About Hollis Jo McCollum:
Hollis has a happy life with her husband and two cats. When she’s not writing, she enjoys expressing herself through many different creative mediums—including cosplay, drawing, and pole dancing. She loves animals and helping others, so when she isn’t working on her next creative project, she is swooning over animals, volunteering or dancing her worries away. Stricken with a terrible case of wanderlust, traveling is her happy place, and she will not stop until she’s seen everything…twice. Having been raised a Navy brat, and spent seven years as an immigration specialist in the world of higher education, much of the world has already been seen, but it’s never enough!
What inspires you to write?
Mostly other fantastic writers, to be honest 🙂 Like most authors, I was first an avid reader before I began creating my own worlds. Other than that, playing RPGs with friends, going out into nature and the every day absurdity of life itself.
What authors do you read when you aren’t writing?
I really love Jodi Taylor, author of The Chronicles of St. Mary's series. I also really enjoying reading Ken Follett, author of Pillars of the Earth and many other historical fiction books.
There are so many other authors I love, but I always think of these two first. Very probably because I myself am also a historian and love how they both weave their own love of history into their books.
Tell us about your writing process.
I'm a blend of plotter and pantser with a very hard lean on the pantser. Haha. I usually write a high outline of the book, similar to how you would outline a research paper, with just major milestones noted in the proper order. Then, I sit down and write my first draft by hand letting the creativity flow! Mostly, that means my characters run off like feral children and go completely off the rails while I try to herd my imaginary cats, but somehow it all comes together in the end.
Once the first draft is written, I type the second draft and start the many rounds of editing. I feel less creative when typing on a computer and am more focused on edits, while when I'm writing by hand I feel much more creative, and there are no distracting red squiggles under misspelled words or notifications blinking on my screen. So much easier (for me) to just be in that creative space I need to be when writing my hand for the first draft. Personally, I find I do much less content editing than other writer friends I've spoken to who do everything on the computer. It may not be for everyone, but for me it is a huge time and frustration saver.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Ha! Absolutely! We're all mad here in the writing world, right? How else am I supposed to discipline them?
On a more serious note, actually running through thoughts verbally as though I'm having a conversation with a character helps me to get inside of their head more and be more true to who they are meant to be. If I didn't converse with them, how could I write them accurately?
What advice would you give other writers?
Number one: Never let anyone tell you to stop writing. If you love it, then someone else will too. There are so many different types of books and writers because there are so many different types of readers out there! You're already someone's favorite author. They just haven't discovered you yet.
Number two: Do your research and have patience. If ever someone like a publisher or marketing person is pushing you to spend money and/or act in a way you are not entirely comfortable with, don't let them boss you around. IT IS YOUR BOOK. It should be published on YOUR TERMS. If whoever is pressuring you isn't willing to hit pause while you research your decision, then maybe they don't really have your best interests at heart.
Number three: Understand what you want for yourself from writing and/or publishing. Sincerely, what is your goal in writing? Really think about it and come to a true conclusion. If you never want to be published and just write for fun, that's wonderful. If you want to publish but don't care about marketing or making money, good for you! If you want to become successful enough with your writing to live off of royalties and quit your day job, fantastic! Figure out what makes you happy and pursue it accordingly. Also, your writing goals might change over time, which is allowed and encouraged. You're a growing person with ever changing needs. Stay in touch with those needs and pivot accordingly.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Initially, I wanted to be traditionally published. That's what seems like the dream at first for most of us, I think. However, as I delved deeper into the writing world, realized how difficult it is to get traditionally published as someone with zero connections, and understood my own needs for creative control over my intellectual property, I discovered that self publishing was best for me. After a lot of hits and misses with self publishing presses, I finally found that I could publish directly through IngramSpark for a fraction of the cost of everyone else. As someone who does all my own cover and page layout design as well any other formatting needed, this is way less expensive than anything else out there. Though, there is not much in the way of customer service. They always respond via email, but you can't call anyone and no one will hold your hand through the process. If you need more help, I strongly recommend working with a press and/or agent to self publish if you are uncertain in how to navigate the publishing waters.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think many authors, even those traditionally published in the past, are going to route of self publishing these days. It's more work on our part, but you can't beat the intoxication of having complete creative control over your books.
What genres do you write?: Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Dark Fantasy and Historical Fantasy…sometimes poetry
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Hollis Jo McCollum Home Page Link
Link To Hollis Jo McCollum Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube
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.