About Andrew: Andrew Hess (1983-present) was born in Lindenhurst, NY where he spent most of his life. After living in the New Paltz/Poughkeepsie, NY area for five years (2003-2008) he returned home to Long Island to pursue his dream of writing. Andrew published his first book, The Chamber of Souls (2011), where he blended free verse poetry and short story into one book.
His books:
Interview with Andrew:
Interview Questions
Choose ten questions to answer.
For questions about specific works, please specify which
work you are talking about.
Describe your writing process.
It depends
on my mood and where I am during the day. There have been times where I’ll sit
in my car with my laptop and type away while I work on writing, editing, or
re-writing. For the most part I like to sit in bed with my laptop with either
the TV on or my music blasting.
What motivates you
to sit down and write?
There’s a
lot of motivation; probably more than I even realize. At first it was a way for
me to deal with everything that went on around me; my feelings; emotions; even
my views on the world. After experiencing a few setbacks on my journey I wanted
to learn as much as I could so I could help other potential writers find their
way.
Where does your
inspiration come from?
To be
honest, a part of me wonders the same thing. Most of my ideas come to me when
I’m sleeping. I wake up remembering a random or weird dream and figure a way to
develop it into a plot. It’s how I figured out the ending to my first novel The
Phoenix Blade: Project Justice. I planned on making it only one book, but then
I had a dream with a different ending and I thought it made more sense and gave
a way to extend the book into a sequel or better yet a bigger series.
What do you think
your greatest strength is in your writing?
I think I
have two great strengths. The first has been how much dialogue I use in my
books. I’ve been told it helped drive the story better and helped them feel
more involved in the story. The second has been my love for the plot twist, but
not the M. Night Shyamalan type of twists that drive people insane (good or
bad). I’m talking about the kind of twist that you never saw coming and makes
you want to read more.
What is your
biggest challenge?
That’s
easy; getting enough exposure. There are so many wonderful authors out there
and so many books to choose from. I think getting your name out there and
really building your brand has become harder than it ever has. Reviews are a
big part of it and something a lot of people neglect to do. I think if more
people took the time out to give a little review to each book they read, it can
go a long way to helping indie authors more attention.
Do you ever
experience writer's block? How do you
get through it?
I think writer’s block hits every
author; every writer at some point. The best way to get through it is to keep
writing no matter what. You can always go back and edit it later. I think some
of the hardest chapters I’ve ever written came from times that I had writer’s
block and took time to re-write at a later time.
Another way
I’ve pushed through it has been in thanks to the music I listen to. I listen to
everything from rock to pop to punk to spiritual to classical; even Japanese
and Irish music. I’ll listen to almost any kind of music.
Name some authors
who have influenced or inspired you?
There have
been two authors that really inspired me. Edgar Allen Poe had an edgy, dark and
mysterious feel to him that set him apart from most writers of his time. His
short story; Cask of Amontillado was a direct inspiration for my book of poetry
Hall of the Forgotten; a series of poems that told a story of a man trying to
put his past behind him.
The second
author would have to be James Patterson. He has great attention to detail and
has the perfect balance of dialogue and description to really make you fall
into the world he created and in love with his characters. I loved his Alex
Cross series, but the Women’s Murder Club series has been the inspiration for
my detective series as well.
Tell a little
about your most recent work. Title,
genre, and tag line.
The Phoenix
Blade: Project Justice was my most recent project and is a thriller you can’t
put down. What would you do if everything you said and did was unknowingly
monitored by the government and used against you; forcing you to work covertly
for them?
Tell us about
your favorite character from the book.
Obviously
it would have to be my main character Andrew Lancaster. He goes through the
most change throughout the books and faces a lot of adversity as he fights to
uncover the truth; especially when the truth is more devastating than he ever
realized.
I think
there is only one other character that can be considered my favorite and it’s
not one most readers would think and that would be the Benefactor. He is so
devious, intelligent, cold and calculating. You never really know what he’s
truly thinking or what his motives are.
Do you have a
current work in progress? Can you tell a
little bit about it?
I have two. The first is the sequel
to my first novel The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice which is titled The
Phoenix Blade: Awakening. The story picks up three years after Project Justice
ended and slowly reveals how deep the government conspiracy and cover up goes.
The second
is the start of my detective series called the Campus Killer. Female Detective
Ali Ryan learns of a death on a local campus; reports claim the victim died
from alcohol poisoning, but Detective Ryan has her suspicions and her
suspicions are usually right.
Tell us about
yourself, outside of writing.
I’m a big
music and movie person. I worked in the movie rental industry for seven years
and probably watched about a thousand movies in my first year of working in the
store. My love for music has found its way into some of my writing by giving me
a movie script idea along with being integrated into my blog the Writer’s
Revolution where I’ve been interviewing and promoting authors and now bands as
well.
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Thanks for having me today. Also make sure to check out The Phoenix Blade: Project Justice on Amazon.com
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