Interview with Vivian Marie Aubin du Paris

www.vivian-marie.com

First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.

I’m so happy to get this opportunity! Thank you so much for your time.

Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

I don’t remember how old I was, but I was young enough that I still couldn’t actually write. I was cleaning my room and I had the door closed, and I was telling a story into a red tape recorder that I had borrowed from my sister. I also have some stories from kindergarten that are just a paragraph long that I have kept through the years. So I think I pretty much always knew!

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

It was filled with pot holes and wrong turns. I got lost a lot, just like I do in real life when I drive. I submitted to a dozen publishers and kept getting rejection letters, but I was always excited about them. I remembered hearing once that an author would get something like seventeen rejection letters before a manuscript would even get read, and so with each rejection letter I figured I was getting closer to achieving my goal. Once I hit fifteen rejection letters, then I started to get nervous, and I actually stopped trying for a long time. Big mistake! My major goal in life was to be published at twenty-four, so for my twenty-fourth birthday my dad published my book for me. I had no idea what I was in for, though… I had the manuscript written up in Microsoft Word, and when it came back in a PDF file and it was all formatted and perfect, it suddenly became very real. Then I started freaking out and began making revisions like crazy. It was worth it, though, when I got to hold the book in my hands for the first time.

Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?

It’s a fantasy book. Not just fantasy in the sense that it takes place in a fantasy realm, but in the sense that it actually is a fantasy. There’s a hero, a heroine, internal struggles, fear, love, adventure, mystery. But it’s like a fairytale.

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

I’m a huge, huge manga and anime fan. I see pictures of anime characters and they inspire me. The stories manga writers come up with inspire me like crazy. They’re always willing to push the envelope of reality and when you read the stories, you expect a good, entertaining read that allows you to escape, but also has a good story and often a nice moral in it. Whenever I feel like I’m lacking in inspiration, I look on my shelves for my manga.

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

My family is the most amazing, supportive group of people that I have ever met. They encouraged me to write and were always supportive—I remember when my dad signed up for the internet back when I was a teenager just so that I could start posting my fanfiction online! I was sent to college for a degree unrelated to writing, because my dad knew how hard it is to make a living as an author, so he wanted me to have a good career foundation. I’m so grateful, because he continued to encourage me to write while helping me to have back-up plans. My mom, dad, sister, and then-boyfriend (but now husband) were all with me when I opened the first shipment of books that I received, and they all insisted on signed copies. We took pictures. It was a beautiful moment. They still continue to support me, all the time, pushing me to try harder when I start to falter. I’m a lucky girl!

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

McDonald’s French fries! I love them. Eating fries makes me happy.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

The morning always starts by turning off the alarm clock. I even set it for the weekend so that I don’t mess up my sleep schedule too much if I stay up too late the night before. Then I usually wave my cat’s paw away from my face since she has a tendency to claw and I’m not really a fan of the stabbing. Then I say good morning to my husband and groan about how tired I am until he gets me a Coke. (I’m an avid Coke drinker… I drink it from the time I wake up until I go to sleep!)

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

That none of my closets look alike. One closet is meticulously kept, everything in order, another is stacked with boxes, another has the cat’s litter box in it, and then the fourth… Well, it’s just a giant pile of stuff heaped onto more giant piles of stuff. And all the closets are mine!

Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?

I would like to think I’d be a dark green… One of those really dark greens. It’s such a strong, calm color, but it’s quiet, too. I like that.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

I love cartoons. Most of the shows I watch are cartoons! It’s so hard to pick favorites. If I have to choose, I would probably say Sailor Moon. I still have some of the old Sailor Moon dolls… And her locket… And her wand… And stickers… I’ll stop now.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

Probably Kyle on South Park… He’s always the one pointing out why something is a bad idea, and he gets caught up in things pretty easily. He’s also a little behind on the trends, and I’m the same way. I never know what’s popular and when.

If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?

I want to meet Joss Whedon when he first started writing. That man is a complete genius, and I’d like to have seen him when he started. I just want to watch him work. That’s probably creepy. (Sorry Joss!)

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

My favorite type of music is probably pop-punk. It always puts me in a good mood. I also really like alternative music. Bands like New Found Glory, Nickleback… I love them. I absolutely listen to music when I write, but I tend to listen to more new age music while writing. I have a list of songs that I was listening to when I was writing “The Quest of Dai.” A lot of Enigma, Enya, Lorena Mckennitt. There are certain songs that actually inspired scenes in the book, and whenever I hear them, I go, “Oh, this song resulted in this scene.” I love that about music.

Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?

I watch entirely too much TV. I’ll admit it, I do. And I’m absolutely one of those people that will watch a movie 100 times. In fact, I have seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show so many times that I don’t actually know how many times I’ve seen it. Well over 100. I’m addicted to House M.D., General Hospital, Family Guy, Simpsons, South Park, Intervention, Dollhouse, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. For movies, I really like Repo! The Genetic Opera, Apollo 13, Twister, Cry Baby, Girl, Interrupted… I have quite the DVD collection. I think the last movie I saw in the theater was The Spirit. It was my dad’s favorite comic, so we took him.

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

Be true to yourself. Sometimes that means not following the fads, or not doing what the other kids are doing, but you’ll be better off for it because at the end of the day, you won’t have any regrets. I absolutely believe in living every day without regret, and to do that means being true to yourself.

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

So many! Most importantly is probably the sequel to The Quest of Dai. But I’ve got a number of books written that I’m just letting sit for a while before going back to edit them. A fresh eye is a good eye!

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!

Thank YOU!