Hello, friends! I’m excited today to introduce you to a fellow animal author, Rachel Keith! Rachel and I connected when we discovered we both have a love for animals and God-glorifying stories. She is the author of The Squad: Rising series, a series about the animal world of Neftar, where the characters fight boldly for their freedom.
Get to know Rachel in the interview below! (And keep an eye out for more author interviews at my blog.)
What first inspired you to write?
My mom has been an author for most of my life, so growing up watching
her write and sell novels inspired me to do the same. I wrote countless
stories as a little kid—however, the majority of those went unfinished.
But during my tween years—which was also when the pandemic hit—I became
a very big Sonic The Hedgehog fan and wrote several complete short
stories with Sonic OCs I created. My mom suggested I write a story with
those characters but without any correlation to the Sonic canon, which I
denied was possible, but I tried it anyway. And that turned into The
Squad: Rising!
Why do you love writing?
Writing genuinely makes me excited about taking an imaginary group of
animals in an imaginary world and allowing others to visualize and
understand them the way I do. Using words to paint pictures and ignite
emotions for readers to see and feel is a privilege to me. Writing is
also sometimes easier than talking, so I can express things I want to
say through my stories.
What do you think is the most challenging part of writing?
There are a lot of writing challenges I’ve encountered over the years,
but the biggest I’ve faced more recently is when a new character enters
the scene and the plot requires the point-of-view to switch to him or
her. Oftentimes, the new character is one I haven’t “known” for long, so
writing from his or her perspective accurately without sounding like
another character can be hard. I’ve been writing as one of the Squad
members, Tina the wolf, for years, and I know her siblings and
descendants well enough to write their POVs without much difficulty if
the plot requires it. But with a brand new character, even if I know all
about this character’s personality and motives, accurately sounding like
him or her takes a lot of practice and energy.
What is your favorite part about writing?
Making the fictional world and its characters come to life is definitely
my favorite part of writing. Once it’s on the page, it’s no longer
confined to my head; anyone can explore it, which makes it feel real. I,
too, can explore that world through writing and embark on adventures
with the characters, so writing becomes less of a task and more of a
path into a deeper part of my imagination.
Tell us more about your current Work-In-Progress!
Currently, a new series is about to be released! The Squad: Rising
series ended in early 2026, but a sequel trilogy—The Squad: Dawn of the
Descendants—will begin releasing in early 2027. That’s my biggest focus
at the moment; however, the novel I’m actively working on is a chunky YA
animal fantasy novel completely unrelated to The Squad sagas. It’s
undergoing edits at the moment, but I’m not planning to release it for a
few more years, given a backlog of other projects between it and Dawn of
the Descendants.
What are some of your favorite writing resources?
There is a series of thesauri from Writers Helping Writers, which
currently include volumes on emotions, positive and negative traits,
environments, jobs, conflicts, and emotional wounds. Each subject has an
incredibly wide range of entries, with very detailed lists of associated
feelings, descriptions, and pros and cons. Especially for beginning
authors, they are a remarkable resource for learning how to
“show-don’t-tell” emotion, depict trauma in a character, or things
you’ll find in an unfamiliar environment. The two volumes of conflict
thesauri are especially helpful for deciding what problems to give
characters when it seems like they’ve already been given all the
problems!
What is the best advice you could give to a young writer?
Never give up. That’s what I always want young writers—and young
creatives in general—to know. If you give up, you never know how far you
might have gone. Improvement and learning take time, so if you’re not at
the level you want to be, that’s okay. Dedicate time and effort to
reaching that level, and one day you’ll get there. Many contests,
applications, and opportunities have come my way, and I tried as many of
them as I could even from a young age. There’s nothing scary about
stepping out and seeing what’s possible, because if the answer is “no,”
then no harm was done. At the end of the day, everyone will go about
their business like normal. But if the answer is “yes,” great things can
come from that.
One of my favorite quotes related to this subject is from the movie Sing
2, when the main character is being encouraged after a talent scout says
he’s not good enough: “Do you think you’re good enough? … Then you must
fight for what you believe in. Guts, stamina, faith—these are the things
you need now. And without them? Well, maybe that scout was right. Maybe
you’re not good enough.”
How can others support you and your writing?
The Squad: Rising series is available for purchase in ebook, paperback,
and hardback on my website, rachelkeithbooks.com, and on Amazon! If
readers are looking for clean, faith-based animal fantasy stories with
epic battles between good and evil, The Squad: Rising is the series for
you. And you can learn more about The Squad: Dawn of the Descendants on
my website; that trilogy will start releasing in January 2027. Readers
can also sign up for my newsletter on my website and get exclusive
freebies and coupons!
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