Writing Multi-Genres with Gillian

  Our March author spotlight is a lovely lady who writes multiple genres under four different names. Brandi Gillian is most known for her romance stories, but she also writes gay romance, horror, thriller, and young adult. 

  "I write under several names. Brandi Gillian, Faolan Kurayami, Rayne Cross, and B.G. Loree," stated Gillian. "Brandi Gillian is my real name. Faolan Kurayami and Rayne Cross are pen names, and B.G. Loree is a play on my real name."

  When Gillian entered the publishing world, she used her alter ego Kuryami. She started as a gay romance author and branched out into other genres over time. 

  Gillian explained, "I started writing as Faolan Kurayami over 10 years ago as a gay romance author. At the time, a lot of the authors or writers I knew used pen names. It was for privacy. So, I came up with Faolan Kurayami. I started Rayne Cross a little over a year ago because with Rayne I can write creepy, scary, and horror, and not have romance as a focal point. B.G. Loree will be for YA, possibly releasing the first under this name in November. I went this way because under my real name, I can write some really sexy scenes and if YA readers look me up they should find B.G., not Brandi."

  Gillian's books range in age level from YA to 18+. Gillian, Kurayami, and Cross contain 18+ materials while Loree writes for 13+. Gillian stated that her age levels ultimately depend on her readers.

  Gillian published her first book under the name Faolan Kurayami in November 2012. The book's title was Be My Bad Boy, but it is no longer available for purchase. Let It Snow was the first story published under Gillian's real name in 2014 and was featured in the Bound With a Billionaire anthology. 

  In September of 2021, Rayne Cross made her debut with Any Other Door in an anthology titled The 13th Room. The story has since been released solo, outside of the anthology. 

 

  I recently read Gillian's Stalker Under the Mistletoe and found it to be a superb short story. This story is short but it has suspense and romance. It has thriller vibes as an author is stalked by a fan. She seeks the aid of her brother and friends, including the guy she's had a crush on since forever. The stalker, however, is willing to cross any line needed to win her heart. The ending is kind of sudden and cliffhanger like, but that’s because this is the first book in a series and I suspect certain storylines will be continued in book two.

  "My style has changed a lot as I have expanded on the genres I write, as well as going from gay romance+ to include romance+ as myself and or no romance as Rayne," remarked Gillian. "I also write better because I've learned what works for me and what doesn't. But, let's face it, I'm still learning and always will be. I've also started trying to have a minimum and maximum word count when writing chapters. I noted some of my chapters were either really short or ridiculously long, so I started trying to balance that out. I've found this has kept my chapters from dragging too much. My routine has changed a lot. I'm a mom now and I wasn't when I first started publishing, so I don't have full-day writing sprees. I write when I can during the day, and most are written at night. Writing sprees are a great way for me to get words down."

  When it comes to plotting her stories, Gillian prefers to wing things. She stated, "I mostly wing it. Writing a set-in-stone outline kills the ideas and makes the story feel like more of a chore to write. I do come up with characters and bits I want to appear in the story, but usually, they are on post-its as reminders. I try different ways of keeping track of my book information, especially for a series. I've started a series Bible for a series releasing in an AMR anthology: Soul Retrieval, on April 27th. I like how it's going so far, having all the information from book one ready for when I write book two. Now, I do have a few books I have outlined, but I use a method using post-its. It lets me outline but I can move scenes around as I go if needed, or add and remove scenes as needed."

  The post-it note method Gillian uses for organizing her books is similar to the one I use. Post-its are popular for pantsers because we don't fully outline our stories and sometimes still need to see scenes organized so to help with the overall plot. Writing on sticky notes and placing them somewhere visible allows the writer to move, add, and remove notes as needed while providing a visual representation of their work. 

  "Most of the time I have the story at least halfway written before I have a title," continued Gillian. "Characters can be devils to create. One of the lead male characters in Wolf’s Vengeance (Noah) went through several changes even as I was writing the book. He was so difficult to express and not have him be a total asshole, personally, I like an asshole character but even I couldn’t stand him. Some characters just write themselves, while others I have to scrap over and over before I get them right. I like finding photos online to understand what they look like. Some characters are inspired by one or two photos while others are inspired by more. Personalities and quirks depend on what is needed for that book." 

  When asked where her favorite place is to write, Gillian replied, "My couch honestly. I don’t have a writing cave and the best spot for me to get any words written is from my couch. Now I can write from just about anywhere since I use Google Docs and it’s synced on my phone so if I’m out running errands with someone, I can write just as well from there as I do my phone."

     Gillian is a night owl and mostly writes between 3:00-6:00 am while her boys are sleeping. Her go-to writing snack is, "I like food that doesn’t need a utensil while I write unless it’s cereal. I love a bowl of late-night writing cereal. But usually, something like chips or candy is great for me to munch on while writing. Crackers with cheese or sliced cucumbers with some salt are a great snack for writing too."

   Gillian enjoys writing for anthologies and stated, "Honestly, I haven’t released a lot on my own, the last few years I’ve written for a lot of Anthologies and haven’t taken much time to rerelease those books. I’ve got a goal this year to get more of my books out over the next three years across all of my names. But since those release dates are set for me, I advertise more and more the closer the date gets to release. Often the Coordinator or one of the Authors sets up a party in a Facebook group for release day. It can be hard to stay on track, I’m a procrastinator and research junkie. I can start looking something up for a book and three hours later I’m on topic five of a research spiral. I have set a word count for each day, if I pass it that’s great but it doesn’t come off the next day’s count. I find that if I’m a stickler for the dedicated word count per day and not subtracting for the next day I have started writing more and more. Now don’t get me wrong, I have days I don’t reach my goal, and other days I don’t get a word written but those word counts get added back in over several days. If I don’t set this goal for myself and force myself to stick with it, I’ll spend all my time on background stuff readers never see."

      To writers just starting their stories, Gillian says, "There is a lot of advice they are going to get from authors that mean well and authors that know what they are talking about. It’s up to them to take each piece of advice and figure out if it works for them. Don’t be afraid to step outside of the box your particular genre is in. You’re going to meet Gatekeepers of those genres but it’s up to you if you want to stay within the gate or push through them. Yes, you need an Editor. No, self-editing is not enough. If you put a book up for pre-order on Amazon, try making sure your manuscript is submitted at least three days before the due date they give you! If it’s a longer book have it submitted at least a week from that due date. If you miss a pre-order and it’s your first time, message Amazon for forgiveness. You get ONE forgiveness, and after that, you lose pre-order privileges for a year. Get a planner, there are ones for 6 years, mark your dates, and check back often. At least once a week."