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Question and Answer with P.J Hoover

acroft777
Jan 10, 2015
5 min read

Question and Answer with P.J Hoover, Author of Solstice and Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life:

P.J Hoover has written many books including The Forgottten Worlds series (starting with The Emerald Tablet), Solstice and Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life. All of these books are in the Curtis MS Library and her book Solstice and Tut are at the Allen Public Library.

1. What inspired you to become a writer? The Lord of the Rings movies! I re-read all the books and spent so much time in the world of Middle Earth, and then I decided that I could create a world of my own!

2. Which of your books is your favorite and why? TUT: THE STORY OF MY IMMORTAL LIFE because it is the one that I believed in the most and that took the longest to get published.

3. What do you do when you're not writing? Spend time with my family, watch movies, practice kung fu, put together jigsaw puzzles, solve Rubik’s cubes, fold laundry :)

4. If you could be transported into any one of your books, which one would it be and why? SOLSTICE because I’d love to experience the mythology world from the book. Some parts of the Underworld would be pretty nice to visit!

5. Which one of your characters would you most like to meet in person? Tut from TUT: THE STORY OF MY IMMORTAL LIFE

6. Is there any author whose work inspires you and helped on to writing? Great question! When I am looking at inspiration, almost any book will help. I remember that no matter how perfect a book may seem, it went through many stages of revision, and this helps me keep in mind how important revisions are and to be patient.

7. How did you choose your genre of writing? I always loved reading science fiction and fantasy, and I adored mythology, so for me, there really was no other choice. My current books are for kids and teens, but I also plan to write for adults in the future.

8. How do you write? First draft as fast as possible, then it’s on to revisions which can take a really long time. I get feedback to help with those revisions, and I also do my best to keep my mind open to possibilities about the story.

9. Have you ever experienced writers block? No! I refuse to believe in it. Some days the writing is harder than others, but it’s all in my control. It’s better to write a paragraph than to not write at all.

10. What's your worst experience as an author Rejections are never fun, especially when you believe so much in a new manuscript and somebody else doesn’t :(

11. What's your best experience (besides getting your first book published)? Having readers tell me that they’ve read and really enjoyed my books!

12. If you could choose any three words to describe yourself, what would they be and why? Enthusiastic, Optimistic, Proactive

13. Which one of your protagonist characters could easily become the antagonist without any personality changes? Tut from TUT: THE STORY OF MY IMMORTAL LIFE because he’s immortal and he has special powers, two things that I think could define an antagonist nicely!

14. What super power would you most want to have? Teleportation

15. Where do you most often write? Do you have a certain place where words come best? I have an upstairs loft office at home where I do most of my writing. My little dog sits next to me all day and keeps me company.

16. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Mint Chocolate Chip

17. What's your favorite football team? Whichever one my son is playing on :)

18. If you could go skydiving, would you? No. Way.

19. If you had to the ability to save one person's life when they needed it, who (besides yourself) would it be and why? My kids

20. In the book Princess Academy: Palace of Stone (Book 2 in the series by Shannon Hale), an interesting question arises. If a building was burning and inside were a murder and a very old but beautiful painting, which one would you save if you knew you could only save one? Why? I’d go with the painting (unless I knew and cared about the murderer). For the murderer, what if they had murdered someone I knew and cared about? What if they were just going to murder again? The painting wouldn’t have these kinds of questions.

21. If you were stranded on a deserted island alone for 35 days, what three things would you want to have with you (excluding any living beings and technology considering that it wouldn't work on the island anyways)? 1) An 8000 piece jigsaw puzzle

2) The book War and Peace

3) A notebook and pen so I could write a new book

22. If you could be any movie or book character (besides you own), who would you be and why? Bilbo Baggins because he went on such an awesome adventure and he came back to tell about it

23. If you could be any color, what would it be and how would this color portray your personality? I’d go with red because I always want to be bold and unafraid like red is. That said, I think blue would go better with my blond hair :)

24. If you had a time machine that could only be used three times to travel anywhere (not counting the return to the current era as one of these three times), how would you use it and where would you go? 1) I’d go back to biblical times so I could see what was really going on.

2) I’d go to the far future to see how much technology had advanced and changed and to see all the cool new inventions.

3) I’d go to the near future to check on the lottery numbers (which brings us nicely to the next question!) :)

25. Say you just won the lottery. What would you do with the money? Go to Disney World! Update the house. Spend money on my friends and family. And then I’d go to Disney World again :)

26. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers? Don’t. Give. Up.

27. Do you have anything to say to you me fellow readers and fans? Thank you so much for reading my books and for being excited about reading in general! Seriously, this is the best part of being an author, and I will always love it!

Read her books Solstice and Tut: The Story of My Immortal Life!