Tag Archives: interview

October 14, 2023 · 11:14 am

Autumn Story Round-up

It’s autumn story round-up time! I had a few stories come out, both new and reprints, during August and September, but clearly have been remiss in actually mentioning them.

Oddly enough, they’re all military-themed to some degree. I don’t often write about the military, so it’s weird these three stories hit all at once.

Steadfast in Does it Have Pockets

This is a reprint that first appeared in Flash Fiction Online. It is also a modern retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier, complete with a gender flip and unapologetic happy ending.

Rules of Engagement, second place prose (veteran) in the 2023 Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards from Line of Advance

New story alert! I won’t say much about this one, except the title is a play on words.

Field Manual for Waiting in Women on Writing 3rd Quarter 2023 Creative Nonfiction Contest

A reprint, but the first time you can read it online. Fair warning: this is a piece of creative nonfiction that involves grief. You can also read an interview I did with the editors at WOW, where we discuss, among other things, current writing projects and ghosts.

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Tagged as Army, interview, Publishing, short stories, Writing

June 26, 2019 · 9:47 am

Writing on Wednesday: Interview over at Women on Writing

Sending you over to the Women on Writing blog if you want to read a bit about coffee, ghosts, submitting stories, and a host of other writerly things.

YA Spring Fling Blog Hop with H.S. Stone

The YA Spring Fling is still going strong and there’s plenty of time to enter the giveaway. Want to know what you might win? Well, keep reading to learn a little more about one of the authors, H.S. Stone.

What’s your favorite thing about spring?

The fact that it’s not winter anymore! Cold weather and I don’t get along very well.

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

I love coming up with new story ideas. I’ve been inspired by dreams, books that I read, or just from taking a walk. Whenever a good idea hits me, I write it down in a notebook. As a result, I can’t wait to finish my current manuscript because there are so many new ideas beckoning me!

What’s the worst thing about being a writer?

For me, the revision process is the most painful part of creating a book. After the first draft, I’ll go over my manuscript several times before sending it to an editor, and by then, I’m usually sick of reading my story.

Tell us more about your books.

I write young adult speculative fiction. About half of my books can be classified as dystopian or post-apocalyptic, while the remaining ones fall in the realm of science fiction or fantasy.

Coffee or Tea?

Coffee, but I also like tea. I like coffee-flavored anything: ice cream, cake, candy, etc.

Plotter or Pantser?

I used to be a plotter, but now I’m somewhere in between. I start out each story by writing an outline, and while I try to follow it when I write the first draft, the characters invariably lead me in a different direction. I then revise the outline to match and continue with the draft, iterating when needed until I’ve completed the story.

Are there any books involved in the YA Spring Fling that you’re secretly lusting after?

Oh yes, there are several! But since I’m secretly lusting after them, I won’t reveal which ones. I think there are lots of great books being offered, and I’m grateful to be part of it.

What are your top tips for surviving a bad review?

Remember that everyone has an opinion, and even the best books aren’t for everyone. Re-read your positive reviews to remind yourself that there are readers who enjoyed what you wrote.

What are your top tips for surviving a zombie apocalypse?

Zombieland provided some very useful tips, so I’ll refer to that list: http://www.zombielandrules.com/.

Remember the double tap.

Where can readers find your books?

You can find a full list of my books from my website with links to the retailers that carry them:

H.S. Stone’s books

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

It really is, at least here. It’s all of one miserly degree, plus it’s snowing. Not big, pretty snowflakes, but small, sharp, mean-spirited ones–and the wind is blowing them all around for good measure.

Yeah. It’s a good day to stay inside. In fact, I’m glad it’s a federal holiday. That way, I don’t have to traipse out to the mailbox this afternoon to get the mail–although I do have to venture out in a bit to pick up Kyra from a New Year’s Eve sleepover. I will make my first prediction of 2011. I predict a nap is in someone’s future.

In any case, it’s a good day to curl up in a chair, make plans for 2011, maybe do some reading, or perhaps a little writing. One activity I started last year that I want to carry into this year is volunteer script reading for one of our local theaters, Park Square Theatre.

Essentially, they send me a script, I read it, fill out an evaluation, then mail that (and the script) back to them. Not only is it fun, but from a writer’s perspective, it’s a great exercise for studying character, plot, and structure.

Speaking of which, I’ll be reading this today:

He’s a Canadian playwright, but that really matches our weather today. I don’t know if maybe I should be reading something more tropical on a day like today, but I’m going to brew a big pot of tea and dive in.

Front page news

It’s all the news that you can’t see! And neither can I. But if you visit Darcy’s local paper, at least for a little while, you’ll see she’s on the front page!

The News-Sun (scroll down).

Unfortunately, unless you have a subscription, all you can see is the teaser. And yes, I am thinking about subscribing for a month, just so I can see it. Why do you ask?

This article was written by one of the teens we’ve highlighted over on the Geek Girl’s site, so it’s doubly exciting.

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Tagged as Geek Girl's Guide, interview