Arts & Literature
Local Award-Winning Fantasy Author Ellie Raine Talks About Writing
Published
2 years agoon
Ellie Raine is the award-winning author of the Adventure Fantasy series “The NecroSeam Chronicles.” Raine grew up in a family of book lovers, comic readers, and video gamers in the suburbs of Georgia and lives in Peachtree Corners where she attended Norcross High School.
In addition to writing, she has designed and created merchandise, art, and music related to her amazing fantasy series.
We talk about how she started, what inspired her and how she grew her craft and readership.
Resources:
Ellie Raine’s Website: https://www.ellieraine.com
Necroseam Website: https://www.necroseam.com
“Part of my process is kind of combining different arts into one unified piece. Because I like having the art with it and it kind of helps me think about and get a sense for who the character is, what their story is, what their personality is… There’s something about combining different creative things into one work that makes you connect with it more. It touches on all the senses.”
Ellie Raine
Timestamp, where to find it in the podcast:
- Intro
- Ellie’s Background
- Art, Music, and Writing
- Ellie’s Creative Process
- Necroseam and Other Projects
- Ellie’s Self-Publishing Journey
- Marketing, Merchandise, and Community
- Closing
Scroll down for the video podcast
Podcast Transcript
[00:00:30] Rico: Hi everyone. This is Rico Figliolini, host of Peachtree Corners Life. We have a great guest today, a Peachtree Corners resident and author Ellie Raine. Hey, Ellie.
[00:00:39] Ellie: Hi.
[00:00:39] Rico: Thanks for joining. Glad you’re with us. Before we get into the interview and introducing Ellie further, let me just say thank you to our sponsor, our corporate sponsor, EV Remodeling Inc. And Eli, the owner. They’ve been a sponsor of ours now for over a year, both of the magazine and and our journalism, and these family of podcasts. So they’re here in Peachtree Corners, based out of here. They’re really well rated on Houzz.com, if you use that to plan your remodeling work and stuff. So check them out. Eli, great guy. He has a great website, so you should go there. You’ll be able to see a lot of what he’s done, videos as well as pictures. Better than most of these remodeling places. And he does design to build, so everything you need under one house. EVRemodelingInc.com is where you can find them. So thank you Eli. So Ellie Raine is an author, she lives here in Peachtree Corners, and just to give you a little background. She has nine titles, at least as of this past summer. Nine titles in her name, right? You have a series, a five book epic fantasy series with two prequels in it. You are a two time winner, recognized by the reader’s favorite in the International Book Awards, and first place in the fantasy division for Writers Digest self-published awards. That was 2019. You know what, I took, you have a personality quiz online to see what knight…
[00:02:01] Ellie: You took it?
[00:02:02] Rico: I took it, yes, and I am blade sworn. A nd the funny part is the author that wrote this Ivy Marie Clark, that interviewed you for our print magazine had taken that same personality quiz and she was the same knight. So must be the same personality, I guess. We’re nurturing people, it was cool. So thanks for putting that there, you guys should check it out. It’s funny because it’s a small world. I saw you at the Peachtree Corners Festival, you had a booth there. And that’s how I got to know you. I bought your book, you autographed it, thank you. The next time I saw you after that was at the anime weekend, Atlanta. You had a booth there at the exhibit and also I was walking that, yeah.
[00:02:43] Ellie: Yeah, it was very unexpected.
[00:02:45] Rico: Yeah. I know. I can imagine. But it is a small world and I was there doing interviews with three voice actors for my podcasts. But tell us, you know, how long have you lived in Peachtree Corners? Let’s start there, a little background about who you are Ellie.
[00:02:59] Ellie: Alright, that’s kind of an interesting question. I actually was born and raised in Norcross, Georgia. And then it kind of became Peachtree Corners sometime around my high school years, I think.
[00:03:14] Rico: Wow.
[00:03:14] Ellie: So technically I’ve been in Peachtree Corners since it existed, I guess.
[00:03:21] Rico: Okay. Yeah, you were probably incorporated into it when the city decided to become a city.
[00:03:27] Ellie: Yeah, basically. It was a very interesting change because there was a lot of questions about what do I put on my address for my mail?
[00:03:35] Rico: Yeah. Yeah. Some people still use Norcross, believe it or not. So even companies do that, so this field, no one knows Peachtree Corners even after 10 years.
[00:03:43] Ellie: Yeah. So, you know, I went to Norcross High even though I didn’t live in Norcross anymore, according to the new city.
[00:03:53] Rico: Well, Norcross is only like one block out of the city at this point.
[00:03:57] Ellie: Yeah. For my old house, well my parents are still there. So we just basically could walk to high school if we wanted to. We never did want to though, because you know, I’m not a morning person, so.
[00:04:11] Rico: No, I can’t imagine. You’re probably more of a night person I bet.
[00:04:14] Ellie: But yeah, I went to Peachtree Elementary, I went to Pinckneyville Middle School, and I went to Norcross High school. Went to college, got married. I think we, moved to Alpharetta at some point for a year. Went to Duluth for a couple years, and now we’re back in Peachtree Corners. And I’ve got a child now, so, it’s all fun. .
[00:04:36] Rico: Is it back to Peachtree Corners because of the Covid? Or did you?
[00:04:40] Ellie: We were looking around for a house and this was right before. I think it was before Covid, or maybe it was during Covid. Either way, it was right before the housing prices just skyrocketed and we found a house in Peachtree Corners right smack dab in the middle of where both of us used to live. Because my husband is also from Peachtree Corners.
[00:05:00] Rico: Wow.
[00:05:01] Ellie: Yeah, we went to high school together and we’ve been dating since then, so.
[00:05:04] Rico: So were you writing in high school? Where’d you get this bug? This, it is a bug, right? Deciding to do this, to write.
