AMANDA HOCKING Q&A
1.
Your
characters are sent into the Hunger Games. Who wins?
If it’s just the characters from
FREEKS, and only one could win, I would put my money on Luka or maybe Roxie.
Luka because he can heal from injuries, which gives him a crazy advantage, but
Roxie is smart and she’s a survivor. Plus, she has the power of pyrokinesis,
which I think I would come in handy in a battle to the death.
2.
What
do you listen to while you write? Or do you prefer silence?
I almost always listen to music
when I write, unless I’m writing a really difficult scene. Sometimes the silence
helps me focus, but most of the time, I prefer music. For FREEKS, I got to make
a really fun 80s playlist, so I especially enjoyed working to that.
3. What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve looked up in
the name of research – or what do you think the government has maybe flagged
you for?
There are sooo many things. For
FREEKS, I had to do fun stuff like, “What does a dead body smell like?” and
“How much blood can a human lose?” And then after those macabre questions, I
did a bunch of googling on fireflies and tarot cards. My search history when
I’m working can be pretty exciting like that.
4. What was your favorite part of writing FREEKS?
I love Southern Gothics and I
love pulpy 80s horror movies, so I was excited to be able incorporate those
things in FREEKS. But my favorite part was actually Mara and Gabe. I think they
complement each other well, and it was fun writing their banter and
flirtations.
5. Which actor/actress would you like to see playing your
main characters from FREEKS?
For Mara, I envisioned Cassie
Steele from the start. I used to be a hardcore Degrassi fan, and I loved Cassie
Steele on that. For Gabe, I like Ryan Guzman. I saw him in a Jennifer Lopez
movie, and I was like, “Yep. That could be Gabe.”
6. Do you have a special
time to write or how is your day structured?
I usually write between 11 am and
7 pm. I’ve tried to write earlier in the day and have more of a 8-5 type
schedule, but I am not a morning person. My brain just doesn’t want to work
much before noon.
7. Do you aim for
a set amount of words/pages per day?
I usually have a goal in mind
before I start writing, but it varies. Some days, it’s slow going and I hope to
get at least 500 words out. Other days, I fly through with thousands of words.
So it depends on where I’m at in the book, when it’s due, and how I’m feeling
about the whole thing.
8. When you develop your characters, do you already have
an idea of who they are before you write or do you let them develop as you go?
With all my main characters, I
have a really good idea of who they are, and it’s just a matter of showing that
to the readers. With the side characters, they tend to be rather
one-dimensional, and they grow into the story as they’re needed.
9. How did writing Freeks differ from your writing your
previous novels?
FREEKS was the first thing I had
written in awhile that was started out just for me. For most of the past ten
years, I have been writing my books with the intention of publishing them, with
the audience and readers and trends in mind. I think I had gotten a little
burnt out on trying to make everyone happy (mostly because it is impossible to
please all readers all the time), and I just wanted to write something that for
the sake of writing it.
And that turned out to be a
gothic love story about a teenage girl travelling with a band of misfits in the
1980s. It was a very cathartic writing experience for me, and it reminded me of
exactly why I loved writing in the first place – I love getting lost in the
world, with the characters.
10. If Freeks had a theme song what would it be?
Either “Hush” by Limousines or
“Head Over Heels” by Tears For Fears.
11. Can you please
tell us a little bit about Freeks and where you got the inspiration to write
it?
I was going through a rough patch,
creatively speaking, and so I just sat back and tried to think of my favorite
and what I loved most that I would want to write about.
When I was a kid, I used to get
old books at garage sales all the time, and I distinctly remember getting Cycle
of the Werewolf by Stephen King and a few old V. C. Andrews novels, which are
pulpy Southern Gothic-esque novels. I also watched The Lost Boys and Pretty in
Pink over and over again (I think I literally ruined the old VHS of The Lost
Boys from watching it too much).
So I basically threw all those
things together in a soup, and I picked apart the things I liked and wanted to
explore more. That became a travelling sideshow in the 80s stopping Louisiana,
where a supernatural monster is afoot, and a girl from the wrong side of the
tracks who is smith with a local boy with secrets of his own.
12. Freeks is full
of many amazingly talented characters and I imagine it was really fun to create
some of them, but which one was your favorite and why?
Mara and Gabe are my obvious
favorites, since they’re the main characters because I was drawn to them and
their story the most. Both of them of them have complex feelings about family
and personal identity, and their instant chemistry was fun to write.
But I think Gideon – the namesake
and head of sideshow – was actually the biggest surprise, which made him fun in
a different way. In the original outlines of the story, he was much a different
character – very one-note and cruel – but he completely changed and evolved as
I was writing.
13. The book is
based off of a type of traveling circus that is full of many mysterious acts.
If you were to attend a Freekshow, which act would you want to see most?
My favorites are usually the
acrobatics, but I think if I attended Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, I
would be most excited to see Gideon’s magic act. With his skills and knowledge,
I think it would be a really amazing show.
14. What do you
hope readers will take away from FREEKS after reading it?
With some of my other novels, I
deal with heavy themes like life and death, identity, honor, mortality,
classism, and family. And while I do definitely touch on those themes in
FREEKS, I mostly wrote it as an escape for myself, and that’s what I hope it is
for other readers. Life can be hard and frustrating, and I just wanted to write
a fun book that readers could get lost in for awhile.
15. What is something people would be surprised to know
about you?
Probably how chronically shy I
am. Writing is a weird profession, because a good 90% of it is perfect for
introverts – you sit alone by yourself and make up imaginary friends to go on
adventures. But the last 10% – which involves introducing the whole word to
your imaginary friends – is the most exciting and rewarding part, but it’s also
the most difficult when you’re as shy as I am.
Happy Reading,
Chelly
P.S. As always, find me on twitter @chellypike and let me know what you're reading.
