1. When did you start writing?

My name is Carietta Dorsch. I was named after one of my favorite horror characters Carrie. If you look at the autopsy report in the back of the novel by Stephen King, you’ll see her name was also Carietta.

I started writing while I was in prison. I served 11 years, and read so many great books, but there was a short time where I couldn’t get a book, so I began writing to be able to read something to escape the terrible circumstances I was in. I fell in love with writing, and I have been writing ever since 2012.

2. What was your journey towards becoming an author like?

Well, I started in prison, so needless to say, a pretty hard one but it was well worth it.

 3. What can you tell me about your latest book? (Feel free to include an excerpt.)

Here's an excerpt from my newest YA audience geared story Cabin Sunflower, it is a nod to the 80s slasher film:

On the outskirts of the camp was a small creek. There was a small, forgotten cabin that stood near the creek where the counselors liked to hang out. The cabin was worn down and looked as if one gust of wind would knock it down, but it was the perfect place to sneak a cigarette or have a little premarital sex.

The latter was exactly what Tiffany and Brandon were partaking in when they heard a noise that butted into their fun.

“What was that?” Tiffany asked.

“What was what?” he said. “I didn’t hear anything, I’m a little busy here.”

“I thought you said—”

“I did,” Brandon interrupted her. “No one ever comes down here.”

A scratching noise came from outside. Suddenly, the door burst open. In the doorway stood a man. He wore a strange mask that looked like a burnt burlap sack with eye-holes, and strange, colorful stitches across where the mouth should be, as if it were smiling a rainbow.

The teenagers both screamed out in terror as he charged them.

4. What sort of methods do you use for book promotion?

I like book video ads for mine.

5. Where do you get your ideas for stories? 

I usually come up with an idea doing everyday mundane things. I have suffered in the past with intrusive and wandering thoughts so I still allow my mind to go astray from time to time, but it’s all for a positive now. So, an example is I was eating Christmas cookies and watching the movie Bad Santa when I wrote the story for PsychoToxin’s “12 Days of Christmas” series, “O Come All Ye Fearful.” I sit at my computer, and I do my own voice overs, and act out the story like it’s a tiny desk stage play at my laptop, and I play all the characters. Sometimes I even play characters that aren’t in the story, but serve a role in developing the character. I always wanted to be in a horror film so doing this in the comfort of my own office is as close as I can get until I’m lucky enough for someone to give me a screen role. Hint, hint to whomever reads this.

6. What are you working on right now?

A novel about the reimagining of the Jeffrey Dahmer case, it is a what if type of story.

7. Any advice for other authors?

Keep writing. Even if you don’t like what you write, but you enjoy writing, keep writing. I never thought I would ever be published but I kept writing stories. I had fun writing, and I kept writing and got better writing the stories I had fun writing, and then I managed to get that story in front of the right pair of eyes and now I’m published.

ABOUT CARIETTA:

Carietta Dorsch currently lives in North Carolina. She has always loved horror, even at an early age, and wants nothing more than to share her love for the genre for all ages to enjoy.