Interview met Sneeuw als as-auteur Sara Raasch
Sneeuw als as is het spannende eerste deel uit de Sneeuw als as-trilogie van YA-auteur Sara Raasch. Het boek zit vol spanning, fantasy en avontuur. Tijdens de blogtour in januari hadden een aantal gelukkig lezers de kans om haar via social media een vraag te stellen. En... Sara heeft die voor hen beantwoord!
Twitter:
Which scene in the book 'Snow like ashes' did you experience as the most difficult one to write? (@TurtleBookWurm)
The beginning! Beginnings and I do NOT get along -- I always have to write and rewrite and rewrite again, numerous times. It by far takes up the most editing time too!
How do you get the names of the characters? (@Michelle200602)
For most of the characters, I researched names based on what cultural feels I wanted their respective kingdoms to have (for instance, in the kingdom of Ventralli, all the names have Italian origins). I'm a big fan of behindthename.com -- it's a great resource to hunt down the exact right name, or to just flip through names until one screams out at you!
Are you superstitious? Did you develop a writing ritual around this? (@lianeem)
I think I'm only superstitious in that I try NOT to be superstitious -- if I think "Oh no, this happened, so that means this writing thing won't go well!" I'll purposefully go out of my way to make sure it does go well, just to disprove any superstitious tendencies.
If you would give each season their own language, which would they get? Something like English, French, and Russian...? (@ShuJingXu2000)
Oh fun!
Some of the kingdoms already have our-world cultural inspirations. Ventralli would be Italian; Yakim, German; Cordell some kind of northern European (Dutch, maybe? ;D); Paisly, Romanian. The Seasons are little less cut-and-dry for their inspirations, but: Winter would be Greek (a lot of their culture came from Greco-Roman inspirations, and I love the dichotomy of a traditionally warm country combined with Winter!); Autumn, maybe Bengali or Punjabi; Summer would have to be something indulgent as befitting their culture, so my mind instantly goes to Italian, but Ventralli took that, so maybe French?; and Spring might be Japanese, since they have an abundance of cherry blossom trees, which is kind of an iconic Japanese tree!
As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal? (@StokerJoy)
A duck! Don't ask me why. I just have a weird and totally unjustifiable obsession with ducks. Mostly because you can't look at a duck and NOT smile.
Instagram:
What books do you read? (@love_for_ever_1000)
I'm currently reading THE CROWN'S FATE by Evelyn Skye! It's the sequel to THE CROWN'S GAME and comes out this spring. SO good! Delicious Russian fantasy.
Blog:
How do you know as a reader when your story is finished? I always get off track while writing because I want to describe everything. In your head everything is so clear, but when you have to put it on paper… it’s much harder to really describe the perfect image. How does that work for you? (Kim)
I always err on the side of over describe first -- just get as much on the page as you feel needs to be there. Once you have it written out, it usually becomes obvious what needs to be on the page versus what can stay in your head, or what you can leave to the reader's imagination. But worrying about what you should keep to yourself/what you shouldn't include just makes drafting too hard, and can clog up your writing abilities. For drafts, let yourself write what you feel needs to be there, and save the critical eye for later!
Heb jij Sneeuw als as nog niet gelezen maar ben je na het lezen van deze vragen wel heel benieuwd naar het boek? Klik dan op de onderstaande link!