Topic: YA author interview
Title: ErRatic
Author N.D. Hansen-Hill
ISBN 9781594146435
Publisher Five Star
Places to purchase http://www.amazon.com/ErRatic-Five-Science-Fiction-Fantasy/dp/1594146438/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214327265&sr=1-1
(or request it at your local library)
Cost US $25.95 (hard cover edition)
Pages 335
Contact information.
http://www.ndhansen-hill.com/
Are you a Stephen King, John Saul or Dean Koontz fan? I am. I’ve been hunting for a new author. They don’t write fast enough, and I’m a horror novel snob. I’ve not been able to find one until now.
I have to admit when I offered to interview the author of ErRatic and asked for a book she had written, I fully expected to be unimpressed.
I was pleasantly surprised. Her rich descriptions make you feel like you are in the middle of those terrifying scenes. The head hopping between one character’s mind to the next is natural. The reader is always able to easily determine in which person’s head they are inside. (point of view).
I encourage anyone that wants their spine to tingle or stand on end to pick up a copy today. If you want to write horror, you could learn much by reading and analyzing ErRatic.
Q: What do you find difficult/challenging about switching point of view? Your book flows from one characters POV to another's and is seamless. Can you share your secret?
A: I understand POV is one of my faults, LOL, and I have to credit the editors of ErRatic for helping me in that respect! I learned a great deal about keeping in one person's perspective from them. I also learned a bit about "grounding" my characters. It's not enough to have them speak - they must be somewhere. Sounds silly, but as a reader I know I appreciate being able to picture a character in a physical location, whether a room, or a forest setting - whatever is called for.
Q: Do you have a timeline you follow ie...so many words per day, per week, per month, time spent writing goals and plan of action?
A: I try to write a 1000 words per day, and if I'm working on multiple projects, as is usually the case, I'll try to do 1000 words on each. That said, I have another job, plus there are always edits from publishers and other demands on my time. Usually, I'll carry out with 1000 to 3000 words/day when I'm trying to finish something up, then when I get under the 20,000 words remaining mark, I'll abandon everything else and rush to finish. At the moment, I have 4 projects in edit, so I'm working on rewriting and getting them out to publishers instead.
Q: Do you write and edit as you write? Do you let a book rest before the final edit?
A: Usually, at the start of each writing session, I'll reread what I wrote the day before and edit what I can. This usually smooths things enough that come final edit time I have fewer mistakes to correct. I almost always let a book rest before the final edit. If, for any reason, I can't, I'll play that old editor's trick of completely changing the font type and size, so it looks "different". That's good for catching mistakes you failed to see the first time through.
Q: Can you describe your "writer's area" ie desk, books, etc...
A: Messy. Disordered. Useless to almost anyone but me! My Inbox is a stack of papers, and my place is rather small, so I'm content if I have room to sit, and move my feet. The only time I get frustrated is when I rearrange the furniture and don't leave myself a place to push back my chair. I never realized how many times a day I slouch back to consider a scene until I tried to do it and couldn't! That lasted about 2 days before I rearranged things. I have boxes of my books here and there, and keep promising myself I'll do something about them, but...
Q: How do you make a scene scary? What's the key?
A: I'm there. When I'm writing a scene I'm actually there. I am the hero/heroine, fending off the demons. I reproduce the things that would/do frighten me onto the monitor - try to describe what I'm visualizing. I think I must have a vivid imagination. There are times I even scare myself !
Q: What is your main obstacle in writing and editing?
A: Time...plus I hate editing. I think most writers do. When you're writing, you feel as though you're being creative, but when you're editing, you're tearing down, attempting to fix what you found difficult to "fix" the first time around, and there's no more putting off till tomorrow the mistakes you made yesterday!
Q: How did you/do you market your books?
A: I belong to a number of Yahoo groups, blogs, and visit forum sites. Unfortunately, I don't do these things nearly as often as I should! I don't like to be a "hit and run" group visitor (it makes me feel guilty), but it's difficult to find time for much more.
Q: Can you walk us through your journey to publication?
A: This depends on the book. SF books have a much more limited number of places to submit than romance novels. I'll do the edits, check and double-check the formatting requirements for the particular publisher, then submit online. I prefer online submissions because I live in New Zealand, which is so far from most publishers, and shipping of manuscripts costs. If the editors comment, or offer me feedback, I look at it seriously, particularly if I hear the same criticism from several sources (it may mean something of a rewrite is called for). That hasn't happened for a while, though, and I generally sub to several publishers at once, but advise them if they ask for the entire manuscript that it is also being considered elsewhere. If a manuscript is rejected because it doesn't fit into one publisher's program, I'll turn around and sub it elsewhere the same day. There's no point in dwelling on rejection. Publishing is a business, and they may not be publishing/promoting your kind of book, or they may have filled their lists, etc.
Q:-How many publishers did you submit to?
A: Over the years? Hundreds. I have 6 publishers at this point, with 30+ books/novellas contracted.
Q:-How long did it take from acceptance to publication?
A: That depends on the book. Some can publish within several months, but some take over a year. ErRatic was the longest, followed by some of my Cerridwen Press novels. ErRatic took around 15, 16 months, I believe, from acceptance to release. Most independent publishers don't leave sufficient time to garner reviews from the larger magazines, because at the time of release, the book is released as an ebook, rather than print. ErRatic was for the library markets, and was released in hard cover.
Q: Is there anything you would like to share with us about writing in this genre?
A: Think scary, and be scared! Put yourself in the situation, and do your research. Research is absolutely vital - it's not good enough to claim "I know about ghosts because my house is haunted". That may help render effects, but you need to know your stuff, from parapsychology to the many different ways a haunting can present itself, so the situations your characters face can become increasingly more dire. Readers like a buildup to the finale.
