Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a 31-year-old woman from Ontario, Canada. At age 19, I graduated chef training, and I’ve been indecisively switching between cooking and waitressing ever since. Video games first got me thinking about fictional worlds: I still love the unique way an interactive game can tell a story. And I love all animals, but especially cats!
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Tinder Stricken is a fantasy story inspired mainly by the culture of Nepal. I wanted to set a story on a mountain with many plateaus, so I began reading about real-life mountain cultures. Nepal caught my interest for the sheer variety contained within its borders — tropical jungles, freezing mountain peaks, and over 100 recognized local languages! I thought a place like that would be even more fascinating with a magic system that could translate languages and let all the ethnic groups speak to each other.
The name Tinder Stricken came from the main storyline of farmwoman Esha negotiating with a phoenix. Esha has lived a life of rejection and poverty, so she’s been unable to really appreciate the amazing world she lives in. But once she meets Atarangi the diplomat and learns that phoenixes are intelligent beings she can speak to, her world opens up. Esha suddenly begins to grow as a person, like a spark taking to tinder.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
If I’m writing a rough draft and I can’t decide what to do with a scene, I type out my train of thought. “And she left then on swift feet, headed toward town. But wait geez she can’t go there yet, I have to set up [plot event] first. Unless [character] shows up? Might work.” Spilling my brain out onto the page stops me from getting mired in indecision. I just sort out the possibilites later, while editing.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read a lot as a kid, usually “adult” books because I didn’t like clueless kid protagonists. I wanted to see characters with skill sets and knowledge of how the world works. But still, I barely remember any of the books I read. I enjoyed them enough in the moment but I was always searching the library for a book I couldn’t describe. It wasn’t until adulthood that I sorted out which specific aspects of fictional I liked, and what I wanted to see in a story. It was the social attitudes and vast possibility of hopeful sci-fi, combined with the earthiness of magical fantasy, ideally featuring anthropomorphic characters who would never pass for a human. My original vision of the Aligare world was a video game, because video game enthusiasts are much quicker to embrace unusual premises than traditionalist publishing. But I decided to try writing a novel because I had always loved writing. Surely, I thought, a long-form piece like a novel was something I could just sit down and do, if I put my mind to it.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on soooo many short stories right now. I don’t have a theme in mind (like I did with Serpents of Sky, my dragon-themed anthology) but I still might put together a short story collection soon.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Recommendations are by far the most helpful to me. Because my books are quiet, emotional stories not easily compared to the usual fantasy best-sellers, they’re difficult to market. So my best possible exposure is when a reader tells their friends what they liked about my themes/characters/worldbuilding/etc. Sometimes my readers understand my work even better than I do!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
There are many ways to fit into this world! Don’t worry if you’re not exactly like the people around you, or if you’re not mimicking some successful person. Just do what you feel is important. Write the story that you’re aching to tell.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
My dad told me to listen to lots of advice, then ignore some of it. I like that sentiment a lot. It’s important to have an open mind, but if you try to please everyone then you’ll be pulled in too many directions.
What are you reading now?
I’m struggling to do any real, focused reading lately, but I’ve been reading Wings of Renewal, an anthology of solarpunk dragon stories edited by Claudie Arsenault. Solarpunk is a type of sci-fi focused on renewable resources, environmental conservation, diversity, and generally positive interpretations of the future. I hadn’t heard of solarpunk before picking up Wings of Renewal, but I like the concept very much! And, of course, everything is better with dragons.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Good question! I don’t have a big project at the forefront of my mind right now. I am dabbling with video game code, though — maybe someday I’ll make a video game of my own, a story-rich one that combines everything I love about fiction and fantasy.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1) The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, because its lovely prose is worth a few rereads. 2) The Dictionary of Mythology, an enormous textbook I own that would let me look up those bits of lore I’ll go nuts if I can’t remember, and 3) a guidebook on the flora and fauna native to this island, because I’d hate to die by stupidly eating something poisonous.
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Heidi C. Vlach Website
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