Thursday, March 5, 2015

Friday - Joan Hall Hovey is talking about Heroes, Heroines and Villains #BooksWeLove #MFRWauthor

1.      Do you write a single genre or do your fingers flow over the keys creating tales in many forms? Does your reading choices reflect your writing choices? Are there genres you wouldn’t attempt?
The suspense genre allows me to explore the deepest and darkest corners of the human psyche.  It’s such a wonderful genre to work in because I can weave in paranormal, romance, mystery… I’m only limited by my imagination, which is pretty active..   The one genre I’m not likely to attempt writing in  is  erotica.  I don’t enjoy reading it,  so wouldn’t do it justice..  
 
2.      Heroes, Heroines, Villains. Which are your favorite to write? Does one of these come easy and why?
None of it comes easy to me.  I find writing a novel to be very hard work,  though it’s work that I also find more satisfying than any other.  A big part of my difficulty is that I tend to get in my own way, and start second – guessing myself.  It’s not easy putting your work (yourself) out there, never knowing if it will be praised or ridiculed. You just have to rise above the fear and do what you know how to do when all cylinders are firing.  Those times are the rewards of being a writer and well worth fighting through the droughts.

 As for a preference between writing from a heroine’s point of view or the villain’s,  – .they are all people and their emotions run the gamut from love to jealousy, envy and hatred – emotions we can all relate to.  It’s all a matter of degree.
 
3.      Heroes. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or plain imagination create the man you want every reader to love? Do they come before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?
I don’t think you can create a hero, or a villain for that matter, that every reader will love so I don’t try to do that. Instead,  If I create characters that I find appealing and interesting, there’s a good chance others will too.
 
4. Heroines. How do you find them? Do pictures, real life or imagination create the woman you want the reader to root for? Do they appear before the plot or after you have the idea for the story?   The characters and the story thread sort of weave themselves into one another, constantly changing and shifting until a story begins to solidify in my imagination.  During this time I’ m making copious notes and my subconscious, now that it knows I’m serious because I’m showing up for work everyday,  is also working to help me.  Now I begin writing.   That can take weeks, even months.  And then come the revisions and edits. 
 
4.      Villains or villainesses or an antagonist, since they don’t always have to be the bad guy or girl. They can be a person opposed to the hero’s or heroine’s obtaining their goal. How do you choose one? How do you make them human?

I draw deeply on my own life.  That’s really all we have.  Who we are in large part is how we respond to our life experiences.  Having said that, the heroine isn’t me –  she’s generally thinner, prettier, stronger and smarter – but she’s in part me.  You can learn a lot about an author from her work.  Her likes, dislikes, philosophy of life, are all left on the page.
 
6. What is your latest release? Who is the hero, heroine and or the villain?

My latest release is The Deepest Dark.   Telling you a bit about it seems the best way to answer this question.

 Following the deaths of her husband, Corey, and ten year old daughter Ellie in a traffic accident, author Abby Miller sinks ever deeper into depression. She contemplates suicide as a way to be with them, and to end her unrelenting pain.

In a last desperate effort to find peace, she drives to Loon Lake where they last vacationed together, wanting to believe they will be waiting for her there. At least in spirit. Barring that, the pills Doctor Gregory gave her to help her sleep, are in her purse.

The cabin at Loon Lake was her and Corey’s secret hideaway, and not even Abby’s sister, Karen, to whom she is close, knows where it is. But someone else does. He is one of three men who have escaped from Pennington prison. They are dangerous predators who will stop at nothing to get what they want - and to keep from going back to prison. Having already committed the worst of crimes, they have nothing to lose.

Unknowingly, Abby is on a collision course with evil itself. And the decision of whether to live or die will soon be wrenched from her hands.

 
7. What are you working on now?

I’ve just begun making notes for Gone Missing (a working title) about a woman whose husband has disappeared seemingly, into thin air.    
 
8. How can people find you?
                Websitehttp://www.joanhallhovey.com
                Blog
                Twitter:  https://twitter.com/joanhh
                Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/joan.h.hovey

The Deepest Dark: http://amzn.com/B00K9E7EHY    

  

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