Ask the Author: Heather Anastasiu
Answered Questions (10)
Heather Anastasiu
Haha, you're lovely! Thank you! Alas, it is out of my hands. We'll just have to imagine it in the movie in our minds for now.
Heather Anastasiu
Oh absolutely!!!! Let's see, when I was writing the Glitch series, I remember listening to Florence and the Machine's Heavy in your Arms a lot. And Sia's albums, especially that song Breathe Me - not for the lyrics so much as just the feel of the music. Florence and the Machine's album whole album was on repeat a lot for writing Override. And Shutdown, hmm, let me think, what was I listening to then? I like to put on System of a Down during the fight scenes since it was all so chaotic and crazy and I like to hype myself up and put myself in that mindset. During the tender moments I'd put on Dario Marianelli's fabulous soundtracks to the Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre movies.
Heather Anastasiu
I always loved dystopias ever since I read the Giver when I was a kid and 1984 as a sophmore in High School and always knew I wanted to write one. They were just so perfectly representative of the kind of oppressive sense of control of The Man and Big Brother possibilities of governments and corporations, plus all the crazy advances in technology that have happened in the past twenty years. Haha, I'm actually not a giant conspiracy theorist or anything, but when my hubby read a Popular Science article about how they were implanting GPS chips in Alzheimer patients, my head started twirling about what OTHER chips people might start implanting in our heads in the future... and the idea for Glitch was born!
Heather Anastasiu
It hasn't been optioned for film rights, so alas, I doubt it, it will just have to remain epically cinematic in our heads :)
Heather Anastasiu
I generally am inspired to write by whatever I'm currently obsessed with - be it TV shows or things I'm reading. Like, I read Outlander and was like, oh my God, this is so amazing, I can't stop thinking about this, I want to write intense, emotional historical fiction! Or I'll be super obsessed with Dr. Who and be all like, oh my God, I HAVE to write science fiction! I guess I'm kind of a person of passing obsessions, lol. When I love something intensely, then I want to participate in the genre. Not to copy the storylines or anything - I mean, my historical fiction is WWII Romania, not 18th century Scotland!
Really it's the emotional intensity that creates the obsession for me. It's the characters who get stuck in my head and that gets sparks flying in my own brain for relationship stories I want to tell--both romantic and familial, and even political. Just whatever gets my juices flowing, ya know? This is what makes me not worry that I'll never run out of things to write about, because there's so much in the world to be fascinated by and life (at least my writing and artistic life) is the exciting journey of learning what will next strike my obsessive and artistic fancy.
Really it's the emotional intensity that creates the obsession for me. It's the characters who get stuck in my head and that gets sparks flying in my own brain for relationship stories I want to tell--both romantic and familial, and even political. Just whatever gets my juices flowing, ya know? This is what makes me not worry that I'll never run out of things to write about, because there's so much in the world to be fascinated by and life (at least my writing and artistic life) is the exciting journey of learning what will next strike my obsessive and artistic fancy.
Heather Anastasiu
Two things - well, I just finished another Young Adult novel that's co-written with a friend - a YA Suspense that's a little bit wicked and a whole lot of fun ;)
And then I'm also working on this big historical fiction saga for adults actually, about Romania in WWII and a Roma (gypsy) girl who's just trying to stay alive and maybe fall in love along the way. But mainly stay alive!
The YA suspense is out on submission now and the WWII one I'm on the last fifty pages of writing, so hopefully I'll have news about one or the other soon, maybe before the year is out!
And then I'm also working on this big historical fiction saga for adults actually, about Romania in WWII and a Roma (gypsy) girl who's just trying to stay alive and maybe fall in love along the way. But mainly stay alive!
The YA suspense is out on submission now and the WWII one I'm on the last fifty pages of writing, so hopefully I'll have news about one or the other soon, maybe before the year is out!
Heather Anastasiu
First of all: WRITE! Write regularly and get into the habit of it. Second of all: really listen to critique and be willing to incorporate it, even if it means big changes and rewrites to your piece. The most basic building block of being a writer is learning the discipline of sitting down to put in the hours it takes to write. But once you’ve mastered that, the next biggest obstacle is hearing what others have to say about your writing and really listening. It can be painful to hear that people don’t love your work right away. Often we have dreams that our first book will be a masterpiece. But that’s just not the way it works. It takes a lot of time to learn how to write scenes, natural dialogue, and a compelling plot. For every other artistic endeavor we accept that it takes years of practice before you’ve mastered it—learning an instrument or being a painter. Writing is no different. But try to find a critique group where they mix in positivity with constructive criticism, because being a writer also takes dogged determination, and it’s important to have others who will encourage you along the way.
Heather Anastasiu
I went the old fashioned way and queried agents, got an agent who signed me as a client. Then we did a couple rounds of edits on Glitch, then a couple months later, he sent out my book on submission to publishers and St. Martin's Press made a pre-empt offer so we went with them and I couldn't be happier :) But now, a few years later, there are other avenues, as a lot of self-published authors are finding out. Self-publishing to traditional publishing is a way a lot of authors are taking these days, even after they are rejected by the traditional querying process. Some still don't find success through self-publishing but either way, it's great to have that experience of a first book written and out there, and you move on to the next project. The secret is to never give up, any way you come at it :D
Heather Anastasiu
Absolutely! I'm finishing up two books at the same time right now! One I hope to have news about soon :D Follow me on Twitter or FB for updates. Here's my FB page: facebook.com/HeatherAnastasiu
Heather Anastasiu
I know, wouldn't that be awesome if they were movies! They're so cinematic on the page! Alas, they aren't optioned by any studios at the moment, but it sure would be dang cool. So for right now, we just gotta close our eyes and imagine the epic battles :D
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