Q&A with an Up and Coming Indie Author: R.J. Hope
Indiana is home to many creative individuals. The Hoosier State truly has some hidden gem talents. Enter up and coming novelist: R.J. Hope.
After many years of writing scripts and being a stay-at-home-mom since 2025, R.J. Hope is now ready to share her personal writing with the world!
With a story so inspiring, I'm going to let R.J. tell it to you herself!
Q: When did you decide to become a writer?
A: I grew up wanting to do and be a lot of things. I couldn't do it all, of course, but when I would write I could do anything in the form of different characters I'd create. I remember watching a movie on Disney Channel and thinking, "I could write something like this." I went downstairs in the middle of the night and typed my first script until about 6 a.m. My hands didn't even hurt. That moment is when the love affair I have with writing began.
Q: How have your favorite authors/book genres influenced your writing process?
A: My favorite writer has been and will always be Shakespeare because there was always a premise to his plays. They weren't just stories, they were real life lessons that went deeper than what met the eye. From him, I understood that there is a beauty in being able to reach the masses in entertainment. There is a lesson in every single thing that I write.
Then, there are authors like Freida McFadden, Lisa Jewell, Jeneva Rose, Noelle Ihli and Zia Rayyan to name a few who inspire me because I love the captivating stories they tell. I love that they understand thriller and it's not necessarily thriller/horror; they stick to the heart of a psychological thriller which is to play with the mind, to take the reader on a wild ride and allow them to think one thing and it turns out to be something else.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for The House Guest?
A: It is actually based on a real experience. I was already in the process of writing a different book based on an experience that rocked my world just a little bit. I got 75% of the way through and then something else happened. It was actually kind of funny, but I thought it would make a great thriller so I pivoted into what is now The House Guest.
Q: Why start now after being a stay-at-home mom for so long?
A: I actually never stopped. I bought books and invested in studying the craft of writing. I started by writing plays in high school. I went to college and played two roles in a stage play I wrote, directed and produced called 'Love Misconstrued' in April 2014.
I graduated Suma Cum Laude with my degree in 2015 and a four month old baby. I walked into adulthood and motherhood at the same time. Two years later, I had my one and only daughter. A year after that, I got married. But, I never stopped writing. I was writing scripts for TV shows and movies. The challenge was balancing a job while working towards a DREAM CAREER. A lot of the time, adults (especially parents), do the job that they HAVE to do and never get to do what they WANT to do because it was what life and family demanded of them.
I went to grad school in 2018 and very quickly after, I became homeless and my marriage became mentally, emotionally and verbally abusive. I basically became a married-single mom, working two jobs while in grad school. I graduated and two months later, I survived that marriage and became a single mother.
It was then that I had to redefine and balance myself. I went through a lot of highs and lows. I did successfully write some small projects that were paid. I wrote, directed and produced three short films that I shot on my iPhone and was featured in different blogs and magazines.
Several years later, I got in a relationship with my now husband. Once again, I had to pivot and redefine what balance was to make our blended interracial relationship work. In 2025, I became a new mom once again after a struggling pregnancy. When that baby turned six months old, I became a stay at home mom to five kiddos... pivoting yet again, never forgetting my love for writing!
In January 2026, I told my husband I am writing a book this year. Now, here I am!
I aspire to inspire people, especially moms with dreams and aspirations that are considered unconventional. I want to encourage them to KEEP GOING. I have been on this journey since I was 14 and I stand here four months before I turn 33 years old, still going and pushing.
I'm always asked, "Don't you think if it were to happen that it would have happened by now?" And, I have to remind those people that they don't know my journey and sacrifices that I've made. If I never had children young and didn't live in Indiana, versus somewhere like Georgia or California, where it would be easier for those things to happen, it would have happened 'by now.'
There's a beauty in the struggle and the journey. I don't regret it. Somebody has to be the one to do it first... why not me?
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I am so excited for R.J., finally, to be able to share her journey with the world. It is people like her who are truly going to make a difference in the writing community, who have enriching stories to tell.
You can read R.J.'s debut thriller novella, The House Guest, when it comes out in winter 2026! And, if you'd like to meet her, she will be taking part in the Indiana Author's Panel by Claire Mackenzie on September 19 at the Pendleton Library.
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