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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Inside the Writer's Mind - Interview with H.S. Stone

There's something about post-apocalyptic novels that grab my attention. It's interesting to read worlds authors create of what a post-apocalyptic society, especially in a dystopian one. There have been many floating around for us to grab and read. However, Beyond New Eden by H. S. Stone, certainly sounds like a good read based on it's description. It certainly takes the idea of Adam and Eve being cast out of Eden. However, I can't say much more than that as I have yet to read the story. Read the synopsis and interview and decide for yourself if this is a book you'd be interested in. I love it when a book intrigues me just from the synopsis and interview. While I do read the synopsis of a story, I also read books based on word of mouth. If someone I know likes the story, I'm more than likely to enjoy it as well.



Same DiNamics: How did you get into writing?

H.S. Stone: I've been writing since before I could read. I remember being mesmerized by the stories told by my kindergarten teacher from these things called books, and I knew that not only did I want to read lots of books myself, I also wanted to write them. Since then, I've been writing on and off for most of my life.

SD: Where did you get the idea for Beyond New Eden?


HS: Believe it or not, the idea for Beyond New Eden started out as a crime thriller. I was thinking of how much we rely on distinctive markers like DNA to determine who a criminal is, but what if a crime occurs in a city of clones where everyone has the same DNA? From there, it spun into the eventual story for Beyond New Eden, which is very different from my original idea. I kept the clones, but took out everything else, including the crime. Maybe I’ll go back one day and write the crime thriller.

SD: What has been the most challenging part of writing and publishing this book?


HS: As with all of the books I’ve written, the hardest part of writing this book was the editing. By the time a book is published, I will have gone through the manuscript countless times, and for some sections of the story, more than that. I usually get sick of my books after about the fifth revision, but I push through it because I owe it to the readers to produce the best books I can.


Marketing in general has also been a challenge for me. Not only am I a naturally introverted person who has difficulty approaching new people, but I didn't know the first thing about what marketing involves when I started. I still don't know much, but I'm learning more each day.

SD: What has been your favorite part?


HS: When I read a review from someone who loves one of my books, it makes the effort of writing and publishing it worthwhile.

SD: 
Do you work from an outline or just write and see where the story takes you?

HS: I do a combination of both. I write an outline of the story that breaks the plot down into chapters, but I leave the details of each chapter up to where the story takes me when I’m writing it. When the story starts to diverge too much from my outline, I’ll re-outline the remainder of the story so that I still have a skeleton to refer to when I write.

SD: What other books have you written?


HS: I've written two novels before Beyond New Eden. My first novel is George and the Galactic Games, a sci-fi adventure for Middle Grade readers. After that, I published In the Hands of Children, a YA sci-fi apocalyptic tale of a virus that kills everyone past the age of puberty.

SD: What are you working on now?


HS: I’m currently working on my fourth novel, a YA sci-fi alien invasion story about a girl whose family is abducted by the alien invaders and her journey to rescue them. I’ve always wanted to write a novel about an alien invasion. I plan to finish up this as yet unnamed novel for an early 2014 release.

SD: What advice do you have for aspiring authors?


HS: The main reason to become an author should be because you love to write, not because you hope to become rich and famous. The odds are against you that writing will become a lucrative career, no matter how good you are, but if you love to write, you’re less likely to give up.

SD: Is there anything else you want to say to your readers?


HS:Thanks for reading my answers, and thank you, Dianne, for hosting me!


~End Interview~

Now, how's that for an interesting interview. Hmmm.. I just might have to pick up George and the Galactic Games for my soon to be 10 year old. He enjoys reading adventures. 

One of my favorite questions of the interview is what advice can be given to aspiring authors. Most every author I've asked this question to has something different to say. I love the varying and sage advice that is out there. I agree with H.S. that if you write to become famous, that's not the reason to do so. Right because you love writing and you have a story that is just begging to be shared. Those characters are in your head pounding away at you until their story is told. Those are the best kind of books out there. 

About Beyond New Eden and H.S. Stone



Synopsis: 

Eve 142 has lived her entire life in the domed city of New Eden, home to the only surviving humans after the War. Like all of the inhabitants of New Eden, Eve 142 is a clone. Together with the other clones, dubbed the Adams and the Eves, she leads a safe, predictable existence. However, Eve’s life changes when she causes a tragic accident to befall one of the Adams. As retribution, she and her counterpart, Adam 142, are banished from New Eden.
At first, Eve 142 considers their punishment a death sentence because she grew up believing the world outside the dome was uninhabitable. She is wrong. Forced to live in the Wastelands, Eve and Adam discover many new truths about the outside world and, more importantly, the truths about themselves.

Author bio:

Even before he could read, H.S. Stone wanted to write a book. Fascinated by the stories that seemed to leap from his kindergarten teacher's books, he went home and wrote his own book, with illustrations and bound by staples. Of course, since he didn't know how to read or write yet, the book was full of gibberish. Undaunted, H.S. eventually mastered the ABC's and continued to write throughout his grade school years, adolescence, and into adulthood. Despite getting a degree and working in a field not related to writing, he continued to pursue his writing passion. Numbers Plus Four, a collection of five short stories, was H.S. Stone's first publication. He has since published a Middle Grade novel, George and the Galactic Games, and two Young Adult books, In the Hands of Children and Beyond New Eden. H.S. Stone lives with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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