In continuing with my
spotlight of fellow authors, this month I'm interviewing Heather Hayden.
Heather writes
Sci-Fi and Fantasy for the Young Adult age group. She loves action, and has a
penchant for the unexpected. In recent months, she's been working on Of
Beauty Within, which is a novelized, gender-swapped retelling of Beauty
and the Beast. Her debut
novel, Augment, was independently published,
and mixes elements of both science and science fiction, while exploring themes
of friendship and what it means to be human.
Let's
open with something simple. When did you decide to become a writer?
Heather: I’ve been dabbling in writing for
as long as I can remember. I finished my first novel in 2007, thanks to the
challenge of National Novel Writing Month, and after that, I just kept writing.
I did NaNoWriMo every year, JanNoWriMo for as long as the forums existed, and
other writing challenges. I’ve won prizes in local contests for flash fiction
and poetry, as well. I think I always planned on writing as a hobby, but after
a few years at college, trying this, that, and the other thing, I realized that
writing was really what I wanted to do. That’s when I decided to pursue it as a
career.
I
see. Are you currently writing full-time or part-time?
Heather: A bit of both, really. My current
job is online and part-time, so I try to write whenever I’m not working.
Eventually I’d like writing to be my full-time job.
That's
a wonderful aspiration. Do you have a favourite motivational phrase to keep
yourself on track?
Heather: I have several phrases I love,
but I think in terms of motivation, CJ Cherryh takes the cake. She said: “It is
perfectly okay to write garbage - as long as you edit brilliantly.” This
strikes a deep chord in me, because as a pantser, my first drafts are often in
need of help . . . which they get during the editing process.
I
know you've published one novel already. What made you choose to pursue
independent publishing?
Heather: I wanted more control, so
publishing independently made the most sense. Plus, with hard work and a bit of
elbow grease, it’s a lot faster to self-publish books than to seek
representation. I plan on releasing two-to-four books a year, and having the
control over prices, book covers, etc., is important to me.
Very
insightful. Okay, last thing: it’s November! Are you participating again in
National Novel Writing Month this year, and, if so, what's been your experience
with it?
Heather: Yes! NaNoWriMo is actually what
first got me writing novels. I started participating in 2007 after reading a
magazine article about the challenge and finished with a 60,000 word novel
about a mute girl and cats who lived in shadows. After that, I kept writing and
didn’t look back. I’ve been participating every year since then. Some years
were more difficult than others—during high school, I had a lot more free time
(yay for homeschooling!), while during college I had to make time for my
writing among everything else. Thankfully, my college had a trimester system
and the first trimester ended mid-November—often my novel would get written
during the last two weeks!
***
Though a
part-time editor by day, Heather Hayden's not-so-secret identity is that of a writer—at night
she pours heart and soul into science fiction and fantasy novels. In March 2015
she published her first novella, Augment, a YA science fiction story filled with excitement, danger,
and the strength of friendship. She immediately began work on its sequel, Upgrade, which continues the
adventures of Viki, a girl who loves to run, and her friend Halle, an AI. You
can learn more about Heather and her
stories through her blog and her Twitter, both of which consist of equal amounts of writerly things
and random stuff she’s interested in.
