This is an abridged version of an author interview which will be appearing in our Spring 2025 issue, Lines.

Alice Brooks is a German author with a passion for fashion, art, travel and, of course, writing. Her debut English-language novel, Don’t Trust the Raven- a mystery/low fantasy about a woman who has the power to enter and manipulate other people’s dreams- is due for release later this year.

I caught up with Alice to chat to her about her book, writing, and what she gets up to in her free time.

How did you first get into writing?

I started writing when I was a kid, with fanfiction about Warrior Cats and eventually pretty terrible prose. I don’t remember why I started, but I have always had the habit of picking up new, random hobbies and dropping them again two weeks later. I did stop writing for a long time when I was around 12 or 13 years old, and recently picked it back up in 2022. That was because I watched Stranger Things for the first time, the first show that got me into reading fanfictions again after many years and eventually into writing them myself, before I moved on to short stories and my book.

Your debut novel, Don’t Trust the Raven is due to come out later this year. Can you tell us what it’s about?

Don’t Trust the Raven is a mystery and low fantasy novel about Ellie, a young woman who feels out of control in her life. She’s in a toxic relationship, lives in the apartment she grew up in and was traumatized in, and she works a job she hates. When her older sister Mallory moves out, she has to cope with her anxieties on her own. But when she discovers that she can enter and manipulate dreams, everything changes—suddenly, she has a place she can control, a place that is only hers. She enhances her newfound abilities under the teaching eye of Aura, a beautiful inhabitant of the Dreamscapes. But when strange and painful memories begin to invade Ellie’s mind and an oddly familiar woman begins talking to her in riddles, she starts to discover that her safe haven habours a dark secret, and it’s up to her to decide who to trust. The book explores the fine line between wanting to take charge and obsessing over control. Between the chapters, the reader gets insight into a journal written by an unknown character, helping you figure out what is happening alongside with Ellie.

Can we look forward to a sequel? Or can you tell us about any other writing you’re working on now?

No sequel. I did start writing a prequel about the character Light because I think she deserves her own story and she’s a super interesting character. I haven’t gotten further than around 10k words yet, though, and I’ll save writing that for when my debut is out and people are interested in reading it. I’m currently too busy with two other projects. I can’t tell you their titles yet but one is a comedy murder novel about a recently deceased murderer who gets the chance to make up for his crimes after his death, and the grim reaper who is tasked with following him along to make sure he completes his mission.

What would you say are some of the biggest challenges facing writers nowadays?

Generative AI is one of them. People use GenAI to “write” books and slap them on the rhetorical table and make money with them. It’s not what writing is about, and it only adds to the struggle of people assuming a book is AI if it was written too quickly even if the author is just a generally fast worker. Also, getting your name out into the world in the oversaturation of social media is definitely its own challenge.

What else do you get up to when you’re not writing?

I work full-time, so that takes up a good chunk of my life. But in my free time I also enjoy drawing and videogames, as well as the occasional photoshoot. And when I have the money for it, I like to travel.

Do you have any advice for anyone out there who might be thinking about writing their first novel?

Just start. If you always think about what you might do wrong or what you need to do, you’ll never start. A shitty first draft is better than no first draft at all. Build a habit, and have fun with it. Writing is about pouring your soul onto the page, so don’t worry about pleasing anyone else with it. Just start.