Hi everyone, my name is Ruth
Hunt.
And
do you also write with other pen names?
Not at present, but
I’ve got an idea for a book for the young adult/teenager market, so may use a
pen name then.
Oh good to hear that you're not done with writing. So tell
us about your childhood, you know what was it like growing up?
WeI had a great
childhood. Books always played a big
part in my life. When I was four nearly
five I wrote a book and created characters called ‘The Doo’s’ I think the story involved a trip on a
train. I did the drawings and my parents
made it into a ‘book’ which they then sent to the publishers of the ‘Mr Men’
books. I can remember the excitement of
getting a letter addressed to me. They said they couldn't publish it, but had
enjoyed reading it and looking at the pictures!
Wow! I'm sure you're grateful to your parents for the encouragement at such an early age. So did
you always know you’d be a writer? If not when did you know that you had it in
you?
I’ve always loved writing and when I was doing my
exams at school I had a really good English teacher, he encouraged me to keep a
journal and to experiment with short stories and poems. My aim was to be a journalist, but I suffered
serious injuries in an accident when I was 18 which meant my life took a
different course. When I recently had to
give up work, writing came back into my life and I’ve not stopped since that.
In terms of novel
writing, this has only been in the past five or six years. Though I’ve been writing all my life it
mainly has been ‘just for me’. It is
only recently that I’ve considered doing it full-time and put my work, ‘out
there’….
And how
many books have you written so far?
I had an idea for a
book five or six years ago, but launched straight into it, without really
developing the idea or planning it out.
I floundered once it was ¾ finished.
Although it’s a good idea, the book was really my practice for what came
next, which is ‘The Single Feather’ this is completed and currently is edited.
I may go back to the first book, and try to develop it a bit more to make it
more interesting.
Great! Now, in your writing your characters are mainly elderly and disabled, why did you
choose to go that way instead of the traditional youthful and fit characters
that most writers use?
As I am disabled I’ve
been very aware that disabled characters and certainly disabled protagonists
are hard to find. So I’ve made my lead
character Rachel have paraplegia. She
joins an art group, most of whom are older, desperate to fit in……
As I know about
disability from a personal as well as professional perspective I thought it
would be good to use this. Publishers
say that they want fresh, unique voices in fiction, which is what I hope ‘The
Single Feather’ provides.
Let’s talk a little bit about your occupation.
You’re a Trustee and Non Executive Director
of a national mental health charity right? Tell us a bit about your work.
Yes I’ve been with the charity for six years now as a
non-executive director and Trustee. I work with a great bunch of people
and enjoy the work and meeting our staff and service users.
Volunteering is a great way to contribute in a positive way to society.
True, very true! So did your work influence you to write this book?
Only in the way that I knew these groups are generally on the outside
or marginalized. This is true in terms of fiction, so I wanted to
address this in my book.
I
understand that you’re working with a filmmaker? Is the film you’re working on
based on your book or is it a different project?
This is a project for
the charity I work for. It isn't connected to my writing but has been interesting in terms of finding out about
filming, with a view to a video trailer for my book and how it could be turned
into a film/T.V. drama.
How
will you publish self-publish or with a traditional publisher?
I’m trying the
traditional route first. If I’m not
successful I will look to self publish.
I think as time goes by , the self-publishing route is going to be the
future, so I don’t see it as any less ‘worthy’ than the traditional route.
And still on the film subject is there
any advice you can give to fiction writers who wish to see their work turned
into movies? Are there steps they can take to improve the chances of the books
being adapted into film?
I think first of all, when
you are writing, try to use language that enables a picture to form in your
mind/in a readers mind. If a scene can’t
be pictured in your mind, it needs changing so it does. If your book is going to be made into a film,
it first will be read by producers so they need to visualize it.
Another piece of
advice, is to consider doing a short video trailer for your book. This allows you to see how it would work as a
film and also you never know who else might be watching. Use social media to create a ‘buzz’ around
your video and hopefully then around your novel.
So what next Ruth, will you be writing another book? If so will it
be in the same fashion as your upcoming one?
I’ve got a lot of ideas, all of which have
the potential to be novels. However, for
my next book I’m not going to have a disabled protagonist. ‘Rachel’ has been a great character but I’ve
lived inside ‘her’ world for 18 months or more so feel in need of a change!
Okay, what are some of the challenges you've faced so
far concerning your writing?
My biggest challenge was getting into an established
routine. As I have noisy neighbors I
have to use the time when they are not around which means a very early start. Now that this is well established, I relish
my time writing each day.
According to you Ruth, what makes a writer successful, as in being a
bestseller, selling his/her books movie rights or what?
Writing is like playing an instrument, practice,
practice and more practice. Even if it’s
only in a journal – you are practicing.
Even great writers do this each and every day.
The second thing is taking it seriously, believing
in yourself and to treat rejection as something to learn from and move on
from. You need to develop a hard
skin. Even the most well known writers
will have had rejection letters to deal with.
Don’t let it crush you!
Please tell us how do you spend your free time, what do you do
for fun?
I love painting, I do mainly watercolors with ink
and find that this really helps me to relax/
I also love my time with family and friends. I like good films and Italian food!
On the left one of Ruth Hunt's paintings .
On the left one of Ruth Hunt's paintings .
Who’s the author you’d like to emulate?
Marianne Wheelaghan who wrote ‘The Blue Suitcase’
and ‘The Food of Ghosts’ is definitely someone I’d like to emulate, she is not
just an author but co-founder of www.writingclasses.co.uk
which offers courses in novel writing and short story/poetry. All courses are very reasonably priced. She also has a blog on www.mariannewheelaghan.co.uk
I’ve done a guest post on Marianne’s blog about fiction and disability.
How do you think authors can make the best use
of social media?
Social media is a good way of promoting your work
and showing your writing skills.
However, as a writer you are your own business so be professional at all
times. You may be responsible for
marketing and selling your book so social media can work for you, as long as
you use it professionally, like a business would.
Where can people find you and your books online (the
links)
‘The single
Feather’ will be out early 2014. Follow me on Twitter ‘@prozactaker’
Ruth, it has been a great talking to you and we certainly look forward to reading your book when it comes next year.
Thank you Felix, it’s been a pleasure.
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