What genre would you
say your novels fall into, or do they defy classification?
I call it comedy, others say chook-lit; my friend Helen
calls it hot flush fiction.
What made you choose
that genre?
I wrote half a dozen short stories based on silly events that
had happened to me or my friends and blew them out of all proportion for comic
effect. Then I realised I could cobble
them together and weave a bigger story around them. I edited four of them out in the end, but don’t
ask which two made it to the final edit because I’m not telling!
How long does it take
you to write a book?
Project Me is my
first book and was just a hobby I pursued when I had spare time in the
beginning, so I can’t gauge how long it would take if I wrote full-time. I
started it in 2008, finished it in 2012, and had a year in there where I didn’t
look at it at all.
What is your work
schedule like when you're writing?
I get up, shower and dress, sit in front of the PC and
type. I make a point of not logging onto
the internet, I just go for it.
Where do you get your
ideas for your books?
I have no clue, they just come to me then develop from there
as I write them down. I have the outline of several full stories recorded on my
PC for writing at a later date.
When did you write
your first book and how old were you?
I’ve only written one previous book and must have been
around eleven or twelve. A family member had reading and writing difficulties
and I wrote a ‘Janet and John’ type book in simple terms to help him. It
probably didn’t make any difference but that was my first effort.
What do you like to
do when you're not writing?
I have lots of friends, look after my mum, work part-time
behind the bar at the local golf club, and attend writing classes.
I find classes inspiring and when I attend
them, my output multiplies.
What was one of the
most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
That the characters would take on a life of their own. They often take me down a completely different
path to the one I pointed them to.
How many books have
you written?
Only one full-sized novel but I’m working on book #2.
As a child, what did
you want to do when you grew up?
I wanted to be a primary school teacher but my circumstances
changed and that was no longer possible.
What are you working
on now?
I’m 25,000 words into book #2, a sequel to Project Me. It’s working title is The Pia Protocol and it picks the story up two years after the end
of book #1.
Bio
Carol was born in Edinburgh and later moved to the West of
Scotland for eighteen years, during which time she married, became Company
Secretary of her husband’s business, and helped raise three step-children
whilst still working full-time. After a
divorce and two promotions in the 1990s, she returned to Edinburgh in
2001. She took early retirement in 2007
to pursue a lifelong desire to write.
The result is her hot-flush fiction Project
Me.
Twitter: @carolannehunter
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