An Interview with Hannah

Have you always wanted to write?
When I look back, I suppose I did. I always had a vivid imagination. I received my first rejection letter when I was fifteen, after submitting a love story to a woman's magazine. I didn't even have my first real boyfriend until I was nineteen-enough said!

Did anyone influence your work?
Obviously, the masterful Agatha Christie. Her skill at complex plots I still find utterly mind-boggling. Lately, I've studied Anthony Horowitz's plotting in his British television series "Foyle's War." I love the way every story detail-no matter how seemingly innocent-is connected to the plot as a whole. I like to be taken on a journey where I try to guess the outcome but can't and yet, when the culprit is revealed, it's so obvious. One of my favorite movies "The Sixth Sense" is a great example of realizing the truth was in front of you all the time.

How long did it take you to write the first book?
I'd written screenplays before and really studied the art of storytelling, character and plot. It was only four years ago that I switched to long-form narrative and that's when I enrolled in the UCLA writer's program in Los Angeles, California. I have a demanding full-time day job, but estimate that from the birth of Vicky's character, to the novel being on the shelf, was about four years.

Do you recommend writer's programs and/or support groups?
I was fortunate to have a wonderful mentor in Claire Carmichael (published as "Claire McNab") at UCLA. I needed the weekly discipline of turning in pages. It's very hard writing alone. I intend to continue participating in the writer's program. It's important to be around kindred spirits.

What's your writing schedule like?
If I'm on a deadline, I write from 4:30 am until 7:00 am before going to work; a couple of hours after work (my husband is a wonderful cook) and five or six hours on Saturdays and Sundays. If I'm just "creating" and have The Dreaded Blank Page, I try to write at least two hours a day but if traveling, even fifteen minutes is better than nothing. It's important to keep in touch with my characters because it takes too long to get back into their heads when I take a few days off.

Where do your story ideas come from?
Rural weekly newspapers with bizarre and sometimes unbelievable incidents, friends who tell me secrets-just kidding-and, I am embarrassed to admit, I do a lot of eavesdropping. I find people-watching fascinating.

Do you enjoy writing?
I loathe the first draft. It's the most painful time of all. I am irritable, neurotic, depressed. I want to take naps or alphabetize my spice cupboard. I panic that I can't do it. I eat constantly.

Have you ever suffered from writers' block?
Of course! It's hell. I spent almost six weeks on one chapter.

What's the solution?
A fellow author advises to re-read everything from the beginning of the manuscript. If that doesn't work, it's best to move on from that point and come back to it a week or two later. Sometimes it's because the section or chapter in question wasn't even necessary.

Now that you are a published author, has this changed your perception of success?
Success in any field at all demands hard work, sacrifices, and lots of luck.

What do you do for fun?
I love the countryside, movies, plays, skiing, the ocean and, of course, reading. I read a great deal-not just mysteries, but everything from horror through to classical fiction. I rarely read magazines-unless it's the agony column (for story ideas) or "Country Life" my favorite British publication.

Tell us about Vicky Hill.
Vicky is a sweet, gullible young woman with a seriously dysfunctional family. Even though her father is an armed robber on the lam, Vicky doesn't see anything unusual about that. She is always optimistic, despite whatever life throws at her.

How autobiographical is your character?
There is a part of me in all of my characters.

Do you think Vicky will ever find true love?
Don't we all, eventually?