HANNAH MEREDITH ( Cont .) INTERVIEW
HANNAH MEREDITH ( Cont .) INTERVIEW
MFRW : What ’ s your most embarrassing experience ?
HM : I ’ ve worn glasses since I was a child . When I entered high school , I decided “ being seen ” was more important than “ seeing .” This led to much awkwardness . Every morning I greeted a little boy waiting for his bus , only to discover it was a childshaped sign holding a School Zone placard . I sat on a girl whose dress matched her chair . But it was when I couldn ’ t find my date at a school dance — every boy there seemed to have on the same blue-shirt , khaki-pants combination — that I gave up on vanity and put my glasses back on .
MFRW : If you were stranded on a tropical island , whom would it be with ? You can choose any living , deceased . or mythical figure .
HM : My husband ! Yeah , this sounds like a cop-out , but he ’ s the kindest , most interesting , most understanding man I have ever met . He “ gets ” me . He makes me laugh . And I suspect together we could figure out how to get off that island .
MFRW :
What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries ? HM : Travel ! I ’ m infected with wanderlust . I ’ ve been fortunate enough to visit all fifty states and to travel to six of the seven continents . Sorry , Antarctica is not on my
list — too cold .
MFRW :
HM :
Tell us about your latest book . Where do your story ideas usually come from ?
My latest solo novel is Song of the Nightpiper , a fantasy romance with a quasimedieval setting . The characters of Faulk and Anlin arrived in my head fully formed , and I couldn ’ t resist writing their tale .
Most of my story ideas just pop into my mind , most often when I ’ m doing some mindless task like vacuuming or folding laundry . I clearly envision characters involved in a specific situation , and then I expand from there by asking a series of “ what if ” questions .
MFRW : What kind of research do you do for a book ?
HM : Probably way too much . I have an inquisitive mind that wants to know everything my characters know , even if most of this will never appear in a book . The internet has made all this information easily retrievable , although I still like to use period books . For instance , I used my antique copy of Paterson ’ s Roads ( a Regency era travel guide ) to carefully trace the journeys of both main characters to “ the house by the sea ” in Home for Christmas which appears in Christmas Revels IV .
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