Today on the blog I have a Q&A with, the amazing and wonderful, Sophia Elaine Hanson!!
Gryffindor Books: Who or what got you into reading?
Sophia: When I was little, I was actually a terrible reader. I struggled with even the most basic words and phrases. Around age six, I was introduced to Harry Potter by one of my neighborhood friends. I was enthralled. I told my mom I wanted to read the series (only the first four books were out at the time) and rather than telling me I couldn’t, she offered to help me. We struck up a tradition; she read me each book in order, then I would read them by myself after. From then on, I couldn’t stop reading.
Gryffindor Books: How did your love for reading influence you to start writing books?
Sophia: Honestly, I got bored with what I was seeing in my elementary school library. I decided at age eight that if nothing on the shelves interested me, I would just have to write my own. I ended up writing my first ‘book’ in a spiral notebook between classes.
Gryffindor Books: How old were you when you started to write your first book?
Sophia: Well, like I said above, I was eight when I took my first stab at it. But my first real book came to fruition when I was eleven or twelve. It was called Witch, I think!
Gryffindor Books: Please tell us a little about your books and where we can get copies of them!
Sophia: Genre wise, I’m a little all over the place! I currently have three books on the market: Vinyl, Radio, and hummingbird. Vinyl and Radio are the first two books of The Vinyl Trilogy, a gritty steampunk dystopian infused with art and music. Actually, I just finished the first draft of the final installment of the series, Siren, last night! hummingbird is a chapbook of poetry that tells the story of my first love and heartbreak. My second book of poetry, soul like thunder, is currently in the works and will likely be out this winter. All my books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Vinyl and Radio are also available on Barnes and Noble (online), BAM (online), Borders (online) Book Depository, iBooks, Smashwords, Kobo, and Nook. You can also order them through just about any bookstore, they should be able to deliver them to you!
Gryffindor Books: Are any of your books based on real life? How did your life influence your writing?
Sophia: The Vinyl Trilogy is fictional, of course. However, it is deeply rooted in music and the power it has to lift us up. When I was sixteen, I went through an incredibly difficult series of events that really shaped me as a person. Emotional trauma, depression, and some pretty serious physical health problems. Music was one of the things that brought me back to myself. The question I wanted to answer when I started writing Vinyl at seventeen was “what if music was somehow weaponized?” It had become something of a weapon and shield for me to deal with my trauma, and I thought “wouldn’t it be interesting if it was actually a weapon?” hummingbird, as I said above, is the true story of my first love and heartbreak.
Gryffindor Books: Do you have a favorite book format? Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook, or eBook?
Sophia: I’m a sucker for pretty hardbacks! My books aren’t currently available in hardback, it’s a dream of mine to see them in that format!
Gryffindor Books: Thanks for doing this with me!!
Sophia: Thanks for having me!
About Sophia:
Sophia has been writing novels, short stories, and poems since she was still losing her baby teeth. Along the way she amassed an impressive 35 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards including two National Gold Medals for science fiction short stories. As a Scholastic alumnus she joins the ranks of many great authors including Truman Capote, Sylvia Plath, and Joyce Carol Oates. Sophia’s work has been accepted for publication in Polyphony HS and The Claremont Review. Sophia grew up in Iowa and now resides in New York City as a student at her dream school, NYU. She loves dogs, books, and hummingbirds and loathes cantaloupe. She has a dog named Norman and a cactus named Nao.
Sophia’s Links:
YA Books are Epic 