[00:05:11] Ellie: What’s weird is I never thought of myself as a writer back in school. I have dyslexia, I’m slightly autistic, and I was a slow reader in my viewpoint. But apparently I was comparing myself to my avid reading family. So according to all my friends no, no, no, you read a lot. But writing wise, yeah, I didn’t expect to be into writing. I think I took like a, some kind of contest thing in middle school for writing and I got like a judge’s award for it. But I didn’t consider myself a writer because it was just a thing I did for school and then I went to college.
[00:05:46] Rico: Okay. I was gonna ask.
[00:05:48] Ellie: Yeah, I went to college for game art and design. So I wanted to create this story into a video game originally.
[00:05:55] Rico: Okay.
[00:05:56] Ellie: And they had a creative writing course in the Art Institute of Atlanta while I was doing that. I didn’t know what to write, so I just started writing my video game idea into a book form and I absolutely loved it. Yeah. So like art is, I have a love hate relationship with it. I really love to draw, but what I really love is just creating the story and creating the characters behind it. So art tends to make me angry the more I do it because it doesn’t fully hit, the way that I want it to. So it makes me angry. But when I was writing, I was calm and I was happy with writing.
[00:06:40] Rico: Happy with writing, that’s good.
[00:06:42] Ellie: Yeah, so that’s when I switched gears and moved on to English and all that.
[00:06:47] Rico: Yeah, okay. That’s interesting. And the fantasy aspect of it?
[00:06:52] Ellie: I was raised on fantasy. It’s basically the main genre that I absolutely adore. I grew up with Terry Pratchett, Discworld series. I grew up with dragons all over the place. Yeah, my parents just have these giant bookshelves all over the house filled with fantasy books.
[00:07:11] Rico: Oh wow.
[00:07:11] Ellie: And science fiction. But I was more into the fantasy stuff because magic, dragons, swords,
[00:07:17] Rico: King Arthur, Harry Potter, Final Fantasy?
[00:07:20] Ellie: Oh yes.
[00:07:21] Rico: As far as games and stuff. And you played Zelda, I’m assuming, and stuff like that?
[00:07:25] Ellie: Yep. All the good classics I guess you would call them.
[00:07:29] Rico: Are you into Game of Thrones? Talking about dragons.
[00:07:32] Ellie: Yeah. I mean, I read the first book. I still need to read the rest of them. I watched the show and everything, but I know that obviously it diverts from the rest of the, the series. So I kind of want more dragons. But you know, that’s me. It doesn’t mean it’s bad. I still like it. Yeah, I still like it. I just wish there were more dragons.
[00:07:51] Rico: Who’s your favorite author today? Like new authors that you might have? Are you still consuming? Like, do you still consume fantasy? Do you still read a lot? So, who now are you reading that’s new maybe or new to you?
[00:08:03] Ellie: New, I don’t know if Brandon Sanderson counts as new.
[00:08:07] Rico: Yeah, he probably doesn’t. He’s been around for a long time.
[00:08:11] Ellie: Yeah. He’s not that new, but like, so Sanderson. Rachel Aaron is another favorite of mine. She’s done The Legend of Eli series and The Heartstrikers series. It’s about dragon shifters.
[00:08:22] Rico: Okay. Okay. But you know, I was gonna say, you, not to jump, but we’re gonna jump around here probably a little bit. You have something in common with Sanderson because when I got to reading some of his stuff, I realized through interviews that he had and blog posts and stuff that the author it’s not just the books. I mean, he makes most of his money, probably more than the books, but in merchandise. And it’s kind of interesting how people have gone to that. I mean, Star Wars with Disney World and Disney World with their merchandise. It seems like if you’re writing, at least today, if you don’t have merchandise that you’re just being a disservice to yourself. Because hey, if I can listen to an audible book and pay one credit for it, I keep wondering how much the author is making on that book. So you have a tremendous amount of merchandise. Do you design some of that yourself or?
[00:09:10] Ellie: I design most, if not all, of it.
[00:09:13] Rico: Okay, but you have necklaces, pendants, and all sorts of things going on.
[00:09:17] Ellie: Yeah, some of it’s handmade with the braided bookmarks and some of the jewelry. Because I just can’t seem to pick one. That’s why I need to, I need something to do with my hands, so I just do it.
[00:09:29] Rico: Is that because of the creative side that you have, the drawing? I mean, do you sketch them out before you do it actually?
[00:09:34] Ellie: Sometimes. It’s usually best if I do, but I don’t always sketch it out first. But it does turn out much better if I do.
[00:09:43] Rico: When you got into writing and fan tasy was where you started, obviously with this. You have five books and two prequels on that series or on your best series, I guess. Tell us a little bit about that. Necroseam, is that the way you pronounce that? Tell us a little bit about how that came to you and what that story’s about.
[00:10:00] Ellie: Yeah. So, it goes back to high school. I just started drawing characters and started creating stories surrounded by these characters that I would draw. And the first one started with the main character, Xavi er. So it’s what I would be doing in math class instead of equations.
[00:10:17] Rico: Okay.
[00:10:19] Ellie: So part of my process is kind of combining different arts into one unified, I guess, piece. Because I like having the art with it and it kind of helps me think about and get a sense for who the character is, what their story is, what their personality is. And I also am a musician. I really like creating songs. I like writing songs into the stories. And if you look at our audio books I actually have the narrators produce and sing. The songs that are in the books, so we’ve got that whole deal going on. I don’t know, there’s something, there’s something about combining different creative things into one work that just kind of makes you connect with it more. It kind of touches on all the senses.
[00:11:08] Rico: Do you have a Spotify playlist?
[00:11:10] Ellie: Actually we do.
[00:11:12] Rico: You do? Okay.
