Every other Wednesday, I’ll be showcasing authors who got an agent in the last couple of years. If you’d like to be a part of this, let me know in the comments or contact me via Twitter @judi__Lauren

Today I’m so excited to be interviewing Alexandra Ott! Her book, RULES FOR THIEVES, will be releasing in the summer of 2017 from Aladdin/S&S! Welcome, Alexandra!

What was the hardest part about writing your book?

Balancing writing with schoolwork! I was in college when I wrote it, and making time for revisions in addition to studying and writing papers was a challenge.

Balancing other obligations is definitely one of the hardest parts! So how did you meet your agent?

Querying!

Do you have a rough number of how many queries you sent out before being offered representation?

I haven’t counted recently, but I think it was about 20. I was very fortunate to have found the perfect agent for my book so quickly. 🙂

What inspires you to write?

Mostly I feel inspired by reading other books, or even watching films and television; discovering stories that I love always makes me want to write stories of my own. But inspiration can come from anywhere!

Definitely! Can you tell us a little bit about your creative process? Where do you get your ideas and characters?

So far, my process has been different for every book. With RULES FOR THIEVES, I was thinking a lot about heist novels, which I’ve always loved. I knew I wanted to put my own spin on a heist story, but it wasn’t until my main character’s voice popped into my head one night that I figured out how to tell it.

Your agent has also already sold your book, can you tell us a little bit about that process?

Yes, I was incredibly lucky to have gone through the process so fast! After I signed with my agent in March, we worked on another round of edits on the book, and my agent compiled a submission list and wrote the pitch letter. Once all of that was done, we went on submission in late May, and we received the offer from Aladdin in August! After contract negotiations were done, we were finally able to announce the deal in early November.

Many people have jobs along with writing. How do you balance that schedule?

This is something I’m still struggling with. The most important thing for me is to set a designated time in which to write. I block out as much time as I can each day and use that time for writing (and only writing). It’s still a difficult balance, but I like to think I’m getting better at managing it.

Is there a fictional character or book you wish you had created? Why?

Harry Potter, of course. 😉

He’s the best 😉 What do you enjoy most about writing?

I love all of it: the thrill of creating a new idea and writing the draft, the satisfaction of revising it into something better. There are definitely hard days, but I just have to remind myself why I fell in love with this story in the first place, and then I feel excited to write it all over again.

Can you describe your MC(s) in three words?

Alli is headstrong, smart, and snarky.

Before you leave, would you share the first sentence of your query that got you an agent?

“When twelve-year-old Alli escapes from Azeland’s orphanage, getting cursed isn’t exactly part of her plan.”

Thanks so much, Alexandra!

Alexandra Ott is the author of RULES FOR THIEVES, a middle grade fantasy novel coming from Aladdin/S&S in summer 2017. She graduated from the University of Tulsa, where she studied English. She is currently an editorial intern at Entangled Publishing. In her spare time, she plays the flute, eats a lot of chocolate, and reads just about everything. She lives in Oklahoma with her tiny canine overlord. You can connect with at her Website, Twitter, or Facebook.

Every other Wednesday, I’ll be showcasing authors who got an agent in the last couple of years. If you’d like to be a part of this, let me know in the comments or contact me via Twitter @judi__Lauren

Today I’m so excited to be interviewing Rebecca Hopkins! Not only is she super sweet, she also has an awesome story, which got her an agent during Pitch Slam. Welcome, Rebecca!

What was the hardest part about writing your book?

The Orchid Girl’s Search was my first novel, so though I loved writing it, many things were hard as I figured out how to do it.  The hardest parts, though, were related to the fact that I was writing a novel outside my own culture.  All the characters are Indonesian. All are Muslim. The book takes place entirely in Borneo, Indonesia. Though I’ve lived in Indonesia for more than a decade, I was so afraid I’d get the cultural elements wrong and wasn’t even sure I had a right to write it. I wasn’t worried just that I’d offend  my friends here, but that I’d miss the depth and richness of this little-known culture that I was striving to communicate. Little to nothing has been written for English speakers about this Borneo people group, so I felt the weight of the responsibility of doing it with the deserved respect for the culture. I’m very grateful for an Indonesian friend (also a talented writer and fluent English speaker) who read multiple versions of my books to make sure I’m on track culturally.

It was also very difficult to write the voice of my main character. She’s 13 and Indonesian. So, to write both a young voice and a foreign voice (written in English, but she isn’t an English speaker, so I couldn’t rely on a foreign accent to communicate voice) was a constant challenge.  I spent a lot of time listening to my young Indonesian friends, reading Asian authors and reading young protagonists. And I spent tons of time rewriting again and again until (I hope) her voice rang true.

