Featured Interview With Antara Man
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I started writing at the age of seven and have been doing it to this very day. Apart from reading and writing, you can also find me practicing yoga, as I have developed a keen interest in self-improvement, spirituality and becoming a better human being.
I was born and currently live in Bulgaria. That’s a country in East Europe, next to Greece. Bulgaria has a very beautiful nature and if you are wondering about a vocation place, I urge you to visit my country. The people here are also very kind and friendly.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I consciously decided to be an author when I was nine years old. I started writing at the age of seven . At that time I was already a book worm. My first novel was The Black Weekend – an adventurous suspense very influenced by Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn’s stories.
As a kid, I wrote mainly crime, thrillers and action-adventure novels. When I was nine I felt my calling was to be a story- teller. There is an anecdote from my life that I always remember when I go back to these days. One day, back when I was a kid, I was in class and our teacher gave us the task to write on a piece of paper what we wanted to become when we grew up. One of my schoolmates suggested that we should write down that we didn’t want to grow up; that we wanted to remain what we were then. She was urging me heavily to do it but what I wrote on my piece of paper was “I want to become a writer”. I knew I was already one. The teacher explained to us she was collecting all those paper pieces so that if one day she saw any of us and asked “What have you become?”, she would be able to show us our answers.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Recently I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and I loved it. I am currently reading The Immortal Circus by A. R. Kahler and The Beam by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. I don’t have one single favorite genre. I like YA fantasy and science fiction. I also enjoy writing criminal and suspense stories and believe in unity in diversity. In my opinion, the best books and stories are a crossover between genres.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My first (yet) published work is The Wishing Coin – a fairy tale/fantasy novella. The idea for it came one early morning when I was heading to work. Looking out the bus window, I saw a female TV reporter and two cameramen waiting to begin a live broadcast. The TV reporter was discussing something with the cameramen.
The revelation hit me: “I will write a short story about a TV reporter. She will work at Good Morning America (Later I changed it to Good Morning USA to avoid legal issues) and she will be struggling to get more screen time.”
As the day went on, I came up with some more: She’ll fail to be promoted to have her own TV show, and her ex will start dating the rival reporter who stole her slot. I began with the first tragedy following the famous three-act tragedy structure. I didn’t have the whole story outlined yet, but I had something better — the energy that would let me write and finish the story. Later that night I came up with more scenes. The TV reporter would meet a strange vendor who’d sell wishing coins on the street. The protagonist would buy the most powerful one; the one that fulfills all wishes, no matter what they are. My idea was to present three different pictures: in the first, the protagonist is unhappy; in the second, she has everything she wishes for — the dream job, the wonderful boyfriend, etc; and in the last, her desire for control and power corrupts her. The character’s wishes have a harmful effect on the people around her and she regrets that she bought the coin.
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