New Adult Book Club discussion

Happy Holidays, friends! It's time for another NABC Q&A with the lovely Erika Vanzin! Erika is the author of Waiting, a story about pain, self-destruction and rebirth, and two frail people finding a way together to save themselves. Please ask her your questions below! <3

Where did you get the idea of the two characters? And there is something about them that reflects you?

Chiara wrote: "Where did you get the idea of the two characters? And there is something about them that reflects you?"

The male main character, Alex, is inspired by an actor, Jamie Campbell Bower. When I moved to London I had the chance to meet him, we were working not far from each other and I had the chance to see him in his "normal life". I never spoke to him, maybe just a "have a good day" or something like that, but I had the chance to share the space and a bit of my routine with him. In the novel I've not describe his life, obviously, but the features and a bit of his nature live in Alex.
Emily came out from a song that Jamie once sang about a girl without a family or a home. This character is completely fictional, nothing about her reflects someone that I know or, at least, she is a mix of a lot of person that surrounded me.
I think that the way I see Jamie shines through Alex, and this is the most personal trait of me that I couldn't hide on those pages.

Hello, Erika.
How hard was this book to write? Was there any point in which you had to stop because it was too painful? Thanks.

Hello ERIKA,

I want to ask what to do to get out of writer's block because no more than usual i found myself stuck?? Thanks.

Hey there! 1) I think I'm REALLY going to enjoy this book :P 2) I saw that the inspiration question has already been asked, but I'm curious about the cover. Why did you think it would fit? What does it symbolize?

PS. Sorry about any mistakes.

Hi! Who are some of your favorite authors?

Caty wrote: "Hello, Erika.
How hard was this book to write? Was there any point in which you had to stop because it was too painful? Thanks."


Hello Caty. There was a point where I thought "I can't do it, I can't go on", it was when Alex thought that he was going to lose Emily. I could feel the pain Alex was feeling and I had to stop for a few weeks, write about something else and then go back to the novel. It was too painful for me to focus on Alex's feelings.

⊱ Poppy ⊰ wrote: "Hello ERIKA,

I want to ask what to do to get out of writer's block because no more than usual i found myself stuck?? Thanks."

Hello Poppy.
If the writer's block last for one day or two, I usually focus on something else: I go out, have a run, paint, bingewatching something on Netflix... anything that can help me to focus on something is not writing.
Sometimes the block last for some weeks and I usually deal with it in a different way: I have a folder with the ideas for new novels that I keep on my desk. When I can't go on with a story, I open that folder and start to analyze those ideas. Sometimes I even start to write the new novel (or, at least, a part of it).
Sometimes you just need to take a break from that particular story, not from writing. It's like you have to take a vacation from the world that you create but, as every vacation, soon or later you have the desire to go back on that world.

Aivil wrote: "Hey there! 1) I think I'm REALLY going to enjoy this book :P 2) I saw that the inspiration question has already been asked, but I'm curious about the cover. Why did you think it would fit? What doe..."

I hope you enjoy this novel, it would be a pleasure for me.
The cover is born because of a tattoo that Alex has on his chest. I can't tell you the meaning of it because it would be a huge spoiler but I can say that it symbolizes the exact moment when Alex's heart broke. A bleeding heart and a butterfly, they represent the brutal side of love. I didn't want to romanticize his heartbreak drawing the heart that we usually immagine when we are in love, he was suffering so much that there was nothing romantic in it. This is why I choose this cover.

Nicole wrote: "Hi! Who are some of your favorite authors?"

Hi Nicole!
I read a lot of books from very different author and very different genres. I love Faye Bird (My second life), John Green, Ramson Riggs, Rick Riordan, Michelle Hodkin... and a lot of other authors but, if I have to choose one single author, the one that I would read for the rest of my life, stuck in a desert island... I'd probably choose Cassandra Clare. I really, really love her style and the Shadowhunter's world that she created.

