Author Tales: Sasha Watson

Sasha Watson is the author for this Thursday’s Author Tales! Sasha is the author of Vidalia in Paris! You can see my review, here. For a chance to win a copy of Vidalia in Paris be sure to leave a comment for an entry into the Monthly Contest! Sasha is the last author for this years Author Tales. Thanks Sasha!

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What were you like as a teen? Did it have any influence over your characters in Vidalia in Paris ?

I had two phases of teenage-dom. In the horrible first phase, I was very shy, and was bullied and hated by the popular girls at my school. In the second wonderful phase, I went to high school in Boston, had lots of friends, and explored movies, art, and the music scene of the city. Some of Vidalia’s painful past comes out of the first phase, whereas her excitement about exploring Paris and the wider world comes out of the second.

Are you an artist like Vidalia?

I’m not a painter, but I love the visual arts. I took art history classes in college and graduate school, and I go to museums and galleries whenever I can. I had a lot of fun writing the scenes about Vidalia’s art and her creative process. It’s a vicarious thrill, I guess, since I can’t draw at all!

Your descriptions of Paris in the novel were beautiful! Have you ever been?

My mother and I lived in Paris for a year or so when I was four. After that, I was always drawn back to the city. I spent a year there in college and another in graduate school, and I try to spend my summers there, too. I really love Paris, not only because it’s so beautiful but because I have a history there. It feels like another home to me.

Vidalia’s mother suffers from some kind of mental illness… possibly agoraphobia. Why did you find it necessary for Vidalia’s mother to permeate this character quality?

All of the trouble Vidalia gets into comes out of a desire to escape the confines of her world. That world is largely created by her mother, whose illness places a really crushing responsibility on Vidalia’s shoulders. It’s the pressure to care for her mother, and the confused desire to escape that pressure, that motivate a lot of what Vidalia feels and does in the book.

Who or what inspired you to become a writer?

Emily of New Moon! I read that trilogy, written by L.M. Montgomery, who wrote the Anne of Green Gables books, over and over again as a kid. I loved the Anne books too (especially because Anne is a redhead like me) but Emily is a more serious writer than Anne. I probably would have felt it anyway, but those books filled me with a desire to write and with a conviction that I could actually do it.

Why write for Young Adults?

I just find teenagers a lot more interesting than adults. Adolescence is when people define themselves and start making choices about the kind of person they want to be. I find that process fascinating. It’s also a time of life that’s filled with hope and potential, and I love writing with that anything-is-possible sense of a character’s life.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

There are so many amazing writers in YA right now, and I just devour as much of them as I can. I think we’re so lucky to be reading and writing at a moment when all of these wonderful stories are being published. My favorite books and authors at the moment are The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks, E. Lockhart; Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson; Looks, Madeleine George; and The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins.

Any advice for aspiring writers out there?

Just write! Persistence is absolutely the most important quality in a writer. Whether you love or hate what you’re writing at any given moment, just keep going and you’ll get there.

What was your road to publication like?

I was a poet before I was a novelist. About four years ago, I decided to make the switch, and I started writing Vidalia. I wrote and re-wrote the book, and then, after taking a class with the wonderful Joy Peskin, submitted the book to her. She acquired it, and she’s been a fantastic editor.

Are you working on any other novels?

Yes, I am. I’ve been working on a couple of different stories, so there are a few directions I could go in right now. I’ll have to keep quiet about the details until they’re more firm.

Do you have any television shows you watch obsessively or an all time favorite movie?

One of my all-time favorite movies is Harold and Maude, about a young man who falls in love with an older (much older) woman. It’s this wonderful, fanciful, idealistic, beautiful movie that has that same anything-is-possible spirit that I love about YA.

What are you currently reading?

I read half of Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson yesterday and I’ll probably finish it today or tomorrow. Have I mentioned what an amazing writer she is? Her range of styles and stories is so broad. Reading her makes me incredibly excited about all of the stories I have left to tell as a writer!

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For more information on Sasha Watson and Vidalia in Paris you can visit her here: http://kestrella.livejournal.com/

Related posts:

1. Vidalia in Paris
2. Author Tales: Debbie Reed Fischer
3. Author Tales: Caroline Says
4. Author Tales: C.L. Freire
5. Author Tales: Josie Bloss