[00:11:13] Ellie: That’s because my bestie slash narrator Krista, kind of started that. And she was like, these are the songs I kind of feel like would go really well with the, like, reading the books. And I was like, this is really fun. So we just started randomly gathering music that could fit with the books while reading.
[00:11:33] Rico: Right. So do you start the process actually drawing a character? Like when you think up of a character, do you sit there and draw the character first?
[00:11:41] Ellie: Most of them, yeah.
[00:11:42] Rico: And do you do, I’m assuming you do some sort of, different writers have different ways of doing this, I guess. From the ones I’ve interviewed and read about. Do you create like a background, the backstory? Do you write that out at all? Do you like create who they are, where they came from? Pros and cons of who they are and stuff? Do you create any of that before you get into the writing some of it? Or does it expand as you write?
[00:12:04] Ellie: A little of both. It really just depends on the character. If it’s the main, like the main crew of the protagonists and their friends that are part of the party, you kind of need to know every single one of them first. Their backgrounds, where they’re coming from, their personality, all of it. When it comes to secondary characters, then it’s a little bit easier to kind of work that in as you’re going. You can just go back in the editing and make it line up earlier.
[00:12:32] Rico: Do you also plot the stuff?
[00:12:34] Ellie: Oh, absolutely.
[00:12:34] Rico: The story ahead of time?
[00:12:35] Ellie: Yep. Absolutely. So, I call it an acre point plotting where I have a master outline of events that I want to happen.
[00:12:45] Rico: Okay.
[00:12:45] Ellie: And I know always where I’m going to end. So I start with where it’s going to end. And I did this for the entire series overall. So I knew where I was going to end. Then I went to figure out how I was gonna begin, and then I had one major point for the middle, which would be book three.
[00:13:05] Rico: Okay.
[00:13:06] Ellie: And once I had those three down, beginning, middle, end. Or, end, beginning, middle, however you want to do it. Once I had those down, I would kind of go into sort of more of a micro bullet point anchorings for beginning, middle, end, for the beginning. Beginning, middle, end, for the middle. Beginning, middle, end, for the end, type of thing. Sometimes I had to change what happened and then I had to like move it around because I would get to a plot point that was supposed to happen like books later. But once I got to the point in the writing itself I realized, oh, I’ve gotta do this now. So sometimes you’ve gotta be a little bit flexible with it, because otherwise if it doesn’t feel natural while you’re in the story, then it’s probably not going to translate well for readers.
[00:13:55] Rico: Not surprising. It seems like every author, the book also is alive, right? So the book is actually guiding, almost like you’re living there. It’s almost like one author I know said they can’t wait to see where their character’s gonna take them. I mean, what’s your, as far as your process layout, let’s go there a little bit. Do you have a word count or an hour count? I mean, how do you pace yourself and where do you put yourself when you write your stories?
[00:14:17] Ellie: I try and do one sentence a day. Some days I can’t do anything because you know, administration. Gotta do all that social media work.
[00:14:28] Rico: Did you say one sentence a day?
[00:14:31] Ellie: One sentence. That’s the goal. So I set small goals that are very achievable.
[00:14:37] Rico: Okay.
[00:14:37] Ellie: And it’s actually a trick. It’s like a brain chemistry trick, loophole, creating productivity.
[00:14:44] Rico: Okay.
[00:14:44] Ellie: So one sentence a day goal. You do the one sentence. And because you have achieved the goal you set out to do, you get a hit of dopamine in your brain. Which you know is like, oh, I finished my goal and now you feel great. You’re feeling wonderful. And guess what? Now you feel so good that you can keep going.
[00:15:07] Rico: That is interesting. That actually, I can see that.
[00:15:10] Ellie: And the more you add onto it, the more sentences you do. It’s like, I got so much done today. I exceeded my expectations of what I was going to do today. And it kind of just tricks your brain into thinking that you’re, you can do more. And you did like such a great job that you’ve just gotta keep going. And it gets you excited about it. So it’s like a fun little trick.
[00:15:33] Rico: Yeah, I like that. I think I’m gonna use that on my daily thing. I have a to-do list that grows every day and sometimes there’ll be days where I’ve done a lot of work. But none of it is on my to-do list. And I can see that if I do one of those items on that, I’ll probably get that dopamine feel and keep going.
[00:15:52] Ellie: Yeah, it’s, it is a fun work around.
[00:15:54] Rico: Yeah. And so in the process then, how long does it actually take to complete your first draft of a novel? I know the rest of it could take long, depending on edits. But on your first draft of a novel, how long does that take?
[00:16:07] Ellie: Well, back in the day, it used to take three months to finish a first draft, then another three months of editing. So six months to basically come out with a book. But nowadays with a child, it’s been a lot harder and much slower. So, it takes a lot of time to finish something when you don’t have childcare. So, yeah.
[00:16:30] Rico: Yeah, I can imagine.
[00:16:31] Ellie: So. It’s, I don’t even know yet. I’ve been able to finish a couple short stories, but as far as book-books go, I don’t know yet. Because I’m still in the middle of like three of them.
[00:16:43] Rico: So are you doing, so the short stories that you’re doing, are you getting those published online? Or how are you doing, how do you handle that with your readers?
[00:16:53] Ellie: Well this recent one just got accepted into an anthology. But I can’t really disclose much of that, because you know, NDAs and all that.
[00:17:01] Rico: Sure.
[00:17:01] Ellie: But so that’s going through, not myself. That is for an anthology. The other short story I have, I don’t know what to do with it yet. It’s just kind of sitting there in the ether. Waiting for some kind of opportunity for it to have a purpose.
[00:17:18] Rico: Okay. But it’s good to keep writing though. And I didn’t even think about short stories being a good conduit. Have you ever done novellas?
