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Tuesday, June 25, 2019

AN INTERVIEW WITH SUSPENSE AUTHOR SYLVIA HUBBARD

Detroit author and founder of Motown Writers, Sylvia Hubbard has independently published more than forty contemporary urban psychological suspense and dark romance novels. As an avid blogger, Sylvia has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, plus has had five #1 Bestsellers. She’s also a speaker, literary encourager, and busy mom expert. Learn more about Sylvia and her books at her website. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
I was young. Close to my twenties when I saw author, Beverly Jenkins standing at an expo. I’d met other authors in the past, but it was the first time I saw myself as an author. From that moment and her words of encouragement, I told myself I was going to be a serious writer.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?
About ten to twelve years later after seeing literary shero, I found a way to independently publish my books.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
The year was 2000 when I published my first book, Dreams of Reality. Since then I’ve had a nightmare of a journey, but I’ve learned from the bumps and bruises of life.

Where do you write?
Raising three children alone, I found a way to write anywhere. I didn’t have time to get into some special place. Wherever I went, there was a kid trying to get my attention. So I had to learn how to do with where I was. Using technology worked for me. For instance, using Google docs or a Bluetooth keyboard to my cell phone and even carrying an extra battery for my phone.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?
I’ve been ruined by my kids. I actually need a lot of noise around in order to write. So I usually write while watching a movie or television show listening to my writing playlist on my Alexa. I know it sounds chaotic, but I’ve never been more productive than when I do this.

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
Usually, it’s always something that was about to happen to me or what if I had done something that starts the predicament of the story. I tell myself I’m bad on paper so I can be good in life.

Describe your process for naming your character?
My character names come from somewhere deep within me that connects me to them. I get to know them and then as I come to create a story around them, their names come. I’ve always loved the name Abigail and wanted to use it in a story.  

Real settings or fictional towns?
The majority of my books take place in Detroit. I love this city and I love writing love stories around this place, but Stone’s Revenge is the only book that takes place in Davenport, Ohio. This is a real city, but I’ve never been there.

What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
He becomes obsessed with stalking the prosecution's daughter

What’s your quirkiest quirk?
I like to put a McDonald’s Chicken Sandwich and a Double Cheeseburger together and eat them together in one big sandwich.

If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
The Stand by Stephen King. It was just amazing, and I couldn’t believe I’d read such a long book and still couldn’t get enough.

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?
I would not be silent about the hurt people inflicted upon me.

What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Stinky feet and when people spit on the sidewalk instead of the grass.

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
A book (The Stand), an endless supply of bananas and fish, and a good playlist

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?
Being a telemarketer

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?
All of Stephen King’s books, Indigo by Beverly Jenkins, The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss

Ocean or mountains?
Mountains

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
City girl

What’s on the horizon for you?
I’m finishing up Emperor’s Addiction Part 2 and the last book in Betrayal by the end of this year.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?
I wanted my readers to walk away from all my books loving the protagonists and believing that despite everything they have gone through, happily-ever-afters always can be reached—between the pages and outside of my books.

Stone’s Revenge
There is a copycat killer in Davenport and William is the number one suspect. William is the son of a serial killer; Therefore William's nemesis, prosecuting attorney Ramsey McPherson feels the apple does not fall too far from the tree. Ramsey makes it his number one mission to put William behind bars. William vows revenge against Ramsey with every intention to hurt what Ramsey holds dear in his life and that is the prosecuting attorney's daughter Abigail, who thinks someone is trying to frame William. Abigail and William fall in love and they keep their love affair a secret from Ramsey. Yet with a murder so gruesome happening on a night when Abigail and William are together, Abigail is forced to choose between not telling where William was or revealing to her father that she is truly in love with William. Only question remains : Who's the real killer?

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