Meet Hilary Lisee

Author of Tribulation

Lucy: Hi Hilary! Thanks so much for joining us at Introverted Indies. I’m looking forward to getting to know you and your writing. So, to get things started, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hilary: Hi Lucy! It is great to be here. I am a indie author from a small town in Waltham, Maine. I also work as a special education teacher for a local high school. I am married to my amazing husband for 16 years.I have three children -two are adults now and 1 is a teenager. I have been writing for about 8 years but have just published my debut novel, Tribulation.  I have also been working as a freelance editor in my  spare time.

L: Wow, it sounds like you’re a busy person. So you noted that you’ve been writing for 8 years—I’d love to know what got you started down the writing path.

H: I wanted to be an author ever since middle school. I kept writing notebooks all through my room and wrote stories whenever I could. However,  when I entered high school,  I had a couple of teachers that heavily criticized my writing both academic and creative.  I began to doubt my writing abilities and lost my passion for writing.  After 5 years, in college, I had an amazing teacher who encouraged me to become an author.  But it took another decade before I was ready to pursue my passion.  I began writing my first novel Zeus Colony but wasn't ready to publish.  I decided to go back to college for creative writing. After I graduated,  I continued working on Tribulation which I started in my creative writing classes. I finally decided to publish it over the summer!

L: I’m sorry to hear about that experience with teachers in high school. It’s difficult enough having confidence in your writing abilities, so I can imagine that really knocked your confidence. But it’s fantastic that you found support in college. Before we get onto Tribulation, can you tell me a little about your first novel, Zeus Colony?

H: Zeus Colony is a YA Dystopian Romance novel following the coming of age story of Brinna. After a devastating war, the country reformed itself in colonies. Each colony is based on a greek god or goddess. Zeus Colony is based on leadership as Zeus was the leader god. Brinna was raised by her aunt and uncle. She has no memories of her childhood before the age of 10. She has no memory of her parents and her family refuses to talk about them. Brinna is plagued with a recurring nightmare of a different colony with people she doesn't recognize. On the verge of recruitment day where she will learn her future job, she is recruited for a top secret military program called Project Lightning.  She thinks this will be her chance to discover who she is and what she is capable of. Her dreams are derailed by her discovery that her parents were in Project Lightning.  Now she wants two things. To discover who she is and to discover who her parents were.

L: That sounds great! I love the inspiration of the Greek gods and goddesses in creating the different colonies. It sounds like a complex, exciting dystopian story. You noted that when you wrote Zeus Colony, you weren't ready to publish. Do you think you'll ever go back to the project, now that you've studied creative writing and have published your debut (which we'll get onto discussing shortly)?

H: Yes. It is my current WIP. I am glad that I waited because I have made major changes to the story. My goal is to finish the first draft by early November.  If I meet my deadlines I should be publishing by July.

L: Oh that’s great! Would you say you learnt a lot doing your creative writing class then? How did it help you in the process of writing and publishing your debut, Tribulation? 

H: One of my favorite parts of my classes was my media and publishing class. It taught me a lot about the publishing process. A lot of it had to do with creating an authors platform and the impact it has on the future of my books. It also went over the process of publishing and the different steps. That along with my writing classes,  I felt more confident in my abilities. Using those tools, I was able to create an amazing product.

L: That sounds so useful. Going into publishing as an author, it can be easy to not have an awareness of the entire process, from publication to marketing to author platforms (speaking from personal experience), but it seems like that course really prepared you for the bigger picture. How did you find publishing Tribulation after coming out of that? And can you tell us more about that book? 

H: The process of publishing was much smoother knowing the steps but I struggled to find people to alpha/beta/arc read my story.  I found a couple people to alpha and beta read on Fiverr but otherwise it was difficult. Plus money is always an issue for first time indie authors. However,  I am extremely proud to have accomplished this milestone. 

Tribulation is loosely based on the Christian concept of the Rapture.  However, it is focused on what would happen after. I have included the blurb below. 

Four billion people are missing - and nobody knows where they went.

Grieving the loss of her parents and struggling to care for her young brother, Charlotte fights to survive in a world that has been plunged into chaos. Overshadowed by a ruthless military government that rules the last remnants of humanity with an iron fist, she and her friend Jacob try to keep their heads down and avoid becoming the next target.

But when her brother falls sick with a mysterious fever, Charlotte is faced with the gnawing fear that she can't protect him forever - and after they receive a cryptic radio broadcast, she and Jacob must stay one step ahead of the government's dystopian Watchers long enough to unravel the shocking truth.

L: Publishing your book is absolutely a milestone and something to be proud of! Tribulation sounds great. You’ve noted that it’s loosely inspired by the biblical Rapture story—were there any other influences on the story or characters?  

H: I had several different things that influenced my characters.  One of the major influences was my military history.  As a veteran of the US Navy, I feel it influences a lot of my choices and experiences. I also was influenced by the location. I wanted to showcase my town and state of Maine. There are a lot of rural areas that often seem like a different world. The way I imagined people surviving would be very different in a rural setting versus a city. We tend to be more survivalist oriented and I wanted that to shine through the characters. 

L: That's amazing, I love that you utilised both your military history and your hometown in telling your story. Can you tell me a bit more about the military side of things, to start with? How would you say your personal experience as a veteran translates into Tribulation? 

H: I don't necessarily think that my military experience translates directly into Rapture but when I was creating Charlotte 's character,  I thought about the training she would need to survive in a post apocalyptic era. Many of those skills translate directly to military training.  

L: I see! I can absolutely see how that would give transferable skills. Does Charlotte's journey in the novel start with her having these skills, or does she learn them along her journey? 

H: She starts with some. Specifically,  gardening, making a fire, and gathering.  She learned this from her father (who was a bit of a prepper). But taking care of a household without modern luxuries was something she had to learn. 

L: I see. I can imagine that's an interesting adjustment to see her go through, as many of us can empathise with how hard that would be! You also mentioned that the location of the story was influenced by your hometown and state of Maine. How does this come across in Tribulation?

H: Maine is a pretty small state in population.  There are a lot of very rural areas that I felt would survive better in a apocalypse than bigger cities as we can be less dependent   for our necessities.  Most people in my town know how to hunt and there are a lot of little farms. This would make them less reliant on stores for food. Also our communities are tight knit and more likely to help each other.  The downside would be that access to things like doctors would be a long ride (I live 18 miles from the hospital). So it would be like the old west in some ways.

L: That's really interesting, thinking about the pros and cons of living in a rural area should an apocalypse occur! It sounds as though you were able to use that as a great foundation for the setting in Tribulation. 

Thank you so much for sharing about your journey as an author, Hilary. To wrap up, could you tell us where we can keep updated on you and your current and upcoming books? :)

H: Absolutely! It was awesome doing this interview! People can find me on Instagram @hilarylisee82; Facebook @hilarylisee82; or at hilarylisee.com

It's been awesome talking to you.  

L: Thank you!