Yesterday’s interview with hjbookblog reminded me why I prefer talking to actual readers over standard questionnaires.
The blogger, a literature enthusiast from India who clearly reads everything she features, asked questions that made me think rather than recite my usual author talking points. When she asked which themes I keep returning to, I found myself articulating something I’d never put into words: this obsession with the gap between who we are and who we pretend to be.
Most interviews stick to ‘What inspired this book?’ and ‘What’s your writing routine?’ Standard questions that get standard answers. This one dug deeper. She wanted to know how living across cultures affects my storytelling, which of my characters I actually relate to, what makes novel-writing difficult for me specifically.
Her question about Project Mirror felt particularly timely. When someone asks thoughtful questions about your work-in-progress, you end up clarifying things for yourself too. Explaining my protagonist’s journey from true believer to someone questioning the entire system helped me understand where the story needs to go next.
There’s something refreshing about being interviewed by someone who reads across genres, works with authors regularly, and approaches each conversation with genuine curiosity rather than a template. She made me realise how much I actually do relate to X, my nail artist character, and why that observer-participant dynamic keeps drawing me back to her story.
The conversation ran longer than planned because the questions were worth answering properly.
Read the entire conversation: https://hjbookblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/interview-with-author-julia-zolotova-author-interview/
Posted from London, where good conversation still matters in the digital noise.
— Writer Julia Zolotova