How did you meet your agent?

I entered Pitch Slam and I’m so grateful that my novel was picked. I love contests like those because they give us, writers, supporters who champion us in what feels like an otherwise solitary endeavor at that point. My agent, Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media, was one of several agents who requested pages. His request turned into an offer of representation, and I’m so honored to work with him.

Love Pitch Slam! That’s a great contest. Do you have a rough number of how many queries you sent out before being offered representation?

I started querying my novel much earlier than I should have. It just wasn’t ready, though I didn’t know it at the time. So, I faced a lot of rejection. I stopped counting after I reached 100. I’ve collected probably 120-150 rejections over the span of about four or five years.  I used every bit of feedback I could get from those rejections, as well as feedback from gracious friends (both writers and non-writers) who became beta readers, critiquing readers from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writing contest I entered, and the very talented author and editor Heather Webb. Agents, in particular, often told me I had a good idea, but was struggling to execute it. I desperately wanted to learn, so I kept doing that, kept improving it in the midst of (and because of) those heartbreaking rejections.

What inspires you to write?

The good things and the hard things I see around me inspire me to write. I’m a former journalist, so I’ve always been attracted to true stories and real people. Throughout these years of living in Indonesia, I’ve seen and heard about some tragic events, and some incredibly inspiring people, often in the same moment. Indonesia—this land of earthquakes and tsunamis and incredible beauty—both breaks my heart and fills it. Sometimes, though, I don’t see the good in things yet. Fiction allows me to ask the hard questions in my heart through characters’ eyes, and to see how the characters overcome things that seem impossible to overcome—things I’m not even sure if I would have the courage to overcome. I started writing this novel when I was pregnant with my first son, and right around that time a dear (young) Indonesian friend of mine suddenly died.  On both accounts, I felt vulnerable and unsure of myself and the world around me.  It actually took me several years of rewriting my novel (while simultaneously living and struggling here) to come to the main point that’s special about my main character, Anggreka. Anggreka believes in miracles, even if she has to make them happen herself. She’s who I want to be when I grow up. And I think she has a lot to bring to this often hurting world.

She sounds awesome! Can you tell us a little bit about your creative process? Where do you get your ideas and characters?

I base my novels on real, little-known people groups here in Indonesia.  Indonesians are incredibly friendly, ready anytime for a chat over tea. So, through normal life, I hear many stories that inspire me. I try to write these down whenever I hear of them. And when I’m in research mode, I visit a friend, pull out my notebook full of questions and ask away while our kids play around us in my friend’s simple home. When I’m in writing mode and I get stumped, I leave my house and find an Indonesian friend or neighbor or complete stranger to talk with, preferably in their own home so I can enter into the culture as much as possible. There are many challenging parts about living on the other side of the world from my home country of the United States, but living among fascinating cultures is great for the kind of writing I love doing.

Many people have jobs along with writing. How do you balance that schedule?

I don’t have a paying job right now, but life here is very busy. I have three young kids (ages 3, 5, and 7). I live in a somewhat remote town in Borneo, so housework and cooking take more time. It’s hot here all the time, so simply moving can be tiring. My husband is a humanitarian relief pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). He flies small planes into the jungle to serve remote Indonesian tribes with daily and medical needs. Sometimes the kids and I get opportunities to visit the sick patients he medevacs into our town.

I’m also incredibly privileged to have volunteered alongside some amazing Indonesian and expat workers in the community, working with women and children in various capacities over the years. I’ve also recently started homeschooling my kids due to their education needs here.  Life is full and I enjoy all the variety. I write only about one or two hours a day on a regular basis, sometimes more if I have extra time. It’s not much, but I mostly do it consistently and at the same time every day and I try to work my other activities during non-writing hours. I figured out a long time ago that my writing is so good for me, and I deeply hope, someday if it’s published, good for this world. I also see my other aspects of life as inspiring my writing. My time with Indonesian friends deepens my understanding of the stories here. My kids stretch my heart. My husband cheers me on. And my friends, neighbors and MAF teammates here come around and help me all the time to shoulder my own burdens, which gives me more energy to write. So, even when I’m not writing, my writing is, indirectly, going forward.

Is there a fictional character or book you wish you had created? Why?

Though I write novels based on real worlds, I’m amazed by fantasy writers like Veronica Roth at their ability to create worlds and systems out of nothing.  I also love how Laura Hillenbrand can write biographies that read like theme-rich novels, but are completely true.

Writers who do anything outside of contemporary amaze me! All the worlds and stuff are too hard for me to create. What do you enjoy most about writing?

