AUTHOR CRUSH FRIDAY: VICTORIA AVEYARD
Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.
We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to Victoria Aveyard, author of The Red Queen (Feb. 10, 2015; Harper Teen). Thank you for talking to us today, Victoria! We’re honored!
GLITTER: For those who haven’t read your book yet, how would you describe Red Queen?
VICTORIA: Red Queen is about a world divided by the color of your blood, what you’re born as, and a desperate young girl who falls into neither category. Because of this so-called impossibility, she finds herself in terrible danger, brutally torn between the two very different sides, not to mention questioning everything she once believed to be true about herself and the society she lives in.
GLITTER: We know film rights have been sold to Universal, will you be involved with the script writing?
VICTORIA: That’s generally not the case with book to film adaptations (unless you’re Gillian Flynn or Suzanne Collins, which I’m not) but the RQ film team is amazing, and really great about keeping me in the loop. Because I’ve worked in the industry, I know how rare this is for debut authors with film options on the table. I got really lucky with Universal and everyone on board.
GLITTER: Describe Red Queen in 160 characters or less.
VICTORIA: Norta is divided into ordinary red-blood humans and the silver-blood elite who possess amazing powers. Mare bleeds red, but is anything but ordinary, and this may cost her life and her heart.
GLITTER: Did self-publishing help lead you to your contract with Harper Teen?
VICTORIA: No, I’ve never attempted to self-publish. I was and still am totally new to the publishing world, so when I first finished the manuscript, I didn’t really know how self-publishing worked, so it never crossed my mind as an option.
GLITTER: Did you always want to be an author? Did you ever feel like giving up? Did you receive rejection letters in the beginning? How did you get over them?
VICTORIA: I’ve wanted to write since I physically learned to write, and I’m young enough and lucky enough to have never felt like this wasn’t in the cards for me. I studied screenwriting at USC, then a year after graduation sold RED QUEEN. It was a really scary year, of course. I was lucky to have a very supportive family who let me do the whole “take a year off to write a book” thing. I was driving kids’ home from school for cash when the sale came through, literally at the end of my hope rope. And then I was suddenly a professional author. Definitely worth the uncertain year, and all the days of second-guessing and fear. There were definitely days in that period where I had no idea how things would end up, but I never felt like I would stop writing. I don’t think I ever could stop writing. And there were definitely rejection letters during the submission period, but the high of actually getting to submission helped me shake them off. Plus they had great notes.
GLITTER: Do you have any crazy writing rituals? One thing you can’t write without?
VICTORIA: I’m big into having music when I write, and I have some very precise playlists for different projects to help the mood. I also prefer to be totally alone, with no one in the house if possible, with lots of time on my hands. If, for example, I have a meeting in an hour, I know I’ll be useless getting into the writing groove. It won’t be the same, because part of my brain will keep thinking about being on time.
GLITTER: What are you currently working on?
VICTORIA: Currently editing book 2 in the RED QUEEN series. The fact that book 2 exists is crazy. I’m also outlining book 3 and chipping away at another book project in my spare time or when the story demands. I’ve also got a monster to-read pile, and screeners for award season calling my name.
Victoria Aveyard recently graduated from USC, where she majored in screenwriting. She has sold several television pilots and feature-length screenplays, and is currently represented by the Hollywood management company Benderspink. THE RED QUEEN is her first novel. She lives in Los Angeles, and you can visit her online at www.victoriaaveyard.com.
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