Hello. Whispers readers! Please welcome author Linda Hoover as she shares some interview questions with us.
Thanks for joining us on "Wahoo Wednesday," Linda!
Thank you for hosting me, Peg. I appreciate the opportunity to share Lighter Than Air with a new audience.
Tell us about your writing:
I’ve been writing since 1999 but didn’t publish until 2016. I wrote my first book in a few months, then joined a writing group where I heard all about authors getting multiple rejections before being accepted by either an agent or publisher. I felt bad for all those other writers, but I knew my book would be accepted immediately. Over time I realized I had a lot to learn. It’s one thing to tell a good story and another to craft a story a reader can get lost in. I ended up putting that story on the shelf and working on two others. One, Mountain Prophecy, published in October 2016 and my second, which I’m celebrating today, Wahoo Wednesday, is Lighter Than Air, out in October 2018.
When I choose names for my characters, I want them to be appropriate for the time period and nationality. I have some baby name books that have been helpful, but I also do Google searches. Lighter Than Air takes place in England in 1900, so I looked at names popular there from 1875 onward. In some cases, I’ll name a character to fit their personality. I’ve found it’s essential to keep a character list with names, physical traits, and back story. I don’t want to talk about Joy for most of the book and suddenly start calling her Grace. Or mention Joy’s blue eyes that somehow turn green.
Researching for the books I write is a pleasure. Not only do I look for character names, as I mentioned earlier, but I find out everything I can about the story’s location and time period. It turns out Brighton, the closest city to Julia in Lighter Than Air, was quite the tourist destination, which is why I chose that spot. I also want to know what kind of jobs people did? What did they wear? What did they do for fun? What transportation was available? What kind of trees and flowers grew there? How long would it have taken to get from point A to B? I look for these answers in books and online. I’ll come to a time when I have more information than I can use and have to stop.
I plan to have my next book out by this fall, 2019. I pulled that first manuscript off the shelf and am revising and applying lessons learned along the way. The title is Heart’s Desire and it’s set in 1870, Boston. Julia, a young lady from one of Boston’s old families, falls in love with a young man from the merchant class, but that’s not the only obstacle. Julia’s father is being blackmailed and he is pressuring her to marry the man, who is also from one of the old families. She must choose her heart’s desire and risk her family’s ruin or marry the man to protect her father’s reputation and the family’s place in society.
Tell us something about yourself:
I love writing, creating stories and characters. Their voices and personalities are in my head, almost like a family. I enjoy spending time with them and can’t wait until I can quit my day job and park myself in my office. However, I do have other interests. It’s a joy to be with my real family. I like to have everyone around my table so I can cook for them. You’ll find me looking through cookbooks and magazines for new recipes. If the meal gets a thumbs up it will be added into the rotation. If they tell me, “I don’t don’t ever want to eat that again.”, the recipe goes in the trash. I have a sweet tooth, so dessert recipes take up more space in my recipe boxes and binders than anything else.
Reading is something else I love to do. I used to get in trouble at school for reading when I was supposed to be doing something else. My favorite genre is fantasy, but I enjoy others as well. I tend to lean more toward historic stories. I would love to go to Brighton and some of the places in books I’ve read, but I wouldn’t want to travel back in time. I enjoy reading about it and visiting historic places, but I’m too attached to modern conveniences to live in a time period without them.
Tell us about your book:
Back-cover copy:
In
1900, near Brighton, England, Elena Bishop and Justin Ramsay face situations
that will change their lives as they know it. They believe they have a plan to
fix their problems, even if it means only one of them will have a happy ending.
They have no idea how much trouble they'll face along the way, and they
certainly don't anticipate falling in love. Ultimately the time comes when they
must admit they have no real control. Trusting God to take care of the
circumstances is the only way to find peace, even if it means Elena and her
father will lose their home and Justin is sent to join a military regiment in
India. Will God provide a happy ending for both Elena and Justin?
Available in print or eBook on Amazon at:
https://amzn.to/2UFwWig
About the Author:
Linda Hoover lives in west-central Ohio with her husband, daughter, grandson and a cat who thinks he owns the house. She earned a degree in psychology at Anderson University where she learned the voices in her head were actually characters from stories waiting to be told.
By day, Linda works as a library assistant at a branch of the county’s public library system where two of her duties include choosing books for the young adult and Christian fiction areas. As a result, she has a very long “To Read” list. In her spare time, she writes the stories her voices tell her.
Visit Linda at www.facebook.com/LindaHooverAuthor
About the Giveaway:
Linda is offering a free eBook copy of LIGHTER THAN AIR to one of this post readers. Just leave a comment below with your name and contact information to be entered in the drawing. Giveaway ends one week from today on Wednesday, March 20, a MIDNIGHT, Central time. Winner will be notified via email, which is why we need your contact info.
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