I love connecting with people, whether in person through a great conversation or through that special writer/reader relationship. Much of writing is solitary. I enjoy that aspect of it, too—the thinking, creating, shaping. I usually start with a theme that resonates with me, that I either believe to be true, or hope is true. My first story holds themes of hope, resilience, forgiveness, redemption, love, sacrifice. My stories may take place in a foreign world, but the themes come from what I’m struggling with or thinking through on a deeply personal level. I enjoy the depth I get to go into within myself and the world around me, through writing. And then I enjoy connecting with readers in those themes, ideas and depth.

Can you describe your MC(s) in three words each?

Anggreka is hopeful, a fighter, and brave.

Before you leave, would you share the first sentence of your query that got you an agent?

I got my agent through Pitch Slam, so we were given a chance to write a 35-word pitch and submit our novel’s first 250 words. Here’s my pitch:

Muslim Borneo teenager Anggreka’s mom dies giving birth to her sister. Disabled—missing one arm—Anggreka leaves her village home to find their polygamous father, their only hope for staying out of an orphanage.

Thanks so much, Rebecca!

Rebecca Hopkins is an American who lives in Indonesia with her jungle pilot husband and three kids.  She has a passion to write about other worlds to figure out what is familiar in all of us. The Orchid Girl’s Search is her first novel. You can connect with her on Twitter or at her website.

Every other Wednesday, I’ll be showcasing authors who got an agent in the last couple of years. If you’d like to be a part of this, let me know in the comments or contact me via Twitter @judi__Lauren

I’m so excited to be interviewing Michelle today! Not only does she have some epic advice going on over at her blog, but she’s also a really nice person AND she’ll be mentoring in the FicFest writing contest with me! Welcome, Michelle!!

What was the hardest part about writing your book?

The hardest part about writing A CRUEL KIND OF BEAUTIFUL was deciding the scene order. My muse always gives me this camera-perfect glimpses of scenes, and then leaves it to me to decide how to logically fit them together. It’s amazing to me how much the meaning of a story changes when you simply change the chronological flow of events. CKB went through three major drafts where the scenes mostly stayed the same but they moved all over the place.

I’ve definitely been there. How did you meet your agent?

I joined Twitter to start doing writing contests in January 2015. A couple weeks after, I saw that Naomi Davis of Inklings Literary was re-opening to queries. I’d read and liked her bio months ago, but I probably wouldn’t have gone back to check on it for a while if I hadn’t seen the notification on Twitter. I sent her a query letter and then headed out on an 8,000 mile road trip around the country. When I went through New York City, I was fielding lots of requests and rejections from the last batch of queries I’d sent out. I remember feeling like one big ball of longing, being so close to so many literary agents and not being able to do a thing to actually sign with one.

A couple weeks later, my husband and I were in New Orleans, eating bbq. They were doing work on the sidewalk outside with a jackhammer, and it was too loud to talk, so I was checking my email and nearly dropped my phone in my lunch when I saw that I had an email from Naomi and she wanted to schedule a phone call. I texted my CP with liberal use of capital letters, had my husband drop me off at the hotel, and frantically googled questions to ask literary agents. For as much time as I had put into querying, I’d never considered what I might do if it actually worked! But when Naomi called, we immediately clicked. She was warm and funny and so enthusiastic about my book, and I made her say it twice when she offered representation because I still couldn’t quite believe it.

The ironic part about getting an offer of rep for THIS book was that I had previously gotten a book deal that turned out to be a really bad idea, and I backed out of it. It was for series set in (of all places) New Orleans. Out of that experience, I wrote A CRUEL KIND OF BEAUTIFUL. CKB has a subplot about Jera’s band trying to decide on a shady offer from a record label, and if you should grab any opportunity toward success or if some risks aren’t worth taking. I wrote a book about not taking the first deal that comes along, but waiting for the right one for you and your creative process. THAT was the book that got me an agent.

Do you have a rough number of how many queries you sent out before being offered representation?

I queried my first ms in 2005. It was terrible and my query was even worse. I wrote a few more books, then wrote quite a few books of fanfiction that eventually became bestsellers on Amazon’s Kindle Worlds, then queried another book called FORSWORN. It was a post-apocalyptic, and I got some requests and did well in contests, but garnered no offers. A CRUEL KIND OF BEAUTIFUL was the thirteenth book I ever wrote, the third I’d queried, and it actually got picked up fairly quickly. I sent thirteen queries (ooh, never noticed the double 13 there! Guess it’s not so unlucky!) and entered four different contests with it.

What inspires you to write?

