A note: I've been having some problems with Blogger lately, in regards to font (mostly changing mid-post, and I can't find anything in the HTML that could be causing it) and images (being super big or super small), so if anything looks wonky, it's because I haven't figured out how to fix it yet. -_-
This month, donate any amount or subscribe to Hazel through her
Ko-Fi account and get an exclusive sneak peek of the next book in the Concerto universe,
Requiem in Red!
Also check out this
Rafflecopter giveaway!
For now, here's an interview with Hazel!
----
1. How did publishing your first book change your process
of writing?
I’m not really sure it did change my overall process. I think
I’ve always written stories for myself first which is what I would advise all
aspiring writers to do. Whether people want like what I write or not doesn’t
really worry me. If people enjoy my books, that makes me happy, but if they
don’t that’s okay too. I guess if anything, it has made me more conscious of
editing by writing, haha.
2. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?
I actually tend to read a lot of under-appreciated books
because I kind of have an allergy to things that are super popular. Two that
come to mind are the Knight and Rogue series by Hilari Bell and The
Secret Journeys of Jack London by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon. Both
of which are very good, but people hardly know they exist.
3. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you
spend researching before beginning a book?
This can change depending on the book. Like, with Concerto,
the conception to finished first draft was about three and a half months. I
wrote this one really quickly. Typically, I will spend about a month
researching and outlining a book, which I still did for this one pretty much,
though this was one of those books that I wasn’t entirely sure what sort of
research I would need so ended up doing a lot of it during the writing process.
If I’m doing a historical novel, I will typically start gathering information
and spending a couple months immersing myself in the time period and stuff. I
feel like I always end up researching the most random things, especially for
books like this.
4. Since you write a lot of alter-earth/fantasy-history
(futuristic in this case), what would you say are the ethics of writing about
historical figures?
Well, I have written historical figures into several of my
books. I feel like as long as you keep them true to what we know about them,
then I don’t personally have a problem with changing up the storyline a little
bit. There’s been some really good alternate history stories. Like, I kind of
liked Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith because I
think he did a great job of keeping Lincoln in character. NOT a fan of
revisionist history. There’s a difference between good historical fiction and
revisionist history. Revisionist history is when you for some reason change a
figure’s ethnicity to prove some sort of point. Like a certain story about a
founding father with a musical inclination. Then you have historical fiction,
like Peaky Blinders, where the historical person gets killed off so the
original main character can rise to power. I don’t really have a problem with
this as it’s still fiction. (Sorry about the long answer! XD)
----
Author Bio
I'm an Indie writer, book lover, coffee connoisseur and history buff and folklorist. On a normal day you'll either find me reading, writing or on Goodreads talking to other writers. Author of On a Foreign Field, The Modern Tales of Na Fianna series and others.
Find her online at:
Blog
Ko-Fi
Goodreads
Instagram
I'm an Indie writer, book lover, coffee connoisseur and history buff and
folklorist. On a normal day you'll either find me reading, writing or
on Goodreads talking to other writers. Author of On a Foreign Field, The
Modern Tales of Na Fianna series and others.
