Heidi Cieciura Day 4

INTERVIEW WITH HEIDI CIECIURA


Tell us a bit about yourself…

I live with my boyfriend, our three kids and our partially sighted Collie Nimue in the South 

West of England. I started writing when I was five years old (though the books were mainly 

made up of pictures), and it grew into an obsession that has basically been the bane of my life 

ever since. I wouldn’t say I write for fun, it’s more of a compulsion, if I don’t write or at least 

think about a story for more than a few days I start to get twitchy. I completed a BA (Hons) 

in English Language and Literature in 2013 (I was 36), and I love to read books by Patricia 

Cornwell, James Patterson, Jo Nesbo, Sylvia Day…. The list is actually endless. Oh, and I’ve 

just taken up Tarot card reading for fun.

What books have you released? 

I’ve released the first two books in the Hunter Series, Affliction and The Obsidian, 

supernatural crime thrillers featuring a crime writer called Hunter Cade (who can see into the 

world of the dead), and Detective Inspector Jesse Rider of the Avon and Somerset Major 

Crimes Investigation Unit. It’s important to say that the police do all of the solving in these 

books, Hunter doesn’t actually help solve anything, his story runs parallel to the 

investigations and we see a bond between the two men develop which is relevant to future 

plot lines. I have recently released Don’t Forget Me, a romantic suspense that was going to be 

a standalone but has morphed into a trilogy because I basically couldn’t let Addison and 

Kelly Durban go. I’m looking forward to getting started on the sequel Brutal Honesty which 

is going to be written from Kelly’s point of view. He’s been through a lot including having 

his wife forget who he is, and I wanted to explore further the things that happened to him, 

how they affected him, and also how it affects Addison. 

What are you working on now?

Besides Brutal Honesty, and the third Hunter novel, I’m developing several erotic romance 

titles and an action adventure series I’m quite excited about but which has taken a lot of time 

to research. I have a list of about 25 individual novels I’m actively working on, all in various 

stages of development/completion. Needless to say, I’m going to be busy for quite some time.

What can we expect from your novels?

All my books examine sexual relationships to various degrees, I think if you can read a book 

about someone taking another person’s life, especially books that look at features of a crime 

in close detail, you should be able to read about sex, lust, love, the psychology behind the 

way people share themselves with others. As a teller of stories I’m particularly interested in 

psychology, especially the psychology of deviancy so I tend to explore dark desires in my 

books, and burrow deep down into peoples’ psyches. Hopefully my novels are entertaining, 

with well-developed characters and interesting plot lines.

What is the best thing about being an Independent Publisher?

It’s great to have the freedom to control what I write, and how often I put work out there. For 

example, I started my career with the Hunter Series and it might be that with a traditional 

publisher that is all they would want me to write, but now I’ve expanded into a different 

genre, and am developing other books in other genres and I can hit that publish button on 

two, three, four novels a year if I wanted to. 

What challenges do you face being an Independent publisher?

Not having a team behind me, someone like an agent or a publisher who has faith in your 

work. It is lonely being a writer and being an independent publisher can make you feel like 

you aren’t good enough. I hope attitudes are changing, we work just as hard as traditionally 

published authors, if not harder, we’re responsible for our covers, how our books are laid out, 

editing, marketing… Self-publishing as a viable way to get your books out there is quite new 

and there isn’t a whole lot of easily accessible information to show you how to do it. Also it’s 

a struggle to keep visible and get reviews. Any readers out there, the best thing you can do for 

an author you like is leave them a review. They will be very grateful and it could make the 

difference between them having to give up writing, or being able to continue. 

What motivates you to get up every morning and write?

I have to admit that a lot more often than I’d like I don’t feel motivated at all. It really 

depends on which part of the novel making process I’m in – I’m better at getting motivated 

when I’m at the editing stages, then the creating work is done and it’s just a case of 

improving what you already have which is a lot less demanding mentally. You can’t rely on 

being motivated – or inspired – a professional writer has to work even if they’re neither 

motivated nor inspired. Sitting down at the computer in my hazy, need-more-coffee, just-got-

the kids-to-school state I feel as if I’m never going to be able to write a cohesive sentence 

again, but the act of just trying generally gets me back into it, and by the time a few hours is 

up I’m usually flabbergasted by how much I’ve written. Basically, activity breeds more 

activity.

On a lighter note, can you give us a fun fact about yourself?

Every morning I annoy my kids by singing ridiculous songs. It’s like they’ve walked into a 

musical theatre show. They hate it, but I think a bit of singing in the morning is a great way to 

start the day on a positive note.


You can get access to all of Heidi’s books at Author Central

You can check out Heidi Cieciura's official author website

Her blog: Holding up the Mirror

Or contact her on twitter @heidicieciura

You can sign up for Heidi’s mailing list to be alerted of updates and receive a free DI Jesse

Rider novella entitled Butterfly. Just click here


You can email Heidi at heidi.cieciura.author@gmail.com