Welcome back to my Saturday Spotlight series! I want to thank all of the authors who have participated so far! I am happy to have great feedback. I think of all the things I have done on my blog, not many since I have such a busy life, this is by far my favorite!

I am so happy to be able to support authors. By showcasing new authors or lesser-known authors, I might be able to introduce you to your new favorite book or series. It is hard writing a novel. The least we can do to support those who give us chances to escape an experience a variety of things is give a review. So remember to leave a review for every book you read, Amazon reviews really help! You wouldn’t believe how much of an impact they truly have.

Today, I am excited to bring to you Adi Teodoru. So, let’s get right into learning about who Adi is.

About the Author

Adi is a college graduate with a double Bachelors in Creative Writing Fiction and Theatre Dramatic Arts. She has been writing since she came to America at the age of eleven as a political refugee. She and her mother defected after the bloody revolution that took place in their hometown of Bucharest, Romania, during the fall of communism in the Eastern Block. Since then she has lived the quintessential American dream, for which she is thankful every day. She is an avid reader, says she has a strange obsession with Gordon Ramsey and loves her two feline writing assistants, Katniss and Sphinx. She and her boyfriend, recently spent a year traveling across Europe, living in the mountains like hermits and doing laundry by hand.

Adi’s Novel

The Adventures of Barton Miller Jr. (Book #1)

 

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Interview

 

Hello Adi. Thank you for coming, I am happy to have you here.

I know many readers are probably tired of me ranting and would love to hear from you, so let’s get started.

 

When did it dawn upon you that you wanted to become a writer?

This question brings up such conflicting emotions. I was 11 the first time I thought to be a writer. I had just moved to America from a third world country and I was having a tough time with the language. I read and watched TV to try and improve my English skills. On summer vacation, I religiously watched Murder She Wrote every morning, and one day there was an episode focused on Jessica actually working on a book while the rest of the town solved the murder (of course she came in and saved the day in the end). When the episode was over, I just knew. I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Tell stories.

That is such a wonderful moment! Thank you for sharing that with us. Now, how hard was it to sit down and actually start writing something?

The first time I sat down at my computer and flicked on Windows 95, writing came easily. I was writing for myself. I’d always had a vivid imagination and being lonely (I hadn’t had a chance to make friends yet, being so new to the country), I started making up stories about myself going off on magical adventures with friends I had left behind in my home country. The stories were only for me, things I wanted to read and experiences I could lose myself in.

The fear, the difficulty, the self-doubt, all of those came much later when I started studying literature and comparing myself to the literary cannon. Recently I have been trying desperately to get back to that initial joy where telling a story was simple, unencumbered by the technicalities. I have written four full-length novels, and in spite of the last two being technically superior in form and structure, I still had the most fun writing at my old windows 95 computer.

I imagine it becomes stressful once you begin comparing yourself to others. I know it is that way for me when blogging.

Tell us about your writing style. How is it different from other writers?

I started out writing like a child because of course, I was. Then I grew, embraced life, went through puberty, was a traditionally moody teenager. The work became darker, I found archaic language to describe the roil of emotions I was experiencing. Then, as I studied literature in college, lofty poetry and the craft of word choice became more important than the plot. I was learning how to present the story.

My poetry teacher told me one day, you need to know the rules before you choose to break them. That’s the difference between innovation and poor craftsmanship. So I followed all the rules. In spite of it being a sci-fi series, the 120,000-word behemoth I wrote during this time sounds like it was crafted in the 1600’s. Needless to say, it was a failure during queries. I was trying to tell a modern story with archaic language. But I learned the rules. I knew them, so it was time to break them.

The Adventures of Barton Miller started as a way to alleviate boredom during a year-long stint in what was essentially a call center. I wrote every day, between calls, stream of consciousness, and for the first time in first person. I relaxed the language, I HEARD the voice for the first time.

It became my first indie published novel.

That is very inspirational! It is so good to hear how your writing style came to be and that you never gave up. Are you working on something new at the moment? If so, care to share any info?

My work in progress is one of the most ambitious projects I’ve ever undertaken. It was born on November 8th, 2017.

As I watched America go to the proverbial mattresses during the 2017 elections, I started thinking about what would make a good leader?

GREATEST MINDS is an attempt to extrapolate from existing historical fact and technology to predict what the world will be like in 100 years and how we will get there.

