Astrid Scholte is an Australian bestselling YA author and her debut novel, Four Dead Queens, released in 2019 with huge success. You could say that Astrid has grown up telling stories as before becoming an author, Scholte worked in film, animation, and television as an artist and manager! I had the pleasure of chatting with Astrid about her latest novel, The Vanishing Deep, along with her writing process, and what she is working on next!
Hi Astrid, Thanks for taking the time to chat today about your latest novel, The Vanishing Deep. Let’s start with the standard interview questions. Could you tell us a little about yourself?
Thanks so much for having me! I’m a YA author based in Melbourne, Australia who loves books with a speculative twist. I aim to write the stories that play like movies in my head and also enjoy capturing my characters on canvas. I grew up on Disney animated movies so princesses and palaces are part of my storytelling DNA. I have the two cutest cats you’ll ever meet and spend my free time making clay Baby Yodas.
Could you tell us a little about The Vanishing Deep and the inspiration behind it?
The Vanishing Deep is a standalone YA thriller set in a world that’s 99% water and where the dead can be revived for 24 hours. I first came up with the idea while watching The Real Housewives of NYC. One of the housewives wished she could have just one more day with her late husband. Fun fact: the original working title was One More Day. I wrote the idea in my journal back in 2015, before I’d written Four Dead Queens. It wasn’t until the start of 2017 that I started actually writing.
You have created a fascinating world in The Vanishing Deep. Where did the inspiration for your water world come from?
Thank you! Because the story is about life, death and survival, I wanted to reflect that in the world itself. So I created a world that is essentially deceased. In The Vanishing Deep, the Great Waves destroyed an advanced civilisation 500 years ago. Although this is not our world, I wanted to draw comparisons to Earth and the environmental disasters we’ve been facing due to climate change. I also wanted to create a world that was unique and something I hadn’t before. Funnily enough, I’m terrified of the ocean, which made it an interesting world for me to explore as a writer. It was easy to draw upon my fear of the ocean for certain scenes!
This is your second novel. Were there any differences to your writing process this time around?
Usually, I start writing with a concept or what if question. For The Vanishing Deep, it was ‘what would you do if you only had 24 more hours with your loved one.’ This was a similar process to Four Dead Queens where I started with the concept of multiple queens ruling a nation and them being murdered one-by-one. The only real difference in the writing process was that Four Dead Queens didn’t change structurally from the initial drafts, whereas, I completely restructured The Vanishing Deep in the second draft and rewrote the last ¼. The process was much more revision intensive!
Did you write The Vanishing Deep knowing how it would end or was it a journey for you while writing as well?
Oh, definitely a journey! I never know how my books will end as I don’t plan or outline before I start writing. I had an idea of how the book would end about halfway through, but it changed—twice!
Did you face any challenges while writing? If so, how did you overcome them?
It’s always a challenge to make fictional technology believable. Of course, it’s not possible to revive the dead for 24 hours, so how do you make that seem plausible when there’s no magic involved? It took several revisions to get it right, and there are even changes in the final printed version to the ARCs. I just kept on brainstorming different solutions until I hit upon the one that fit the world I’d built.
I have seen some of your character artwork. It is stunning! Do you draw all of your characters to help the writing process or is it more for fun?
Thank you! It’s more for fun than to aid the writing process. I’ll come up with a picture in my mind of what the characters look like when I’m writing and then once the book is complete, I’ll paint them.
If they made The Vanishing Deep into a movie or television series, do you have anyone in mind for any of the characters?
Oh yes! I can’t help but envision my books as movies/TV shows as that’s a part of how I write. If I can’t visualize the scene in my head then I can’t write it. I imagine Courtney Eaton as Tempest Alerin, Hailee Steinfeld as Elysea Alerin, Jacob Elordi as Lor, James Rolleston as Raylan Bassan and Cate Blanchett as Nessandra.
Can you tell us what is next for you? Are you working on anything you can tell us about?
I’m currently working on another YA fantasy genre mashup that I’m in love with! It combines all the things I love to read and watch and has been so fun to write. I hope I can reveal more about it soon!
What are you currently reading? Do you have any recommendations?
I’m currently reading King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo. I love all her books and it’s been sitting on my bedside table for far too long!
Lastly, I have a few rapid fire questions! What is your:
Hogwarts House? Ravenclaw
Favourite Disney movie? Tangled (although I love so many!)
Favourite villain? The T-Rex from Jurassic Park.
Trope? Hate to love
Coffee order? Skinny, decaf mocha with peppermint syrup.
BIO: Raised on a diet of Spielberg, Lucas and Disney, Astrid Scholte knew she wanted to be surrounded by all things fantastical from a young age. She’s spent the last ten years working in film, animation and television as both an artist and manager. Career highlights include working on James Cameron’s Avatar, Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin and George Miller’s Happy Feet Two. She’s a visual writer and aims to capture the vivid stories that play like movies in her head. When she’s not writing, she’s painting her favorite fictional characters and obliging her furry overlords, Lilo and Mickey. Four Dead Queens is her debut novel. Astrid can be found on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, along with at her website.