What inspired you to start writing?

Latifa wrote: "What inspired you to start writing?"

I don't know the exact moment when I decided "I want to write", I remember that when I was eight I asked to Santa a typewriter, since then I write. I've always had a story to tell, I always lived in my own fantasy world. This is why I also write screenplay: I like to tell stories. I remember the exact moment when I say "I want to write a movie", I was watching "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", I was fourteen and I completely fell in love with Leonardo DiCaprio... I remember that I said "One day I will work with him".
Unfortunately I was already thirty when I had the courage to quit my job and say, I want to be a writer...

Hi Erika :)

I'll make this one easy for you :) - How do you select the names of your characters?

Thank you!

Irma wrote: "Hi Erika :)

I'll make this one easy for you :) - How do you select the names of your characters?

Thank you!"

ok, this is the most difficult part (more or less) for me. Usually I check online the most common names used for newborn in the city for the year my characters are born, then I choose between those names. I try to fit them into the background of the family, Alex, for example, has a full name: Alexander Gregory Williams. He is a descendant of an important family... Emily is just... Emily, someone that no one recognize when they walk next to her in the streets.

Erika wrote: "Irma wrote: "Hi Erika :)

I'll make this one easy for you :) - How do you select the names of your characters?

Thank you!"

ok, this is the most difficult part (more or less) for me. Usually I che..."

Thank you so much. As much as it sounds fun I can only image the hard work behind :)

Irma wrote: "Erika wrote: "Irma wrote: "Hi Erika :)

I'll make this one easy for you :) - How do you select the names of your characters?

Thank you!"

ok, this is the most difficult part (more or less) for me...."

I don't have child but I think that is like choosing a name for a baby, you want it to be perfect and unique. After six novel it's becoming kind of difficult... :D

Erika wrote: "Irma wrote: "Erika wrote: "Irma wrote: "Hi Erika :)

I'll make this one easy for you :) - How do you select the names of your characters?

Thank you!"

ok, this is the most difficult part (more or ..."

Haha, yes! Agreed :) I have one and it was really hard to pick.

If you could be any book character for a day, who would you choose and why?

J. wrote: "If you could be any book character for a day, who would you choose and why?"

Difficult question... :) I think that I would be Russel Middlebrook from the book "Geography Club" and then "The Thing I Didn't Know I Didn't Know" because he is someone that knows how he feels but doesn't know what he want. He is scared and brave at the same time, a person that doesn't want to live with regrets and spend a lot of time to try everything because he want to find exactly what makes him happy.

What inspired you to start writing?

Jessica wrote: "What inspired you to start writing?"

I've always being fascinated in telling stories, since I was very young. I wrote a lot of short stories that no one ever read... then I found a "serious job", the one safe that allowed me to have an apartment, a car... food! :) But I wasn't happy, that wasn't something I wanted to do my entire life. I think that I became a writer because I chose to be happy, because is the only thing that I want to do for the rest of my life.

Hello Erika,

Where did you get the inpiration or idea for this book?

Loyda wrote: "Hello Erika,

Where did you get the inpiration or idea for this book?"

The inspiration came from the song "Cities Alive" that Jamie Campbell Bower sang a long time ago. I was listening for the millionth time the song and suddenly the first few lines become alive on my head... They say something like
"She feels cold in her old home.
 All she keeps are hers alone.
Father's gone, Mother's unknown. 
There's a place that she can call home?"
I started to think about it and I imagine Emily first, homeless and without a family, then Alex that looks at her for the first time... the story between them came out after that first encounter in my head.

What is your least favorite part of writing a book?

Hanne wrote: "What is your least favorite part of writing a book?"

The editing is the part that I less enjoy about writing a book. You have to read it so many times, trying not to enjoy the story but looking carefully for something that doesn't work, that in the end, you don't even know if it's good or not. When I finish to write a book, I want to write another story almost immediately, but I can't because of the editing and this is really frustrating.