ASK THE AUTHOR - Questions For The April Edition


March 10, 2018



   So ... that "special thing" that I mentioned a little while back? Well, I'm finally ready to reveal it.

   Welcome, oh scribbling scribes, to Scattered Scribblings's first Ask The Author post!


ASK THE AUTHOR - opening questions for the April edition [post title image]



   Y'all are probably wondering how this is going to work, yes? Well, here's the rundown: from now until the last day of March, you guys will be able to submit questions in the comments for the authors that have kindly come to answers your questions! And in April, I'll do another post with all of their epic inputs on your questions about the publishing and writing world.

   But what authors are here? you're probably asking. Well, since this is the first post in this series (which I'm hoping to run for awhile), I've contacted five indie and hybrid authors to come help us out. Want to know who? Well, they are a whole slew of award-winning and/or multi-published authors, and I'm happy to introduce you to ...



Hope Ann headshot image

Hope Ann likes to think herself a dragon-riding, griffin-taming founder of worlds and explorer of legends. Using chocolate, she bribes a wide ring of spies, from the realm leapers of Aslaria to the double agents of Elkbend, for their stories. She thrives on frost, steel, and the tears of her readers which she secretly mixes into iced coffee. Deep in her hobbit hole, her actual life involves staying up too late writing, reading, researching stab wounds, and struggling to remember the difference between ‘effect’ and ‘affect’. Based in Indiana, she is the self-published author of the Legends of Light series. Hope Ann is also the Public Relations Director for Kingdom Pen and one of their writing mentors. You can find out more about her at authorhopeann.com

H.L. Burke headshot image
Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and was always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic.
An addictive personality, she jumped from one fandom to another, being at times completely obsessed with various books, movies, or television series (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek all took their turns), but she has grown to be what she considers a well-rounded connoisseur of geek culture.
Married to her high school crush who is now a US Marine, she has moved multiple times in her adult life but believes that home is wherever her husband, two daughters, and pets are.
Follow her personal blog at www.hlburkeblog.com


Abigayle Claire headshot image

Abigayle has been a writer ever since her mother taught her how to hold a pencil. However, she devoted more time to reading words with her green eyes than penning them with her left hand. Inspired by a crazy dream at the age of sixteen, she set off on a journey to self-publish her first novel, Martin Hospitality. Since then, Abigayle has devoted herself to sharing what she has learned through the mediums of freelance editing and her blog theleft-handedytpist.blogspot.com ... when period drama films are not calling more loudly. None of her successes, including winning a 2017 Readers’ Favorite Award, would be possible without the support of her Savior, large family, and online community.


Heather L.L. Fitzgerald headshot image



Heather L.L. FitzGerald writes from her home in Texas, while dreaming of being back in the Pacific Northwest, where she grew up. She’s been married for 28 years and has four grown children and one grand baby (so far!). Her YA fantasy is available through Amazon or may be ordered through any book retailer. Books include The Tethered World (OCW Cascade Award finalist), and The Flaming Sword (OCW Cascade Award winner, Speculative Fiction), and TheGenesis Tree. Connect with Heather: website/blog (free eBook with newsletter sign up),  Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram.






Jenelle Schmidt headshot image


Jenelle Schmidt grew up in the northern-Midwest. She now resides with her husband and their four adorable children in the wilds of Wisconsin. Jenelle fell in love with reading at a young age during family story-times when her father would read out loud to her and her siblings each night before bed. Her imagination was captured by authors such as Madeleine L’Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Lloyd Alexander. It wasn’t long before she began making up her own stories and sharing them with her family. To this day she enjoys creating exciting adventure tales filled with poignant themes and compelling characters in the fantasy and sci-fi genres.






   Whoo, even I would love to ask those authors a question or two! I'm crazy excited for you guys to get the chance to pick their epic brains. Real quick rule though: please refrain from pointing questions specifically to one author (such as "what was your favorite part of writing The Minstrel's Call, Jenelle?) because each question will be given to ALL THE AUTHORS so they can give their varying inputs on it, so it would be better not to point any questions at any specific authors. Other than that, throw in any question that you'd like! I'll be going through them and picking which ones to give to the authors, and they will be back on the 8th of April to answer them.

   Now what are you waiting around here for? Go! Question! Comment!

~ Savannah Grace 

have at it, y'all 
i can't wait to see your questions <3

15 comments :

  1. Which of your works is your favorite?
    If you could go back and change anything you've written, would you do it?
    Did you always know you were going to be an author? If not when did it become clear?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Are you able to pick a favorite book that you've written?
    What would be your #1 piece of advice for aspiring authors?
    Did you go the Indie rout? and why?

    ReplyDelete
  3. - What platform did you use to self-publish and what are some things to be expected from that?
    - What are some tips you have for people in the Indie world?
    - What are some other hobbies you have besides writing?

    Hopefully these are good questions. XD This is a such a great series idea, Savannah! I love it. <3

    ~Ivie|Ivie Writes

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is awesome!!
    Hmmm....

    -How did you know when the story you were working on was "the one"?
    -What's some tips on ending a novel?
    -Do you ever read your books after you publish them? (I've always wondered this)
    -What was one of your hardest scenes to write?
    -How many half-finished \ unpublished WIP's do you have?
    -What's the most difficult part of writing characters from your opposite sex?
    (Hope that wasn't too many!)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Have you ever worked on two different writing projects at once? Do you have any advice, as well as pros/cons as to whether or not it should be attempted?

    ReplyDelete
  6. What is your number one inspiration for characters? What's your number one inspiration for book worlds?

    ReplyDelete
  7. I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS IDEA, SAVANNAH!!! You have the BEST blog series!

    Let's see..

    -What made you choose between indie or traditional publishing? What would you say are the pros and cons between the two?

    -How do you balance writing and life without getting burnt out?

    ReplyDelete
  8. -What advice would you give to aspiring authors and new writers?
    -What keeps your writing on the hard days when writing is literally the last thing you want to do?
    -What is your favorite genre to write?
    -What is one genre you have always wanted to try writing?
    -What is your biggest tip for writing a really good villain that people love to hate?

    ReplyDelete
  9. How cool!

    ~What is your favorite part/scene in your book?
    ~Is there any type of story you hope to write on day?
    ~What is one thing you've learned from publishing?
    ~When did you really know you wanted to be an author?

    -Gray Marie | graymariewrites.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. •What is the hardest scene you've ever had to write?
    •Did you want to be an author growing up?
    •What aspect of writing (dialogue, description, characters) do you struggle with most?
    •Which is worse: writer's block or idea overflow?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yaaas I love this idea!! You always come up with these amazing things and then I think "darn, I wish I'd thought of that" XD

    - What are your biggest tips for marketing?
    - Do you have a street team? (If so, what's your advice for when and how to set one up?)

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is so cool! Can't wait to read their answers :))

    ~what is your advice for aspiring indie authors?
    ~what platform do you recommend for self-publishing?
    ~how you fight back against writer's block?

    ReplyDelete
  13. When you decided to publish a book, what was the first step you took towards making that happen?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Is there a specific sort of character that you seem to do in more than one of your stories (almost your trademark character :P)? If so, what type?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Do you have any advice as to knowing if you're mature enough of a writer to attempt a certain story/subject matter?

    - Deborah

    ReplyDelete

I love when my readers leave a comment or three (so thank you if you do!)! But keep 'em clean, because I don't want to need to delete them. And check back - I always try to reply.