Interview with Ryan Hill Author of Barking Madness

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself, your blog/writing, website, and your aspirations and your hobbies!!

I love watching movies and playing video games.  Something about exploring new worlds and experiencing new stories fascinates me, so I wanted to create stories of my own.  If my stories fascinate other people, then I will consider myself successful.

2. How you first got involved in with blogging/writing, are you an imaginative person?

I consider myself an imaginative person.  When I was little, I used to always play pretend with my friends, and I would always make up the game because my friends liked when I did.  I first got involved with writing in 6th grade.  My teacher assigned the class a 4 page mystery story to write, but when it came time to hand in our work, I had a 25 page sci-fi story instead.  That's when I knew I loved to write.

3. What do you find most challenging about blogging/writing about your topic?

Creating convincing characters is the hardest thing for me, and it gets harder with the more characters involved.  I have to make sure each one has a background and each one is believable.  Thankfully, the majority of my characters in my novel Barking Madness are teenagers.  Being a teenager, this made writing their characters slightly easier.

4. Tell me about some of the people you have met while working on your blog/book?

I haven't officially met anyone in person yet, but I have reached out to tons of family and friends for support.  I also got to know some of the wonderful people working on my book at my publishing house, Pulse Publishing, through email.

5. How would (someone) describe your blogging/writing style?

Some might say that it needs work, and it does, but I think my writing style does not impact the quality of my story.

6. What do you do when you are not working on your blog/writing?

I am constantly doing things with my friends or family.  Whether that be going out, exploring Boston, or simply watching T.V. it's always fun.

7. Where do you see yourself blogging/writing wise in the next 6 months, and 5 years down the road?

Six months from now, I hope to be deep into my next novel.  Five years from now, I hope to be writing at least my fourth.

8. What networking do you do that you feel helps your blogging/writing business?

I use Twitter and facebook.

9. How do you keep coming up with material/content for your blog/writing? Many people struggle with coming up with different articles/posts and they only have one blog.

Creating new content isn't hard when writing a story.  All I have to do is think about what I like, and write it down.  Other people with similar tastes will read it.  Those who don't like it won't read it, but I am lucky. It comes easy for me.

10. What’s your strategy with your blog/writing in general?

Constantly surprise the reader.  Do things they won't see coming.  Sudden changes in a story's narrative are always fun, and usually it keeps people reading because they'll want to see what comes next.

11. Any specific tips you have for newbie bloggers/writers who want to make it in the blogosphere?

Don't ride on the back of a trending topic.  By the time you finish writing about it, the topic will have changed. Write what you want to write.

12. What would you prioritize? Content? SEO? Traffic? Readers?

I would prioritize the deliverance of content.  How a writer delivers a plot set piece, I think, is most important.  It needs to be written well, otherwise, readers won't care about that set piece.

13. What’s the best thing a blogger/writer can give to his readers?

An ever-changing story that differentiates itself from the rest; something that stands out.

14. A lot of people are interested in blogging/writing for the money earning potential. What are some tips for people interesting in making money from blogging/writing? What are some realistic expectations in regards to what can be made?

I wrote my story without money in mind.  This is my first novel, so I consider it my test run into the writing world.  I would like to see what works and what doesn't work before I move onto larger more involved stories.  Realistically, I don't expect to make a fortune, but any money at all makes me happy because it shows me that some people want to read my work.

15. What motivates you most in life?

The idea of a future where I do what I like to do and live happily doing it.

16. What has been your strategy for creating visibility to yourself and your blog/writing?

Harassment (not literally).  I constantly attack people for reviews.  How else will an unknown author get noticed if they're not spreading their name.

17. What was the most challenging moment in your blog content development process and why?

Editing down.  I definitely incorporated too much. Getting rid of some of the unnecessary content was tedious.

18. Everyone has a favorite/least favorite post. Name yours and why?

I guess my favorite book is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet.  It was just so vast in content.  I don't think many others could create a book of that size and have it be so entertaining.

19. Name some of the bloggers/writers whom you look up to and why?

Other authors I look up to are Stephanie Meyer and Christopher Paolini.  I loved Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga when I was in middle school, and I was very motivated to write from reading Paolini's Eragon.  He was so young when he wrote it.

20. What is the story behind the name of the blog/book?

Barking Madness actually has a double meaning.  One for the story revolving around a werewolf and two for the character Rosetta.  She's pretty much insane.  It took me a while to come up with the name, but once I did, I knew it was the one.

21. Your connection with any Blogger Network or any other and the experience?

I had no personal connections when I wrote this book.

22. Which genre do you feel gets the raw deal?

I honestly don't know.

23. Which one plug-in would you suggest all bloggers to have?

No idea.

24. Five adjectives that describe you.

Friendly, caring, gamer, dog-lover, witty

25. What book would you say has made the biggest impact good or bad on you?

Twilight.  It showed me what level of descriptive detail and imagination is required to write a fantastic book in today's day and age.

26. Do you get easily provoked by positive/negative comments??

No.

27. Do you plan to write a book, as every bloggers dream it is?

I already have.

28. Are you a judgmental person, do you prefer to take sides instead of standing neutral?

I like to take sides, and I would consider myself judgmental, but I never aim to offend anybody.  I mostly keep all my comments to myself.

29. Your collaboration with other bloggers, are you much into social networking, tell us everything about it?

I am very against social networking, but it is a necessary evil for promoting my book.

30. What genre attracts you the most and which genre you avoid?

I'm attracted to sci-fi survival horror the most, and I actively avoid romance.

31. Your Views on Contests and increasing plagiarism?

Plagiarism should never be allowed under any circumstances.  And although I'm not competitive, I think contests are good.

32. Words for me and my blogs Desire v/s Destiny and Blogger Interviews and my Website www.MyMagicJobs.com

Keep it classy.

33. On winning the Award/s, Are they Really necessary.

I think awards are a great thing.  They make whoever gets them happy, and whoever wants one, work harder.

34. So what’s Next in your list?

I plan on writing more novels.  I am 19 and have plenty of room to improve my writing.

35. Words for your readers and why they should follow you?

I will constantly be writing new content, and I plan to hop across genres until I find my click.  If you're up for drastically different adventures…story to story, then stick around.