Summer Reading Interview 2025

Hayley Anderton

Tell us about yourself, who you are, what you write!

Hi, I'm Hayley! I have been a self-published author for almost three years and I've absolutely loved getting to know everyone in the indie community. It also inspired me to create Indie Visible Services, which has absolutely been a passion project of mine. I love to write in different genres and experiment, but my main genres are dystopian, zombie and fantasy.

What inspired you to become an author?

No one inspired me more than Suzanne Collins. I still remember being around thirteen reading The Hunger Games in one sitting one day when I was off sick from school. I started writing fanfiction and I won a Watty Award for my Hunger Games fanfic, Silence, which is still up on Wattpad! After that, I started taking writing more seriously and I spent most of the next few years writing in every spare moment I had.

What is your favorite part of the writing process? Least favorite?

I actually quite like editing, which I know most people hate. I'm quite a logical person and editing often feels like problem solving to me. My least favourite part of the process is writing the start of a book. It feels almost impossible! Once I get past the midpoint of any project, the rest seems to come easily to me.

How do you handle writer's block? Similarly, do you ever get 'reader's block?'

I've had writer's block for the last six months or so, and I wish I could tell you how to get out of it! One thing that does sometimes light a fire under me is setting deadlines - I was a ghostwriter for seven years and writing to a deadline became both a blessing and a curse when I was struggling to put words down on a page. I'm admittedly struggling to read lately too, but the thing that helps for me is reading novellas and poetry. It feels like less pressure and allows me to read for short bursts of time.

What made you decide to self publish?

I like the creative control! It's great knowing that I don't have to follow the same rules as trad publishing. For example, I write short novellas that I describe as 'episodic'. They're designed to be read in a sitting or two, and to feel like you're consuming a series in bitesize chunks like you would watching an hour long episode of a show. I've had varied responses to this style, but I like doing it this way! I also love being able to write stories to my own style, designing my own covers and working to my own timeline. I also don't have a lot of patience. After years of ghostwriting for clients who would publish straight to Amazon, I decided I wanted to do the same and share my words with the world. I grew up on Wattpad, posting chapters as soon as I felt they were ready, so I think this inspired me too.

You've written in a whole host of genres: Horror, Dystopia, Fantasy, YA, Romance. Do you have a favorite?

Dystopian fiction has always had my heart. The world we live in is dystopian as it is, but I think I enjoy reflecting real life problems into my work. That's what makes us empathize and connect with characters, when we see ourselves in them. Creative spaces are also a great place to talk about how we feel about the world.

How do you get into your character's headspace?

Usually, I write characters who are pretty flawed, and often I take my own flaws and put them into my writing. I connect a lot with Riley from The Last Girls on Earth, and also Lori from my standalone novel, Homebound. It makes it easy to see the world through their eyes. I've always been told that my characters always have a distinctive voice of their own and I think that comes from putting a piece of myself into all of them - just not always the same piece!

Do you tend to work on multiple WIPs at once or just one at a time?

I have a few series on the run at the moment so yes, sometimes! I've been writing romance under my pen name lately, but I'm also writing some poetry and trying to finish my dystopian series. So it's chaos, but it's helping me get out of the writer's block I've been in. It means if I'm not feeling like writing one thing I can try another, which takes some of the pressure off and gets more written!

You run multiple events throughout the year over at Indie Visible. Do you have a favorite event? (Also, my inner math nerd is dying to know if you meant to make the indivisible pun?)

I always enjoy the Halloween event, but I'm looking forward to our charity event at the start of July - it's given me an opportunity to raise money for an incredible cause! And yes absolutely - I love a pun, and Indie Visible felt like a perfect name for what I was trying to achieve with this community!

What is your current read or next up on your TBR?

I'm slowly making my way through Something Wicked by Bel Campbell - a fellow indie author - and I'm really enjoying it! It feels like a very nostalgic YA book!

Tell the people what you're working on and what you've got coming up!

I'm taking some time to really delve back into writing over the next few months so I'll be kind of a hermit for a while! I would really love to tie some projects off this year, and then I'll be starting on something brand new that has been haunting me for a while - I can't wait to talk more about it!