Author Interview with Sarah E. Hamilton

Today for my Wednesday special post I have something new--an author interview with Sarah E. Hamilton. Sarah is a young writer and new friend I've found through the platform The Young Writers Workshop.

Here you go!

---

When did you first want to become an author?

When did I learn to talk? Probably around then.

What was the first story you wrote?

Are we counting 5-sentence stories about butterflies? If not, then my first story was a Narnia fanfiction set on the Lone Islands between Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

What’s your favorite place to write?

Depends on my mood. I like a lot of different places. My desk, the patio in my backyard, the floor in my room, my bed…the list goes on. Just about the only thing that stays the same is noise-canceling headphones playing my 18-hour film score playlist!

Why did you start a blog?

Good question! Mostly just because I had a lot of things to say and I wanted a place to say them. Later on I discovered the notion of building a platform so people want to buy your books, so now it’s kind of a double reason.

What’s your favorite blog?

You mean I have to pick one??? I really love Ella Quill’s Noble Knoll, and Shiloh Cruz’s GracefulSoul. If we’re branching out of teen blogs, I find the Steve Laube Agency and Novel Marketing to be incredibly helpful.

What’s your favorite food?

Pasta. Any and all kinds of pasta. Hands-down. Only pasta.

What’s your favorite book? (or top 3)

Rfffff, I gotta narrow it down to three…

Narnia, the Lord of the Rings, and the Hunger Games. If I have to pick only three…

What genre do you write and why?

Fantasy! I also write biblical fiction and occasional sci-fi or contemporary fiction but those are pretty rare.

Is the genre you write different from the genre you read?

Nope! I read as much fantasy as I can get my hands on, supplemented with biblical fiction and a few historical or contemporary books if they’re really really good.

Are you a plotter/panster/planster and why?

I call myself a discovery outliner. Aka, a plantser who leans towards plotting, but will be writing a draft and suddenly a character I’ve never met before appears and demands to be a major part of the plot.

Would you rather draft or edit?

This is a difficult question to answer since I’m only just starting to edit my first novel. However, I do love editing enough that I’m hoping to set up a line editing business! I like them both.

Do you write about places you’ve been, places you want to be, or both?!

Umm…I create my own worlds…but often they’re inspired by places I’ve been (the Appalachian Mountains) and places I want to be (pretty much everywhere else).

Where do you see your writing in five years?

This is a tricky question because my future is kind of up in the air right now. But I hope to be well on my way to traditionally publishing!

Where were you in your writing five years ago?

I was processing my dad’s death, mostly. It was five years ago around this time of year that my writing really took off. I’d just read The Lord of the Rings for the first time in January 2020 and discovered that I wanted to create worlds as wholly and completely as Tolkien did. So I devoted myself to my five-book series and almost finished it, too.

Do you like studying literature, or just reading fiction for fun?

Depends on the literature. In school I would read literature like A Tale of Two Cities and Ivanhoe and so on, but I haven’t read many classics since graduation. I guess I prefer fantasy…

How many stories have you written?

Okay you’ve gotta define terms if you want me to answer this question. Are we talking about completely finished stories? A couple short stories. Finished drafts? Approximately 5 novels. Unfinished stories I randomly started writing and never finished? I just did a quick and very rough count of everything in my “Stories” folder on my computer. Somewhere in the range of seventy projects.

Why do you write?

I write to make the world a better place. My motto is “tell stories that heal.” This is what I strive to do.

Have you ever written a story you didn’t like?

I’ve hated all of my stories at one time or another. That’s probably why most of them are unfinished. But when I go back and re-read some of the longer ones, I actually find them quite entertaining (either because the writing was so bad or because I actually had a few good ideas.)

---

Sarah E. Hamilton

Sarah E. Hamilton is an author, editor, award-winning public speaker, and the scatterbrained ENTP behind the world of Eravale. She writes fantasy stories that heal. If you’re daring enough, you can venture into Middle-earth, Narnia, or Aerwiar to drag her back into Western PA to talk to you. Or, you can find her on her blog “Contemplations of a Christian Creator,” which is probably easier.

---

Find Sarah on her blog, Contemplations of a Christian Creator.

And go check out the sister interview where I answer all the questions from above on 3C's with this link: Click Meeeee!!!!!!

Stay Strong,

Claudia