Friday, 22 March 2013

Author Interview: Mia Hoddell

Mia Hoddell has written Deadly To Love.


1. What is your name and where do you call home?
My name is Mia Hoddell and currently I live in the UK, although I would love to move somewhere where there is less rain and more sun.

2. What is the name of your most recent book and if you had to sum it up in 20 or less words, what would you say?
Deadly to Love (Elemental Killers) – The Elementals: Beautiful, Majestic and deadly…

3. Do you have plans for a new book? Is this book part of a series?
I’m currently writing the sequel to Deadly to Love and the final instalment in The Wanderer Trilogy. Apart from these I have another 9 books planned that are waiting to be written. Three of them are the next books in the Elemental Killers series while the others are new series with new supernatural beings.

4. Do you gift books to readers for book reviews?
I have in the past for The Wanderer Trilogy but I won’t being doing this for Deadly to Love, I may host free days or giveaways but not for review purposes.

5. How did you come up with the cover? Who designed the cover of your book?
I came up with and designed the covers myself (student budget). The main feature of Deadly to Love is the Elementals so I wanted something to do with the elements on the front cover. I wanted to make it different from all the YA Paranormal books out there that have girls in dresses on the front though so I used ‘EK’ (Elemental Killers) as the centre point due to how much they feature in the book.

6. Which is your favourite cover of all the books you have written?
My favourite has to be Deadly to Love. However I love the sequel’s cover even more but you will have to wait for the book to be released to see that.

7. Would you have different book covers for different countries?
If I ever get the book published and have a professional designing the covers I might but I’m not sure as it isn’t something I have considered.

8. How did you come up with the title for your book?
I wrote down the main themes in my book and then started playing around with words while keeping a list of each idea. For Deadly to Love I ended up with 63 ideas before I narrowed it down to my favourite 20. After that I got people from my target audience in college, my family and my blog followers to vote on what they liked best so I could get a feel of the favourites. That doesn’t mean I went with the most popular but it helped with the top three.

9. What is your opinion on ARCs?
I love receiving them to review and I think they are great for getting a general feel about your work before you release it.

10. Do you prefer e-books, paperbacks, hardcovers or audiobooks?
I prefer paperbacks any day. There is just something different about them as I feel I physically own something rather than it all being digital. However I read ebooks for reviewing purposes as they are more convenient for self-published authors as I can carry hundreds around with me at one time.

11. Are you a self-published / Indie author?
Yes but I’m hoping to start querying agents soon.

12. Have you ever read a book more than once? And if so what was it?
I love re-reading books, especially my favourite scenes. It depends on my mood as to what I read really but two common ones are Dragonfly and Glass Swallow by Julia Golding. Actually, anything by Julia I will read more than once as she is the author who first got me into reading and is my favourite.

13. Have you ever bought a specific edition of a book because of its cover? (For example a UK, US or Canadian version)
I normally buy the UK version because shipping from the US costs quite a bit extra and I would rather buy more books than one with a specialised cover. However I hate it when my series don’t match up as I either get the wrong version or the publishers change the designs in the middle of a series.

14. Have you ever read a book just based on its cover?
The cover is what initially attracts me but I will always read the description before purchasing a book.

15. What is your favourite film based on a book?
I’m not really a fan of movies based on books as I never think they do them enough justice or they never live up to what I imagined. However the one that I came out of the cinema feeling OK about was the Hunger Games. It didn’t seem as bad but it still wasn’t as good as I would have liked.

16. What is your favourite book genre at the moment?
I love anything paranormal/supernatural. I like urban fantasy as well and enjoy reading darker fiction too.

17. What book are you reading at the moment? And in what format?
At the moment I am going through an angel faze so I have a box full of books I’m waiting to find time to read. The current book I started (haven’t found the time to get back to it) is Angel’s Avengers and it’s in paperback.

18. Do you have any advice for other writers? And what’s the best advice that you have been given when it comes to writing?
The best piece of advice I have been given is to write because you love it and to follow your dream/passion as it is what will make you happy. I would also say that developing a thick skin is good because there are always people who don’t like your work or what you do.

19. Do you have any hobbies that aren’t related to reading & writing?
I love photography and art. They help me relax and photography gets me out the house for a while as I can wander off around the fields. I love it most in the spring when all the blossom is out in the apple orchards.


Thankyou so much for taking the time to do this interview and allowing us a glimpse into your writing world!

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