Indiana Fire

Title: Indiana Fire
Published: Dec. 10, 2011
Category: Fiction » Young adult or teen » Thriller and Suspense
Words: 101465 (approximate)
Language: English


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I got the chance to interview the author of this amazing book. She was so wonderful and nice and answered everything I asked! Here is the interview:




Interview with Neisa Hutson

1. Tell me about your book. How did you come up with the story?

The book is a book that both young adults and adults can enjoy. You've got a teenager whose living her life in a dark time. The dreaded disease Indiana Fire has taken over the United States and most of South America. Most countries have broken ties to America in fear of this disease. There are a few large cities placed around the east coast. They call this great downfall The Fall and sometimes refer to this dreadful disease as Black Fire. These now infected beings, The Blayz, have taken over her world. Indiana Fire not only makes you root on for the characters, but for America as well. It shows a dying country as they come together in the end to fight yet another war.

My fiance and I both love to write, and I wanted to write something both men and women can enjoy. I wanted something with a bit of romance, but also enough action and killing to keep a man like him focused. Lately, I had been reading books like The Forest of Hands and Teeth and watching movies like Zombieland. I wanted to create something different and original. I wanted to make my own zombie story. If you live in my state, West Virginia, you may pick up on hints of buildings and such. Where I live has influenced scenes in the book. Also, my trip in high school to Indiana also influenced my choice of using the state Indiana as one of the main focuses. I wanted to create a storyline with characters that you hold onto and truly hope will make it to the end.

2. What's a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? Do you set a daily writing goal?

Aside from writing, I do keep a part time job. When I'm not there, I am at home writing most likely in my room. I have my own personal space at my desk with my fish of course. I like to write in the evening time though, I seem to get my best ideas then, and I always have that cup of coffee at hand and music. That is one of my greatest influences as a writer. It is always the background music in a movie scene that draws the attention in further, and it has helped greatly in drawing me in further to that world I have created. When writing Indiana Fire, I never really set a writing goal. Now that it is finished, I have thought about diving into my newest novel, The Safehouse. My other arts though like piano and drawing have been neglected. I usually try to make myself at least write about three chapters a week or about 3,000 words in a sitting.

3.What's the best thing about being an author?
The best thing about it in my opinion is knowing that I can create a original world, where anything can happen. It's knowing that with my book, I can help the reader escape their own life. It's the imagination that comes with my talent that makes it the greatest. The imagination looks at something and says, yes, when reality says no. I think that's the best thing about being about being an author. It's knowing that out of all the talents of the world, I have been blessed with writing. I can influence young readers, and inspire them to do the same, to create their own world.

Other than that, I have always been a private person and enjoy the company of myself. Writing, is the career where I am most comfortable.

4. Do you have any favorite authors or favorite books?

Of course, The Forest of Hands and Teeth is one of my absolute favorites. It was one of the things that inspired me to write my own novel. 

I can remember being in  middle school, seventh grade year. At the time they had a sort of magazine, where you could purchase scholastic reading books and things. My interest in reading at the time had increased. I can remember browsing through it, and coming across a novel called, The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable. It was the book that made me sit down and say I want to be a writer. Now, as an older and more experience writer, I know that getting yourself into the writing world isn't easy and sometimes impossible. It was a great time in my life though, when I wrote freely. There were no worries, there was no agents, no publishers, no critics, and nothing to hold me back. I wrote then not for a people, but for myself and my imagination. It influenced me as a writer greatly, and it was the first novel to pull me away from this world and into another. It was the first book to open the door and say go for it.

5. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

First, write for youself. Second, don't quit even when they say no, someone will say yes! There is always a reader out there for your book, you just have to find them. There's always that perfect fit, but you have to work to find them. Even after receiving rejection letter after rejection letter, and actually almost getting accepted by an agent who read some of my book, I still kept on and I edited and worked even harder. I eventually decided on self publishing, and for a while I doubted myself and what others would think of a self published book. Even though self publishing is a growing thing, I still had doubts of what people thought, but you'll never know if you do not try. You learn so much from self publishing, and you learn about all the work that it takes to make this possible.

Indiana Fire was a novel written in my high school years that was written not for the publishers and the agents. I have to tell myself that sometimes. When I first began, writing was something that I wrote for the love of it and for the feeling that it gave me. I didn't know at a young age, when I first began, that I would have to face the public. I have to remind myself at times, of how it was when I began. I wrote for the feeeling, the knowing that I was in control of this world, and that anything could happen cause this was my world.

6. Are you working on anything new?

Yes, actually I have started a few more projects, but I have been indecisive about what to focus on next. There's How to Tame Your Zombie a humorous zombie tale, and Lift Me Up, Let Me Die a horror novel. This past week, I have decided that I will focus my time on a fonder tale called The Safehouse. It is a young adult fantasy novel that takes place in another world. It is about a young girl named Faron, who lives in a magical, but sometimes dark world. Here is the short pitch that I have created. I hope to spend more time on this novel within the coming year. 

My Review 

 My review on the book would have to be 5 penguins! I was hooked on it from the very first page. It was like nothing I had read before and I wanted to keep reading to figure out all the details on what had happened. It was an easy read and I had it done within 2 days and I loved every minute of it. I would highly recommend getting this book and reading it for yourself! 

Or you can enter here for a chance to win an ecopy! I have 2 copies I can give away. I will pick a winner on the 12th of January. All you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment and I will randomly pick the winners from there! Good luck everyone!