This Week’s Feature Author Interview with
Amy J Hamilton
Hi Amy J Hamilton, welcome to the Indie Publishing Group website. Introduce yourself to us. Tell everyone who you are, where you’re from, what do you enjoy doing, hobbies and interests.
My name is Amy J Hamilton. I’ve given up telling people I’m from another planet because they think I’m joking. I have a husband and two teenage kids, a degu (small fluffy animal), tropical fish, a small tortoise with a missing back foot and a bearded dragon which flies and breathes fire. (Lie.) When I have free time I bake, just made some lemon and ginger cookies if you’d like one. It’s OK I haven’t killed anyone yet. I also do cross stitch, walk a lot (not at the same time) and once upon a time before having kids and hot wax became a dodgy combination-I used to make candles.
When did you start writing and why?
When I was 8 years old my Dad bought me an A4 lined notebook one summer holiday and told me that he wanted me to keep a diary. I think he was quite surprised when I wrote a page every day for the next ten years of my life. It’s called blogging these days. How times have changed.
Which is your favorite book you have written and what gave you the idea for it?
That’s a difficult one. Although to date I’ve only published one book, Modified, I do like the dark, futuristic, dystopian Blue Lights which I hope to finish just as soon as I’ve finished Modified 2. Blue Lights was an idea that grew from a call out from a publisher.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
1 of 2 things I don’t like about writing-naming stuff. It drives me mad. Most of the names I come up with sound like drivel. Just before I was about to throw the laptop at the wall, I realised that as the book was primarily about genetically modifying people to be super soldiers with curious results, I could call the book Modified and be done with it.
Who helped you with the cover? Or did your design it yourself? What was your inspiration for your cover design?
2 of 2 things I don’t like about writing-cover design. The first cover was one I put together myself. I soon threw that out in favour of a free picture I found on the web and with my very basic skills I managed to put some words on it and a bunch of lines that may or may not look like an ECG. If I was any good at graphics I’d enjoy it more. What I didn’t want to do was to use a typical erotica cover for a book that to me wasn’t a typical erotica story. It was more of a Sci Fi based story with sex in it, hence the Sci Fi cover.
What are some of the themes of your story?
Have you ever had a job where you have all of the responsibilities on your shoulders but none of the authority or knowledge to make things happen in the way they should? That’s one of the situations that the main character Dayton Bracknell finds himself in.
What’s your process when you sit down and decide to start writing a book? What is your process and do you have a system?
I don’t really have a system or a process. A books sometimes starts with a line of dialogue that a character said to me whilst standing in the middle of my brain when I’m out shopping or something equally inconvenient. Other times I’ll have a weird recurring dream. I usually grab a coffee. I’ll sit and think for a bit. Then I’ll reheat the coffee in the microwave. When I get to what I think is about half way through the entire story I realise that if I don’t start making notes on upcoming scenes I’m going to forget everything. After I’ve thrown the current coffee down the sink I usually realise that nothing I’ve written has anything to do with the weird recurring dream which is a shame because I was enjoying that at the time.
Who are some of your favorite characters and why?
Of the characters I’ve written I really like Sam and Gabe from Blue Lights. Sam is a cop, slightly reckless with his own safety, loves the thrill of the chase. Gabe is a medic, the responsible voice of reason.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
I never considered myself at all well-read until I had to whittle this list down! Growing up I loved reading the horror books of James Herbert and the medical thrillers of Robin Cook. I love Agatha Christie, I believe I still have 20 novels to read-I’ll get there, she wrote something like 80! Mark Tufo’s Zombie Fallout series is a current favourite. I love zombies-couldn’t eat a whole one. I thoroughly enjoyed the Cut and Run Series by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux and also books by Josh Lanyon. There are so many others from many different genres that I could mention.
Have you got anything you’re working on now?
The sequel to Modified is about half written. I’ll be grateful when Sam and Gabe from Blue Lights have decided if they are going to stay as a novella or be a longer novel. The very first book I wrote but haven’t published needs a polish. Then there’s always that odd thing I started writing a few weeks ago about a confused guy called Tate. Neither of us is sure where that is going.
If you could have any super powers what would they be?
I’d be invisible. It would be great to go anywhere and do anything without anyone being able to see your mistakes.
If you could travel to any location in the world where would you go?
Quite like the idea of visiting the ice hotel one year. Although I’m not a great fan of the cold…
Where do you hope to be in 5 years’ time?
I would love to be writing full time within 5 years.
Thanks so much for taking the time to do an author interview. Take a minute and check Amy J Hamilton out on the links below.
