Welcome! Thanks for taking time for this Q&A. What is the hardest part of writing your books?
There are probably two hard bits. The first one is actually sitting down and getting on with it. I have a wife and 3 young daughters, so I have to shut myself away if I want to work. The second part is when you get 2/3s of the way through the book and you figure out that what you’ve done doesn’t make sense, so you have to go back through and change a few bits to ensure that it doesn’t read like a jumbled mess.
Does your significant other read your stuff?
She does after it’s published. She doesn’t read the early draft stuff, simply because she wants to wait until it’s done. Do you have critique partners or beta readers?
I have 2 wonderful beta partners, D.B. Reynolds and Michelle Muto, who read everything I’ve ever written and give the most incredible advice. They’re both brilliant writers, so I trust their advice without too many questions. And then I tend to have a third who comes on for just a book, most of the time that 3rd is also a writer, like Melissa Olson, Denise Grover Swank. It’s nice to have a fresh look at things to go alongside those who are used to my writing style.
Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?
Different stuff. Mostly when I’m doing a plotting and planning, I put itunes on, switch it to shuffle and let it have at it. When I’m editing, or writing a specific scene, I tend to go for classical music and soundtracks. How do you react to a bad review of your book?
Everyone always says to ignore reviews. And if author’s actually listened to their advice, they’d probably be happier people. I tend not to let them get to me; I know not everyone is going to like the books. And when you get a review that goes from dislike to personal or outright hatred, I tend to laugh. Anything else and I’d go crazy.
Entice us, what future projects are you considering?
I’m editing Hellequin Chronicles book 5, Lies Ripped Open, for release in Aug this year. And I’m writing my first in a new science fiction series, and once that’s done I have another fantasy book, Chimera, to write, that I’ve been working on for about 5 years. So, I’m nothing if not busy. Which is always nice. ABOUT THE BOOK
Prison of Hopeby Steve McHugh
BLURB:
Long ago, Olympian gods imprisoned the demon Pandora in a human—Hope—creating a creature whose only purpose was chaos and death. Remorseful, the gods locked Pandora away in Tartarus, ruled by Hades.
Now, centuries later, Pandora escapes. Nate Garrett, a 1,600-year-old sorcerer, is sent to recapture her and discovers her plan to disrupt the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, killing thousands in a misplaced quest for vengeance.
Fast forward to modern-day Berlin, where Nate has agreed to act as guardian on a school trip to Germany to visit Hades at the entrance to Tartarus. When Titan King Cronus becomes the second ever to escape Tartarus, Nate is forced to track him down and bring him back, to avert a civil war between those who would use his escape to gain power.AmazonEXCERPT“See?” the manager told Mara. “He wishes you no harm.”“We’ll see how that goes when he’s murdering us in our sleep,” she said.“I promise to clean up after I’m done,” I said.The manager gave me a “Was that really necessary?” look while someone behind me made no effort to conceal his or her snigger. Apparently my time of helping was over.AUTHOR Bio and Links:Bio: Steve’s been writing from an early age, his first completed story was done in an English lesson. Unfortunately, after the teacher read it, he had to have a chat with the head of the year about the violent content and bad language. The follow up ‘One boy and his frog’ was less concerning to his teachers and got him an A.It wasn’t for another decade that he would start work on a full-length novel that was publishable, the results of which was the action-packed Urban Fantasy, Crimes Against Magic.Steve McHugh lives in Southampton on the south coast of England with his wife and three young daughters. When not writing or spending time with his kids, he enjoys watching movies, reading books and comics, and playing video games.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellequinchronicles Twitter: https://twitter.com/StevejMchugh Website: http://stevejmchugh.wordpress.com/ Prison of Hope: http://www.amazon.com/Prison-Hope-The-Hellequin-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00OV403VM/ref=pd_sim_kstore_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=09TZX1Q9Z16GND6QVJEM FOLLOW THE TOUR!GIVEAWAYSteve McHugh will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.a Rafflecopter giveaway