Marie Lange is a young writer and author of the youth fiction book ''The Lands Beyond''. The most impressive fact is that she was only 15 when she wrote it and already has her book published on Amazon!
This interview was conducted on September 20th for LPN, when the young writer was invited to our offices with her mother. In this interview, Marie talks about her first book, her passion for writing and introduces us to her world.
Q: First of all, nice having you here with us. When did you come to Cyprus and why ?
A: I was born in Germany to German and American parents. I came to Cyprus in January 2009 because my father is a missionary and this is the reason we moved to Larnaca. We plan to stay open-ended, and we like it here.
Q: Why did you decide to write a book?
A: I like writing, I like creating stories!. When I started writing I had this picture in my head of a whole new world that I wanted to get down on paper. It was really fun creating it!
Q:We had a look at your book and we feel that your story seems to be a combination of science fiction and a fairy tale. What inspired you to write your first book?
A: Thank you... I have always liked reading. I've been reading since I was four and I have been writing stories for about two years now, mostly writing fan fiction stories. My mother told me about NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month... It's a program in the US where you write a novel in 30 days.
Q: Is NaNoWriMo a competition for young writers?
A: Not quite, you don't win as such, you just do it! You complete it and then you feel really glad because you finished a book! You write 50,000 words in 30 days and I thought I should give it a try and... I got a book out of it!
Q: What is the story of your book?
A: It's about a girl called Zephyr. She is 15 and she lives in Chicago. She can control the air and the wind etc, and she can fly too, something that I always found fascinating! She goes to this other world, a world of new friends, new powers but also new dangers. She starts training her powers at the school and then the government of the country collapses and these powers start trying to take over the world. Now she has to control her powers and adjust to her new life... So, read the book and find out the rest! [laughing]
Q: Are characters based on someone you know or fictional?
A: The main character is based a lot on me but I think she is much nicer than I am [she laughs] and the relationships between Zephyr and her friends are very similar as we are about the same age.
Q: Is there a message in your book that you desire readers to grasp? Is this a happy ending story?
A: Yes, there is ... I don't like sad endings, there are depressing... It's about working together and overcoming differences! These are four types of ''elementals'' that are different and have a long history of not getting on well, but these four teenagers have to work together and overcome their differences! So, it's primarily about working together... People are people and it doesn't matter what society thinks you are. People should accept you for that.
Q: Are you going to write a sequel?
A: Yes, I have started to plan it and I am going to start writing it next year. However, this time I am going to have a plot already worked out, something that didn't happen with my first book.
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| Marie while working on her book. |
A: It took me a month to write it. I wrote it by hand and then typed it into the computer every few days. Then, the editing took another five months. I think I had about three or four drafts, where I had to check the spelling and if the story flowed correctly, and if I had anyone acting out of character and so on. I set the book up at Createspace, which is a company associated with Amazon. A friend of mine helped me because he had already published a book and had a good understanding of how things worked. I was a little confused and he helped me with the formatting. It didn't cost anything except shipping the proofs, because I had a coupon for five free copies from NaNoWriMo for "winning." There were things that I could have done to distribute it further but I would have had to pay money, however as it was already on Amazon, I didn't pay a single cent, so that was good.
Q: Were your family and friends supportive while you were writing your book?
A: Yes, my family supported me emotionally and gave me the space I needed! However, they were asking me for the end of the story but I wasn't telling them! Also, I have a friend, Charis, who wrote a novel as well, so the two of us talked a lot about our novels, how to get our characters to do what we want them to do, how hard it is etc. It was fun having someone to talk to!
As Marie came along with her mother, we had the chance to have a discussion with her as well and find out more about her daughter.
Q: Do you consider your daughter to be different from other children of her age?
Q: Do you remember your daughter's first story?
Q: Back to you Marie...Do you have any favorite TV cartoon characters?
A: Not really, no! I read books! I do not watch TV. At home we have about 3000 books so ... I read... Not all of them of course... yet! [laughing]
Q: Do you consider yourself different than other children?
Q: Do you have any other hobbies except for writing?
A: I play violin. I started when I was nine and I have played in orchestras in Nicosia and Limassol. I am considering studying music but I'm not too sure about it yet.
Q: What dream do you have about your future?
Q: What is the ideal world for you?
A: Ideal world? Heaven! Everyone working together!
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| Marie receives the first shipment of books |
You can find her book on Amazon US, Amazon Denmark and Amazon UK and we highly recommend this to our audience!
This interview was conducted for LPN by Christos Aspros and was supported by Sharon Mckinley.
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