Talking With Author Deb Hunter About Life, Developing Authentic Characters and Gaining Thousands of Social Media Followers

Deb Hunter is a bright soul with a good heart. A southerner that you want to sit down on the porch and have a glass of iced tea with.

She’s an author who follows the call of her passion which has led her to write her upcoming novel I’ll See You In My Dreams. She’s also a Stage IV cancer survivor with a heart of gold.

Grateful doesn’t describe how I felt when I spoke to Deb. She’s so inspiring and a real sweetheart. She shares her writing schedule, what class has given her a deeper understanding of her characters, and how she gained thousands of followers on her social media site.

The Breakdown:

0:35 Deb shares why she doesn’t know what historians actually do and how she’s using her history degree.

1:17 She explains how many books she’s published and the type of books she’s published.

2:31 What marketing has to do with writing.

3:00 The difference between writing nonfiction versus fiction and whether one is harder than the other.

3:42 Deb generously shares what big life challenge has made writing fiction a blessing.

6:50 How many years it took Deb to write her novel and if she ever felt like giving up. (Any writer will relate to what she says here.)

7:14 This is what kept her going.

7:50 Deb shares a nugget here that’s worth listening to. Instead of writing classes, she took this type of class to help her understand her characters.

8:18 This is Deb’s pet-peeve as a reader and what you should watch out for as a fiction writer.

9:00 How do you write authentic characters? Deb shares what she learned here.

10:40 Hearing this changed the way I write.

11:45 What to expect from her novel coming out this October.

14:50 Deb explains her writing process.

16:30 Deb mentions her Medium blog which you can check out on Tudor history here.

17:07 Here are her thoughts on daily writing schedules and word counts per day.

18:40 How she decides which interests to pursue (this is for all those with multiple interests).

20:10 Deb who has thousands of followers gives advice on doing well on social media when you’re an author.

24:20 The untraditional way she got her latest novel published that has nothing to do with getting an agent. She also cracked me up with something an agent told her.

26:42 Deb’s offering a free prequel to her new book will be coming out in June. You can learn more on her website: www.huntersjones.com

28:00 Here’s how Deb is working on promoting her book. She also talks about newsletters and why she loves social media.

30:00 Deb talks about some of the differences between getting her books self-published versus being traditionally published.

34:00 Deb explains how and why she decided to do the cover for her own book.

36:37 This is Deb’s best advice on finding beta readers.

 

{Music by Kevin MacLeod from Incompetech.}