This is your first book, but not your first attempt at being published. When did you decide to take this idea from its infantile stage to a full-length novel.
Running Home was never anything but a novel in my mind. It actually was so damn long that I realized when I started to type it up (because yes, it was all manually written), that it was two books. So Running Away has a great jump off. And I’ve had a couple of short stories published, one actually coming out from Elephant Press on July 15th, but that’s all.
What was the basis for Running Home?
I’m a little vampire obsessed, and a lot obsessed with martial arts, and love New Hampshire where it’s based. I also really wanted to dig into the ideas of fate and death and how they can determine a person’s life. And I wanted to create a vampire novel that put the extraordinary into the ordinary, and make it for grownups, because I don’t think there are enough of those no matter how saturated the vampire and paranormal market may be, or so they say.
Do you dream about your characters in the story? Are there any that stand out as one you would like to meet face-to-face? Are there any you would rather never meet in a dark alley?
They show up now and again! But surprisingly, not often. I think I gave them enough of my day most of the time. I would desperately love to meet Nicholas, he’s incredible. But Ellie I bet I could spend all day with and love every second of it. You certainly never want to meet Lynch in a dark alley. He has zero self control and even less regard for doing the right thing.
The first time you really thought about taking Running Home from a story idea into a manuscript to send out, were you nervous? What feelings did you have when you were considering submitting it for the first time?
Oh my God, horror. Kristen and I plotted long and hard on what agents to sub it to, and there were dry erase boards, and lots of booze. It was scary, but I also knew to expect a lot of rejections. I prepared every way I possibly could to send it out, and I was ready.
Rejection is part of the gig and we all know the tune. How did you cope with rejection when submitting Running Home?
I refused to let it get to me personally. I sent queries to agents that I wasn’t in love with for the book first, knowing that I would get a ton of rejections before the query was perfected. I looked at the rejections as one more step towards getting published, narrowing it down. They honestly never upset me. I don’t let myself get kicked by much.
What is your writing routine like?
Insane! When I started writing, I was on maternity leave with my first baby, so it was whenever I could write. When I went back to work at Victoria’s Secret, I wrote late at night, usually between 10 and 1 in the morning when the house was quiet. And whenever else I could. It was last summer that Kristen and I started writing together once or twice a week, and not long after that when I started to get up at 5 AM Writer’s Club on twitter. Because it’s the only time I am totally alone and lucid. I do a lot of half hour sprints with twitter during the day, too. I’m lucky to have time at home to do that.
What are you most afraid of?
Oh, you’re doing this to me, huh? Death. Hands down. Losing my husband or my boys or those closest to me. It terrifies me constantly. And my own death scares me! I want to live forever. But I’ve seen so much death, of so many close to me, at the most horrible times, that death seems like it’s always there. Just like it is for Ellie.
How has your family helped to inspire you to become a better writer?
My husband is the reason I can do it at all. When I told him that I just couldn’t work retail anymore after ten years, because it was literally killing me healthwise, he was afraid. But I told him that this was the chance I had to take to write, and show our kids that you have to do what you believe in, what makes you happy, take the big leaps, don’t work yourself to death. You’ll always survive. And he has been nothing but 100% behind me, encouraging me, talking about me to everyone he knows, and being so proud of me for going after my dream. He’s in this with me until the end, and truly believes I can make this thing a career. There is nothing that could mean more to me, to make the man I love proud like that, and my children. I want to be their hero, not just the person that provides for them. I want them to never be afraid to make the hard choices.
On the subject of family, have you seen some of your family’s quirks or behaviors in your characters?
Our sarcasm. Pick a family member, you’ll see our sarcasm.
Who is your favorite Author? Who’s work do you read and immediately begin writing something?
I am madly in love with Simon R. Green. His Nightside series and the Drood series are amazing in every way possible to me. So incredibly unique, with characters you love, and vivid settings that you want to visit. I adore him. Whenever I read Maggie Steifvater, I pick up a pen, specifically Shiver. I’ve read that series many times, cannot get enough of it.
Thinking of the writing process you have gone through with Running Home, if you were to do it all over again, would you do anything different?
You know, I don’t think so! I wrote the entire book in notebooks. I loved every second of it, so satisfying. And the editing was exactly the way I wanted to do it. It got written the way it had to be written, and I wouldn’t change a thing. How self important douche does that sound?
What project are you working on now?