[00:17:26] Ellie: Oh yeah. Actually I’ve done, let’s see, 1, 2, 2 novellas. I guess this one up here is more of a traditional novel, so yeah. So my novellas range about 40,000 to 45,000 words. And one of them is the prequel to the main series, and another one is actually the first book in a series of a paranormal noir.
[00:17:53] Rico: Okay. Are you using that to sort of jumpstart that series? I’m imagining it’s going to be a series of books.
[00:17:59] Ellie: Yeah. I mean, at first I actually wrote this for one of my publishers a couple of years ago. And it was supposed to be 30,000 words according to the contract, but I ended up overshooting to like 40, 42,000. And then eventually I just did a second version for myself.
[00:18:18] Rico: And we’ll have a link in the podcast for people to go check the books out. Now, you had an interesting way I think of going about this really. You got published in the traditional sense of the word, a traditional publisher. But then you decided to go the self-publish route after that. Do you want to share a little bit about that, how that worked for you? I mean, other people that might have an interest in writing or are writing might want to look at and listen to this to see what you did.
[00:18:43] Ellie: Right. So I did start with two traditional publishers for two different stories. And for the main fantasy series the first book, it was with a small publisher and things were great. And then the second book came. It came time to publish the second book and they came back saying that it was too big for them to afford to print. So, they had to make it an ebook only or I had to split it in half. And I tried splitting it in half, and then I realized that splitting it in half for the second book meant I would have to do that for all the other books later in the series because they were all as big or bigger than that book.
[00:19:28] Rico: Right, right.
[00:19:29] Ellie: So I tried doing that, splitting everything in half. And you know, trying to fill in the gaps of, you know, oh, well now this needs a conclusion. Now this one needs a beginning and things like that.
[00:19:39] Rico: Right.
[00:19:40] Ellie: And it just was not working. It kind of broke my excitement about the story. I basically fell out of love with it being broken up like that. Because when I outline each of the books, I’m very exact about where the arc is, where it’s going, and what is considered like the whole arc. And splitting it in half just kind of threw off the rhythm and it threw off the pacing and it just felt soulless. Because I kept trying to push in just this random, empty spacing of content to try and make it the right size for compensation and it just was not working. So eventually I asked for the rights back for book one and I just took it back and put everything back together and just did it all myself.
[00:20:33] Rico: Wow, okay. So now you’re self-publishing, but people can find your books on the traditional places, right? Amazon, you even have all your books, or a decent amount on Audible, I guess people can listen to them too.
[00:20:47] Ellie: Yes. We have two audio books out right now. We are more than halfway through the third one. So it should be out by the end of this year or January latest. I can’t properly describe how much I love these audio books. They’ve ruined audio books for me. Like, my narrators are just so amazing that I actually like the audio books better than the actual physical books.
[00:21:14] Rico: That’s funny.
[00:21:14] Ellie: So yeah, I cannot recommend the audio books enough. And you know, check out my narrators, they are amazing voice actors.
[00:21:22] Rico: Some of these, I mean, when I listen to audible books, I mean some of them are performances.
[00:21:27] Ellie: Yes.
[00:21:27] Rico: That’s what you have to look at them as. They’re not just reading the story, they’re performing that story.
[00:21:31] Ellie: Yeah. And for this story, which is very much action adventure, it really suits it.
[00:21:37] Rico: That is cool. So are you working along the same chronicles that you’ve started or are you looking to getting to a different storyline? Are you launching a new story?
[00:21:48] Ellie: Both. I’ve got some extra stories, different timeline in the Necroseam world. Different characters planned, ready to go. Some of them I’ve started. But I have other stories in other worlds that I’ve been kind of working on.
[00:22:03] Rico: Okay, alright. The writer never stops. And you’ve also written a book for young readers as well. So I think that’s called A Ballad of the Ice Fairy?
[00:22:13] Ellie: Yes, I also did the illustrations for that.
[00:22:15] Rico: Beautiful work too. I was looking at it. Very nice work. And that’s available as well on demand. I’m assuming you self-published that as well?
[00:22:22] Ellie: Yes. We actually had to go through a different printer other than KDP Amazon or IngramSpark. We didn’t like the quality of their images and their paper wasn’t really that good for children’s book illustrations. So we went with a different printer and right now you can only get it directly on our website.
[00:22:43] Rico: Oh, as a digital edition? Oh, you mean the book itself?
[00:22:46] Ellie: The book itself.
[00:22:47] Rico: Okay. When you publish by a traditional publisher they have a marketing department, but the author still has to go out, do book signings, do your own promotion. You have to cultivate your own followings too. The traditional publishers, I don’t think do that as much as they used to anymore. But so you’re actually also going to a lot of different events. We saw you, like I said, at Anime Week in Atlanta, and that was surprising. But not surprising because a lot of fantasy writers do those types of things. But it looks like you’ve been, since the summer, I guess you’ve been to places like Savannah Mega ComicCon, Key City Steampunk Festival, Multiverse Fandom Convention. I haven’t heard of that one. The Conjuration, which is November fourth and sixth, just passed. And people can listen, find you, follow you on most of the social media, I guess. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. Do you do trailers for your books?
[00:23:39] Ellie: Yeah I’ve done a couple trailers. I kind of prefer the audiobook trailers now to be honest, because they just, they’re more engaging.
[00:23:46] Rico: Sure. And people can go online to your store though. I mean just like Sanderson sells swords and other things for his stuff. Which is interesting because he does it out of, I think he does it out of his house or something, is what I understood. Or maybe the pick and pack of it is somewhere else. Do you find that’s actually helped you more?
[00:24:04] Ellie: Oh my gosh, yes. Man, having the weapons is one of the dreams, man. One of the dreams. Just need the, need a bit more funding for that, so.
