Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well, there’s a difference between the number of books I’ve written and the number I’ve published! I began writing long fiction when I was 19 when the internet didn’t exist and self publishing was both expensive and stigmatized. I wrote 8 novels over 20 years before I got published (by Penguin). I’ve published a total of 10 novels since then, a mixture of mystery/thrillers with an archaeological component (The Mask of Atreus, On the Fifth Day, What Time Devours, and Tears of the Jaguar), a wry fantasy series (the novels Act of Will and Will Power, and the short stories The Cerulean Stone and The Slave Trader’s wedding), and a Harry Potter-esque fantasy series for younger readers whose title character is Darwen Arkwright. I’m also a Shakespeare professor and director, and I recently co-authored Macbeth, a Novel and an upcoming version of Hamlet with Brit mystery writer, David Hewson.
I was born in the UK and lived there till I left university but have lived in a lot of places since–including Japan–and now live in Charlotte, North Carolina.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Mask of Atreus (which is now available in a new e-book edition) is a novel I wrote after returning to some key archaeological sites in Greece. I had always been fascinated by the stories surrounding the archaeologist who found the famous grave shafts at Mycenae and who also discovered Troy, and the way some of his finds tended to go missing. I had been thinking about a story rooted in the last days of the second world war and then found that the two stories came together nicely.
My next book will be the third in my Darwen Arkwright series, in which a young English boy living in Atlanta finds that the mirror in his closet turns into a door after sundown, raking him to a world of monsters which are trying to get out and want something from human children. The third book, Darwen Arkwright and the School of Shadows, wraps the trilogy up and–I hope–explains all lingering mysteries in an explosive show down!
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I prefer to write early in the morning, working for several hours in a block. Lately I’ve adopted a standing desk: the writer’s life can be unhealthily sedentary!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The list is endless. I read slowly, and anything I like gets stored away in my head. I find myself going over it all to see if I can figure out what it is about each book that I like so I can learn from it. As a kid, it was C.S. Lewis who first got me reading, and I grew up on an equal diet of fantasy and mystery, quickly graduating from overtly kid-oriented material to Tolkien and Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. Since then I’ve read like I write, voraciously and indiscriminately, wandering from genre to genre without worrying about my career, much to my agent’s dismay. I’d be a lot easier to market if I stuck to one kind of book instead of falling in love with each story I think up regardless of its genre!
What are you working on now?
I’m wrapping up edits on the Hamlet novel, polishing the final stages of two academic books on Shakespeare on stage, and working on a new YA scifi adventure.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am terrible at marketing and self-promotion. For years I’ve left it to my publishers and am only just learning the ropes of how to take control of such things. No one should imitate me. I’d much rather be writing than promoting and I have absolutely no business sense. But I do have a nice author website: www.ajhartley.net and a separate site which is specific to my young reader adventures: www.darwenarkwright.com
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read as much as you can. write as much as you can. Show your work to people whose opinion you trust and pay attention to what they say. Force yourself to polish the work until it is as good as it can possibly be before you self publish or submit to editors/agents.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Revise even as your publisher is trying to snatch the manuscript from you for final printing. I think that was from John Fowles. And don’t talk down to kids. That was R.L. Stine. It goes without saying that Stephen King’s On Writing is a gold mine of great advice.
What are you reading now?
The Writer’s Tale, a correspondence with Russell T. Davies about his work on Doctor Who! Inspiring and provocative stuff.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Once the fine points of editing on my current projects are done, I’ll turn my full attention to this YA scifi novel I’m working on. The story is still coming together, but I’m excited about it 🙂
What is your favorite book of all time?
Wow. No idea. Many book are dear to me but I’ve been teaching Shakespeare for two decades now and still finding things which surprise and delight within the plays. I’m especially fond of the Winter’s Tale and Hamlet, but I could list many more…
Author Websites and Profiles
A.J. Hartley Website
A.J. Hartley Amazon Profile
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