I had the amazing opportunity to interview Julie Hall, author of Life After: Huntress while at the CBA International Christian Retail Show in Cincinnati.
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Julie Hall was a late blooming reader, but once captivated, writing became her dream.
Going the practical route in college she earned a business degree from the University of Michigan. After school, she worked in marketing and publicity for both television and film, until she’d had enough of selling other people’s creative expressions.
She miraculously convinced her dashingly handsome husband that having ten years of experience mentoring youth, the idea of quitting her job to write a young-adult novel was the sensible thing to do.
Since then she’s become a puppy mama to a goldendoodle named Bear, and an actual mother to her adopted daughter.
Her writing is inspired by God, who is the true author of romance and adventure in our lives. Julie holds the conviction that on our own, we just muck it up. Her advice to you is not to muck it up.
Life After: Huntress: No one’s afterlife sucks as much as Audrey’s – at least that’s what she believes after waking up dead without her memories and promptly getting assigned to hunt demons for the rest of eternity. She’s convinced God’s made a cosmic mistake; after all, she’d rather discuss the color of her nails than break them on angelic weapons.
Not making her afterlife any easier is her infuriating and equally attractive trainer, Logan. As Audrey and Logan finally seem close to developing an amicable relationship, a decision made under duress pushes their hearts in a direction that neither of them saw coming.
Despite her sub-par fighting ability, an ancient weapon of unparalleled power chooses Audrey as its wielder, attracting the cautious gazes of her fellow hunters and the attention of Satan himself. With Satan’s eyes now fixed on Audrey, a battle for the safety of the living looms in the shadows.
Donna: Tell us a little bit about Huntress.
Julie: Huntress is a young adult speculative fiction novel and speculative fiction basically means anything that’s created out of the imagination rather than based on reality and everyday life; like sci-fi and fantasy. It falls into that category however I am hesitant to call it either because when you think fantasy, you think fairies and things and when you think sci-fi, you think futuristic. It’s not quite either of those. The world portrayed in Huntress is created out of my imagination, although I do think that there are realistic characters and I definitely take things from the bible and use it right in the book so that I can infuse the Word in there as well.
The story line for Huntress revolves around a girl that is given a job in the afterlife, and it is something completely beyond what she thinks she can do, which is to fight spiritual forces for the rest of eternity. She is completely overwhelmed with what she’s been given to do and she doesn’t think that she’s good at it. She thinks there’s been some mistake. But God has a plan and a purpose for her.
Huntress is the first book in the Life After three book series. This is just the first story line and you see her coming to grips with what God had asked her to do. She grapples with why God has given her this task and whether He truly is He a loving father. Fighting literal demons may not be applicable to a reader, but the questions and doubts she has about the Lord and wondering if there really is a plan and the purpose for her life I think, are applicable to anybody. Especially to young adults who are trying to find their way and learn who God is and see Him as he truly is.
Donna: I agree it’s good for the young adult and, I think mature people are sometimes asking why and trying to understand and make sense of a situation they have been given.
Julie: Yes, when I was writing the book, I actually came down with Lyme disease and I’ve been sick for about five years. I didn’t intend to, but when I was writing Huntress, a lot of what I was going through with my illness, was mirroring some of the thoughts that my character was having, “why would a loving God do this and what purposes does it serve” and doubts about God’s goodness in general. This wasn’t something I realized until I was almost done writing the book.
Donna: Will the book appeal to both Christian and non-Christian?
Julie: I hope so. It seems it already has actually. If I had to guess my readers so far have been about 50/50 Christian to non-Christian. Even the novel’s endorsers were both secular and Christians. When reaching out for author endorsements, I contacted authors I felt wrote similarly type books – and being a new author, it was literally cold emailing people and saying, “Hi I’ve written this book. Will you please consider reading it and endorsing it if you like it.” I got a lot of positive author feedback. I’d asked them, “You know there are some spiritual aspects in it, do you think it’s going to turn non-believers off?” And both believers and non-believers said, “No I think that it’s great.” Some of my beta readers were my non-Christian friends as well.
On the other side of things I wanted to make sure that biblically speaking, since God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are characters in my book, that I portrayed them as accurately as possible. It was very intimidating and difficult and I didn’t want to get it wrong. I expected to get hate email from the Christians saying “This is not how Heaven is portrayed” And then get e-mails from the non-Christians saying, “You’re trying to shove the gospel down my throat.” I haven’t gotten either. I’ve only gotten really positive responses.
I even had a public school teacher in Pennsylvania contacted me out of the blue and say, “I have my students reading it for their book club and I’d love your input.” I ended up Skyping with the class one day and talking about the book with them. That’s a happy surprise. My hope was that Huntress would be enriching for a believer and engaging to a nonbeliever. I’m pleased with the final product.
Donna: What age groups would Huntress appeal to most?
