About Eve Saxe Haven:
At the time of writing this bio, I am a thirty-five year old mature student. I have recently made the decision to go back to university and study engineering. Seeing that financial support is unavailable to mature students with previous degrees, I have turned to writing during the holidays in order to cover tuition fees. I believe women belong in the world of engineering and hope to inspire others who may be looking for a challenging and rewarding career.
What inspires you to write?
I have many years of experience and have had learned one or two things along the way. Essentially, my life has inspired my writing and I hope it can inspire people to face the challenges of life head on.
At this point, I am unable to disclose too much about my past, however I can say that I was and active member of a police force for over ten years. I’m sure that it’s pretty obvious in my book! That being said, I should mention that any operational procedures that I outline is fiction. I keep the real stuff to myself.
Growing up, I was a bit of an ugly duckling. Like countless others, I had to tackle some social issues and learn a few lessons along the way. Transformation is another theme in my book that has been inspired by my own experience.
Tell us about your writing process.
I have no idea where my story came from. It started many years ago and developed in my head. At some point in time, I realised that I needed to pick up a pen and stick something down. Basically, that’s what I did. I used a pen, a small notebook and a website that detailed how to structure and outline. This was about two years ago. I wrote the first quarter immediately after, before putting everything away in order to complete a Masters degree and an engineering foundation year. Two years later, I picked up my writing and finished the book. What I found was that my writing had improved with the experience of completing a dissertation. I had to readdress the first quarter heavily.
I know that my writing will keep improving over the years and that I may have to tweak the original a bit. But that will come later. I always appreciate feedback on how to improve.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
It’s going to sound twisted but I have a feeling that I punish my characters! In the beginning of my book, my characters irritated me. Since the book features transformation, they had to start somewhere. So I created them and then had to teach them lessons through their own experiences. As they progress, I somehow bond with them. Who knows how these things work!
I don’t listen or talk to my characters, I just watch them run around and evolve. I barely understand where it all comes from, which is no excuse considering I have a Masters degree in neuroscience!
What advice would you give other writers?
Get some hands-on experience and mix it with a bucket load of research. I like working from a basic structure, so I definitely would recommend that, especially if they are new to fictional writing, like I am.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I have very little free time during semesters. Engineering is more than a full-time degree and will kill-off a social life for the better part of a year! I decided that self-publishing was a more appropriate route, as I maintain control of when and how I do things. When I finally have a new career and am able to pump some money into my books, I will definitely hire a bunch of professionals and consider a publisher. For now, I am happy being an independent publisher.
I would advise new authors to explore all options, especially if they have a bit of a budget.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I’m old fashioned, I like hardcopy books. The funny thing is that I own so few real books. Even funnier is that they are all textbooks! The majority of literature that I own is on ereader format.
I think that both paperback and ebooks have a solid future.
I also think that the option to self-publish has opened new doors for a lot of people. However, with that may come the downfall of some small publishers. I don’t like to read about people losing jobs and livelihoods in the news. I can only hope that there is success for everyone in the future.
What genres do you write?: Mystery, paranormal, coming of age
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
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.
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