Get to know Naomi… 

Naomi Canale is a lifelong Nevadan obsessed with anything vintage and Tim Burton. In between creating art and loving on her three children, she writes young adult and new adult fiction with creepy noir themes.

She is thrilled to share her debut His Dark Ways with you. Her other work can be seen in the anthology Love Stinks and she’s currently working on a new title she can’t wait to pull out of hiding. To learn more you can follow her on Twitter or visit her blog.

Let the conversation begin! 

Can you tell us about the book you’re working on? Is it coming easily or have you run into road blocks? 

I’ve written four manuscripts over the course of ten years and I’ve been keeping it safe, until now, so I’m definitely running into road blocks. I’m writing a piece that takes place in the late 18^th, early 19^th century. Research has become my middle name, but I know it’s going to be worth it. It’s dark and moody, and I even had a friend tell me that it made her think of Dickens and Poe, like they wrote a book together, and this is it. That was SUCH a huge compliment, so now I’m on cloud nine about it. 

Here’s a small quote to give you look inside… 

“Sometimes it’s not only the night that can bring upon such frightening wonders, but the day as well. In its order, with everything seen, there too are despicable creatures that go roaming about and the worst of them are human.” 

Are you a person who makes the bed in the morning? 

I do! I love knowing a fresh made bed is waiting for me after a long day of writing. It makes me type faster. 

What was the worst advice you’ve ever been given? 

Write as fast as you can. Worst advice ever for me, I know it works well for some, but I’ve found it takes time for me to write words that matter, throwing words on the page always had disastrous outcomes for me.  

Best writing advice you’ve ever received? 

I’ve received some amazing advice through all the years I’ve been writing—there’s a pretty incredible community of writers out there. The first was, don’t give up. Simple, but yet, so many do. I’ve known (still know) many talented writers who’ve just given up, some still write but refuse to submit their work, ever, out of fear. The world is full of rejection. Even the best writers of our time have been rejected. It can be scary out in the unknown, but there is way too much emphasis put on “rejection” and not enough on “acceptance”, it can be crippling after dragging “rejection” on your shoulders for a long time. But there are a lot of human beings who will fall in love and connect with a piece, and we as writers should hang on to that, and keep writing. It’s an important gift to carry, and part of that gift can feel like it comes with a price sometimes, unraveling it for the world to see, baring our soul. But that’s okay, it comes with the territory and it can be a beautiful thing.     

If you were handed free opera tickets, would you go or sell them? 

Most definitely go! I love the opera. 

Who was your hardest character to develop? 

At one point, I wrote (in first person present tense) a demon. I was trying to get to the core of his anger and what would cause him to hate the world and that was not easy. Let’s just say I had a lot of nightmares because I have a pretty peaceful soul. 

Would you rather plan a party or attend one? 

Parties are fun to plan and I’d much rather pull all my creative juices together than socialize. I’m not completely a recluse though, I do like to come out of my cave every once in a while and talk to people, they can be pretty cool. 

If today was your last day to live, what would you do? What would you say? 

I would try to do as much good as I could in one day, kiss my family a hundred times, and put it all on YouTube. It may sound strange, but the world just needs more love/kindness and if I could share that for a split second, I would die happy.