Happy Sunday! I am pleased to be here with you again, and I hope you all enjoy today’s interview. I enjoyed learning about author Hope Bolinger, her journey, and what inspires her. She has many published articles and poems and is traditionally published; at 21. If anyone has any questions for her feel free to comment on the blog or even follow her on social media. She can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and her Author Website!
**Check out the event for her Book, Blaze’s Preorder available soon!
Are you an indie author or a traditionally published author?
Traditional. My book is being published by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, through their imprint IlluminateYA.
Tell me a little about your writing journey, thus far.
Sure! I’ve been writing since I could pick up a pen, but as for books, that’s a whole other story. Novel writing began when I traversed the hallways of my high school with one of my closest friends back then. She wrote novels. I, a playwright at the time, told her how crazy she was for being able to sit and write 300-page works of art. The next week, I started my first one. Since beginning at 16, and writing 17-or-so completed novels, I finally cracked the traditional publishing code at 21.
Do you write under a pseudonym? If so explain why.
I do not write under a pseudonym.
What genre do you write and why?
I write mostly YA contemporary (with a slight speculative twist). I write YA because I love to read it. I find YA authors can tend to get away with a lot, have the most fun, but do so in a poignant, literary way. As for the speculative contemporary, life is always weird. Stick around long enough and you’ll see that normal never really means normal.
What are you currently working on?
I just finished editing the sequel to Den, the book coming out 6-3-19. I get away with murder in this sequel. About 3.5 times to be exact.
What inspired you to write your books?
A deep yearning within my gut to write. I never knew why people equated their novels to babies until I wrote one. I feel each one works something like a baby inside of me, and I simply have to birth it out. A lot of pain and frustration goes into the process (which can often last nine months with the research, writing, and editing that accompanies it). I write because I have to write. I have no other calling than to write constantly, consistently, and courageously.
What are your top 5 favorite books?
So hard to pick! I feel like I have to choose my favorite child with this question. For now (probably will change by tomorrow), The Great Gatsby, The Book Thief, The Great Divorce, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Our Town (yes, this one’s a play).
What does literary success look like to you?
Someone who managed to change one life with their writing. We can talk numbers all day, or which bestseller lists a book managed to land on. But if a reader, after reading a book, feels a call to see life or to live life differently, I call that a success.
How many hours a day do you write? What is your writing routine?
Ah, if only this was consistent. Let me answer it in this way. I usually write 2-3 books a year, and I usually write each book within the span of 1-2 months. The quickest book I wrote (co-wrote with a friend) took 9 days. The longest book (Den) took 45. Each book ranges in word count from 60k-90K, so I would say about 2,000 words a day would take about two hours a day (I write about 1,000 words per hour). As for the off-season (when I’m editing or researching), I also write for various publications. I have about 250 of my works published right now (ranging from newspaper articles to plays to poems). I would say about 2 or so hours are spent on that type of writing each day.
If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it be and why?
Oh goodness, wouldn’t we all have wished to write Harry Potter? It came out the year I was born, however, so I imagine it would’ve been difficult to pen it in the womb.
What advice would you like to give to aspiring authors?
Never stop writing, and never give up. As someone who struggles with depression, I know firsthand the difficulty of rolling out of bed to face yet another rejection letter. I’ve gotten hundreds at this point. Keep going anyway. Those stories burning inside your gut need to find their way onto paper. They need to be heard. So let them be heard.
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