[00:24:14] Rico: Yeah, yeah. It’s a lot different. But the jewelry part and some of the other stuff you do it’s kind of neat to draw people right into that story. I had seen someone else, I think it was a local Georgia writer that does novels. And she actually created jewelry specifically for each of the books that she wrote. So it comes actually with that piece of jewelry and the book packaged together which is kind of interesting. So do you want to share anything else with us as far as writing methods or other things that you do? Have you gone back to Norcross Highschool? By the way, the media center, if you’ve ever gone back to talk about your books to students there?
[00:24:48] Ellie: I’ve never considered that. Is that a thing I can do?
[00:24:52] Rico: Yeah. Yeah, you can. I’m pretty sure you can. I know.
[00:24:55] Ellie: I don’t even know who to talk to about that, to be honest.
[00:24:57] Rico: You probably go to the head of the media center, at Norcross Library. They had Mayra Cuevas I think. She was a CNN producer and she wrote a book, a series of books, I think. And there were young adult novels actually from the Hispanic, Latinx point of view. And she was one of the speakers a couple of years ago there. But they do sometimes do that. And I know the Gwinnett Public Library actually does, not only in person, but online having authors come in and stuff like that. It’s kind of neat. I think young kids or adults, I mean, 30% of young adult novels are read by adults. I think those are adults that want to get back into their young, into the youngness of where they were, maybe.
[00:25:35] Ellie: Yeah, I think it’s also because young adult books don’t take themselves too seriously. So they…
[00:25:40] Rico: Yes.
[00:25:41] Ellie: They know they can have more fun with it. So if the author is having fun, the reader’s gonna have fun.
[00:25:45] Rico: Right. For sure. I mean, I’m into, I have three kids and I’m into, we watch everything from Studio Ghibli, every movie. And because of them I’m into anime and there’s a whole variety of anime from light slice of life to the stuff like Death Note. I mean, they’re all different from American animation, that’s for sure. So what else can you share with us as far as maybe that we haven’t touched upon as far as writing style or what you do as a writer?
[00:26:09] Ellie: As a writer? I mean, I feel like we’ve kind of covered that pretty extensively, but I could talk more about why the merchandising is so important.
[00:26:17] Rico: Yeah, let’s do that. How did that start?
[00:26:20] Ellie: I mean, this is just my observation from it, but the reason why I think merchandise is so important is mostly because it’s an indication that there is a community or can be a community created from this work. And I think having a community around a series is what makes a series successful. It kind of brings people together, it gives them something to talk about it kind of helps them get into the immersive nature of that story and of that series.
[00:26:51] Rico: Interesting. One of my kids, she just finished her masters in psychology and she’s into fantasy books and stuff like that. What she grew up on was like the Warrior Books, these are cat warriors and stuff. And what she’s found is that she would go online and play some fantasy role games and stuff, even now, she’s 24. Because it’s fun it’s mindless sometimes. And as she’s doing it, she’s meeting people and she’s talking to them. Like there’s, could be like, she has a group of, I think six or seven people they have discussions unrelated almost to what they’re doing. It’s just a community they built around that. She’s starting an online discord book club to talk about some of the books they all have in common that they’d like to read. Which is again, social media, so and that’s where I wanted to get to. Social media is kind of an interesting platform place that writers did not have before. And I don’t even as it was coming in, I don’t think, I mean yes, Stephen King will be on Twitter and he has millions of followers and he can tweet stuff. But do you find social media is helping you? Which platforms do you find more beneficial to you?
[00:27:49] Ellie: Yeah. Social media definitely, I think is the only way that has helped any kind of visibility, online at least. Conventions are always going to be the top, like biggest visibility jumpstarters. But online social media is pretty necessary. I haven’t had too much success with Twitter, but I have had some people meet me from Twitter specifically who came to the shows to come see me because they followed me on Twitter and or TikTok or Instagram. So there are some individuals that I do actually only talk to in those platforms because that’s where they are. So I think as an author, you need to go where your audience is.
[00:28:35] Rico: Okay. Makes sense. Do you use Reddit at all?
[00:28:38] Ellie: I’m scared of Reddit. It terrifies me.
[00:28:43] Rico: Dark web. There’s an underlying layer in there somewhere.
[00:28:49] Ellie: Yeah. I used to go on there a lot to try and figure it out how it worked, you know?
[00:28:55] Rico: Right.
[00:28:56] Ellie: But, after learning about it, it just terrified me more.
[00:29:00] Rico: I thought NextDoor, which is one of these neighborhood apps was bad, but Reddit is really bad. It’s just like, my God.
[00:29:07] Ellie: Well, if there’s a lot of fireworks that go on around here, so you know, every time you see a post on a Neighborhood or something, or Ring, it’s just like, I heard gunshots. And it’s like, yes, those are really fireworks.
[00:29:23] Rico: That’s true. I didn’t think about Ring after, I just installed that and I didn’t realize I was part of a community all of a sudden. I’m getting ring messages like your dogs, some dogs missing or gunshots. Yeah. It’s unbelievable.
[00:29:34] Ellie: Oh yeah. No, it’s been super useful whenever our cats escape. It’s like, hey, we need our cat, have you seen him?
Right, right.
[00:29:41] Rico: You know the other thing that goes on, one of my other kids also, he’s 19, he actually has been writing since he was 16. So he goes online. He used to use, I think it was WhatsApp, was one of them, was one of these online writing communities, you could serialize chapters and stuff. And he’s still writing. He writes every night. He’s 19 and he hopes to be able to be a creative writer. To make a living at it, that’s the thing.
[00:30:02] Ellie: Yeah, I was about to say, it sounds like he already is.
