Interview with Brooke Riley // How We Rise Book Release Tour

I'd like to welcome you all to another stop on the How We Rise book tour! 
*confetti rains down*

 

Today, I'll be interviewing the author, Brooke Riley. But before I jump into the interview, here is some information about Brooke Riley and How We Rise.


Brooke's Author Bio: 

Brooke Riley has been seriously writing novels since she was fifteen, the thrill of creating new worlds and broken humans with a greater purpose is something that inspired her to begin writing in the first place. Before then, she hated writing but loved books and literature. She's always been drawn to new worlds and fascinating books. Not limiting herself to one genre, you will find she writes in dystopian one day, contemporary another day, and even historical the day after that.

When she's not writing, Brooke is probably thinking of some random idea for a new novel that's come to her in the most inconvenient of times, and how soon she can make a Pinterest board and Spotify playlist for it.  

And (Drum roll please!) the official How We Rise book blurb!

 

 

When the truth gets you killed… will you still Rise?

Raegan MacArthur is content with her simple life. But lately, her life hasn’t been all that simple. She can’t drown out the screams in the night coming from the military base up the road. And she can’t ignore the truth behind them.

Peter Daniels thought moving back to Texas with his mom for senior year was a good thing. A chance to reconnect with old friends and finally feel at home again. But his life now can never be the same as it was six years ago.

Signs of government overreach are everywhere, and an unknown- yet familiar- enemy lurks in the shadows, watching their every move. The government is clamping down tighter and tighter on anyone who resists their ways. Raegan and Peter have to make the hardest decision they've ever faced: will they go quietly to save their lives… or will they rise?  

 

 

And on to the interview!


Hey! What comes first when starting a new book: Characters or plot?

It definitely depends on what inspired the book to begin with. When I began How We Rise, the general plot came to me first. But on a different, contemporary book I'm working on for the future, that is currently under the working title Broken Memories, the concept of the characters came to me first. I tend to focus more on the characters and their lives, personality, appearance, emotions, and more before I really dive deep into the plot.



What does your writing space look like?  
   
My writing space is at my desk in my room, which at the time of writing it has notebooks everywhere, a sketchbook, my copy of Worlds Beneath by K.A Emmons, and three types of headphones. (I am a music addict.) I have my mirror above my desk and a corkboard where I have Bible verses. I have my printer and my mason jars with all my pens for ease of access. When my desk is clean, it can be aesthetic. I focus best right here and have a hard time writing anywhere else.  

Now that you're a published author, what advice would you give your younger writer self? 

Ooh, I love this question. So something I've been really thinking on lately is how I'm grateful I didn't become a teen author like I originally planned. Not that teen authors are unqualified in any way, shape, or form. For me, personally, it would not have been my best work, my best effort, and I would be putting out a book I wasn't proud of all in the name of being a teen author. I plan to make a blog post on this later, explaining what I mean. I think teen authors are great and they impress me so much. But to my younger self, I would say not to rush and enjoy the process, you'll get there in the right time.

What were your favorite and least favorite parts of your publishing journey? 

Oof, my friends can attest to the amount of hair I pulled off my head in this journey. So, I would say obviously the best part is writing the book and having something you believe in. Though there was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, I mean literally there were a lot of tears, every part was my favorite because in this process I've learned how to publish a book. I've learned what to do and what not to do. I made mistakes along the way, but I've learned how to format books, ebooks, and constantly am trying to improve how I do those things. Everything was a learning experience that helped me appreciate this process more. I think my least favorite thing was figuring out the actual publishing part, but even that was a lesson learned.

What was the inspiration for How We Rise? 

 This question holds a special place in my heart. The inspiration came from a conversation with my dad one August evening. We were outside, and I remember we were standing by the front door waiting for my mom to call to us to turn the hose on from the other side of the house (random details, haha) and we were just talking about a lot of stuff. And suddenly this idea struck me that what if I wrote a very government gone bad kind of story. I know once we were finished outside, I rushed up the stairs. At the time, I didn't have my own laptop so I was working on their desktop in their room. And so began Peter and Raegan's journey.

   

Was there a How We Rise playlist for when you were writing? If so, can you share some (or all) of the songs on it? 

  

Yessss music!! I am addicted to music. I have over fifty playlists on Spotify. It's a problem I have no intention of fixing. I will leave the link for the entire playlist with you, but the main theme songs of the book have been Revolution by The Score and Sirens by Fleurie. But honestly, the whole playlist is just the vibe of the book. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1EpGnumvR2KPhD00SzxwPs?si=Kj2W_9lLSs2OYTn7WZSFng 

   

Final question: Where can readers find you on social media?

You can find me on Instagram @words.in.her.soul, on Twitter @wordsinhersoul, on Facebook as Brooke Riley, Author, on Pinterest at wordsinhersoul, and my blog, which is not a professional website and more of my fun space, www.wordsinhersoul.blogspot.com. 

Thank you so much, M.K, for having me on your blog! I loved all of these questions!

And I loved having you here! So excited to see How We Rise coming out!

And that's it! Be sure to swing by Brooke's blog and find the list of book tour posts and more importantly, more information about Brooke and How We Rise!

MK