March 28, 2013

Made It Moment: Tony Hubbard

Filed under: Made It Moments — jenny @ 10:36 am

A Demon Lies Within

Am I the only child of the 70’s and 80’s who grew up scrounging the library shelves for their horror offerings? The Shining, The Omen, Audrey Rose, Burnt Offerings…these books caused my parents paroxysms of worry as to my reading habits, and me a bizarre sort of absorption and joy.

Today’s Moment-er has written a novel that sounds part Bad Seed, part Exorcist, and so I am instantly intrigued. (Especially because we share the same favorite author!) But what excites me the most is that Tony Hubbard seeks to go beyond the constraints of genre and do what all we readers and writers most want.

To tell a good story.

I’d say you’ve made it, Tony.

Tony Hubbard

My debut novel, A Demon Lies Within centers around the demonic possession of a nine-year-old boy named Joshua. As such, the book falls in the genre of horror fiction. In a literature world currently dominated by young adult titles, or else those classified as mystery, thriller and suspense, horror novels may not be at the forefront of a readers’ mind or at the top of their ‘to be read’ list.

To appeal to a more mainstream audience, the book had to provide readers something they could strongly latch on to, to entice them above and beyond the horrific elements included to play to my genre-specific built in audience.

I strove to accomplish this by creating a story whose foundation was built on the strength of the characters, giving them qualities readers could identify with, while having a strong enough story to keep readers turning the pages beyond the point they might’ve planned on stopping.

Fortunately, there have been readers who normally wouldn’t seek out horror fiction give A Demon Lies Within an opportunity to entertain them.

Receiving positive feedback from those who normally don’t read horror, specifically about how they liked the characters; wanting to learn more about what was going to happen to them; and also how the strength of the story kept them turning page after page, even through scenes of horror they normally wouldn’t read, was vindication that A Demon Lies Within would be received by a larger audience.

Having readers who enjoy all genres of books saying they can’t wait to read my next novel and wondering about the status of the second book has made me feel I’ve made it.

Being identified as a writer who gives audiences a great story, no matter the genre I write, confirms that I have.

 

Tony Hubbard grew up like most boys in Massachusetts during the 1980’s, wanting to emulate basketball star Larry Bird and one day play for the Boston Celtics. Quickly realizing that a future as a professional athlete was something he would not achieve, he did the next best thing – became a sportswriter. Tony covered high school, collegiate and professional sports, and most notably,the death of Boston Celtics’ star Reggie Lewis for The Patriot Ledger.

Growing up and reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King, he one day aspired to publish a novel in the horror genre. After leaving his professional writing career behind to make a move into the production and advertising side of the publishing business, Tony makes a return with his debut novel. Eighteen years in the making, A Demon Lies Within, releases November 2012 from Two Harbors Press.






March 19, 2013

Made It Moment: Judy Mollen Walters

Filed under: Made It Moments — jenny @ 2:54 pm

Child Of Mine

It is with extraordinary pleasure that I feature this Moment from the road. Not only because I’ve been blogging-lite lately, trying to balance life-out-of-a-car, and this is one of a small handful of posts I’ve gotten to do. But also because as writers we wouldn’t really have the chance to Make It if we didn’t find kindred spirits along the way, and Judy Walters is one of mine.

Judy and I walked and trudged and crawled down the writers’ road for many years together. We watched each other get close, and we watched each other’s hearts break a tiny bit when close wasn’t good enough. Through it all, I read Judy’s stories of women whose hearts broke for entirely different reasons, and I was caught up in every single one. People are going to want to read these, I thought. They’re going to be changed by them.

Now Judy’s first novel is available, and I have only one more thing to say before I let Judy take over.

I am so glad she’s finally gotten her Moment!

Judy Mollen Walters

Thank you, Jenny, for being kind enough to host me on your Made-It-Moment site.

I’ve had a bunch of Made-It-Moments already. I’m sure that sounds strange, as someone whose debut novel is just coming out, but for me, anytime someone says she loved the book, I feel I’ve made it. As an author, my goal is at once simple and complicated. Simple because I just want my readers to enjoy my stories, to find something in them that feels satisfying. Complicated because it’s not easy to do this. It takes months or years of honing and practicing and editing and revising. Months and years more to secure an agent you click with, and go through even more editing and revising before you try to find a publisher. And then more months, in my case, when my agent and I decided to move to an ebook version.

Since I decided to publish Child of Mine, a number of people have already read and liked or loved it. My agent, for one. Other writers. Beta readers. Last month, my publicist put it up on GoodReads, and a number of people there read and enjoyed it. More checked off that it was something they planned to read in the future.

A friend read it. She loved it. She sent it to another friend. She loved it too. It never gets old, hearing people tell you they enjoy your work, that you made them think or laugh or cry or…whatever you made them feel. So I’ve made it just by making a few people happy. I hope to make it some more. :)

Judy Walters worked as an editor in nonfiction publishing for many years before becoming a Stay-at-Home Mother to her two daughters. Child of Mine, her debut novel, is the story of an infertile midwife. it can be found on Kindle, Nook, and other etailer sites. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached at judymwalters@gmail.com.






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