[00:30:05] Rico: Well, he’s, I mean, he has 200 followers right now that are like his beta readers essentially. And he is into fantasy and sci-fi. I think he’s shifting a little bit more to sci-fi than fantasy. But it is a field that I think today, I mean, he looks at it and says can I make a living at this or not? If I can’t, what do I have to do to make a living to be able to still write regularly? How do you find that? How do you balance that? You have a child, I know it takes you longer now to write. Your child will get older, be in school at some point, preschool and stuff. So it will get easier a little bit. But how do you juggle life like that?
[00:30:40] Ellie: With much difficulty and defiance. Basically it’s one of those things where if you really love something, then you basically have to fight for that time. You have to fight to find time to do it. If you really love it that much and the things that are more important to you, you will find a way and a time to do it. But I can’t really give advice on how to go about that because everybody’s situation and brain chemistry is different. So I guess the best I can say is you’ve just gotta find what works best for you. Find the method that is uniquely perfect for you.
[00:31:25] Rico: I think you gave good advice before about that one sentence goal though.
[00:31:30] Ellie: It’s a good trick.
[00:31:31] Rico: Yes, and I can see people doing that. I can see, you get that one sentence done and you feel like, wow, okay, cool.
[00:31:37] Ellie: It’s worked for me so.
[00:31:39] Rico: Well, we’ve been talking to Ellie Raine. She’s a self-published author, that has nine books, I think, right? Nine books to your name. Merchandise. She’s going strong.
She’s already, well, third audio, audible book, coming out. We’re looking forward to seeing a lot more from you. I do appreciate the time you’ve given us. Why don’t you tell everyone that might be interested where they can find more. We’ll have these links, but where should they go to find more about you?
[00:32:04] Ellie: Sure. You can go to either EllieRaine.com or Necroseam.com. That is N-E-C-R-O-S-E-A-M.com. So we have a blog. You can find me on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. It’ll all be on the website.
[00:32:22] Rico: Great. And if you have any questions for Ellie, obviously message her through through social media or put comments if you’re listening to this on Facebook. You can put your comments in that in the spot on Facebook. Again, thank you Ellie. I appreciate your time. Good luck and have a great career. Looking forward to seeing more books from you.
[00:32:40] Ellie: Me too.
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Arts & Literature
Perimeter Ballet Celebrates 30 Years of Dance and Inspiration
Published
2 weeks agoon
March 14, 2025Perimeter Ballet celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Founded in September 1995, the faith-based ballet school in Johns Creek has long been an integral part of the local arts scene and the community.
What began as a bare-bones program held in the sanctuary of Perimeter Church — on carpeted concrete floors, using the backs of chairs for barres — has grown into a respected school of more than 200 students. Ranging in age from five to 18, the young dancers at Perimeter Ballet are not only committed to the study of dance but also to using their gifts to share their faith.
According to the program’s website, their purpose is to “emphasize character along with technique … to counter the natural tendency towards self-absorption in the ballet studio.”
They are “very committed to teaching children to dance — to develop discipline, technique and musicality. [But] the Christian instructors [also] train the students in a context that understands that there’s a reason to dance.”
30 years of dance and faith
Current director, Becky Brown, has led the school for several years, growing the program while faithfully following Perimeter Ballet’s original mission. She oversees weekly classes, summer dance camps and annual productions, including an acclaimed Spring Recital and a presentation of The Nutcracker each December.
For the 30th anniversary, Brown is excited to continue the creative work of the ballet school and share their artistry and message with a larger audience.
“This year will certainly be a special time for us as we celebrate and look back on 30 wonderful years of Perimeter Ballet and 20 years for our performing company, For His Glory,” she said. “We will be performing the Nutcracker December 11–13 and will have some beautiful new costumes to commemorate the occasion. We look forward to seeing many of our alumni and their families at the performance.”
Classes and instructors
Open to the community at large, weekly classes at Perimeter Ballet range from Creative Movement, PreBallet and grade-level classes for preschoolers through third grade to more advanced classes (two or more times per week) for older students.
Summer camp sessions as well as intermediate level and advanced level intensives are also offered. For the upper-level intensives, students work on their ballet technique but also branch out into jazz and other forms of dance.
The school’s nine teachers are skilled not just as instructors but as performers themselves, having years of experience dancing with companies such as Ballet Southeast, Atlanta Ballet, North Atlanta Dance Academy and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. They bring that experience and their Christian faith to all of their classes and interactions with the young students.
For His Glory
In addition to the work they do as a ballet school, Perimeter Ballet also has an audition-selected performance company — For His Glory.
With three levels, made up of dedicated students striving to advance their skills and reach their “God-given potential while giving glory to [their] Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” the program presents several high-quality productions throughout the year.
As Perimeter Ballet shares on their website: “Dancers are trained in the ballet classics as well as contemporary forms of dance, which are used in performances, worship settings and outreach. Classical ballets … in the group’s repertoire include Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, excerpts from Four Seasons and La Fille Mal Gardee. In addition to Christmas and other outreach programs, For His Glory has danced internationally in London, India and Belarus.”
The group most recently performed Beauty & the Beast for two successful shows on stage at the Perimeter Church Sanctuary in early February of this year.
Impact and inspiration
All of this — the focus on faith and commitment to dance, the classes, intensives and stunning productions — have been a decades-long inspiration to the community and especially the student dancers who take part.
Many of the students stay with Perimeter Ballet for much of their childhood, learning and growing in dance as well as in their faith from elementary age through high school. That kind of involvement can clearly impact every aspect of their lives, from discipline learned to how they choose to interact with and be in the world.
One student, Anne Bradley Maxwell has been taking ballet with the Perimeter program since she was three years old. Now a high school junior in Peachtree Corners, she’s reflected on her time at the school and in the performance company as well as Perimeter Ballet’s milestone anniversary.
