Friday 16 September 2011

Sheenah Freitas Interview

Hey hey guys, soooo look what I have for you all today! :D Recently I read and reviewed an awesome book, book 1 in the new The Chosen Chronicles by Sheenah Freitas who has been awesome :) Click the link for the review btw ;)

Anyway, she very kindly took some time out and answered some questions as well as throwing some of her own in, for the blog so that readers can get an insight into her work! :D so without further ado, grab some popcorn and settle down to listen to what she has to say ;)

As a young writer, did you get a lot of support or did people brush you off? 
Some people did brush me off. I think nearly everyone says that they want to pursue an artistic career at some point in their life whether that be author, actor, musician, or artist. But I got a lot of support from the people that mattered: my family and my creative writing teacher in high school seemed to have an interest in my work.

Do you have any pets? 
My family has four dogs! It can get crazy in the house at times and I own a rabbit. His name is T-Rex and he devours carrots.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I get bits and pieces from everyday life. There might be a house that we drive by that I find fascinating and try to incorporate it into my story (like Renee’s house) or perhaps someone is walking a certain way that I think would be interesting for a character. But most of my story ideas originate from dreams.

When you're not writing, what are you doing?
Reading. I love to read and unfortunately I haven’t been doing a lot of it recently (but I’ll get there!) I’ve also taken up sewing and from time to time I’ll draw a picture. If I’m not doing any of that then there’s a good chance I’m spoiling my bunny or baking.

What sort of things, influence your mood when writing, or can you write without distractions?
I generally need to write in complete silence most of the time. Sometimes I’ll turn music on to help me get through a scene (I like to listen to adventure/battle instrumentals when writing fight scenes) or to help block out the world around me to help me focus.

Are the characters you create in your stories drawn from real life or your own imagination?
Mostly from my imagination! I’ve had family members speculate if a certain character was influenced by them and I have to say, that if they did, it was purely a subconscious thought. When I do draw from real life, I try to draw from strangers that I see out on the streets, though I do admit to stealing names from people I’ve heard of, but never officially met.

Is there any advice you’d give to those aspiring to write their own stories ?
Write at every little moment you can. I often had to write around my insane schedule when I was in high school and the times that I could write ranged from 5 minutes to 15 minutes most of the time it seemed. It’s critical to keep a notebook or paper and pen with you at all times. And read a lot of books. Believe it or not, they’re a great way to learn how to write; they were my first writing teachers, after all.

What’s the best, easiest, hardest and worst part about writing?
The best and easiest part, for me, are writing the characters. It just feels natural to me to develop and work with them. I love writing out their backstories and making their profiles. The hardest part is knowing when to stop and telling myself that what I have before is publishable, because trust me, every author wants to keep tweaking even after it’s been published. The worst part of writing is grammar! Me and grammar never got along. I have no idea how to use a comma properly and I’m sure the start of this sentence should’ve been: Grammar and I. I’m just glad I have a patient editor for those sorts of things.

Do you like Mexican food? (random question) haha! Favourite food? (:
Actually, I really don’t care for Mexican food. I tolerate it. My favorite food is definitely Korean, though I’m torn between a couple of dishes right now. One is a dish where beef is marinated in a soy sauce concoction and fried. It’s surprisingly sweet and I find it addicting and the other is japchae, a rice noodle dish.

If you weren’t into writing, what other career path would you pursue? 
Probably a baking career, though I did seriously consider a medical career before failing Chemistry miserably. That failure inevitably led me to pursue writing, which was only a hobby until then.

What’s your opinion on the e-book vs print copies argument?
I remember hearing about the rumors of ereaders a while back and how they were going to take over the world within a year or two. And that was like five or six years ago maybe? I didn’t believe that ebooks would take over the world and I still don’t now. Yes, ebooks are great because most of the time they’re cheaper than their print counterpart and sure they save trees, but I think people will always gravitate toward print copies. There’s something intimate about holding a book and I love the smell of a brand new book, though I might love the smell of a musty book that’s been sitting in an attic far more. There are pros to both: one makes taking 10 books easy and one is easier to add notes and annotations to if need be.

Finally, what’s your favourite book? :D
That’s such a difficult question! The Gargoyle or Memoirs of a Geisha. I think it’s one of those two.


So there we have it! If you wana contact Sheenah be sure to check out her blog and twitter, links shown below :)
Twitter: @SheenahFreitas

So thank youuuu to Sheenah for being so awesome and kind to take time out to answer these questions, and be sure to check out her book, it's awesome, you know you want to pick it up ;)

1 comment:

  1. Excellent interview, Sahina!

    Also, just wanted to drop by and present you with a Versatile Blogger Award. You can find the details here http://mcrogerson.blogspot.com/2011/09/seven-random-things-about-me.html

    ReplyDelete