Author Interview: Vashti Hardy

Hello everybody, and happy March!

Today, I’m thrilled to be welcoming Vashti Hardy, author of debut Brightstorm (released today!) For an interview. Onto the post!

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Hi Vashti! Thank you so much for being here ❤

1. Can you describe Brightstorm in 5 words?

Adventure, sky-ships, secrets, explorers, thought-wolves!

2. The thing that first attracted me to Brightstorm was your stunning cover, designed by George Ermos, and your proof is undoubtedly the prettiest I`ve ever seen. What book covers have enticed you recently?

That’s so kind of you, thank you! As soon as I saw it I wanted to jump into the adventure alongside Arthur and Maudie. A book cover I love at the moment is the Snow Angel written by Lauren St John and illustrated by Catherine Hyde. It looks so magical! I love a pretty but mysterious cover which sets the tone of what you can expect inside. One I’ve just noticed is Begone the Raggedy Witches (The Wild Magic Trilogy) by Celine Kiernan cover by Victoria Semykina. It really draws you into the scene and the story sounds great.

3. Another thing I loved in Brightstorm was that it showed strong, fabulous female characters. Who are your top 3 female role models?

That means a lot – thank you so much! I love Amelia Earhart for her bold adventurous spirit (she was a bit of an inspiration for Harriet Culpepper), Kate Bush for her shining individuality, and Princess Leia because rebellion!

4. My very favourite bit though, and this will probably come as no surprise, was Tuyok and the other thought wolves. What inspired you to create such incredible animals? Who is your favourite mythical animal from a book? (top 3 if you can`t choose!)

I love animals in stories. I’m endlessly fascinated by the relationships between humans, animals, and the natural world, especially how as humans we often place ourselves as having a higher importance on the planet rather than seeing it as somewhere we share. Exploring this relationship always seems to pop up somewhere in my stories. My favourite story animals are Wolf in Wolf Brother (no surprise there!), of course dæmons especially Malcom Polstead’s dæmon Asta in the recent Book of Dust, and another I adore is Bob the Goldfish in Alex Sparrow and the Really Big Stink by Jennifer Killick (Bob can say so much without saying much!).

5. You were a member of the Golden Egg Academy. In what ways has this affected your writing and publication journey? What would be your top tips for anyone who wanted to apply?

It made all the difference! They’re doing something really unique in using industry editors who work with children’s writers looking at the whole novel as well as supporting them with workshops focusing on the skills which go on to support you for your wider journey as a writer. It was Imogen Cooper who connected me with my wonderful agent Kate Shaw as she thought we would work well together. Luckily Kate liked what I was doing and wanted to represent me! I’ve made friends for life too as it’s such a supportive community. My top tips for applying is to have a look on the GEA website, join in on #geaqa to get a feel for it, polish your chapters and send them off! Also have confidence that you ARE a writer whether published or not. Doing it is what matters

6. What has been your favourite author moment so far, and what are you most excited about now the book is published?

So many: working with my amazing editor at Scholastic, Linas Alsenas; the magic of seeing the cover for the first time; holding the story as a finished book; seeing a child engrossed in the book – that’s real magic. I’m really excited about meeting young readers and working on some events.

7. What is your writing routine like? Do you have any odd habits or rituals?

It’s simply to do whatever I can, whenever I can. I work in digital marketing in my day job and have three teens so time and space is a premium! So weekends, evenings, lunch times are usually busy with writing. Sometimes you have to just get your head down and push on even when it’s hard to find time. I like to keep a few special things on my writing desk like the Chinese cracker message I got before Brightstorm was accepted which says the tide of change approaches.

8. Before our quickfire questions, do you have any idea what you`ll be writing next? I cannot WAIT to read it!

Thank you! I love the thrill of heading off on the next writing adventure… I have two projects on the go at the moment. One is a follow on for Brightstorm as there are still unexplored places in the Wide for Arthur and Maudie to discover, plus I think ‘you know who’ is going to be up to even worse deeds (plus Maudie has invented something very exciting…) The other one is also an adventure fantasy which I’ve been planning for a while on and off. There’s a whole new mysterious world for readers to step into with some great creatures (some lovely, some truly terrible). It has misfits and friendship at its heart and is about what it means to live life to the full…

QUICKFIRE

Hogwarts house? Ravenclaw all the way!

Favourite ice cream flavour? Pistachio – yum.

Which Disney character are you most like? I had to take a quiz to see as I couldn’t think and apparently Perdita from 101 Dalmatians. She’s actually me to a tee!

Favourite season? All of them – I love the change of seasons. Winter as you can be snuggly warm by a fire, spring for hope, summer for late evenings with family, autumn for colour…

3 random facts about you? I hate being cold, my uncle was tiddlywinks champion of the world (I know?!), and I can twirl a baton!

Thank you for the great questions Amy, and for your brilliant Brightstorm enthusiasm!

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed Vashti’s answers as much as I did! If you’d like to win my proof of Brightstorm head over to my Twitter, where I’m running a giveaway. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the interview down in the comments

Amy xxx

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