Author Interview: H.A. Pruitt
I’m happy to welcome H.A. Pruitt to the blog! She is an author of Christian fantasy and has published five books in her YA fantasy series Anelthalien, as well as a companion novel for the series.
Q: As Christians, our faith colors everything we do, whether the project is explicitly Christian or not. Our faith and worldview are going to show up in some way. How does your faith affect your writing? Does God show up in your stories or writing process?
A: I can’t write without God’s guidance. I don’t plan anything. I usually don’t even think about what I’m going to write. All I do before I write is pray, asking God to help me listen, and then if He wants me to write, the story flows. I love that writing like that allows God to guide the story and put so many messages of truth in them. I think of my writing time as time with God because He uses it to help me understand what I need for my life. Writing feels like God talking to me and helping me. Even though my stories don’t look like my life at all, they tell the journey of my life. God is the one who creates the stories; I just hear them from Him and write them down.
Q: Your books have an interesting tagline: “If you ever wanted something different, Anelthalien is waiting.” What makes Anelthalien different?
A: The tagline about Anelthalien being something different refers to the fact that if we live life without God, we are always going to crave something else and feel like we’re missing something. In the first book in the series, Anelthalien, the four main characters are shown at the beginning feeling empty in some way. Throughout the series, they are told they are going on a certain mission. However, God interrupts that mission and shows them what matters most: life with Him. God is that something different that we need in order to have true life.
In another way, the Anelthalien Series is something different because it wasn’t written with marketing purposes in mind. I didn’t know I was going to publish it when I first wrote it. Anelthalien is simply my time with God, and so it doesn’t intentionally follow the standards that books are supposed to follow. As I’ve learned more, I’ve found that (because no surprise, God is an excellent author) He does craft the stories with good storytelling structure, but when I write, I just listen to God and let Him control where it goes. Often, that ends up with the story turning ways that typical plots meant to target a specific audience or meet the requirements for a certain genre wouldn’t go.
Q: Inspiration can come from anywhere, be it books, music, nature, or anything else. Where do you draw inspiration for your stories?
A: As I said in previous answers, I don’t plan what I’m going to write, so I never intentionally draw inspiration from something. However, God always uses what is going on in my life to determine what I’m going to write. I see so much of my own life in my writing.
Q: What do you like to do outside of writing? Any hobbies or interests?
A: I am a mom of five, so I don’t have a ton of free time. Being a mom of five means my hobbies are playing with magnet tiles and playing outside. When I do have free time, I love to scrapbook or draw. Drawing is my first love. When I was a kid, I would draw stories. I love almost all kinds of visual art. Drawing, painting, and ceramics are my favorites. I also like cooking. I like experimenting with spices, flavors, and smells.
Q: Characters always have a bit of their author within them, some more than others. Which of your characters do you have the most in common with?
A: I see myself in most of my main characters. In my most recent book, Elores and Sipora, the two main characters Elores and Sipora share qualities with me. Elores is quiet, introverted, creative, introspective, and loves telling stories. In the book, God gives him stories that he uses to process what’s going on in his life and to help others process what’s going on in their world. That reflects what happens when I write.
Q: If you could bring one of your characters into the real world for a day, who would it be?
A: I would love to bring Nasah, the horse from the Anelthalien Series, into real life. She is an intelligent horse that can understand people, and so is patient with them and extremely helpful. I adore animal companions in books, so it would be fun to have her help and companionship.
Q: If readers walk away with something after reading your stories, a lesson, challenge, etc., what do you hope it is?
A: The Anelthalien Series covers a wide range of God’s truths, but the one truth I would want readers to know is that God is real and wants them.
Q: So many people dream of writing a book. What advice would you give a hopeful writer who may be reading this?
A: It seems like most people who want to write a book don’t finish because they get intimidated when the first draft isn’t fantastic. For most authors, the first draft isn’t fantastic. I’m also an editor, and I know that even two rounds of editing, which is what I offer clients, can take a book from struggling to amazing. If hopeful writers want to finish a book, they need to remember that they don’t have to make the first draft perfect. They only need to get all the ideas written, and then they can go back to it later and keep working on it. Perseverance and maintaining a vision for the final product is key when writing a book.
Q: You recently released your newest book, Elores and Sipora. Can you tell us a little about it?
A: Elores and Sipora is an adult Christian fantasy about finding light in the darkest times. It is a companion book to the Anelthalian Series but can be read as a standalone. The Anelthalien Series is young adult, but Elores and Sipora is adult because it dives deeper into heavy topics. The book travels to dark places in order to show that God can find us in the hardest times in our lives, be with us, shine His light on us, and be light inside us no matter what. Even if the circumstances around us don’t change and life continues to be awful, if we have God in our hearts, we can live with joy and peace knowing He’s with us, He is our life, and He loves us. I love Elores and Sipora more than any of my other books because it is so personal to me. It’s my story; it shows how far I’ve come, and it helped me move even deeper into God’s light.
Q: What's next? Do you have plans for any future projects you want readers to know about?
A: I don’t really make plans. I let God make the plans for me. However, I have handwritten all eight books in the Anelthalien Series and two other companion books in addition to Elores and Sipora, so I suppose God is going to have me publish those next. Finishing the Anelthalien Series will likely take quite a few years, but I love publishing and rereading the books and remembering the truth God gave me and seeing how He applies it to my life in new ways.
A big thanks to H.A. Pruitt for being here! And for giving great answers to all the questions!
Is there something you’d like to ask an author? Drop your questions in the comments to have them asked in future interviews!
About the Author
H.A. Pruitt is the Christian fantasy author of the Anelthalien Series. She lives with her herd of guinea pigs, her sarcastic husband, and her three sons. She never wanted to be an author and would have been content to remain unknown, but God decided that she would be perfect to hear the story of Anelthalien and share it with the world. Now H.A. Pruitt’s goal in all she does and writes is to listen to, obey, and glorify God.
Follow her on Instagram @hapruitt and check out her YouTube channel HAPruitt Anelthalien.
