Author Interview Quantum Book Tour

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing since I was thirteen, so it’s been exactly two years and eleven months. (New Year’s Eve 2013)

What is your favorite genre to write?

I think action, but I don’t really know. I love writing the Quantum Series, but I just recently started writing another novel that’s set in modern times, it’s kind of like a romance … a really unconventional romance because I’m an awkward person, so I really looking forward to writing that. I also loved writing For The Beautiful People which was set in a high school. I guess you can say that I can’t really just pick one genre to call my favourite!

Which genre have you never tried before, but would you like to try out?

I have never written a mystery before and I really want to. The thought of having to have every aspect of the plot link together in some miraculous unfolding at the end has always intimidated me but I really want to try it.

Please tell us about your book.

Quantum is written in the point of view of Clara, a nineteen-year-old who has no idea what to do with her life. Her and her boyfriend Ross decide to join the CIA and that’s really when the book starts. We jump right into Clara and Ross’ relationship and as the story unfolds we learn more and more about their back ground and what’s going on in their minds. From the start her trainers see something in Clara and they assign her as the leader of her team. Something happens on their first assignment that sends them into a downward spiral, with Clara being forced to lead her team through one of the biggest mission to hit the CIA.

Which character was your favorite, and why? Which character was your least favorite, and why?

I think Clara would have to be my favourite. She is so much like me that it really isn’t a struggle to write her lines because she reacts to same way I would. All of the parts I love about myself and even the parts I hate about myself are incorporated into her. The reader learns more and more about Clara as the series goes on, especially in the second book, and I’m really excited to see what people think about that. She’s a pretty complex person, but aren’t we all? My least favourite is Mia. I hate Mia. She’s necessary for the plot though, but there’s a lot that comes out about her in the second book as well, and even in the first book the reader is left feeling a little uneasy about her. I think people will think that her character is kind of hard to follow, and maybe it’s just poor writing and I didn’t know what I’m doing but it’s supposed to be like that. She’s supposed to be constantly changing until finally you see the real Mia.

What was the hardest part about writing your book?

The grammar and the mechanics behind the paragraphs. I am the worst at grammar. I grew up hating English, it was my worst class and I hated writing. I’m so lucky that I was born in the twenty-first century, though, because I would never be able to do what I do without programs like Word and Grammarly. The good outweighs the bad though, so it’s ok.

What is your writing routine? Are there things you absolutely need to start writing?

I need to have my planning sheets. I remember being in grade seven English class and we learned about the structure mountains (is that what you called them?) and I thought to myself, in my inside voice and my very vocal outside voice, when am I ever going to use this is my real life? I can not, can not, start writing without it. That stupid little mountain is the most necessary thing for my writing. I do that, figure out the intro, initial incident, leading actions, climax, and concluding actions and then I brainstorm ideas for scenes that happen in between the leading actions. After that I write down the numbers from one to two hundred and fill in the blanks with my scenes. After that’s done I colour code them into chapters and then I can start writing. It’s a process but it all revolves around that stupid little mountain.

How long did it take you to write your book from start to finish?

Fifty-seven days. December 3^rd, 2015 to January 29^th, 2016. How’s that for a very specific answer!?

Can you tell us about your editing process?

I’m a little embarrassed to say that I’m terrible at editing. My process looks like a whole lot of procrastination because I hate it. I love writing. I love writing so much and I love what I write to the point where I will read over the chapter I just wrote five times like it’s not even my book because I’m so attached to my characters that I want to spend all my time with them. So I read those two pages I wrote over and over again until I’m tired of it and I move on.

Is this book part of a series? If so, how many installments do you have planned?

Yeah, this is the first in the Quantum series, which will have seven installments.

If you could meet three authors, dead or alive, which authors would you choose?

Judy Blume would definitely be the first one. I think we all need to do right by our younger selves, don’t we? When I was around eight I was obsessed with Judy Blume, I have now read almost everything written by her and it was always my dream to meet her. Not so much now, but I can’t let down my younger self. I’m actually related to Charles Dickens on my mom’s side so it would be fun to meet him. I had to read Oliver Twist for my advanced English class last year and it was really good, but I definitely have a few questions for him. I did a whole project on the use of caricature in his novel. I’d hope he’d be proud of me, I’m the only author in my family as of this moment so I hope I’m doing right by him, just like my younger self. As my third one, I think I want to meet Patrick Smith. He wrote my absolute favourite book at the moment which is called Cockpit Confidential, and it’s a kind of like a question and answers book about being a pilot. I am obsessed with planes and am studying to get my pilot’s license so that book really fascinated me.

What inspired you to write your book?

I had just turned fourteen and my family decided to hike the West Coast Trail. After we were done and everyone was tired and happy to be back into civilization, my cousin and I would go down to the beach in front of the house that we had rented and would work together on building this raft. After all was said and done it ended up only being able to hold my weight so he would pull me on the raft towards this rock in the water saying that we were navy seals and that we were in North Korea, where our mission was. Fast forward from that awkward time in my life to third period social studies 10-1 with my three best friends where we were asked a simple question: what if I was in the CIA?

Are you working on something at the moment? If so, can you tell us more about it?

Yeah, I’m currently working on the third Quantum novel and it’s almost done. It’s been so much fun writing this and I hope everyone will love it. It’s different than the ones before it and a lot faster paced, if that’s possible. It’s the best one yet, by far. Besides that I’ve had an idea for another book that I’m thinking of starting but this one is in a genre that I haven’t really touched on before – romance. It’s more of an unconventional romance because I’m a pretty awkward person. I also really want to expand into writing scripts so I’ve just finished the pilot for a TV series that I really want to pursue, and one day I would really love to see Quantum on the screen as well.

In terms of what the third Quantum novel is about, I’m not sure how much I can release yet but at the end of the second book the team travels to Panama, so the whole third book is set in that tropical paradise. It’s really good, though. Definitely edge of your seat material.

About the Book

Title: Quantum

Author: Hannah Godard

Genre: Young Adult

Nothing is more glamorous than the CIA … at least for Clara. All she wants is excitement and adventure, to help people … and to be a part of something bigger than life.

At nineteen, she leaves everything she’s ever had behind to join the CIA with her boyfriend Ross. But when the agency starts to fall away like shattered glass, Clara and her team get thrown into the biggest mission ever to hit the agency. How will they deal with the pressure?

Clara has all her cards out on the table and she’s trying to keep them all in place … except she can’t hold them all down on her own. She’s trained and she’s ready … but something isn’t right. Is the real way to win the game not to play it, or is the trick not to play it for too long?

Author Bio

Hannah Godard was born and raised in the small town of Cochrane, Alberta where she is currently a grade eleven student. She continues to chase a life of creativity and imagination, creating characters to take her on adventures and maybe learn something from them along the way. She writes to tell the greatest stories that have yet to be told and create a spark in which to lighten up the world. Hannah credits her dad for teaching her everything she knows about the world, from politics to drive and perseverance. Without him, she would be a very different person.

Quantum is her first novel and the first in the Quantum series. It came to life in the same way as many other novels do, in third period Social Studies class. This class was spent with three out of four of her best friends, laughing, creating businesses, and being creative. It was the one class where she could be a kid, where people didn’t tell her words could only mean one thing, and where they could all be creative. It started as a joke, as a simple question; what if I was in the CIA? From that point on Hannah developed the character of Clara, with the help of her friends, and soon the story came to life. Each person who she knows, no matter how small, is somehow put into the novel, worked into the story line, because what they say is true: we write what we know.