Episode 347: The Art and Business of Writing Serials— Interview with Leanna Renee Hieber

by Gabriela Pereira
published in Podcast

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing the award-winning author and my friend, Leanna Renee Hieber.

Leanna is an actress, playwright and the author of thirteen Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy novels for adults and teens. Her books have been published by Tor and Kensington Books and they include the Strangely Beautiful saga, the Magic Most Foul trilogy, the Eterna Files trilogy and The Spectral City series.

She is a four-time Prism Award winner and a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. Leanna’s short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and her books have been translated into many languages. She also has a forthcoming serialized work with Scrib’d as well as a project with Serial Box.

A woman of many talents, she tours the country performing the one-woman show By the Light of Tiffany: A Meeting with Clara Driscoll, and is also a licensed ghost tour guide for Boroughs of the Dead in New York City. Leanna has been featured in film and television on shows like Boardwalk Empire and Mysteries at the Museum. Her website is a treasure trove of writing resources and you’ll find the link (along with more info about Leanna) on the show notes page of this episode.

In this episode Leanna and I discuss:

  • How it’s important to be nimble when something like a pandemic or something else unexpected upends your schedule and projects.
  • What certain historical events and aspects of the turn of the century show up in her found-family Fantasy narrative Dead Ringer.
  • Why it was important to have discussions with her editor about how to determine stylistic writing choices and how things should end when writing a serial.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Leanna Renee Hieber

Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright and the author of thirteen Gothic, Gaslamp Fantasy novels for adults and teens for Tor and Kensington Books such as the Strangely Beautiful saga, the Magic Most Foul trilogy, the Eterna Files trilogy and The Spectral City series. The Strangely Beautiful series hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards, with revised editions now available from Tor. The Spectral City, Leanna’s new ghost-filled series set in 1899 NYC with Kensington Books, has been a bestseller across several genres and platforms.

A four-time Prism Award winner and Daphne du Maurier Award finalist, her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and her books have been translated into many languages, with forthcoming serialized work with Scrib’d. She tours the country with By the Light of Tiffany: A Meeting with Clara Driscoll, a one-woman theatrical presentation about the 19th century designer of Louis Comfort Tiffany’s lamps. A proud member of performer unions Actors Equity and SAG-AFTRA, she lives in New York City where she is a licensed ghost tour guide for Boroughs of the Dead and has been featured in film and television on shows like Boardwalk Empire and Mysteries at the Museum.

Find out more about Leanna on her website and follow her on Twitter, Instagram, YoutubeEtsy, and Facebook. Dead Ringer coming soon on Serial Box.

Dark Nest

A suspenseful and romantic space opera; love and loyalty are tested, and battle lines are drawn – amongst the stars and inside their own minds.

Chief Counsel Ariadne Corinth has just found out her long-time lover, the powerfully gifted Chief Counsel Kristov Haydn, has died. Newly evolved psychically gifted humans have been sent by the Homeworld on a space mission aboard two distinct Nests..

Relationships between the Light Nest and the Dark Nest have faltered and Ariadne is sure there is something insidious behind it. In a matter of hours, Ariadne must find out what really happened to Kristov, unite her people to discover vast new powers the Homeworld denied them, or else submit to genocide. (Cover art by Thom Truelove)

Link to Episode 347

(Right-click to download.)

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Until next week, keep writing and keep being awesome!

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