With all the back-to-school energy in the air it seems only fitting that this month’s guest is author of the Hillside Academy series, Jodi May.

I am happy you are here, my friend! I have lots of questions about writing and world-building, so let’s get right into it…
You are almost 20 years into creating your 24 book series set at the fictional boarding school of Hillside Academy. How did Hillside Academy start?
With Lord of the Rings. I used to say I’d never tell people that but here we are. When I was six or seven, I had the entire Fellowship as little dolls. I’d act out stories along with my Pet Rescue dolls and all my toy horses. It’s odd thinking back on those days when the worst thing to happen in those stories was a horse going missing, and then to look at what the books have become; full of drugs, fist fights, swearing and sex. But once upon a time, Hillside Academy was a story about a riding school. My characters have come so far since then and trying to imagine Sam Robinson on a horse makes me chortle. It’s why horses play such an important role in the books; a piece of the origins interlaced into a story that needs some childhood happiness sometimes.

Hillside Academy (HSA to your legion of fans, including me) hosts 8 main characters and 8 supporting characters. Who is your favorite character to write for, or does it change with each book?
Sam. He’s ruthless and rude but so often the only one who says exactly what needs to be said. Because of that, and so many other reasons, he’s always my favourite to write. He’s such a multi-faceted character with so much trauma that hasn’t been seen yet by my readers in the first two books. He is ocean deep and I think as the series progresses, you’re going to learn exactly why he behaves the way he does.  

>>BONUS: Learn more about HSA’s Main Eight

You’ve literally grown up alongside your characters. How do you think your life has changed because of them?
They make me brave. I’ve never felt alone in all my experiences because I’ve always had my gang of misfits. Elivia makes me softer and gave me an obsession with shoes and handbags. Emily is the reader and the one that encouraged me to go back to studying in my mid-twenties. Tom is the friend and the lover; he’s affectionate and creative and so loving. Will is the peacemaker and family orientated part of me. Sam is definitely the drunken swearing sailor in me and Anna is that brave bad ass bitch that won’t back down from a fight. She likes to come out at the worst times. Dominic is the insomniac; the one that dwells in the past, but he’s also the realist. Then there’s Erika. She carries the trauma and the rage. She’s also fiercely loyal to the people she loves. And when it comes to creating, they’re all my paintbrushes. They remind me of my youth and how it carved us. They’re there when the dark comes for me to bring me back to the light.

You’ve created a universe to rival the MCU or George RR Martin. How do you keep track of everything?
Lots and lots of spreadsheets. For the last four years I’ve also been working on a HSA Database that’s got everything from every character’s profile (and I mean every character) and the history of the school, to the smallest details like which hospital they were born in and their medical history. When you’re writing a 24-book series with novellas, sequels and prequels, it’s important to keep continuity otherwise you’ll end up making errors that keen-eyed readers will pick up on. Time-lining is a huge aspect of this. I have one huge timeline starting from the birth of the oldest character up to the start of Volume I (September, 2011). I add to it with every book so I can keep track of when and where things happened.

HSA Volume 1: September debuted a year ago this month - Happy Book Birthday!!! What was the best experience of your debut year? What was the biggest challenge?
By far the best experience of finally launching Hillside Academy into the world was the private launch party I held with friends and family at my favourite restaurant. There were HSA Top Trump cards and book confetti on every table, and little goodie bags made of book pages filled with the main 8’s favourite sweets. On the wall was a big banner and at the end, I stood up and did a totally unplanned speech to the entire restaurant with the Volume I party playlist playing in the background. It was an incredibly emotional moment, thanking everyone who had believed in me and helped me reach this point. Seeing my books arranged on a table ready to be sold alongside all the merchandise my partner and I had made was overwhelming, too. Especially when I had to stand there signing them all. Totally surreal. Then I stood outside like a celebrity while my friends and family took photos of me next to one of the big HSA posters. It was magical, making the months of stress and tears worth it.

I think the most challenging thing of all was the imposter syndrome that came the night before the actual release. I remember lying in bed crying, torn between fear and disbelief. I’d been waiting for this moment since I was sixteen when decided to write these books to publish. It was terrifying but with each book I release, that feeling has slowly lifted. I proudly announce that I’m an author now. My books are in the world – I just hope they can bring other people as much comfort as they’ve brought me.

Do you find the writing gets easier the further you get into the series, or harder? Why? Since publishing, I consider my readers a lot more when I write. My Beta team is an incredible duo and my Alpha is an absolute Queen. They tell me when to rein it in (rarely) and when to put my foot down on the accelerator (often). I hesitate more so than before with the more controversial scenes, so that’s going to be challenging as the series progresses into the darker, more serious storylines. Because Hillside Academy will get darker. Volume I & II are quite tame and steady, a gentle introduction into the seedy underbelly. Volume III marks a stark turn away from the usual high school drama and will set the tone for the rest of the series.

You are a vocal proponent for mental health. HSA prominently features characters dealing with issues such as depression and abuse. What do you hope your readers will take away from your books?
You’re not alone. We’re all a makeup of everything we’ve endured and I think that’s beautiful. In one strand of therapy, we’re taught that the reason behind how we behave stems from our childhood and formative experiences, something I strongly believe. The main 8 and the majority of the characters in HSA have had turbulent lives, whether that’s abusive parents, sexual assault, abandonment, bullying, grief, poverty, racism and homophobia. It is my task to unpick the knots in their pasts and try to explain why these people are the way they are. My hope for readers of my books is that somewhere in all the chaos they’ll find a pocket of hope and happiness. My main 8 are a family; bound by what they endure together in this series and hopefully, my readers will find a family in them too.