“For fifteen years … I matured within this unique, local community arts program,” she shared. “This year marks the 30th anniversary of its founding … and I’m honored to say I’ve been a student for half of that era. The talented instructors in [the] program not only helped advance me into an accomplished ballerina but also into a more faithful servant of Jesus Christ using dance as a form of worship.”
A lifelong journey
“This lifelong journey included annual seasonal training, auditions, numerous external summer intensives and wonderful performances on stages across the nation and abroad, for audiences ranging from a few dozen to several thousand,” Maxwell continued.
“… Taking ballet has instilled in me a deep understanding of perseverance and resilience. Pursuing excellence in ballet required me to overcome physical and emotional challenges … I learned to seek out solutions — whether physical therapy for healing my body or prayer and reflection to rejuvenate my spirit. These experiences have strengthened my ability to face setbacks, adapt and emerge stronger.
Ballet has cultivated in me a unique combination of athleticism, discipline and creative imagination. The most elegant performances emerge from the interplay of technical mastery and creative expression. The collaborative nature of ballet, where individuals work in harmony to create something greater than themselves, informs my approach to teamwork and innovation, both in the classroom and community.”
“… Ballet has [also] given me the gift of joy — both in experiencing it personally as a testament to Christ’s goodness and in sharing it with audiences. This joy, while intangible, is a powerful force that I hope to bring into my next chapters following high school. Whether through teaching movement, choreographing performances or exploring ways to expand ballet offerings, I aspire to enrich the community with the beauty and joy of dance.
… My time at Perimeter Ballet has equipped me with perseverance, discipline, creativity and a passion for sharing joy — qualities that I am excited to further cultivate as a young adult. These will not only enhance my personal journey but also contribute meaningfully to the rich tapestry of life. As I enter my senior year later this fall, I am full of gratitude for the solid foundation of technique and creative expression honoring God as the giver of my talent.”
Upcoming events
Perimeter Ballet’s Annual Spring Recital will be held in the Perimeter Church Sanctuary on Thursday, May 1 and Friday, May 2 from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
Summer camp sessions are scheduled for June and July. Registration will open on April 15.
2025-2026 classes will start in August with registration opening on April 15.
With help from Anne Bradley, the school is also planning a fundraiser event later in the year to mark the 30th anniversary.
For more information, visit perimeterballet.com.
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Arts & Literature
Q&A with Terry Gabbard, Norcross High’s New Theatre Director
Published
4 weeks agoon
March 4, 2025The Norcross High School drama department has a reputation for presenting quality productions each year, and 2024-2025 is no exception. They staged a one-act show of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in October followed by “Miss Nelson is Missing” in January. Next up for NHS Theatre is Matilda the Musical, set to open in April.
Leading the department this year is NHS’ new theatre director, Terry Gabbard, who came to Norcross with degrees in educational theatre and educational leadership, as well as over 20 years of public school theatre teaching and directing experience.
An award-winning director and playwright, he received the prestigious John W. Parker Award for excellence in directing in 2015, has had numerous productions named “distinguished play” from the North Carolina Theatre Conference and has three Best Musical wins from the Blumey Awards (Charlotte, NC’s version of the Tony awards).
Gabbard has also published two plays, one of which, “Our Place,” was named one of the top ten most produced short plays in American high schools.
Additionally, in 2020, his production of “Puffs” (a clever and comedic play set in the world of Harry Potter) was selected as one of only a handful of productions in America to perform at the International Thespian Society festival.
Though busy with preparations for Matilda, Gabbard recently took the time to answer a few questions about his career, his love of theatre and what’s next for the NHS drama department.
Which productions have you worked on since joining NHS?
We started off performing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in October, and we did a performance of Miss Nelson is Missing in January.
Where did you teach and direct before coming to Norcross?
I always explain that my wife supports my teaching habit, so we tend to move as her opportunities change.
I’ve taught mostly in high schools in Florida, North Carolina and now Georgia. I have taught in Gwinnett Public Schools before at Paul Duke STEM and in Cobb County at Campbell High School.
How did the move to NHS come about?
After leaving GCPS for a short few years, I was anxious to get back to this system and this community, and when this opportunity presented itself, I jumped at the chance.
Have you always had a love for theatre?
I started participating in theatre when I was in 9th grade and have never stopped. For me, the thing that drew me to the art form was the sense of community that theatre creates.
What led you to pursue a career teaching and directing? Was there a specific moment that you realized it was what you wanted to do?
When I was a senior in high school, my theatre director let me direct a play in his theatre [for] one class. This is when I realized how much I loved directing and coaching other actors.
What was it like to win the John W. Parker award in 2015? And to be recognized with so many other honors?
I have been blessed to have been recognized several times by my peers and the organizations I’ve partnered with. It’s always nice to have these recognitions, but I have come to believe that any high school theatre production is a miracle in and of itself.
Producing theatre in high schools is always a challenge and getting to opening night is always a huge accomplishment.
Will you continue playwriting in addition to your work as NHS theatre director?
I haven’t written any plays in some time, but I’m definitely starting to get the itch. All of my plays have premiered at the schools where I was teaching. I imagine a world premier will happen at Norcross pretty soon.
What can you share about the school’s upcoming Matilda the Musical production? Is it one that you’ve directed in the past?
I have never directed Matilda, and I am extremely excited for the challenge. The music is incredible, and the characters are big and over the top.
What plans do you have for the NHS theatre program for the remainder of this year and next year?
After Matilda, things wrap up for us. I haven’t yet decided what shows to tackle next year. I know that I want to find plays that have a different tone than the pieces we did this year. The shows have been comedic this year. Something more dramatic is definitely in our future.
The NHS production of Matilda the Musical opens in April.
Dates and show times are:
- Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m.
- Friday, April 25 at 7 p.m.
- Saturday, April 26 at 7 p.m.
- Sunday, April 27 at 2 p.m.
For more information, visit nhs-drama.com.
