School of the Ages

I'm pleased to welcome at last YA bestseller Holly Hook. Holly's first novel, Tempest, was one of the top books for Kindle in 2010. I was pleased to be an advance reviewer for her second novel, Rita Morse and the Sinister Shadow, and Holly returned the favor by looking over my second novel, Level Three's Dream. Holly has just published two novels this year! She is maintaining two series at once -- I wish I could do that...

Introduce yourself and where you are from.

My name is Holly Hook and I've lived in Michigan pretty much all of my life.

Talk about your decision to be a writer.

I always liked coming up with stories as a kid. Why not do it now? I know I made the decision at a very young age.

What do you do when you aren't writing?

Usually working at my day job. If Ihave a bit of spare time, I also do video game commentaries.

Your idea of having people transform into natural disasters is one of the newest ideas to reach YA fiction in years. Where did it come from?

A dream I had one night after eating some old food I probably shouldn't have. Well, it gave me the idea for Tempest, actually.

Your novels feature continuous action with very little down time for the characters. Why do you find this strategy so valuable?

I like to keep the reader hooked with action. I always hated it when a book started with action for its prologue, then went to some boring office/dinner scene in Chapter One. I didn't want to write something like that.

Describe your experience of being a self-published author.

It's been up and down. There is some stigma involved, but for me, it's better than trying for decades to get an agent to notice my work.

Totally agree with that, Holly. I got very sick of submitting to agents who wouldn't bother to acknowledge that I had done so.

You are writing two series at once. Tell us about theseries and also talk about how it feels to write a series.

The other series is the Rita Morse series. That one's more middle grade, and like the Destroyers series, I'm planning on having five books completed.

What is coming up next for you?

Several more Young Adult projects. A novella based on what would happen if commercials come to life. Plus I need to finish the two series I've started now.

Holly, I hereby appoint you to the unpaid post of Official School of the Ages Meteorologist. 

Where can we learn more about your work?

My website: http://hollyannehook.wordpress.com/

I found some other links for Holly:

http://astorybookworld.blogspot.com/2011/07/interview-with-author-holly-hook.html

http://thesouthernscrawl.blogspot.com/2011/12/author-spotlight-holly-hooks-tempest.html

http://www.whatsyourstorybookreviews.com/2011/08/author-interview-holly-hook.html