Featured Interview With Maria Ortega
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in Venezuela and I still live there. It is a country where getting to know people is pretty easy. In certain way, people here have influenced my writing. Their experiences, the ones that are somehow striking, have help me create characters and stories.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My fascination with books… I guess it all began with the popular Harry Potter Series. I loved the story and the way I felt immersed in it. Reading became a passion, then. And writing, well, I started to write when I was fourteen. I was in History class. A friend and I were bored, so she took this little notebook and started to write something. At the beginning she did not tell me what, but then she let me read it. It was a paragraph; a short story, There was no beginning and no end, yet it fascinated me. “How did you do this?”, I remember I asked her. I also wanted to know the end of the story (and the beginning) but she did not write more, I never knew! I decided to write a story by myself and that is when it all began.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I like to read about everything: fiction, non-fiction, adventure, suspense, and so on. My favorite author is J.K. Rowling. She awaken my fascination with books. I also like John Grisham and most recently, Veronica Roth, because she has a particular way of writing that captivates me. My writing is not inspired by someone but by something. Music inspires me, personally. I like to listen to Coldplay while writing. It helps me get lost in the story and the characters.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My most recent book is K-14. It is a story about a man, Roy, who buys a new product that takes people to their past lives. It turns out that Roy’s wife died a while ago, but he sees her every time he goes into a past life. She wants him to stay with her in the program. One day Roy’s daughter gets trapped in K-14 and he has to go find her before it’s too late.
It took me like 6 months to write this book. Roy’s past lives were quite a challenge, because I wanted to reflect different realities. I did a lot of research, especially in that life he had in Japan. His past life in Venezuela was more personal to me. It shows the situation currently happening in my country and I felt the need to reflect that in my book. I really enjoyed writing K-14.
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