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Arts & Literature
The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People: Q&A with Author Dan Leonard
Published
1 month agoon
February 22, 2025Dan Leonard has called Peachtree Corners home for the past 42 years, working in the IT field, building a strong community of personal and professional connections and leading the local Bikes and Friends Cycling Club.
Most recently, he wrote and released his first book — a memoir titled “The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People” — adding ‘published author’ to his list of accomplishments.
Drawing on the physical challenges Dan faced (and overcame) while growing up, as well as inspiration from others, the book dives into themes of resilience and personal growth while painting a vivid picture of his family life in New England during the 60s and 70s.
Through personal narrative, he takes readers on a thought-provoking journey through his childhood and adolescence, sharing “formative experiences that were shaped by his Italian-American and Irish-German heritage.”
Dan spoke with us recently about his memoir, sharing his thoughts on the writing process, lessons learned and his future plans.
What inspired you to write a memoir? What challenges, if any, did you face?
On the surface, like many people my age closing in on 70, I wanted to leave a legacy, telling my story of resilience and transformation to hopefully inspire others.
I once read that people should consider their mental health before writing a memoir. At the time I didn’t quite appreciate that statement. Like many outgoing people, I usually enjoyed talking about myself, especially while trying to relate to others.
Writing my memoir turned out to be a very positive experience since I tried to explore my story with honesty and compassion while highlighting the people and experiences that had the most influence on me. However, in the final throes of completing a rough draft, I spent nearly two weeks without sleep and experienced daytime dream-like episodes.
For example, I have a former classmate who is a successful screenwriter, and I was intent on getting him my manuscript because I thought it might make a compelling movie!
The book took me over a year [to write] and was a worthwhile and enjoyable experience and, I would say, cathartic as well.
Can you share a little about your background? Had you written or published anything prior to this?
I spent 42 years in the Information Technology field mostly working closely with major corporations helping them streamline and digitize their operations. I began in sales and marketing and moved to management later in my career.
I have always enjoyed writing for pleasure, but much of my writing was business oriented and expected to be short and concise. I have been interviewed many times in my career leading to industry centric publications but nothing with sole direct personal benefit such as my recent memoir or upcoming novel.
The book is about resilience and recognizing that ordinary moments can have an extraordinary impact on one’s life. Have you always seen the world this way? Or was it something that came to you over time?
I have always been deeply introspective but with a strong desire to relate well with others and make friends.
Given my humble beginnings experiencing many physical challenges from night time seizures, pronated ankles, severe allergies, a slight lisp and ADD among other things, I never felt like I was working from a position of strength. I typically felt like the underdog, especially anxious to prove to both myself and others that I could be just as good.
Each triumph seemed to require an extraordinary effort sometimes just to meet the norm.
What was the most difficult or unexpected thing you encountered writing and publishing the book?
To be completely honest, the most difficult thing was to convince myself that my story was worth telling and that other people besides my family and closest friends would be truly interested.
Who was I, really? I was never a CEO, famous athlete, politician or war hero. I was just a regular guy who lived a mostly ordinary life but, in many cases, encountered extraordinary challenges.
Maybe partly because I have a tendency to be bold and take on challenges that I am not always prepared for, I would sometimes get in my head and say, “well everybody has a story, some lots more interesting than yours, so why would anyone be interested in yours?”
Early and mid-stream through my writing, there were days and even weeks when I let these thoughts stall my writing, but fortunately they were only temporary.
What lessons did you learn from the process?
You’ll have to read my book!
When I began writing the book, I was at a point where I had retired from my 42-year career and was no longer actively consulting. My life involved spending as much time as possible cycling with my club, Bikes and Friends, completing home projects and spending time with family.
I would typically rise at 7 or 8 a.m., unless I had an early bike ride, and move through the day at a very comfortable pace. Finally completing the book and committing to a marketing campaign and future publications over the next several months has given me a renewed purpose. I now start my day at 6 a.m., go to the gym and work harder, write as much as possible and seek out more purposeful endeavors.
I met [recently] with the City of Peachtree Corners to begin planning a charity ride later this year. And I am evaluating a board position at a local non-profit.
What’s the main thing you’d like readers to take away from Extraordinary Lives?
That their life is every bit as valuable as others, and if they have any interest in sharing their story or anything that they desire then to do it to their fullest!
You’re traveling for events to promote the book. Will you be doing any promotional events closer to home?
Yes, I will be speaking at the local Fowler YMCA on March 14, and as my book marketing reaches a proposed 300 platforms over the next few weeks, I expect to have at least a few nearby book signings and presence in local bookstores.
Do you have plans to write another book?
Absolutely! I am currently working on a futuristic sci-fi novel based on a group of cyclists called “Defending His Life,” which will hopefully be available by June.
The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People is available on Amazon. Are there other places readers can purchase the book?
It will also be available on BN.com and in select Barnes and Noble stores. My publisher hub partner plans to push 200+ copies out to select bookstores, so hopefully many other places [as well].
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Many people my age relate to the way things used to be, where only famous people wrote books and they were limited to highly selective publishing houses that controlled their intellectual property.
It’s a new world, anyone that has something to say can say it, and there are so many different mediums available today. Be bold and get out there and say it. Your reward will go way beyond practical measures and may certainly open up new opportunities.
If nothing else, writing my memoir has given me an opportunity to reengage with people that I haven’t talked with or thought about in years and even decades.
About The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary People
From enduring challenges and overcoming adversity to honoring the strength of family bonds, Dan’s debut book offers a look at how ordinary moments can have an extraordinary impact.
The memoir is currently available on Amazon as an e-book, hardback and paperback. It should soon be available on bn.com, at our local Barnes and Noble and in other bookstores as well.
For more information about Dan Leonard, visit booksbydanleonard.com.
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