Author Spotlight: Mia Hoddell Guest Post

Today I'm pleased to welcome author Mia Hoddell to the blog to talk a little bit about her book and being a writer. After reading this post, I have to say I'm a fan and can't wait to read the new book!

Guest Post by Mia Hoddell

My first clue that I would end up becoming an author probably should have come from my high school English lessons, yet I didn’t pick up on it until a few years later. During those lessons my teacher used to make us review a different book we had read every month. However because I was never interested in reading/writing until 2009, I used to make up my own books, which I got away with it for a while. Later on though, I discovered some books that really interested me and from then on I have developed a love of both.

I started off writing short stories all with paranormal aspects; and my first was about a WW1 soldiers who died in battle then returned as a lost soul. I am hooked on paranormal books and ideas so my writing generally includes some aspects of this or fit into the paranormal genre. I may decide to change and write something different in the future, but for now the ideas in my head are all paranormal.

The short stories I had written previously helped me to develop the main theme of The Wanderers Trilogy. The idea for the first scene in The Sheol came from a song I had found on youtube. I started writing about the clear image I had in my head of a woman wearing black and standing on the edge of a cliff while the sun set. And from there the story slowly developed. I hadn’t really thought it through up until that point; all I knew was I wanted a strong female lead and something to do with lost souls.

Once I had finally planned the whole trilogy, I had no trouble finding suitable names for most of my characters. I looked up names with the meaning "darkness," to fit in with the dark paranormal romance theme, and stumbled upon Kala; it seemed perfect. After that most of the other names seemed to fall in place; all but Nachtmahr’s anyway. I had written the whole book before finding him a name, just using a line instead (something I later regretted when I had to go back and edit it all). I spent three days trying to find a suitable name for my bad guy before finally settling on Nachtmahr (meaning nightmare in German). I’m very picky with names and if I have even the slightest doubt, I will not use it.

I wrote during my summer holidays and sometimes would stay up until 4am writing, just losing myself in the story. However, by the time I reached chapter 6, I had unfortunately run out of holiday and was stuck with a heavy work load so my writing was put on hold for two years. Finally I was able to get back to my novel though and I was desperate to finish it. I made my writing my priority and spent 4hours minimum writing everyday. Within two weeks I had finished the novel.

The task of writing the book seemed easier than inventing a title at this point; and there was also the editing. I originally settled on 'Earthbound' but something told me this wasn't right so I decided to keep it simple and use the main dark supernatural force 'The Sheol' (meaning a place where the dead congregate) as the title. After this, three painful months were spent editing before I shot photos for the cover and uploaded my first book to Amazon. From there on the sequels to The Wanderer Trilogy have been created and I have more ideas I am working on, all from different influences; some real life and some from dreams.

Thanks so much for taking the time to be here Mia! More information on Mia and The Sheol can be found here:

Her website
Purchase @ Amazon

The Sheol (The Wanderer Trilogy #1) by Mia Hoddell

Book Trailer:

Descriptions:

The Sheol - the first book in The Wanderer Trilogy.

Being a trained killer, Kala can handle most things the world throws at her. However, when she murders her fiance, Kala's life is thrown into chaos. Forced to leave everything behind, she runs from city to city, in fear of her psychotic boss who is seeking her death. If that wasn't enough, she also has to cope with the re-appearance of her dead fiance who is struggling to keep a hold on his sanity as he strives for revenge.