Zara J Black's Author Interview
“Were any of your characters inspired by a real person?”
"Not really. I can see little bits of myself in the female characters but only fragments. The male characters, not at all, they’re purely creations from my head. Sadly politicians and scientific geniuses don’t tend to be that good looking in real life."
“What is your favorite writing snack?”
"I always pick at muesli bars, it’s a bad habit. I don’t feel guilty until I move my laptop and find five wrappers behind it."
“How do you choose the names of your characters?”
"They’re often just names I’ve heard and liked. I had the worst trouble naming my book one villain (who is also the book two hero). I don’t know why, it just wouldn’t click. So I asked my critique buddy to do it for me and she came up with Prince Adante. It’s now my favorite name out of them all."
“What comes first for you when writing— the plot or the characters?”
"Definitely the characters. I’m a pantser so I usually just have the characters, the sort of romantic set up I want, and an opening chapter or two. The rest I figure out as I go. Ruled by Magic was the very first book I ever wrote, so it changed immeasurably during all the drafts it went through. But the opening scene always remained the same - the courtroom scene where Liv accepts the Lord Commander’s indecent proposal."
“If your characters were real, what jobs would they have?”
"Liv would work for an educational not-for-profit trying to improve conditions in poverty stricken schools. Talia would run a travel company. Leo would be something important in the government and Adante would run a company like Tesla - pushing the boundaries of science."
“What do you love about being an author? Do you have any favorite memories since becoming one?”
"I love people enjoying the stories I’ve written. Before I published I was a total feedback whore, always posting everywhere I could because I wanted people to be reading my words. So the best experience for me was publishing and seeing people enjoying it. Getting the reviews and ratings, gaining confidence that the story I’d written was something people wanted to read. After two years of work, it was a huge relief."
“What has been your favorite fan interaction? In person or online!”
"My most supportive fan wrote a piece of fan fiction of my characters and I absolutely loved it, she did an amazing job. Reading someone else’s story created from the characters I’d invented made me so happy."
Make sure you preorder Zara's upcoming release!
Available June 23rd!
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