Q1: Hi Hannah, good to have this opportunity to speak to you… First of all, I was wondering where the idea for ‘Bound’ came from. Perhaps you could give us a brief precis of the story and why you felt it was a tale that needed telling… The idea for where ‘Bound’ came from was a bit of a strange one! I was working on the first draft of this novel when I was sixteen and was introduced to the concept from many different TV shows and some films, but never really knew what it was called. However, after a bit of research everything was a lot clearer for me to proceed with writing.
The story follows Emma Winters, a seventeen-year-old that has had quite a traumatic childhood and always felt like a bit of an outsider. However, her life begins to fall apart once again when she is abducted and faces new challenges that she shouldn’t have to face at her age.
I think it’s an important tale to tell mainly because situations like this do happen in real life. I’ve seen all sorts of things in the news lately about students going missing who were in their early 20s and it is something that’s quite scary to think about! Q2: How long did it take you to achieve the first draft manuscript? Was it difficult to fit in with all your other commitments? It took me roughly around one year and three months to complete the first draft. At the time, I was attending college studying IT, so it was quite hard to fit in writing and college assignments. But I did manage to finish all of my work early most of the time, so I spent the rest of the lessons writing! Q3: Are any of your fellow students also published authors?! Not that I’m aware of! Although I do have some budding writers in my friendship group that are absolutely brilliant at writing, even if they don’t hold that opinion themselves! Q4: Which other authors do you find inspiring? Other art forms? I, for example, love Pre-Raphaelite paintings, Art Nouveau, true crime programmes, and British comedies from the 50s-80s. Perhaps not a mix that anyone would expect, but all these things make us the people we are. Tabitha Suzuma is one of my biggest inspirations! She writes some really intriguing novels on controversial themes and mental health. I remember being introduced to her writing in secondary school by my librarian, falling in love with it and discovering my writing style along with what type of genre I wanted to be mainly associated with.
Another art form that’s especially important to me are films and media. I am especially influenced by European and international films, in particular their uses of colour pallets, cinematography and some of the storylines! One of my favourite European films is Suspiria by Dario Argento, mainly because of the gorgeous and vivid colours! Q5: Five words that describe you. Five words that describe your writing… Five words that describe me would be: Optimistic, Perseverant, Ambitious, Driven and Eccentric!
Five words that describe my writing: Unconventional, Thrilling, Gripping, Descriptive and Emotional Q5: So, what’s next for Hannah Pike and her writing? Have you got any further works in progress? I am working on something new at the moment, another tale of forbidden love but with a fusion of genres…. Thanks so much for your time, Hannah. Let's talk again soon... #interview #writer #hannahpike #bound