16 Questions with Julie Hutchings: On RUNNING AWAY, lizards, Caillou vs. clowns, & more!
Some essential facts about Julie Hutchings:
1. She is a lizard whisperer.
2. She’s probably like the best person on Twitter, or at least in the top 1%.
3. She has a Pinterest board called FOOD THAT DEFIES GOD and it is glorious.
4. Her NEW book, Running Away, is OUT TODAY!!!
Faithful readers (I giggle as I type that, because it implies I am a faithful blogger) probably know how much I dig Julie and her debut paranormal horror-romance, Running Home. (You can read our interview and my review here.) So I am THRILLED and honored to be part of today’s release-day hootenanny for the much-anticipated sequel, Running Away!
Let’s start with the blurb and the beautifully eerie cover—and then Julie will answer 16 of my nosy questions about sequel-writing, social media, pet lizards, and the quandary that’s plagued humanity since 1977: Froot Loops or Cookie Crisp?
ABOUT RUNNING AWAY
Eliza Morgan is desperate to escape the horrors of her mortal life and understand why death follows her, leaving only one man, Nicholas French, in its wake. He’s the one she loves, the one she resents, and the one fated to make her legendary among the Shinigami—an ancient order of vampires with a “heroic” duty to kill. He’s also decaying before her eyes, and it’s her fault.
On the ghostlike mountaintop in Japan that the vampires consider home, Eliza will be guided by the all-powerful Master for her transition to Shinigami death god. When Eliza discovers that sacrificing her destiny will save Nicholas, she’s not afraid to defy fate and make it so—even when Nicholas’s salvation kills her slowly with torturous, puzzle-piece visions that beg her to solve them. Both Nicholas and his beloved Master fight her on veering from the path to immortality, but Eliza won’t be talked out of her plan, even if it drives the wedge between Nicholas and her deeper.
Allying with the fiery rebel, Kieran, who does what he wants and encourages her to do the same, and a mysterious deity that only she can see, Eliza must forge her own path through a maze of ancient traditions and rivalries, shameful secrets and dark betrayals to take back the choices denied her and the Shinigami who see her as their savior. To uncover the truth and save her loved ones, Eliza will stop at nothing, including war with fate itself.
And now, an interview with La Hutchings herself. Semi-serious questions first. *pulls on respectable corduroy interviewer pants*
JL: What was the toughest thing about writing Running Away? Did you feel like you had to get to know the characters all over again, or was it a pretty smooth transition?
JH: By a long shot the hardest thing about writing this book was sifting through the original material I had which was actually originally part of Running Home, and creating new material that coincided better with the finalized version of the first book. So yeah. That was a whirlwind tour. I didn’t have to get to know these characters again, they are so deep in me it’s a little weird. We have matching Members Only jackets.
JL: And you braid each other’s hair at sleepovers, too. DON’T PRETEND YOU DON’T.
So I’m betting we’ll see a very different Eliza in the sequel, considering everything that happened at the end of book one. How did you approach that—getting across her evolution/transformation while still making her recognizably the same girl we loved from Running Home?
JH: When we met Eliza in Running Home she was cornered and had been for a long time. She was fighting against fate, everything being taken from her, and to start with she’d been pretty much hiding in New Hampshire from civilization. In this book we see her punch back hard. She pulls herself out of the corner and takes her life into her own hands, and takes responsibility for the people around her that fate would otherwise take from her. So for her, it’s a natural growth. She could have gone one of two ways after Running Home—she could have sunk further into what fate planned for her life, or she could fight back and make it her own. I know the kind of girl Eliza is and she wasn’t about to give in.
JL: Gah, that’s so exciting; I can’t wait to see her take charge in book two. Which brings me to this: When you wrote Running Home, were you already mapping it out as a story in multiple parts, or did you get to the end and realize “hey, I’ve got enough left for a sequel”?
JH: I wrote Running Home entirely on paper. Didn’t even own a laptop. [Holy crapsticks, you’re shitting me. You’re my hero.—JL] When I finally did get a laptop and started typing it up I realized I had two books. I had no idea what the hell I was doing, but when I finished Running Home, I knew I wanted it to be a trilogy, and so trilogy it is.
JL: I don’t think I knew that before! I’m so happy there’ll be a third book, too.
You put Eliza and Nicholas through the wringer in Running Home. How would you describe their relationship at the beginning of this book? Does it pick up where the last book left off, or has Shit Gone Down in the interim?
JH: Running Away both picks up where the last book left off in Nicholas and Eliza’s relationship AND shit has gone down. She resents him but she loves him and he’s all she has left. He feels guilty and resentful that he feels guilty because he has nothing to feel guilty about. They’ve both lost the people closest to them in part because of each other. So it’s not pretty but they try to make it pretty. Of course that doesn’t always work out.