There’s always a pull toward SOMETHING that just comes out of the ether, and some are stronger than others. For A CRUEL KIND OF BEAUTIFUL, it was like somebody clipped my leash to a rocket ship. I was attempting to write the sequel to my post-apocalyptic novel and the main character of CKB started speaking in my head. I heard the whole first chapter, and it played on repeat until I wrote it down, but I still refused to write the book because I was writing another one and I do NOT abandon manuscripts. But then I wrote the second chapter. And the third. After the third, a good friend told me, “Stop fighting it and just write the book. When something comes to you this strongly, it’s meant to be.” Turns out, she was right.

Great advice! Can you tell us a little bit about your creative process? Where do you get your ideas and characters?

My characters just show up. Sometimes it takes longer to get to know them, but I can’t “make up” anything about them or the story stops working. Jera (the hilariously irreverent heroine of CKB) had a really strong voice, and she spoke to me right from the start. As soon as she came into my head, I knew she had a best friend, Danny. He’s a tattoo artist and bassist and a total weirdo who is a real pain to fit into stories because he does whatever the hell he wants and doesn’t give a snip about my plot needs.

As for story ideas, those are much harder. I have to consciously consider what the conflict and setting should be, and build a lot of the plot elements from scratch. It’s a weird balance, because I feel like there IS a truth to each story, and I’m always trying to balance the need for structure with hitting the mystical mark of what feels right for that book. A lot of times it feels like I’m groping around in the dark, trying different things until I hit the right answer. Once I do, things fall into place with startling speed and a level of complexity I could never have consciously planned. I have a friend who does psychic readings, and she tells me the way I describe my writing process is a lot like the way she gets her jolts of intuition when she does readings.

Many people have jobs along with writing. How do you balance that schedule?

I’m a wildlife biologist, specializing in threatened and endangered desert species. I work on a contract basis for 2 or 3 seasons a year. That means for a few months at a time my husband and I are gone to work, camping in weird corners of the desert and working long, physically demanding hours.

The worst part about it is I get almost no writing time for months, which feels like holding my breath—the longer I have to do it, the more uncomfortable it becomes. The benefit is when I’m off, I can write or travel as much as I please. In my off time, I’ll often write 10-12 hours a day for as many days in a row as I have. It’s a very unbalanced lifestyle, but it fits my needs perfectly.

That’s a pretty freaking cool job. Is there a fictional character or book you wish you had created? Why?

The Black Dagger Brotherhood. It’s not exactly how I would do it, but I adore the idea of a continuing series, with very strong men that have great bromances and are totally devoted to their women. Plus, there are lots of openings for fight scenes with hand to hand combat instead of boring shoot-outs.

The longer you have a series, the more emotional capital your readers invest in the world, and every detail and character interaction and mention of backstory becomes layered with meaning. After a few books, it is like writing fanfiction of your own work! My supporting characters always end up demanding their own stories (case in point: CKB was supposed to be a standalone that grew into 3 full-length books, a novella, and two short stories) so I would love to write a long romantic suspense series someday.

Of course, I always wish I would have written The Fault in Our Stars by John Green or The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, because those are the kind of books where you can set down your pen and know that whatever else you do in your life you wrote The Right Book.

What do you enjoy most about writing?

The time with my characters. I love each and every one of them, and when they’re bantering or fighting or making love, I can reach a state of flow along with them that is utter joy.

Can you describe your MC(s) in three words each?

Jera- witty, uncertain musician

Jacob- pun-loving nude model

Before you leave, would you share the first sentence of your query that got you an agent?

In A CRUEL KIND OF BEAUTIFUL fairy tale romance comes down to earth when a hard-rock drummer finds love, but not a cure for her sexual dysfunction.

Thanks so much, Michelle!

Michelle Hazen is a nomad with a writing problem.

Years ago, she and her husband ducked out of the 9 to 5 world and moved into their truck. She found her voice with the support of the online fanfiction community, and once she started typing, she never looked back. She wrote most of her books in odd places, including a bus in Thailand, an off-the-grid cabin in the Sawtooth Mountains, a golf cart in a sandstorm, a rental car during a heat wave in the Mohave Desert and a beach in Honduras. Even when she’s climbing rocks, riding horses, or getting lost someplace wild and beautiful, there are stories spooling out inside her head, until she finally heeds their call and returns to her laptop and solar panels.

Michelle was awarded first place in the 2015 NTRWA Great Expectations Contest, New Adult genre. Her work is represented by Naomi Davis of Inklings Literary. Michelle is the Amazon bestselling author of Kindle Worlds titles: the Desperate Love Trilogy, the In Time We Trust Trilogy,Happily Ever After: Salvatore Style, and Sanguine Veritas. You can connect with her on Twitter, Goodreads, or at her website.