Julie: Ideally, I think high school and college although I’ve had a lot of middle schoolers read it as well. A lot of moms have bought it for their children and then come back to me and said how excited they are that their child is reading a book that is biblically based because they’re difficult to find. I struggled to find Christian young adult authors in the beginning. I was talking with booksellers at CBAUnite, and speculative young adult fiction is not an area in Christian sphere that’s really been encouraged as much as I think it is an secular audience. I get a lot of people who are excited to read it because they haven’t been able to find anything like that anywhere else.
Donna: Yes. I can see that. What is the message you hope readers will receive from book Huntress and will the same message continue through all three?
Julie: That’s a great question. The lead character will grow throughout the book series. I think that through each book she’s learning different lessons, growing and learning different things. I’ll say in Huntress, if there is one message that I want to get out, it would probably be that God has a plan and a purpose for our life. We don’t always know what it is, but we should trust that it is good.
Donna: When did you release it?
Julie: Huntress released in November, 2015. And the next one is expected to release fall 2016. The young adult attention span is very short so if you wait any longer than a year you’ve kind of lost your audience.
Donna: Were there parts of the story that were more fun to write or harder or maybe a struggle?
Julie: Yes, absolutely. The easiest part of the story to write is such a girl thing but it was the romantic tension between two characters. Audrey and Logan, he’s her trainer and her mentor. He is the one who’s teaching her how to fight. The fighting scenes were super fun for me to write. The harder scenes for me were the ones where she actually meets God. I was telling you before, it’s just super intimidating to write those things. I had to step back and really get into the Word and really make sure that I did my best to portray God as truthful as possible.
Donna: I read that you’ve been a youth leader for 10 years. Did any of that experience help write the book?
Julie: Absolutely. Yes, first of all it helps because I have a genuine passion to reach that age group. When you have been youth leader for that long you have groups of kids that you get the privilege of walking through life with, and a bi-product of that is that you get to see where their hang ups are with the Lord and what they struggle with. That was really the basis on what I modelled Audrey’s internal struggles; the questions that she has, with the questions that middle school and high schoolers, would ask me.
Donna: It gives it more authenticity to just seeing what their struggles are and I think they very consistent.
Julie: Well, interestingly enough there are a lot of similar struggles that we have as adults as well. Some of those things don’t go away; they tend to resurface at certain points in our life, when we go through trials especially. But from my experience middle school especially is when kids first start taking their faith into their own hands rather than just relying on their parents.
Donna: Or when your first traumatic event happens and it can be any age. And that is when you start questioning.
Julie: Absolutely. When I got Lyme disease, I was debilitated for about two years. I couldn’t drive a car because my fingers were so swollen and I was taking five to six naps a day. I felt like an 90-year-old woman, yet I was still in my 20s. All those familiar fears, insecurities and doubts came up again. I saw a lot of myself in the struggles and suffering that Audrey, my protagonist, went through, and especially the questions she had about God.
I did start the book though before I got sick. I was about half way through writing it when I had to take a break because I was too ill to continue the work, so Audrey’s personality and struggles were born before my illness was. I suppose that’s why I was so surprised when I looked back later that we ended up having so much in common.
Donna: How is your health now?
Julie: I’m in a remission period now, which I hope lasts forever. Lyme disease research, as far as chronic Lyme disease and knowing how to treat it, is really in its infancy. I went through many years of treatment and then this fall I just started to miraculously, we don’t know why, to just get better and better. I feel almost back to 100% now, which is the first time I can say that in over five years.
Donna: One of the questions on Facebook was, when did you feel like you were actually a writer?
Julie: Oh, gosh! That is I think such a fantastic question because I don’t know that you ever really feel like you’re writer unless maybe you are someone like Max Lucado. But I can tell you it was not when I thought it would be. I thought it would be when I first held my book. I thought it would all clink when I finally had the physical evidence of my hard work in my hands, but it was actually kind of anti-climatic.
I think that there are times where I still don’t feel like a writer. It kind of comes and goes. It hits me in waves. When I get an email from a fan or someone who really enjoyed the book, those days I feel like a writer. But the times when I’ve spent weeks trying to flush out a scene, it’s hard to feel like a writer during those times.
Donna: How can readers connect with you?
Julie: The best ways to connect with me are on Facebook and through my newsletter, which you can sign up for on my website. Those are the places I interact with people the most and also give them updates on my writing, contest, giveaways, and bonus scenes. The best way to personally connect with me is probably through my website, because it has a contact page and if you send me a message, it goes straight into my email. I always respond back to people. If anyone leaves a comment on one of the posts on my Facebook page I always make sure to respond that way as well. I’m also active on Twitter and Instagram.
Want to learn more about Julie? Check out these ways to contact her.
http://www.juliehallauthor.com
Facebook: /JulieHallAuthor
Twitter: /JuliegHall
Instagram: /JuliegHall