JL: Well, the more messed up their relationship gets, the more I’ll eat it up with a spoon. Now, listen: I am insanely curious about some of these new characters Eliza’s joining forces with. I’m especially intrigued by Kieran, whom you describe as “a fiery rebel who does what he wants and encourages her to do the same.” What can you tell us about him and his connection with Eliza?
JH: I never thought there’d be a character that threatened to replace Nicholas for me, but KIERAN. He’s a derelict Irishman Shinigami that appeals to Eliza’s need to buck the system and be her own woman. He’s a bad boy, but he’s a good man. He knows she’s meant for more, like we’ve all learned, like Nicholas tells her, like fate itself tells her, but Kieran is the only one that wants her to do what she wants and find her own damn path. What I love about their relationship is that he sees the strength in her not as what she will be but what she is, and he feeds into it even more than Nicholas does, who is so loyal to the Master of the Shinigami and the way things are supposed to be done according to tradition. Nicholas is very much his own man as we know, and will do whatever the hell he pleases, but the Master is the one who helped make him that way, and he’s unerringly devoted to him and his ways because of it. Kieran says screw it to anyone just for the fun of it.
JL: As a partial Irishwoman, I’m pretty sure I’ll have a soft spot for Kieran.
You have a great, consistent presence on social media. How do you balance that with writing and the demands of life in general?
JH: Honestly, if I didn’t have social media and Twitter in particular, I would lose my damn mind. It’s pretty impossible for me to have a really active social life despite having many wonderful people in my life. My friends on Twitter keep me sane, so it’s not really work even if it is work. I love those people.
JL: WE LOVE YOU TOO. Okay, so on to the silly random questions, because you’re my favorite person to pose silly randoms to. If Nicholas had to watch Dracula: Dead and Loving It, would he laugh?
JH: Naturally. Nicholas takes very little seriously and isn’t easily offended. He also hangs out with Leslie Nielsen.
JL: What’s Eliza’s favorite carnival game?
JH: While she loves trying to get the ball in the little cup for a goldfish, she does not want a goldfish nor does she have good aim. Also why she hates the dunk tank. But she loves the water pistol game because you can aim for like, ever.
JL: If you could spend one day inside the mind of another writer, which one would you choose?
JH: I have to say you, right? Is that how this works?
JL: I predicted Wendig, but if you *want* to spend a day inside my head, that’s entirely up to you. There are musical numbers with Technicolor umbrellas every forty-five minutes, but also a lot of mild phobias and Dawson’s Creek episodes.
What’s the greatest thing about having a lizard for a pet? (I’m asking since I know you’re an authority.)
JH: I am so much a lizard authority. They have entirely unique little personalities that they don’t shove in your face. They don’t entirely love you, but if they want you it makes you feel like you’ve really accomplished something. [Best description in the history of lizards.—JL] Plus you can imagine you live in the jungle whenever you play with them. This is not a description of me even if I wish it was. *winks at camera*
JL: So you’re making an old-school mix tape and you have to put a Fleetwood Mac song on it. Which one will it be?
JH: Little Lies fo sho.
JL: NICE. Tell me about some piece of pop culture—book, movie, band, whatever—that you started out disliking but ended up loving.
JH: One Direction. I mean that hair. Come on. But they were on iCarly and it was adorable. And I love their damn songs. I love their songs. Some of their lyrics are really lovely. I won’t ever find them attractive though which I guess is good because they’re probably high school juniors.
JL: You’re making me feel better about that Paramore CD I checked out of the library. Okay, time for “this or that”: Penthouse apartment or country cottage?
JH: Country cottage baby.
JL: Goats or sheep?
JH: Forever goats. Their devil eyes and their wiry hair and they eat like me.
JL: Froot Loops or Cookie Crisp? (“Honey Bunches of Oats” is not an acceptable answer.)
JH: Well Christ, if you’re going to be a Nazi about it, Froot Loops. *rolls eyes*
JL: Caillou marathon or one hour in a closet with a clown? (Death is not an option.)
JH: Hmmm. Though I could fight the clown to the death in an enclosed space and that would be fun, I can sit down during a Caillou marathon. So Caillou? But that answer could change depending on how much coffee or booze I’m allowed.
SEE? This lady is awesome. Her books are too. Go get ‘em.
Add Running Home (book 1) on Goodreads
Add Running Away (book 2) on Goodreads
JUST BUY IT NOW YOU KNOW YOU’RE GONNA
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