@HillardHouseDan@mas.to
@HillardHouseDan@mas.to avatar

HillardHouseDan

@HillardHouseDan@mas.to

Books • Games • Snark • Music • Wholesome Swearing • https://linktr.ee/DanBurley
Author of the 'HARPER' book series.

Header picture from "White Light", available within #DreamsPS4 / #DreamsPS5 (https://indreams.me/dream/mMLdzYKEGWM)!

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HillardHouseDan, to random
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5.1: OMG! What happened to your MC's parents?

Well, with Reggie, his Mom lived a fairly full life (lived into her 70s before cancer took her), but his Dad died of a massive heart attack in his late-50s.

Elizabeth's Dad (Reggie) is still kicking around, but she lost her mother in a truly horrific fashion when she was six (and her mother was 36).

HillardHouseDan,
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5.2: Have you had an idea halfway or more through a project that requires extensive rewriting of what you've already done?

Yes. Like...3 out of the 5 books I have out have gone through extensive re-structuring. Usually, I'll get all of those growing pains out in the bullet point outline phase of a story, but I wasn't so lucky with those 3. I don't mind though, because 2 of them are my strongest books.

HillardHouseDan,
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5.3: Custom graphics? Share your pics.

Yes. Though I write novels, I sometimes have graphics within. Well, if you count chapter headings, I always have graphics within, but I also will put other things.

For instance, in my latest book ("Until She Stops Screaming"), narrator Elizabeth Harper goes undercover on a college campus. Since she like to be very prepared, she goes double under at some points--as P.I. Kathy Shore, whose business card (below) is shown in the book.

HillardHouseDan, to random
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04.01: Keister eggs?

I have a fuckton of them. Most are related to musicians. Like, nearly every single time that is written out is actually the running time to a song, and that song will either allude to what's happening on the page in its title, its lyrics, or both.

Then there are soft lyrical quotes (of which there are many), and characters with names that are mashups of musicians. My favorite is Lloyd Quine, which is a mix of guitarists Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.02. Do you keep a journal? Would you?

Sure. I don’t do it as frequently as I used to, but it’s a nice way to deal with anxiety and mental health stuff. I also take notes all the time. It used to be solely in notebooks, but now I sometimes use my phone, too, because it’s quick and easy.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.03. Do you use semicolons? Correctly?

Sure. Possibly.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.04. Do you feature real-world political and social issues in your work?

Yes. My stories are set in our real world (though slightly fictionalized), so real world issues crop up now any then. Sometimes, they might even be focal issues.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.05. What's the best thing about being a writer?

Writing. No bullshit.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.06. What have you learned from past projects that you're using in your WIP?

How to hone my strengths in a way that they make my weaknesses a little less noticeable.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.07. Write a poem in no more than 500 characters which describes you as a writer.

I’m so not that guy.
No, that guy am not I.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.08. Do you think of your books as having a particular length?

Not really. I just let them be as long as they need to be and don’t really worry about it. The novels all do sort of end up in the same page-length ballpark though, which I find interesting. I don't do it on purpose.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.09. Do you use a dedicated proofreader, or is one provided by your publisher?

I have a couple of people who usually proofread with me. But I'm also kind of a weirdo who thinks that's mostly the author's job (it probably isn't, but I do things the 'wrong' way all the time, so, maybe don't listen to me).

HillardHouseDan,
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04.10. Do you have favourite words you like to use? What are they?

Probably those Carlin ones.
Definitely.

HillardHouseDan,
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04.11. How effective are your newsletters in creating sales?

What newsletters?

In all seriousness, I don't have newsletters, but not for lack of wanting them. I'm just a rinky-dink indie, and I don't have the extra money for a P.O. box and absolutely refuse to use my home address.

HillardHouseDan, to random
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2.1:

Elizabeth: "In the red corner, weighing in at, like, a couple hundred po--"

Reggie: "Elizabeth..."

E: "--ounds, with a reach like you wouldn't f--"

R: "Elizabeth, not n--"

E: "--ucking believe; The man, the myth, the legend! The one and only Re--"

R: "QUIET, GODDAMN IT."

E "..."

HillardHouseDan,
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2.17:

Interviewer: "What’s the most embarrassing thing you've done?"

Elizabeth: "(Offers handshake) Hi, I'm Elizabeth. Have we met? There IS no most embarrassing thing. I'm a fucking personification of a fail video. I mean...JESUS, have YOU ever legitimately accidentally cupped somebody's balls? I have, and that's NOTHING. That shit's almost normal for me."

I: (LAUGHS)

There is a pause.

I: (Turns) "What about you?"

Reggie: (Gestures to Elizabeth) "Made that."

E: "Fuck you."

HillardHouseDan,
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2.18: Does your antagonist eat healthy?

I don’t know. We’re not very close.

HillardHouseDan,
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2.19: Which of your MCs would try online dating?

Elizabeth, definitely. She sort of did back in the early days of online dating, but her detective brain kicked in and said "no, he's probably gonna make you a tarp burrito" and she called it off. Now, she has no need for dating.

HillardHouseDan,
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2.20: How does your antagonist sleep?

With their eyes closed, I assume. Again, we’re not very close.

HillardHouseDan,
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2.21: Is there a genre or type of story you’ll never write?

I’m open to writing any genre and pretty much any type of story that doesn’t glorify or graphically detail certain hot-button issues of mine (which I won't go into right now). Other than that, anything's fair game within reason.

HillardHouseDan,
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2.22: Does reading your own words bring you joy?

Not in that back-patty, “god DAMN, I’m good (takes long drag off cigarette)” way, but more in the “I can’t believe I finally got that shit out, now I can move on” way. I could probably stand to be a little more celebratory about it, but I fear that might make it lose its magic.

HillardHouseDan,
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2.23: What was the first story you ever wrote?

I genuinely don’t know. I’ve always done it, and any time I think I have a contender pegged for 'first', I'm reminded of something even earlier.

Though I couldn't physically write yet, I used to make up stories on the fly with my brother (either together, or one tells, one listens) when I was very young, and we did that so often that so often that by the time I actually could write I'd already had a lifetime of stories under my belt.

HillardHouseDan,
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2.24: If your love interest was a writer, what sort of books would they write?

One of the love interests in my books is a writer, and she doesn't limit herself to one type of story. She writes high-fantasy, mystery, slice-of-life, romance, horror...anything she feels like. She never publishes the stories though. They mostly exist as keepsakes for her closest loved ones. For her, they were always more a compulsory effort, or even used as a form of escapism from her problems.

HillardHouseDan,
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2.25: What’s the most out of character fact about your mentor character?

There's one that I can think o, but I can't say it without spoiling something fairly big, so...🤐

HillardHouseDan,
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2.26: Do you draw inspiration from other characters?

Not really. I mostly draw inspiration from real people (family, detectives, killers, etc.). Now, with the character of Reggie Harper, I wanted him to initially seem like a standard pulp hero to readers, but slowly become more open and less guarded in his narration. Though while I was conscious of those kinds of characters, he wasn’t inspired by them so much as made to filter their archetype as misdirection.

HillardHouseDan,
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2.27: Have you written poetry?

I have written a lot of haiku (for books), but other than that, not really. Unless you count song lyrics, in which case I’ve been doing it consistently since I was 11. I...have quite a lot.

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