I am writing a new book right now, The Harpy that I am really enjoying. I want it finished by the release of Running Home so that I can start really throwing myself into revising Running Away, and then right after that I will be working on the second draft of a novel that I finished a couple of months back, The Animal, which I am in love with and dying to see again.
What are you plans for Running Home?
Vague as hell, nice. It’s the first of a trilogy. Running Away is up next, and the first draft of it is actually done, but there is so much I want to do to it in revision. Crawling Back is the end of the series, and I know exactly where I’m taking it. There’s plenty of surprises, and a lot of change. Like real life.
If you could be anything in the world… anything at all, but you could never write again, what would it be?
Oooh, good question! I would despise not being able to write. The only other thing that ever has called my name like I belonged there was martial arts. I did teach karate for a long time, and would love to do that again. The first thing I ever wanted to be was a marine biologist because I love sharks, so that could happen if I had spare time.
Thinking in terms of your novel, Running Home, What was the single most unexpected aspect of the story? What thing, place or person surprised you the most as you were writing, or once you finished and started to edit?
Your questions are fun! The Japanese mythology was a surprise, actually. It was really loose when I wrote the first draft, not specific or anything. Then it hit me over the head in November that I wanted it to draw on a real Japanese death god mythology, and that changed the book a lot.
For those who don’t know the story of Running Home, where and when does this story take place?
Present day, in a real town in New Hampshire called Ossipee that is tiny and barely populated. The best man and maid of honor from our wedding lie there, so we get to visit a lot.
Tell us five things every reader should know about you?
God, it feels weird to just yammer on about myself. Okay. 1. I’m a black belt myself, and it’s always felt like my home to train. It’s what I was meant to do aside from writing. 2. I drink a lot, but I’m not a drunk, I swear. 3. My books all have one theme song at least. (Running Home’s were Closer by Kings of Leon and Together Now by NIN.) 4. If I didn’t have pizza in my life and at least 3 cups of coffee daily, you would all be dead. 5. I regret nothing ever.
What do you hope to get out of this experience?
I need the trophy. I need to see the book in print, on a shelf. I need it.
Any long-term goals in your writing career?
This is my long term goal! To write novels for as long as the world will have me. To make sure my kids know it can be done.
Who is your favorite super hero? Why?
You had to have had inside info for this one! Iron Man has been tied with Batman for a long time, but Iron man took the lead when Robert Downey Jr. became him. I’ve always been a huge RDJ fan, and he is the perfect Tony Stark. I love Iron Man because he doesn’t have super powers that he was just blessed with. He used what resources he had, his money and his brains, to become the change he wanted to see in the world. He’s cocky, with reason. He’s a self made hero, it didn’t happen to him. It’s why I’ve loved him since high school. Coincidentally, Iron Man came out when I was on maternity leave and this story was brewing in my head. Robert Downey Jr. is Nicholas French. The character wouldn’t have existed without him.
I can’t thank you enough for letting me blab like this! I’m so happy to be a part of your blog! xx
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Death hovers around Ellie Morgan like the friend nobody wants. She doesn’t belong in snow-swept Ossipee, New Hampshire, at a black tie party––but that is where she is, and where he is: Nicholas French, the man who mystifies her with a feeling of home she’s been missing, and the impossible knowledge of her troubled soul.
Nicholas followed an abomination that is one of his own, but finds that fate has driven him to New Hampshire. He is a being of the Shinigami, a heroic vampire order that save their victims from more tragic ends. And he knows why Ellie is human repellent… why physical agony grips them when apart. "Running Home by Julie Hutchings is set to be one of the leading debut novels of its genre." ~ Dylan J. Morgan: best selling author of Hosts and the Blood War Trilogy "This is like the Dark Knight of vampire books. Up there with not just Anne Rice, but Stephen King." ~ Phil Cone, author of Paddy Nemesis "Running Home has a dark beauty which entwines the mundane and the magical." ~ J.C. Michael, author of Discoredia "A fascinating take on vampires, unlike anything I've seen before, filled with a rich and beautiful culture. I was left simply begging for more." ~ J. Liz Hill, author of Bound "I can't remember a time I've enjoyed a vampire novel so much. The blend of self-aware characters and unique, fresh mythology made for an engaging, addictive read. I believe I have found my new favorite urban vampire story." ~ Frances Button, Opening Line Literary 'Zine "Forget about creatures that glitter, change forms, or howl under the full moon bathed in the blood of their victims. They aren't nearly as important as the human element...and it is the human element Julie Hutchings never forgets in Running Home." ~ Lydia Aswolf, Host of Lydia's Literary Lowdown
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