You have written literary mashups featuring your characters in works such as Stephen King’s IT and Dante’s Inferno. What other books would you like to give the HSA treatment to?
Privately, I’ve worked on several mash-ups and alternative universe stories. I wrote 100 pages of a story where the group live in a country village and attend a local high school which was an interesting take on their characters and family dynamics. It was curious to watch how they behaved without the setting of a boarding school. IT was definitely the greatest mash-up I ever worked on, with plans to finish it and write the second half when they’re adults, if only for my dad who adores this story. As for future mash-ups, I like the idea of doing a homage to Pride and Prejudice. Given the similarities between the two, I think it would be a fun exercise. But my favourite mash-ups are horror. I don’t get to write much horror, the only genre perhaps other than Sci-Fi that isn’t included in the long list of genres that HSA falls into. I’m a huge horror film fan, so any opportunity to brutally murder Sam is always fun.

>>BONUS: Read HSA vs. IT, Chapters 1 & 2

What is your favorite part of writing? Least?
I disappear inside stories. Writing is a form of escapism for me, more so than reading. During my school years, coming home to write in my bedroom was a way for me to get out all the trauma, to find comfort with my dearest friends, my characters. Now, I use the trauma like a needle, sowing it into my books. My bullies wanted to break me, for whatever reason, and I did break but I patched myself back together with the pages of my books.

My least favourite part about writing is editing. Everyone says that because it’s not creative at all. But I still find a certain type of pleasure in tearing sections from the story and tightening it all up to become the finished product. I once got told by my favourite English teacher to ‘just write and worry about editing later’; a method I’ve continued to this day. When I write, I don’t worry. That’s for future Jodi, who’s merciless and will sit for a month poring over the novel. But the finished product is always worth it. If I think about the very first version I completed of Hillside Academy, back in 2008 when I was just thirteen, the Volume I I now hold in my hands is unrecognizable.

What is your best advice for new writers?
Just write. And develop the characters. My father, also a writer, once told me to make your characters breathe and talk and act like humans. I read so many published authors with books out there being carried by flat characters. Yes, they’ve sold books, so you’re probably thinking, what’s the problem? If making money is what you want to do, don’t be an author. If you want to tell stories, develop your characters.

As for books on how to write, no one can truly teach you. All the literary classes and degrees in the world couldn’t teach you how to creatively write. At the end of the day, you have to have a story worth telling and characters worth reading.

Lastly, stop worrying about publishing. If you’ve just started writing, just write for the pleasure of it. Then, if you think you’ve got something, rewrite it. Then get yourself an Alpha reader. Someone you trust but not someone too close like your mum or partner. After that, rewrite it again! Next you’ll be ready for Betas – get as many as you can, throw yourself onto the fire with it. Then you’ll know if you’re ready. Or, like me, you might rewrite again. It’s a long process but I don’t regret the fifteen years it took me from that first draft written in a notepad when I was thirteen, to the age of 28 when I finally published.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m busy preparing for my penultimate year of university and after that, I’ll either train for my psychotherapy license or become a court psychiatrist assessing people before they stand trial. As for my author work, I’ve got all the editing for Volume III coming out this autumn and I’ll soon be handing over the Novella to my Betas in preparation for the release next year. I’m also beginning plans for Volume IIII & V since they will also be arriving in 2025, so I’ve got a lot to do. As for non-HSA projects, over the summer I started a new story inspired by ‘Gilmore Girls’; a potential trilogy following the lives of three orphan sisters moving to a small village in Surrey, England and the trials and tribulations of a twenty-something woman raising two teen sisters. Whether I’ll have much time to work on this project over the coming years is questionable but it’s in the pipeline as being the first non-HSA book I’ve ever written and published (so far).

Where can readers find you?
Hiding in my study with my pot plants, usually.
But more easily, Instagram: @jodimay15
Twitter (X): @jodimay15
Facebook: Jodi May Literature
And a very lovely website made by my partner – jodimay.co.uk – which is full of everything you need to know about Hillside Academy, including an entire Wiki of all the characters, locations and information about the school. I also add Deleted Scenes and Flashbacks that won’t appear in the books, as well as other fun articles about the characters and the books as they’re released. There’s a newsletter you can sign up to, too, which has little freebies. Last Christmas, I made an advent calendar full of quizzes and snippets from upcoming books. I also release excerpts from new books and if you want to read ‘HSA vs IT’, this is all available on the website for free!
You can find my books to buy on Amazon, and if you’ve read HSA, please leave me a review on GoodReads and Amazon to help boost the series!

Is there any question you wish I’d asked?
Perhaps a question about what Volume III will entail, so I’ll share the blurb:

Volume III is the third installment of the Hillside Academy saga and will play host to the annual weekend-long sporting competition between the four schools of the Sistership – The Inter-Schools Game. But it isn’t all hockey sticks and rugby balls, for this weekend holds special importance for the students of the Sistership as it is also the night of the sacred Nox Ludos; underground games that will put them to the test in order to declare the next King and Queen of their schools, an honour held above all else.

It’s all kicking off at HSA, with a plethora of new characters, a masked celebration in the woods and a new secret to keep. Coming Autumn, 2024.

Jodi - thank you for joining me here today! I’ll wrap us up with a final ridiculous question: If aliens landed on Earth, which of your characters would you send to greet them? Sensibly, the person to send would be Emily. But for shits and giggles, I’d send Sam. He’d have them down the pub within the hour.