NZ Writer Spotlight – J C Hart

Writing in New Zealand is a tough business. I’ve recently started reading a lot more New Zealand fiction and as a country, we are producing some great work. I’ve discovered some talented Kiwi authors in the Twitter writing community. These hard-working creatives should get more exposure. The idea for this segment grew from a desire to support New Zealand writers. It will go live on the 7th of each month.

My first guest is an inspiring busy mum. She is an award-winning author and has written six books. Without further ado, here is my interview of speculative fiction author JC Hart.

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The Interview

Kim: Thankyou so much again for being part of this feature. What is an early book / author that inspired you to write? What are you reading now?

JC: The first books I remember really sucking me in and transporting me to another world were short story collections of horror stories, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King, David Eddings, and Raymond E. Feist. It was a good combination of horror and fantasy, oh with some science fiction thrown into the mix with Anne McCaffrey and Frank Herbert and the like – our extended family had a vast collection of science fiction and fantasy novels which kind of did the rounds. It was considered part of our informal education to read through it.

I’m not entirely sure where I got my love of horror because it seems to have skipped about half the family.

Anyway, all of these books shaped me as a writer. I can’t seem to get away from speculative fiction, with a side of darkness and humour.

What am I reading now? Well, I just started Dean Koontz’s Life Expectancy, and I’m also reading Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown. Reading time is hard to capture, though I’ve got a goal of reading seventy books this year.

Kim: As a mum who home-schools her children, how do you balance the demands of life with writing?

JC: This is a question I ask myself all the time… Some days the answer is that I do a terrible job and my writing is neglected – the silver lining is that my stories aren’t going to die if I ignore them for a day 😉

The older the kids get the more we can have open conversations about everyone getting their needs met, and one of my needs is time to write. They’re getting better at giving me space to work on my projects while they work on their own, and that’s really nice. I love being able to talk story with them, and they’ve come to understand how important writing is to me. Hopefully this means I’m setting a wonderful example which will see them following their dreams too.

Kim: What do you hope people get out of your books?

JC: My main hope is that for just a little bit I can pull readers out of this world and into my own. I want to transport them to other places, other possibilities. And if I can do that, then I’ve done my job.

Kim: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

JC: Don’t take that paper on creative writing at University!!! Just walk away. It’ll ruin you for years! I’m sure not all papers are bad, but this one was a literature writing course parading as creative writing. The two are not the same. I didn’t write anything for years afterwards, and I can’t get those years back. Sometimes, the best way to learn your craft is just to do it, not learn about it. The more you write, the better you get, and having someone shoot you down and tell you to write the way they want you to can be really damaging.

So, that’s my message to newer writers – protect your writing. Find people to help you who will point out where you can improve, but won’t tear you down in the process. Find your tribe.

Find her latest book here: https://www.amazon.com/Way-Sky-Curves-Kotahi-Book-ebook/dp/B00XFT42ES/

Or follow her blog: https://just-cassie.com/

J.C. is a lover of pizza, coffee, and zombies (in no particular order). She was raised on a healthy diet of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, and despite many attempts by various English teachers has refused to budge on her position that these are the best genres ever.

When she’s not raising her horde of wonderfully creepy children or dreaming of the day she’ll have an army of ninja kittens, she’s writing speculative fiction, or binging on TV, movies, and games.

She also happens to be a Sir Julius Vogel Award winner and was a finalist in the 2014 Australian Shadows Awards.