What motivated you to take the plunge and become a published author?

When I was in college, I was determined to pursue a career in medicine. Long story short, I was totally miserable. When I realized I needed to change what I would pursue as a career, I naturally turned to writing. I’ve always written stories and had my nose buried in books. Ever since I was just a youngster. I simply never thought of it as a career until then. But once I was in, I was ALL in. ;D

Why did you choose to write crime fiction/thrillers?

I’ve always loved a good mystery. I read The Boxed Car Children as a child. Eventually, I graduated to Nancy Drew, and eventually to adult authors like Mary Higgins-Clark and Agatha Christie. Mysteries and thrillers have always been a big part of my life.

Where did the inspiration for your protagonist come from?

I’ve always loved police procedurals that include detectives. So you might say it came from a mixture of mainstream TV and book detectives. CSI, Criminal Minds, James Patterson, you name it.

Where did the inspiration for your antagonist come from?

I’ve also always had a fascination with serial killers. Like many, their twisted logic and evil, unsympathetic psyches are endlessly fascinating to me. And they make great and versatile villains.

How do you arrive at the vision needed to create your stories?

I always have to start with an organic grain of an idea. That can be anything. A mystery. A character. A villain. A situation. I then build out from there. I have a particular process I use to flesh out my characters and my story once I have a good idea of where it’s going.

Every author has other authors they draw inspiration from. Which authors have inspired you in your writing and storytelling career?

The authors I’ve already mentioned above, as well as many of the classically known mystery authors. Tami Hoag, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King. My mysteries tend to be dark (definitely not cozy) so they often have horror elements in them.

Some authors find inspiration from specific films or music. If this is the case for you, please share which films have inspired you? Which songs or musicians?

Again, many horror films. My brothers are horror film afficionados, so I’ve seen hundreds of them. The good, the bad, and B-move. In a way, I’m kind of unique in that I like stories with heavy horror elements, but then I place those elements in police procedurals.

As for music, I like to listen to angry guy music when writing my crime fic. When finishing up the Street Games series, I listened to a lot of Linkin Park and Breaking Benjamin.

What aspects of storytelling do you find the most challenging?

Balancing details, especially when it comes to being realistic. (Such as with police procedures. ;D)

What do you find to be the most enjoyable or satisfying aspect of being an author?

Getting to live in fictional worlds all the time. In my opinion, the biggest reason people need stories (there are many) is to see characters overcome difficult obstacles. So it gives me a lot of satisfaction to create deep, affecting stories that readers can connect with in their own lives.

What advice would you offer to any would be authors working up the courage to publish their first book or story?

You can do it! Just take the plunge. It might not be perfect, but you’ll never get there until you start. The only difference between a published and unpublished author is persistence.

For readers interested in Ms. Hill’s books, she suggests trying out the Street Games series.

For just .99 cents you can check out the main detective from Street Games, Gabe Nichols, in Dead Silent, where he is one of 18 protagonists.