Heather Trim is the author of the award-winning novel Wingbound, and the next book in the series, Wingless, releases today.

Linda Covella: Welcome, Heather. I’m so happy you could join us today.

When and why did you decide to become a writer?

Heather Trim: I’m a natural born daydreamer. Stories run through my mind and I’ve been writing since I learned how to lift a pencil. I have files of weird old stories. I wrote a lot of poetry in high school and college. Then went dark when I got married and had five kids. Now they are all in school and I have my brain back! My first novel was released in March 2018 with the second releasing today.

Why? It started out as an escape. Raising kids, married life, and ministry are all too serious sometimes. So I’d write stories to dive deeper into my daydreams.

LC: What is your writing process: where do you write, how often do you write, are you a full-time or part-time writer, do you outline or do you plot as you go, etc.?

HT: My writing process is a bit herky-jerky. I always have stories drifting around in my head and I think about them at the grocery store or sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office. I am a full-on outliner. I figure out where the story is going with an outline (which I think counts as a first draft.) Then I set a word count per day/week to complete it for a personal deadline. When I’m not writing, I’m editing.

I write in my home office, which is currently located in my master bedroom. I have three screens open, one with music playing, another with Scrivener open, and the last with a browser open to Thesaurus.com.

LC: You’re a very disciplined writer!

Where do you find your inspiration for your stories? Do you draw from your own experiences?

HT: I draw from a variety of strange sources: daydreams, nightmares, my own experiences, experiences of other people I know, and sometimes a response to stories that annoyed me that I’ve decided to “fix” by writing my own stories.

My first book, called Wingbound, was a result of daydreaming. I may have been driving and cloud gazing at the same time. (Don’t worry, no one was harmed in the having of this daydream!) But I saw a cloud that looked like an island floating in the sky. I imagined it circling the world as it drifted by. Big. Ominous. And there had to people aboard. People with wings. Those people fly down and fight us. Then I imagined a winged girl, full of curiosity, sneaking down and meeting a village boy. They are fast friends and meet up each year the island revolves around the world. I had to write it!

LC: That is true inspiration, and I love the premise.

Who is one of your favorite characters from your story, one that you enjoyed creating and writing about, and why?

HT: I like writing normal, totally average characters who have no personal drive or motivation to be anything more than an ordinary human. To me it is more realistic. I would not have done what Harry Potter did, I would never do what Bella did (ie. fall in love with a vampire), and for goodness sake, I would never survive the Hunger Games. So I like to take that complete wimpiness and do what normal people would do in a totally amazing way. Ledger, my 17 year old main character from Wingbound is that guy.

LC: Do you incorporate (or inadvertently find) any of your own personality traits into your characters?

HT: What started off inadvertent ended in purposeful. As I wrote Ledger’s character, to give the world a mild-mannered protagonist, he ended up with my personality, fears, and laziness.

For example, I am not an animal person. For many reasons, they freak me out. Dogs, cats, horses, lizards—everything. So Ledger is terrified of the dragon in the story even though his friend, Hollis, loves it and rides it. I enjoy laughing at myself through Ledger’s weirdness.

LC: Do you find your stories are more plot driven or character driven? Please explain.

HT: The plot poured out of my characters. I love watching people, seeing what they do and why. Ledger befriends a girl with wings from the enemy island in the sky. One day the island returns empty and she is gone. He’s not brave in anyway, but in a panic decides to board the island to ride it around the world in search of her. What will this wimpy guy do, how will he survive? I had to know. Character driven all the way!

LC: Did you read much as a child?

HT: I was a big time reader. I had more adventures than most kids. Through books. I still read a lot and mostly young adult fiction because growing up is for old people. 😉

LC: How important do you think reading is for writers?

HT: I think reading should be number one on the list of 3 things writers do: read, write, and edit. Reading is the best source of learning all the rules of writing. Your eye gets more and more keen when spotting errors in your own work. It helps you word things correctly as well as spelling and grammar. Keep reading, keep learning.

LC: Great advice!

Who are some of your favorite authors and/or books? What draws you to them?

HT: I read a lot of young adult I have about four books in the #1 spot in my heart. I don’t know how to cut that down! Caraval (and Legendary) by Stephanie Garber is so awesome because I still haven’t stopped thinking about the storyline, and even better are her descriptions. They are so colorful and rich! The whole Lunar Chronicles series (especially Cress) by Marissa Meyer is amazing! She writes the coolest characters and gives them each a unique voice. I also love a lot of Maggie Stiefvater’s stuff (Shiver and The Scorpio Races) because she writes so poetically. It’s almost beautiful, even though it’s a werewolf story!

LC: Anything new in the works?

HT: Wingless, Book Two of the Wingbound Series, is releasing today, November 8^th, 2018 and Book Three is already in the works and will release in 2019. It’s hard to stop writing when a series gets rolling. I need to know what happens to Ledger!

After that, I have a half-finished stand-alone fantasy coming next. Living the dream!

LC: Congratulations on your new release! Readers, below is a synopsis of the story. Thank you, again, Heather. I enjoyed learning more about your writing life!

Author Bio:

Heather Trim, an award-winning author, conference speaker and cookie eater, inspires with her unique perspective of spirituality and the world. She lives in Georgia with her husband, Kevin, and five lively children. Heather enjoys bullet journaling, movies, and reading too many young adult novels. She can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and her website.

Connect with Heather:

Website: www.heatheraine.com

Facebook: facebook.com/heatherainetrim
Instagram: instagram.com/heatheraine5
Amazon: amazon.com/author/heathertrim

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cLd0D1

Synopsis of just-released WINGLESS by Heather Trim:

“I must get home before someone else I love dies.”

Imprisoned on a floating island, four wingless friends need to get home before an assassin strikes at the heart of Balfour. Facing the dangers of the land and sky, young Ledger must help them escape and lead them home.

But his adopted brother, Tolliver, can’t leave just yet. He is determined to find his winged family, the ones who threw him away at birth. Will they accept him or execute him? Either way, Tolliver intends to try.

Heather Trim’s limitless imagination takes flight once more revealing that your most daunting limitation can be your greatest weapon.