Saturday, October 6, 2012

1st Author Interview - Hannah Jayne

Hannah Jayne is the author of the Underworld Detection Agency Chronicles, which is labeled an urban fantasy.  Hannah has published 3 books in the series thus far.  She has book 4 scheduled for 2/13, book 5-10/13, and book 6-6/14.  Then that series will be done.  In the meantime, she's writing 2 young adult (YA) books that will hit the bookstores by July of next year.  And, she is writing 2 novellas about Sophie's roommate, Nina.  The 1st of those will appear in an anthology, Predator (Kensington House), on May 1, 2013.

I know you're all dying to know how I met Hannah.  This part is not much of a story.  I walked into Barnes & Noble on a Saturday, and there was Hannah manning (woman-ing? staffing?) a table near the front of the store.  I had already made a commitment to myself, and to my blog, that I would read any author that I came across, regardless of genre.  I would read at least 1 book and blog about it.  When I came across Hannah, I can't say that I was excited about reading a paranormal fantasy book with a female protagonist and, mostly, female friends (don't get me wrong - I love the female gender - but not necessarily to read about in conjunction with vampires, et al).  I'm here to say that now I'm excited I did.  I have read the first 2 books in the series and will certainly read #3 (which I own) along with #4-#6.  They are extremely entertaining with a lot of humor, believable characters (within an unbelievable context), and good plot-based mysteries - and, oh yes, vampires, fairies, werewolves (her boss), and more.

I asked Hannah how she came to be a writer.  She said it started in 2nd grade.  Her teacher gave her a creative writing assignment and returned Hannah's paper with no ugly red marks (my own daughter, Lauren, had the same experience in 2nd grade - except her teacher liked to give her students red-lined "fixers," effectively snuffing the creative juices).  This is what motivated Hannah to keep writing.

Hannah spent her first 10 years after college working in a cubicle.  At the end of that time, she quit her job and decided that she was going to write full-time.  That's a break for all of her (us) readers.  Within a 6-week period, she a) quit her job; b) experienced her house burning down (I had that happen in 1995 - definitely not fun); and c) broke up with a long-time boyfriend.  Despite all of that, she plowed on.  Her 1st book, Rebound Guy, was a romance that she self-published after being rejected 62 times!  That book didn't take off.  Then, however, she spent 4 months writing book #1, Under Wraps, of the Underworld Detection Agency Chronicles.  The book was snapped up by a publisher in 4 days!  And a career was officially born.

Every author has a different system for writing.  For Hannah, she tries to write 2000 words each day.  She starts somewhere between 6AM-7AM and stops at 5PM.  The afternoons are often taken up with business matters.  Sometimes it's easy to forget that there's more than just writing that goes into a writing career.  In any case, she does this 5 days each week.  This is a far cry from how much she wrote when she first started.  Then, it was a page a day.  She has obviously come a long way since then.

Whether I'm reading internationally known authors like Ken Follett, Jeffrey Archer, and Vince Flynn; or lesser-known authors like Hannah Jayne, I know a good, well-written book when I read it.  Hannah does not have to take a back seat to anyone.  I expect that she will be an increasingly successful author for a long time to come.  Hannah, thanks for taking the time to meet with me.  It was truly my pleasure.

PERSONAL NOTE:  Long after I met Hannah, read book #1 in the series, and blogged about it, I found out that I have a personal, 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, connection.  It turns out that Hannah's older brother Trevor, and his wife, Joy, are good friends of my son, Josh, and his wife, Jen.  On top of that, Jen knew Hannah from high school, locally here in San Jose, where Hannah was 1 year ahead.  Neat, huh?

VIDEO LINK:  If you want to see 2 videos that promote the series, go to www.udasf.com.  They total less than 4 minutes and are a lot of fun.


2 comments:

  1. So cool! I love the 6 degrees and your willingness to read any author that crosses your path. Those are often the ones that end up being special to us because we feel like we discovred them. And hats off to her 2nd grade teacher. More of them need to lose the red pen :)

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  2. Thanks, and you're right about the authors. In fact, some of my more recent favorites have come from reading new authors. It's definitely a win-win.

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