KT Hall interview

1: What is the most productive time of the day for you to write?

It depends. I prefer writing at night, though. If I’m feeling really motivated, I’ll take my laptop over to the local coffee shop and work there, even though it feels like a very large cliche at this point.

2: Do you start your projects writing with paper and pen or is it all on the computer?

I used to have a notebook where I would write out some character sketches, basic plot ideas, etc. For some reason, I’ve stopped doing that, and have just moved over to 100% usage of the computer. However, once I finish “The Night Life”, I might try and go back to at least doing some basics with pen and paper.

3: What do you draw inspiration from?

That’s a tough one, just because I feel like I draw inspiration from everywhere. For example, with “The Night Life”, my inspiration started out by wanting to create a story around Richard and Linda Thompson’s album, “Shoot Out the Lights”, just because at the time, I felt like the album was practically begging to be made into a soundtrack. However, when a teacher of mine shared a story about a woman found out by a truck stop who had no recollection of anything - who she was, why she was there, etc. - I suddenly felt as if I HAD to incorporate that into my story as well.

4: Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write such as word count?

I never have, though I know that countless others do.

5: Are you a published or a self published author and how do you come up with your cover art?

I’ve self published three large works, plus I have a preview of “The Night Life” up on Amazon right now. For “Family History”, I knew I wanted my cover art to incorporate the Family History journal, so I pretty much just went with that. For “The Dowry,” while editing, I couldn’t stop thinking “Man, a lot of people die in this story.” From there, the cover is pretty self-explanatory. ;)

6: What drives you to choose the career of being a writer?

I’m not really sure anymore. I think it just sounded like fun as a kid, and now I’m doing it - though not quite for a living. :)

7: Do you own an ebook reading device?

My boyfriend owns a Kindle, which occasionally I do use. However, I still find myself somewhat loyal to old school paperbacks.

8: Who are some of your favorite authors and What are you reading now?

John Irving is a favorite of mine, though Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is my all-time favorite book. Though right now, I’m currently reading a friend’s ebook so that I can give it a proper review.

9: What do you think of book trailers and do you have any plans to have any?

I don’t see myself using book trailers, at least not anytime soon. I’ve never heard of them making any great impact in sales, and quite honestly, I don’t have a lot of 1800’s-esque Victorian-era photos lying around that would be good to use for “Family History”.

10: How did you come up with the title of your latest book?

I actually didn’t come up with the title for “Family History” for the longest time, until I started incorporating the journal and just stole the title of that for the title of my own work. “The Night Life” is actually the name of the strip club in the story, and since it plays a fairly central role in the story, I took that for the name of that novel.

11: What are you working on now that you can talk about?

As you can tell, I obviously enjoy talking about “The Night Life”, even though it’s still in the editing stages. It’s my favorite story that I’ve ever written so far, which is why I love talking about it. I’m hoping to have it ready for publication by about August of this year, though it’s hard to say whether or not that’s likely to happen.