Interview - Hinemura Ellison
Nau mai haere mai and welcome to the Bach Doctor Press Hinemura, it is a pleasure to have you join our fabulous team, especially working on your latest project with Ted Hughes. How has that been?
Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the whole collaboration process. Don’t get me wrong, there have been many tantrums along the way – from both of us! But nothing that couldn’t be fixed with either a fresh pot of coffee or a cold bottle of bubbles.
What, according to you, is the hardest thing about writing?
Sticking to the story in hand and not getting distracted by other characters and plot lines, or being overwhelmed of course by so called real life. The creative process can be all consuming.
Did you ever think you would be unable to finish your first novel?
Of course, you put a lot of your heart and soul into a book, it becomes your baby and it matures and evolves as you flick through the pages. I am lucky I have a great co-writer who has the discipline and make up to diligently plan, prepare, and lay the story out and reveal the characters in a systematic, strategic, sensical way. While I just write, write and write some more and just let the creative juices flow.
Do your novels carry a message?
Yes, absolutely, to live a life worth living and as hard as it is, to not sweat the small things. Try to live in the now and do what makes your heart sing. Be true to yourself. Have lots of fun along the way, laugh a lot, love a lot and try not to take everything so god damn seriously, as you spend a longer time dead than living, so make the most of your time now.
Is there anything you are currently working on that may intrigue the interest of our readers?
Yes, we are now working on book two in the trilogy, each book is about one of the three friends and how they see the events unfolding through their lens, this one is about Sven, the next one is Clara and the third and final (for now!) is young Freya.
What makes this particular genre you are involved in so special?
It is great escapism for those of us who get caught up in the fragments of everyday life, being pulled one way and dragged another while juggling a thousand balls at the same time. Whether it be their career, or boring job they rock up to every day to pay the mortgage, the rent, the holidays, to family commitments, to keeping up with the Jones’s and the such like.
How important is research to you when writing a book?
Very important, to keep the story real you can’t skip on the research, whether it be researching the location, the culture, the particular period, the people.
Do all authors have to be grammar Nazis?
No, I am definitely not one of those, grammar is not my strongest forte, hence getting in our fabulous proof readers to polish it up.
If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?
Any of the adventurous Enid Blyton series, particularly the Famous Five or the Secret Seven or even one of those fabulous school story books set in a variety of British based boarding schools for tear away girls.
What works best for you: Typewriters, fountain pen, dictation, computer or longhand?
Oh the fountain pen, and typewriters now that’s a story in itself set back in a very faraway time, the days of mini skirts, typing pools, taking shorthand or dictation from some crusty, old randy boss who was always talking to your chest. I would have to say today’s digital age with computers makes everything so much easier, unless you have a dodgy second-hand computer like mine that keeps spitting the dummy every few days and just freezes.
When did it dawn upon you that you wanted to be a writer?
When I was as little as five, my first day at school, I was so ensconced in the journals we used to read on the mat, to collecting a different Enid Blyton book each birthday and Christmas, I was determined back then that writing was the way to go.
What inspires you to write?
Any excuse not to have to sit in an office, churning out meaningless emails and pages of waffle with big flash words, and vision statements and plans that very rarely get implemented. No seriously, I love my own company, and writing at home or exploring somewhere different and all the various places and people just trigger off all sorts of stories.
How often do you write?
Not enough, as I am not very disciplined and I know you must take it seriously where you see it as a full time eight hour a day job, but I am yet to get into that daily routine, but I am getting there.
What is your take on the importance of a good cover and title?
Very, very important. I am a visual person and I choose a book based on how pretty the cover is and the title, it must be something that grabs me – something I just MUST have.
Any advice you would like to give to your younger self?
Stick at it, keep going. If it feels so right, it must be the right path to be following, the right choice to make.
Writers are often believed to have a Muse, your thoughts on that?
Absolutely, my partner in crime, Ted. When we get together, or on the phone, we bounce ideas, characters and plots off each other all the time.
Thanks again for joining us and for your time today Hinemura, we wish you all the success for your upcoming release. Which is…
Oh, behave! Not long now to wait, we are just putting the final touches together now, the title coming in the next couple of days.
Aroha mai, we wait with baited breath, tēnā rawa atu koe, thank you very much for your time.
