Ask the Author: N.L. Hiser
Answered Questions (5)
N.L. Hiser
So, most recent I will say is the debut I'm about to publish. It is a crime thriller, and I never planned on writing a crime novel. I love reading it, watching it, but never wanted to write it. But... this story kept popping into my head in my dreams, and them even during the day. I didn't write down one note for it for two years because I kept trying to ignore it, determined that I wasn't going to write crime. But then the pieces started coming together and I realized I no longer had a choice. I had to write the story in order to get it out of my head. And to be honest, it was one of the hardest books I may ever write, simply because all the threads of clues I had to string throughout. There's foreshadowing too which is an entirely different beast. But the hardest part was the mental illness aspect of it. At the time, I was trying to heal myself from toxic relationships, and at one time was experiencing four or five panic attacks a day, on top of anxiety attacks and months of depression. It was a really rough time. I poured so much of that into the MC, Adrianna. Not just for the story, or so I could relinquish some of the weight, but so other might understand what we go through daily when we deal with mental illness. It's not pretty, but it is real. And it deserves representation and more people educating themselves. Yeah, that book changed my life.
N.L. Hiser
Well, I am about to publish a rebranded debut which is exciting and a bit terrifying. But I'm also working on three other projects. 1- The Tale of Two Hearts series. It's a new adult, high fantasy series. I'm halfway through the first draft of book four and actively deep in the editing cave for the first three books of the series. I will be revealing the cover and preorder date for book one, Lost Star, very soon. And 2- I'm also starting the first draft of a paranormal horror. Title hasn't been revealed yet but will be in the coming months. I'm also actively working on short stories for my horror short story collection. I'm very busy, but I'm loving the different creative processes I've discovered I needed depending on what project I'm working on. It's made the whole experience so far very exciting and new.
N.L. Hiser
Write what stories you want to read. Regardless of the market or other people's opinions.
N.L. Hiser
To answer this, I need to explain why I became a writer. I found Poe and King when I was 6. I still don't know how or where I found those books since my parents weren't readers and my kindergarten teachers surely didn't give them to me. But somehow, I found them. Their style pulled me in. I was no longer where I had been mere moments ago. When I read their works, I could escape my life- even if only for a little while. That's when I decided I wanted to write stories like that. And then, when I was 14, I wrote a short story for a class assignment. When I stood in front of the class and read it to everyone, there was silence. Everyone hung onto every word. Even my bullies. I had built the tension up in the room with my story. My words. The way I learned to pace them like King. Then a picture fell off the wall and scared the crap out of everyone. That's when I realized I had learned how to make others feel what I wrote, just like Stephen King and Edgar Alan Poe have done for me since I was 6. I wrote my first draft of a novel that year. My very first. That's my favorite part. Helping readers escape into my worlds, pulling them in, and them experiencing the emotions of it. It's an incredible thing about art; every media of it. It can make you experience all of it. And when it does- that's magic.
N.L. Hiser
I find ways to work around it. Pushing through can sometimes stifle the creative process, creating instead, additional hurdles to deal with later in the editing cave. Instead, I like to pace, make my favorite writing snack, have a random 5 minute dance party, even jump in the shower for a bit. When I do this, it gets my mind rolling in alternative ways as if releasing the gates to the thought train station. Somehow, in the midst of the multiple layers of chaos and smoke, an idea will appear. And then it'll connect to another. And another. Before long, I've figured my way through the original "problem". 90% of the time anyways. When that doesn't work, I cook dinner or go to bed. It's sure to hit me when I decide I'm done and going to ignore it.
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