Dave Milbrandt - Painting with Words
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Books
  • High School Declassified

Painting with Words

Five Questions with Hannah Thomas

11/10/2017

0 Comments

 
PicturePhoto Credit: Lancia E. Smith
As creatives, people often think we express ourselves through just one form of art. Sure we often have a medium through which we channel our best efforts, but usually we’re are not the one-trick ponies who can be categorized into just fiction writing or poetry, or music, for example. In the case of Hannah Thomas, she is skilled at all three. The craft she is working on with the most determined focus at the moment is her writing. When she reads from her work, particularly from a draft of her fantasy novel, you are transported to the knee of the master storyteller who is weaving a tale that captures the heart as well as the imagination. I can’t wait to hear the whole story.
 
 
When did you first realize you were a storyteller?
 
At the age of one, I sat in my highchair at Christmastime, playing with my great-grandmother’s nativity set, moving the figures around and babbling to myself—so the official family line is that I’ve been telling stories since before I could technically talk, and I haven’t stopped since. My primary form of play as a kid was sitting in my room with my “characters”—which is what I called the various animals in my plastic menagerie—telling myself stories with them. In third or fourth grade, I gave a friend a collection of my own short stories for a birthday present. In the seventh or eighth grade, having recently exhausted all of C. S. Lewis’s Narnia books (again) I decided to write one of my own. I think that project made it up to twenty-three (typed) pages, which sadly I no longer have. 
 
What do you love about the writing process?
 
When it’s going well, writing sometimes feels more like discovering something than like creating it. It’s as if these characters and their story already exist, and I’m uncovering it bit by bit. I’ll write something down that doesn’t make immediate sense—and then find out later why that detail was important. I love this. It feels like finding out that (in a good way) magic is real. 
 
What is the hardest part of being a writer?
 
The Tyranny of the Urgent. My stories do not pay the bills at this point, so it’s easy to set them aside in favor of the things that do. Also, when I’m under a lot of stress, it can feel like a Herculean effort just to sit down and open the right file. I pour myself out when I write, and it’s easy to feel like a failure after enough days when the jar is empty.   
 
Where do you find your inspiration?

I have encountered two kinds of inspiration, as it were. One kind comes in quick flashes when I’m not expecting it. The project I’m focusing on now started my sophomore year of college. I had just had an argument with my roommate about film adaptations of books we love. I got fed up and left, and walked down the street railing at God—out loud (because I am auditory). I realized that some people I knew were walking down the street close enough behind me to hear, minimally, that I was talking to myself, and, being in no mood to explain, I turned a corner, ran, and hid behind a tree until they passed by (because I am a mature, thoughtful adult). As I leaned against that tree getting sap all over my back, a picture and a short sentence flashed into my head. I ran back to my apartment, banged out a page of dialogue depicting that scene, and then read it to my roommate. We both got super excited; the argument was over, and I’ve been working on this project ever since.
 
The other kind of inspiration I’ve experienced comes from the work itself—and from the people who make it possible for the work to get done. I cannot count how many times I’ve gotten stuck and asked someone—my dad; my mom; a good friend—for input. Usually, they’ll ask a few questions and we’ll bat ideas back and forth for a while, and when the conversation is over, I will know not only how to move past the thing I was stuck on, but I’ll have other exciting ideas that make me eager to get back to work. This is the kind of inspiration that makes the hard slog of finishing projects possible.  
 
What are you working on right now?
 
My first novel. This is the project that started with a fight with my roommate. I’ll say it falls under “swords-and-horses fantasy;” its working title is The Ruler’s Mark. I’m hoping to have the second draft finished by the end of this year. The first draft, incidentally, was complete (meaning that it told the whole story) at 291 pages. The current one is over 400 pages and as I said, it’s not done yet. Turns out there’s a lot I knew about this story that I hadn’t managed to get on paper—and a lot more I didn’t know that the characters have been good enough to explain to me during the writing of this draft. And I am confident there will be at least one more draft after this. 
 
I also blog occasionally, and, if new story ideas knock on my door, I try to find somewhere safe for them to rest while they wait for me to be ready for them. 
 
There is one other project that I’ve written 40-some-odd pages of because I couldn’t help myself, but I’m not sure yet whether it will ever leave the house. It’s swords-and-horses fantasy too, but not in the same world. I have absolutely fallen in love with two or three of its characters—but I know almost nothing about its plot. 
 
You can find out more about Hannah's passion and her mission on her website, By The Lion Arts.


0 Comments

    Author

    I've been writing stories and taking photos since I was old enough to hold a pencil and stand behind a tripod.

    Archives

    June 2022
    April 2022
    August 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    October 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    April 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Action Adventure
    Alex Winter
    Ally Carter
    American History
    Apple
    Atticus Finch
    Bible
    Bill Clinton
    Bill & Ted Face The Music
    Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
    Blog Tour
    Book Launch
    Book Tour
    Branding
    Bravery
    By The Lion Arts
    Cage Runner
    Cara Putman
    CelebrateLit
    Change
    Characters
    Chosen People
    Comedy
    Creative Process
    Davis Bunn
    Delayed Justice
    Determination
    Divergent
    Editing
    Embassy Row
    Emissary
    Fantasy
    Fatherhood
    Finn
    Fool's Luck
    Gallagher GIrls
    Gene Doucette
    Go Set A Watchman
    Gospel
    Hannah Thomas
    Harper Lee
    Heirs Of The Founders
    Heist Society
    Heroes
    Hidden Among The Stars
    Hidden Justice
    History
    Hope
    Humility
    Hunger Games
    H.W. Brands
    James Patterson
    Jean Louise Finch
    John Grisham
    Keanu Reeves
    Kristin Hannah
    Kylo Ren
    Launch Team
    Legal Fiction
    Luke Skywalker
    Marketing
    Melanie Dobson
    Narrative Beats
    Nonfiction
    Not If I Save You First
    Nyxia
    Nyxia Unleashed
    Obi-Wan Kenobi
    Olympics
    Opportunity
    Patience
    Pen Names
    Perspective
    Poe Dameron
    Presidency
    Promotions
    Publicity
    Public Speaking
    Publishing
    Research
    #Revelation
    Rey
    Richard Bachman
    Robert Whitlow
    Robin Carrol
    Romance
    Rose TIco
    Running
    Sacrifice
    San Dimas HIgh School
    Sand Runner
    Science Fiction
    Scott Reintgen
    Scout Finch
    Screenwriting
    Shel Silverstein
    Star Trek
    Star Trek: Discovery
    Star Wars
    Stephen King
    Storytelling
    Stratagem
    Suspense
    Techno Thriller
    Techno-thriller
    Teddy Roosevelt
    Thanksgiving
    The First American
    The Great Alone
    The Last Jedi
    The Nightingale
    The Orville
    The President Is Missing
    The Pultizer Prize
    The Reckoning
    The Spaceship Next Door
    Thomas Locke
    Titles
    To Kill A Mockingbird
    Traitor To His Class
    Vera Brook
    Vice Admiral Holdo
    Writing
    Young Adult Litertature

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Books
  • High School Declassified