About Haley Despard:
Haley Despard was born and raised in small, yet ever-expanding Simpsonville, South Carolina. She discovered a love of writing at age fourteen and hasn’t been able to turn off the motor fingers since then. Today she lives just a stone’s throw over in the country side of Greer, SC with her husband, son, and Boston Terrier. Her hobbies include amateur photography, designing teaser graphics for her novels, and composing piano music.
Haley’s current project is a YA Contemporary Fiction series, but she also loves writing fantasy, romance, and occasionally horror fiction. Defying standards and norms and thinking outside the box is Haley’s strong suit, and she plans to write something that makes it big someday. Until then, she’s content with her growing author family and a head full of ideas.
Don’t hesitate to contact her at hdespardauthor@outlook.com. Haley loves interacting with readers and other authors.
What inspires you to write?
Real life and books by great authors inspire me to write. Music often gives me new ideas or helps me flesh out my ideas as well. Mostly though, it’s just the fact that my characters won’t leave me alone.
Tell us about your writing process.
I make handwritten outlines and write out the storyline in summary form. Then I loosely go by the idea I plotted out. Sometimes the characters steer me in the total opposite direction and I ride along kicking and screaming.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Sometimes I have to tell Mads to shut up. No offense, I love her to death, but she can get a little annoying, especially when she talks to me at 3 A.M.
What advice would you give other writers?
Connect with other authors. They will be your lifelines. Make friendships, not just peer relationships. Give to the reading/writing community and they will give back. Also, save up money for marketing. Like, a lot of it. And make sure it’s going to the right people.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I self-published first, and then I submitted my book to Limitless Publishing when I realized I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. They graciously took me on when I was nothing but a n00b indie who thought shouting my book on Twitter 24/7 was the way to market it.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think the publishing world will live on, and it will go to the people who know how to sell their books. As unromantic as it sounds, writing a book really is a business venture. Some people know how to do it and others don’t. The key is to do your homework before sending off your first query. Know what you’re getting into so you don’t dive into the deep end and get lost (like I did and many others do).
What do you use?: Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: YA Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Fantasy, Horror
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Haley Despard Home Page Link
Link To Haley Despard Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Instagram
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
