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“No one can tell you what to write and what not to write because everyone is their own person.”
-Heidi Heilig
We have Heidi Heilig on the show with us today! Heidi is the author of the duology “The Girl From Everywhere” which was listed as a widely-loved and recommended book to read by NPR. The sequel to “The Ship Beyond Time” just released this week and was listed as one of the 35 Most Anticipated YA Novels of The Year by Entertainment Weekly!
In today’s episode, we discuss the importance of reading and promoting the work of various authors to encourage diversity, and how to respectfully write about communities outside of your own experience.
Heidi shares memories from her first heartbreak and how it inspired the themes of romance and time travel in “The Girl From Everywhere”. Further into our conversation, we discuss mental health stigmas and what we can do to help break down the stereotypes.
For our craft-focused listeners, Heidi shares advice on how to improve your craft, how to find inspiration for your characters, and how to tie multiple historical elements together in your story. We also unpack Heidi’s experience with her editor and how an editor can bring out the best in your writing.
Xo
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“You don’t need an MFA to write a novel. You just need to read a lot and to have the will to practice and the time.”
-Heidi Heilig
What You’ll Learn From This Episode:
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- How to respectfully write about communities outside of your own experience(s)
- The importance of reading and promoting the work of others to encourage diversity
- How writing inclusively can help you avoid appropriation in your novel
- Heidi walks us through her first heartbreak that inspired the themes of romance and time travel in her writing
- How to find inspiration for your characters
- How we can help to remove mental health stigmas
- The inspiration behind Heidi’s “The Girl from Everywhere“
- How to tie multiple historical elements together in your story
- How an editor can bring out your best writing and help inspire ideas for your stories
- How to improve your craft
The breathtaking sequel to the acclaimed The Girl from Everywhere.
Nix has spent her whole life journeying to places both real and imagined aboard her time-traveling father’s ship. And now it’s finally time for her to take the helm. Her future lies bright before her—until she learns that she is destined to lose the one she loves.
Desperate to change her fate, Nix sails her crew to a mythical utopia to meet another Navigator who promises to teach her how to manipulate time. But everything in this utopia is constantly changing, and nothing is what it seems. Not even her relationship with Kash: best friend, thief, charmer extraordinaire.
Heidi Heilig weaves fantasy, history, and romance together to tackle questions of free will, fate, and what it means to love another person. At the center of this adventure are extraordinary, complicated, and multicultural characters who leap off the page, and an intricate, recognizable world that has no bounds. This sequel—and conclusion—to The Girl from Everywhere includes five black-and-white maps of historical and mythical locations. Fans of Rachel Hartman, Rae Carson, and Outlander will be swept away.
Learn More About Heidi Heilig
Heidi grew up in Hawaii where she rode horses and raised peacocks, and then she moved to New York City and grew up even more, as one tends to do. Her favorite thing, outside of writing, is travel, and she has haggled for rugs in Morocco, hiked the trails of the Ko’olau Valley, and huddled in a tent in Africa while lions roared in the dark.
She holds an MFA from New York University in Musical Theatre Writing, of all things, and she’s written books and lyrics for shows including The Time Travelers Convention, Under Construction, and The Hole. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, her son and their pet snake.
Heidi’s Recommended Books & Resources:
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
The Girl of Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson
Query Shark Blog by Emma Slate
Pitch Wars created by Brenda Drake
