Raven McAllan - An Interview

When my first release with Evernight Publishing came out last year (a short story called A Secret Love) Raven McAllan was one of the first authors who really welcomed me to the Evernight family. 

Raven is a fellow Scot and a wonderful writer (as well as Evernight, she has been published by Breathless Press, Totally Bound Publishing and Just Ink Press). I am delighted she has agreed to come over to my little blog to allow me to probe her (naughty!) with some hard (minds out of the gutter, please) and not-so-hard hitting questions. So, Raven. Let's get down to business. ;-)

Tell us a little bit about yourself. 
This is the hard bit. I never know what to say. Hi I’m Raven. I live in Scotland with my DH. Our kids have grown up and moved away, so we rattle around in a house much too big for us. However, we live on the edge of a Forest, and I sit in my study and watch birds, wildlife and the occasional lost tourists meander past. (It’s a one track road that goes by our house, and disintegrates into a track a few yards further on, so why people think it’s the main road to the city I have no idea.)

I’m refusing to grow old gracefully, and enjoying every minute of it. 


I love traveling, fine wine and a good book. I hate liver and midges, especially midges. They’re not called the scourge of Scotland for nothing.

Let’s start with the basics. Why write?

Why not? No let’s be serious here. I can’t imagine not writing. I was an only child but never lonely. I had my imagination, and was always making up stories for my dolls. Then when I had children, bed time stories always seemed to be ‘one of mum’s’. It was a step further to put them down on paper I guess. It’s part of me. 

If I couldn’t write there would be a great big hole where my writing should be. Even on holiday I try to write a few words every day. If I don’t know I can spend an hour sorting my characters out I get twitchy. And long haul flights are great for writing, even if you do get your WIP read when you leave your seat to go to the loo.

And why did you write this book? Why now? 
I started the Dommissima series because I was interested about what BDSM means to people. I’d heard so many conflicting ideas, and so many arguments, I thought hold on. Who dares tell me what I do is right, wrong or indifferent? How you and your partner define what you do is up to you, and no one else. It’s no one else’s business. No two people will ever see it the same way, and to me that’s how it should be. 

Then this got me thinking, what if you couldn’t agree with your partner what works, or you couldn’t articulate what you do and don’t want? That started the first book Master. A short story about the club hit me ( The Girl on the Bus). Then a secondary character from Master, Athol insisted on having his story told (A Dom’s Decision) and now Nina’s Dom is about someone who makes a very brief appearance in A Dom’s Decision.

Each book, I hope, explores what BDSM or kink or, yes even vanilla, means to people. I’m convinced there’s a little bit of kink in all of us, even if your kink is having no kink.


I had no idea that Nina would be so insistent on having her story told, but once she shouted, I knew I had to act. Now I hope people will like it.

Are you ever conscious of wanting to share a message through your work? If so, what is it? 

I would just like people to finish it and think 'Ahhh'. That’s so nice. Or even just make them think about something they hadn’t paid attention to before. I write for entertainment, and a chance to get away from all the worries and tribulations of everyday life.

If I gave you permission to rewrite the first book you ever had published, would you? 

You mean The Story of Rumple Rabbit? *giggle* That was written for my kids when they were little and a friend illustrated it for me. 

Wallflowers Don’t Wilt? The first adult book published? I love the premise of the story, but I could write it better now, so yes, probably.

Are you the same author now as you were when you started? 

Not at all. I hope I write better now. I’m learning all the time. I push myself out of my comfort zone almost constantly as I strive to be a better author. That sounds incredibly pretentious and up my own A**, but I listen and, I hope, learn from editors and readers.

It’s Friday night and I’m going to give you two hundred quid to spend getting up to whatever mischief you want. Which of your characters are you going to take with you and what are you going to do? 

I’m taking Raig from The Price to Pay, and we’re going to his fairground to, ahem, ride the roundabout…Then it’s out to a local chippie for Gluten-Free Fish and Chips. Before you say ‘cheap date’ I want a bottle of Dom Perignon 2004 with them!

And finally. In a world where you and your characters co-exist, who would be your best friend, and whose invitation to dinner keeps getting lost in the mail?

Athol would definitely be a best friend (A Dom’s Decision), and Vairi from The Price to Pay. 


Hmm lost invitations… Well I would have said someone from my YA I write as J. Lilley, a guy Called Struan Scott, who is not a nice person in The Shalean Moon series. But as I’m writing about him in a NA, and I think he might be about to redeem himself, I’m a bit stuck. I have to like something about my characters or I can’t do them justice. Mind you Gussie in the Behind Closed Doors Series I wrote with Lee Brazil isn’t a nice person, so let’s say her.

I'd like to thank Raven so much for stopping by. It's been a real pleasure, as always!

If you fancy learning more about Raven and her extensive back catalogue, you can pay her a visit over on her own little corner of the internet here and you can join us both back here tomorrow when Raven will be sharing a teaser from her new release 'Miss Simpkins' School: Jane'. 

See you tomorrow, Raven!