Indie Authors Uncovered - Meet the person behind the pages - Stephanie Hansen - Poetic with feral metaphors.
Where were you born?
I was born in March (Pisces) in a small town in the middle of America. The small town flooded the week I was born. Curse or Magic? We'll never know. ;)
Where do you live?
I live in the area where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce live! ;)
Do you have fur babies?
I have two dogs: Daisy and Princess.
Daisy is a beagle and has only one eye. She gives me courage to put my best foot forward (I'm unilaterally, severely deaf with 90 dB constant tinnitus and the other eardrum recently ruptured so...).
Princess is a small poodle mix. She's the sweetest
Do you use a pen name?
Not yet.
What kind of writer are you?
- Old School Notebook and pen Writer.
Name one book you loved as a kid - one you loved as a new adult - and one you love now.
- As a kid, I stole (borrowed) my grandpa's Mary Higgins Clark book and greatly enjoyed those.
- While recovering from ICU and relearning to walk (with a new balance), Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson gave me strength.
- Two recent duologies that I enjoyed were the Witch and Hunter by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis as well as The Shepherd King by Rachel Gillig.
Is there an author you look up to? Or had an influence on your craft?
Randomly, I enjoyed the Gunslinger series by Stephen King over his usual writing and it greatly influenced my early writing days.
How would you describe your craft in one sentence
Poetic with feral metaphors my editor tries to rein in.
At The Dreamer's Bookshop, we embrace diversity and advocate for invisible illnesses. How do you feel about those topics? Do you include messages in your writing?
Shortly after I went severely deaf in one ear, I went on 10 job interviews. Five I talked about the deafness (how the phone on the desk should be on one side, I might want to sit on a specific side of the boardroom table for meetings, etc.). Five I did not talk about the deafness. The five where I did not talk about my deafness and instead masked it sent job offers. The five where I talked about my deafness ghosted me.
It's very important to me that underrepresented voices are elevated. The only way we can move forward from biases like the one mentioned above is to educate people and to help build a society with more empathy. My writing is often sprinkled with similar messages and in Armored Hours, I fictitiously include important historical figures society has often forgotten.
Do you have red lines when it comes to writing/reading?
Unless the survivor (not someone else) exacts merciless revenge, I don't want to read about rape. It can be mentioned but not on scene.
Was there a review that touched you more than others?
All reviews are extremely important. They feed authors. A recent review that stood out to me was:
Stephanie Hansen has penned an exquisite time travel fantasy romance. Her writing is
poetic in nature and allows the reader to immerse themselves in the story and characters. Every scene is brilliantly written and the more I read, the more invested I became. I read
late into the night and couldn’t stop reading.
If someone asked you why you write, what would you answer in one sentence?
To live! (Writing has saved me from depression many times in my life. Poetry saved me as a teenager and it's only grown since then.)
Which book are you most proud of and why?
I'm most proud of Armored Hours and Guarded Time for the historical research the required.
What would you tell an aspiring writer?
Keep going, learn along the way, and reach out to the reading
What's a wish you have for yourself as an author?
To continue to grow and keep writing for as long as I can.
What's a wish you have for yourself as a person?
To stop doubting myself. I work hard and it shows, why do I still struggle to have confidence?
Do you have a message for your audience
Thank you so much for your support. It means the world to me. I hope you enjoy my books and please feel free to send me a message authorstephaniehansen@gmail.com
