Arielle Strauss is a twenty-two year old
author, actress, and percussionist originally from Freehold, New Jersey. She graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts
from Sarah Lawrence College, where she began to write "The Wraith
Trilogy." She's pleased to finally share her first novel, The
Wraith, and the sequel, The
Huntress, with the world.
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Can
you tell us what your book is about?
Ophelia Weller never believed in ghosts until the
night she became one. But when the aftermath of a frat party on the most
haunted campus in America
leaves her face to face
Why did
you write your book?
It was
a sort of challenge I set for myself because I’d never written a full-length
novel before, and I’d been wanting to my entire life. In 2010, I found a
website called “Antwinowrimo,” which stands for Anti-Twilight Novel Writing
Month. The goal was to write a fifty-thousand-word novel in 28 days, but the
catch was that it had to be a paranormal romance novel, which bested The Twilight Saga. I’ve read all the Twilight books, and liked them, so this
was the perfect challenge for me. I did it every February for three years, and
thus The Wraith Trilogy was born.
Do you
tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your
imagination?
Lila
and Sari are based on my college roommates. I started writing the series my
freshman year, and we’d read chapters aloud together at night. I wanted them to
see themselves in the story for a bit of fun. Other characters have traits of
people I know and love, but are not directly based on anyone.
Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
Lenora and Ophelia are finally getting to know each
other better. They’ve been friends for a few weeks, but this page kicks it up a
notch in kickboxing class. ;)
Which holiday is your favorite and why?
Halloween. In case you can’t tell, I’m a fan of
scary, misunderstood things. I wanted to put this book out in October because
tis the season of the spooky.
What kind of advice would you
give other fiction authors?
Have fun! I know that’s a cliché, but it is so for a
reason. Writing is supposed to be something to look forward to, not to stress
over. Save the “perfectionist” part of you for the editing process.