Hello Author Lisa Hodorovych! We are pleased to have you on here for an interview. Tell us something about yourself?
Oh, where to begin! I was born and raised in New Jersey, so I am definitely a “Jersey girl”. Since I was little, I have always loved telling stories. I remember during family gatherings I would be sitting at the dining room table with everyone and just weaving these fantastical tales. What these stories were, I honestly don’t remember, but I do remember repeating them over and over again and my family being like, “Okay, Lisa! We get it!”
Then when I started elementary school, I learned that it had a parent-ran “publishing company” in it. I was constantly sending stories in to be “published” and I loved when I got my “book” back. It felt so good to hold my story in my hand. Unfortunately, those “books” are now gone – probably, accidently tossed during a move – but at that young age, I knew I wanted to become a writer. My fifth-grade yearbook proves it as under my photo, next to “Future Goal” it says “Author”.
However, as I got older, I started leaning toward being a zoologist and working with animals since I did love them. That changed, though, for two reasons. One, I started taking a chemistry class my (I believe) junior year in high school and I did not understand the material at all. Two, around the same time we had to put our dog down and it broke my heart. I thought to myself, “If I’m like this with my dog, how am I going to be if I get close to an animal and have to put it down.”
That’s when I realized being a zoologist wasn’t exactly my calling and I had to rethink what was. Not too long after it hit me, “I still love to write stories and I’m pretty good at it, so why not pursue a career in that.”
As the old saying goes, “The rest is history.”
In my spare time, when I’m not working or writing, I love to watch movies/TV shows, read books, and spend time with my family, friends, and husband. I’m also a Godzilla fanatic, and I’m working on a tea drinking adventure on my blog, Quoth the Writer Book Reviews.
Author Lisa Your book, “The Disappearance”, was published recently. To begin with, could you explain what the book is about to those who don’t know much about it?
Absolutely! “The Disappearance” is a suspense/thriller/mystery novel about Ashlynn Amuso and her family. Ashlynn, her brother Glen, and her two best friends Roman and Kaden (who are like family to her) go away on vacation to a cabin in Lake Minnetaha, Washington. They are having a blast as they go hiking in the “backyard”, swimming in the lake, and driving to a local town to drink and socialize. All is well, until one day Roman, Glen, and Kaden leave Ashlynn at the cabin with no notes, no explanation of why. When they return, they’re sore and in pain. Ashlynn tries to find out where they were and all they tell her is, “We were taking a survey.”
This continues for a couple of weeks until one day they pack up their bags and leave. Ashlynn is heartbroken and upset, but she stays hoping they’ll return, so they can go home. After a couple of days of not hearing a word from them, she decides to go searching for them. A month passes with no word from them nor anyone seeing them. But one day, while sitting in the cabin, she sees something. It’s not a person and it’s not an animal. It’s a monster, a creature she has never seen before. She tries to tell the local sheriff and her parents about it, but no one is believing her. The only one that does is her childhood friend, Jack Graives.
With his help, she’s hoping to not only figure out the mystery of the monster but find her family as well.
What inspired your debut novel?
Believe it or not, this story was actually my senior thesis in college. So once I decided that I wanted to be a writer, I went searching for a school that offered Creative Writing as a major. Thankfully, I found it at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey.
When I became a senior, in order to graduate, I had to write a story for my senior thesis. I remember it had to be short, maybe like 100 pages or less, so when I first wrote “The Disappearance”, it was I think 80 pages or something like that. However, it unfortunately sat for a couple of years before I decided to fix it up and publish it as my first story. Then, as I worked on it, I had friends and fellow authors look at it and critique it for me. Thanks to them, I was able to expand it and make it into the masterpiece it is today.
What is your process for writing a book?
I mainly like to write my stories out before I go to my laptop and type them up; however, there are times where I’ll just go straight for my laptop. I guess you can say that I’m more of a pantser than a plotter because I normally don’t plan my stories out. I just write whatever is in my head and figure where it might go in the story. Then once I feel the story is about done (whether it’s written out or still in my head), that’s when I start plotting it out and filling in the blanks.
What book are you planning to write next?
Oh, boy! Well, there is a sequel to “The Disappearance” that I might do next or I may publish a new story first. I’m honestly not 100% sure yet. Right now, though, I’m enjoying the success of “The Disappearance” and promoting it before I get started on my next adventure.
Finally, what advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Don’t stop! As much as it pains me to say, there will be people – family and friends – who will doubt you and try to make you do something different with your life. If writing is what you want to do, if it’s what you love to do, and publishing a book is your dream, then do it! There were many times I wanted to stop and do something different with my life for personal reasons, but thankfully I have a very supportive husband and family that pushed me to live my dream. Now, I couldn’t be happier with myself and I’m going to continue doing what I love whether the naysayers like it or not.
Listen to the criticism! As I worked on “The Disappearance”, I sent it out to friends and fellow authors for their opinion on it. Did it look good and sound good? Did the flow of the story make sense? Were they any misspelled or missing words? Were they any missing punctuations? Et cetera, Et cetera. Thankfully, they all answered me truthfully and told me the story was good, but some things needed to be added and some things needed to be taken out. I will admit that it hurt when I heard certain lines or certain scenes didn’t work or make sense, but at the same time…they were right! When you ask people to look at your work, swallow your pride and take in their edits/suggestions.
Keep going! As a continuation of what I was saying earlier, don’t stop if you get rejection letter after rejection letter. It happens! I did, but I eventually found my publisher, Serial Writer Productions. Just keep going! And if anything, there is always the self-publishing route.
Where can our readers find you online?
Here are all of the links to my social media and to my business website where you can learn more about me, my business (Quoth the Writer, L.L.C.), and my blog. Facebook: @LisaHodorovych, Instagram: @thewriterslife87, Twitter: @LisaH_Writer87 and Website: www.quoththewriter.com