About Charlotte Leonetti:
Hello! My name is Charlotte and I just moved from LA to Chicago for my senior year of high school. I love to read and review books and I am currently in the process of marketing my new book, Heartshire High, a modern retelling of the classic Alice in Wonderland. I am also in the process of applying to college right now, which is a stressful but exciting thing to be doing.
What inspires you to write?
Other books definitely inspire me to write. Every since I have learned to read, I haven’t stopped. At the same time, I was starting to write for projects at school and I fell in love with our creative writing assignments. As I grew older and more interested in the books I also became interested in authors themselves. It quickly came to my attention that many of the young adult authors were actually adults. This didn’t bother me obviously, but I wondered what it would be like to hear from a teenager. I guess that was a big motivator for me, wanting a teenager’s point of view of high school being heard as well.
Tell us about your writing process.
I am definitely an outliner. Since I wanted Heartshire High to be a modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland I had to make sure that there were connections between the two pieces. I outlined the chapters by small summaries of them on Google docs. I did the same with the characters, making sure their characteristics and actions matched the classic story. After this, I wrote and edited half a chapter a week to make sure it would actually get done.
What advice would you give other writers?
Put time aside to write! Life can get so busy sometimes that months can go by without writing, which is such a downer. Setting time aside to write each week is so helpful because you know you have to write during that time. By doing this, I am able to write at least for an hour a week.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I originally wanted to go the traditional publishing route. I prepared a query letter and sent it out, however, none of the agents picked it up. I wanted to achieve my goal of publishing this book and for me, self-publishing was the next best option.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think the future of book publishing is changing. Self-publishing, which previously had more stigma around it, has been becoming more popular. I think traditional publishing will always be around, however, authors now have a greater independent when it comes to choosing how they want to publish their books.
What do you use?: Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Young adult fiction
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Charlotte Leonetti Home Page Link
Link To Charlotte Leonetti Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
