An interview with a student author: Heartless by Laurie Le Roux

“The message of Heartless... Well, it’s about a girl who tries to fit into a world that isn’t hers. She’s too different to be accepted by humans and she’s too human to be accepted by the people of her kind. Through the plot and difficulties, she discovers that what pushed her to be left alone was her feelings; to live in her world she needed to be Heartless.”

What inspired you to write the book?

“Heartless is a bit different from all the other books I have written. Usually I get inspired from general, day to day life or activities that I do, this one was actually a challenge that my friends gave me. I used to travel a lot and lived in several different countries; my first book is in French. So a lot of my friends told me ‘we can’t read it’ and it became a challenge for me to write it in English. As for the topic, I never really write science fiction so they gave me the idea to try it out. The idea came from a friend who told me about it. She wanted to see an alien coming to earth and it basically unrolled from there. It came quite naturally once the background was set.”

What’s it like to be a student author?

“It’s quite different. The first time you hold your book in your hands its like magic, but it feels unreal as well. No one would expect to write a book and have it published in such a way. The moment also feels as if I need to have a step back and have a look again.

With regards to work, writing books and studies takes a lot of time. Writing a book is tiring - so alongside studies it's difficult. I have to admit that when I study I write much less because I don’t have the time or intellectual energy for it either. Also the marketing process of the book takes a lot of time.”

What advice would you give to other student authors trying to break through?

“ You need to come back to it. It’s like an essay, when you’ve written 3000 words you can’t re-read it straight away. You need to take a break because you can’t see the characters anymore.”

Try to choose the publisher that will fit your book, some won’t publish short stories, some won’t publish sci-fi – try to aim for the one where you have the highest chance of being published.”

Where is it available?

“You can find the book in every library, it may not be on the shelves but can be ordered in. You can also find it online at Amazon International, Amazon UK, Barna books and Google eBooks. Heartless is both paperback and online and is available in the UK, Canada, USA and Australia.”