is short, and that’s a cliche, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. I dropped out of college, I’ll be honest here, I don’t know where my life is going. There are days I am terrified if I did the right thing. But it feels right. I have nothing to fall back on…and yet, I still know writing feels right. I don’t know what my career will look like in ten years, all I know is what I hope it looks like. And that will have to be enough. Most days it is. I’ve written Grave Beginnings, it will be in print soon. Grave Measures is with my wonderfully skilled and amazing editor, and will likely be out by early 2016. The long gap in between books was that life thing I mentioned earlier.

Don’t you hate that?

And I’m writing a new novel/series right now. So I’m working a lot, writing hasn’t given me a fully sustainable career yet, but, I’m still doing it. Something is driving me, something I can’t explain. Sometimes it pays to listen to those somethings in my opinion. Because I’m broke, but you know what? I’m still pretty happy. So yeah.

  • And finally, do you have any future works planned?

I do indeed! I have another urban fantasy series planned, I’m being a good little ink monkey and penning it as I write this, because…I have two monitors. And I have some one off novels planned as well as some short stories that will be free. Yes, free. That magical word. And I have some fantasy epics planned for the future. I’m young and insane. So I have all the time in the world and lunacy to do it all!


Blog: http://rrvirdi.com/

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/R.R-Virdi/e/B00J9PZ1YW/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1440927074&sr=8-1-spell

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rrvirdi

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rrvirdi


Leave a Reply