It centers around a group of high school students attending an academy in orbit around the Earth designed to prepare them as future politicians. As countries begin slowly colonizing Mars and Earth’s politics are thrown into turmoil (much like all colonial history teaches us) a very special group of students is being unwittingly groomed to be the founding fathers and mothers of this new planet.

It is heavily inspired by George R R Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series and the predictions of such physicists as Michio Kaku and entrepreneurs like Elon Musk.

Like Jules Verne did a hundred years ago, it attempts to show a realistic portrayal of the near future while addressing contemporary issues such as terrorism, mass shootings, gender fluidity, economics, socio-politics and drug use through the lens of Sci-Fi.

What was the inspiration for your debut novel? Did you have any real-life inspiration for the characters?

I started thinking of Barton Miller as I was reading about David Phillip Veter, the real-life bubble boy. He suffered from Severe Combined Immune Deficiency and was quarantined to a life inside plastic enclosures for the entirety of his short life. I was so saddened by his story and felt especially close to it as he lived and died in my city, Houston, Tx. I felt the need to give him a better story, even if it was fiction. David deserved to live his life and experience all it has to offer. I thought about what kind of situation would give him the advantage over the world. What does the game have to be for him to win? That’s when I realized that if the world got sick, he would be protected. He would be safe and he would live. That was how Barton Miller Jr was born.

The story is also set in Albuquerque because two of my best friends are from there and they would always tell me about Balloon Fiesta, a magical hot air balloon festival they have every year which features prominently in the novel.

What is your favorite quote?

“I’ve already spent too much time on my own. I’m afraid of what I’ll become if this continues.”

“And what is that?”

“Feral.”

I actually really like that.

What do you think about the e-book “revolution?”

Barton Miller is the first novel I’ve ever published. In fact part of the reason I wrote it was to learn how to self-publish. In that respect, I have benefited from the e-book market.

Some snobby, Bachelors of Literature part of me wants to wax poetics about the smell of real books and their true value and how we shouldn’t just throw away the past. In some ways, I feel like that. I have to be physically restrained in a Half Price Books and every time I see a complete stranger with a book in hand I’m compelled to ask: what are you reading? so loudly I frighten people. So as a reader I tend to choose physical copies.

As an author, however, I have different feelings. As most writers know, writing is hard. It’s DAMN hard. Years of doubting and wrecking yourself just to have literary agents tell you “thanks, but no thanks.” With e-books and indie publishing, your work will mean more than that. Even if only a handful of people ever read your books and even if you don’t achieve international fame, the work exists! It will always be there (barring some disastrous zombie apocalypse). An immortal part of you, the author, will always be available for readers to find long after you’re gone. Until now, this honor was reserved for those who were in the right place at the right time. Now it belongs to all of us. I find that beautiful.

If you could only have one season, which would it be?

So here’s the thing, I’m practically a lizard. Put me under the hot sun, on a hot rock and I’m happy. But my favorite season is winter. There’s something special about sipping lattes at Barnes & Noble, taking refuge from the cold and punching out a couple of chapters. So I support house Stark and for me: Winter is Coming.

Give a shout-out to a fellow author!

I sat down yesterday to read The Visitors by Catherine Burns and I literally tore through it from beginning to end without moving. Seriously, my boyfriend was concerned. At one point he may have poked me with a stick to check if I was still alive.

This book WRECKED me. It is a psychological thriller the likes of Lionel Schriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin or Emma Donoghue’s Room.

If you are into true crime or you feel the need to destroy your own psyche, I highly recommend this gem. I can’t believe this is her debut novel. I am waiting on pins and needles for the next one.

It is common knowledge that writing a book is no easy task. Do you have any advice to give aspiring authors?

Learn the rules, then break them. This was the most valuable piece of advice I received while earning my Bachelors and still to this day when I make a controversial writing choice I have to ask myself, do I know the rule and why am I breaking it.

And on a personal note, don’t lose the joy. In the end, the story is about you and for you. If you love it, the readers will come. Cut yourself some slack.

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Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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I want to thank Adi again for being so wonderful and participating in Saturday Spotlight. I loved her responses to all of my questions. You should check out her work by clicking on the book title! Add it to Goodreads as well, but be sure to leave a review if you read them.

If you are an indie author who is interested in having your work promoted during one of my spotlights, contact me and in the subject area insert Saturday Spotlight. If you are an author who has participated, please spread the word to other authors you know. I would love for this to be continuous. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

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