Clancy Tucker's Blog: 25 January 2013 - HANNAH HARVEY

25 January 2013 - HANNAH HARVEY - GUEST AUTHOR

HANNAH HARVEY

- GUEST AUTHOR -

G'day guys,
I'm pleased to introduce an emerging young adult fiction writer from the UK - Hannah Harvey. Welcome, Hannah. Tell us more ...

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WRITING JOURNEY.
I’m 20 years old and I live in Britain. I’m currently studying with the Open University, focussing mainly on Creative Writing and Literature.

I’ve always liked writing, even though as a kid I wasn’t great at it. I found spelling challenging, but I soon learnt to get better.
I love to read and that really helps when it comes to my writing, because I get to see different authors styles, see what kind of stuff works and what doesn’t, so it’s really handy to read a lot.
I’ve become more focussed on my writing over the past few years, leading to me publishing my first book, which was really exciting and now I hope to continue improving and get more books out there.

WHEN AND HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?
I think what made me take up writing more seriously is NaNoWriMo. I first took part in 2009 but I didn’t finish my novel, however in 2010 I tried it again and since then I have taken part in all of the NaNo events, and won each of them.
NaNo really helped me to actually finish novels, because before that I used to always get interested in a new idea, and never finish the old one.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
Creating characters and seeing where they take me. I love that moment when I look back at a paragraph I’ve just written, and I’m surprised by the direction it’s going in.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT BEING A WRITER?
For me it’s editing, I find that a challenge and it usually takes me a really long time to get a book edited. I’m working on one at the moment and it really is slow progress. I start getting impatient because I want it finished so I can see how it turns out, but at the same time I want to make sure there aren’t any mistakes, and I like all of it.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST WRITING ACHIEVEMENT?
Without a doubt it has to be publishing and selling my first novel.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT?
I’m working on a new novel which is called ‘After Summer’ it’s a young adult fiction novel, which I wrote during Camp NaNo this year. I’m working on editing it at the moment, but there is a lot to do because the direction of the story changed mid novel, and it became something entirely different, and so now there is a lot to fix and add in.

Copyright Clancy Tucker (c)

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Books, things I see when I’m out. I also really love music when I write, because lyrics in songs or just the tune can inspire whole scenes or novels.

WHAT GENRE DO YOU WRITE?
Young Adult Fiction

DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR NEW WRITERS?
Read a lot and from different genres. Don’t give up, and try NaNoWriMo.

DO YOU SUFFER FROM WRITER’S BLOCK?
I do, I had really bad writers block during one of the Camp NaNo sessions. I had days where I just didn’t have a thing to write. I hate it when it happens, but it never lasts too long which is good.

DO YOU HAVE A PREFERRED WRITING SCHEDULE?
I don’t, mostly I just write whenever I feel like it. I’ve tried to stick to schedules before but it doesn’t work for me. Though I would say I write more at night.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE WRITING PLACE?
Anywhere quiet.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST JOY IN WRITING?
Seeing reviews of my book, and finding out that people liked it. That’s a pretty good feeling.

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHOR AND WHY?
John Green, because he creates such amazing characters and really pulls you into their world. He’s just a really clever and funny writer. I love his books.

WHAT’S THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT YOU EVER RECEIVED FROM A READER?
I was once told in a review that I had ‘some real gems of lines’ in my book. That was nice to hear.

WHAT WAS THE WORST COMMENT FROM A READER?
It’s not really a bad comment, just something that was true, but I was told that my book had quite a few grammatical errors and typos. I’m glad I heard it though because it allowed me to go back and change the mistakes, and work harder in future in my editing process.

WRITERS ARE SOMETIMES INFLUENCED BY THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN THEIR OWN LIVES. ARE YOU?
Not really.

OTHER THAN WRITING, WHAT ELSE DO YOU LOVE?
Reading is my main hobby. I also like going to the beach, and I’d really like to get into sewing and baking.

DID YOU HAVE YOUR BOOK / BOOKS PROFESSIONALLY EDITED BEFORE PUBLICATION?
I didn’t. I decided to go it alone.

DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT DAY.
It would be a warm but not too hot day, sitting on the beach with an iced coffee, a notebook, a good novel and my family to talk to.

WHAT ARE YOUR FUTURE PLANS?
Publish more books and keep working on my website.

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN ANY OF YOUR CHARACTERS?
To some extent, I’ve written a few characters who are bookworms or who are writers, but other than that not really.

DOES THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY FRUSTRATE YOU?
No, but then I’ve not really been a part of the publishing industry because I self-published.

DID YOU EVER THINK OF QUITTING?
No.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE MANUSCRIPT TO WRITE? WHY?
Probably the one I’m working on now for ‘After Summer’ because it changed so much from the original plan, and I’m excited to see how it turns out.

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE ‘SUCCESS’ AS A WRITER.
Finishing a book.

WHAT SHOULD READERS WALK AWAY FROM YOUR BOOKS KNOWING? HOW SHOULD THEY FEEL?
I guess with my books I tend to focus some hard issues, especially in my novel I’ve published, ‘How I Got Here’ deals with bullying and Cyberbullying and the effect it can have.

I’d like people to come away from my books and just think about those issues, but at the same time I want them to feel like they’ve read a good book that wasn’t too heavy or depressing.

ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?
Just thank you for having me on your blog, it’s been great to do this interview. Also thank you to all my readers and reviewers.