She's a magician of fiction. But her latest characters evoke empathy for a real, current issue
In Other News #19 // Celebrating the stories of everyday heroes among us.
Photo by Casey Martin
Hannah Rae Meeson finds inspiration everywhere. Sometimes it’s a misheard song lyric. Or a catchy phrase a friend says in casual conversation.
“I don’t really know how to explain it,” says Meeson. “I make notes in my phone, writing things down, thinking, ‘You can use this later in life.’ It happens all the time.”
It’s a strategy that’s helped her write a dozen books to-date, self-published under the name Hannah Rae.
“I queried agents forever,” says Meeson, a high school English teacher who lives in Gettysburg, Pa. “I got a couple rejections, or I wouldn’t hear back. In the meantime, I kept writing.”
Her characters and their adventures couldn’t wait for the traditional book-publishing route. Meeson began self-publishing her books 15 years ago and has never looked back. She’s developed a process— creating cover art to match the stories inside. And she has an editor at her fingertips.
“My mom is my number one editor—she is very honest and has great attention to detail,” Meeson says of her mother, a retired children’s librarian.
Meeson describes her genre as magical realism, “defined as a world that is mostly real, but has hints of magic,” she explains. While all of her books as “standalones,” many of the characters and plotlines dovetail with each other.
Gettysburg-area readers may even pick up on locally-based characters, coffeeshops or even current events. That’s the case with Meeson’s latest book, “An Illusion of Control.” But the real-life event at the center of her plot is one that’s been unfolding across many American communities.
“I became very involved in going to school board meetings,” says Meeson. “People were pushing for books to be censored, talking about whether students should have access. It felt like it was tearing my district apart—it’s so black-and-white of an issue for some people, and after being there, I felt like it was actually very gray.”