Sunday 25 August 2013

Interview with Petra F. Bagnardi for new novel A Veil Of Glass And Rain

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Synopsis: Brina and Eagan meet for the first time when she’s nine and he’s fourteen. They like each other from the very beginning, although their bond isn’t immediate, but it grows over the years. What links them is the fact that their parents are photographers and are extremely devoted to their work and to each other; so much so that both Brina and Eagan have to learn how to take care of themselves from a very young age. Despite their differences, age, gender, nationality, Brina is Italian and Eagan is American, they find comfort in their growing friendship. 
Then Brina becomes a teenager, and her feelings for her friend start changing and deepening. New desires stir within her. As soon as Brina realizes how those feelings complicate her friendship with Eagan, she runs away from him.
A few years later, Brina is twenty and Eagan is twenty-five, they find one another once again. Brina is studying cinema in Rome and she’s also trying to become a musician. Eagan begins to work as an architect in the same city. Eagan wants to be a part of Brina’s life anew. Brina, however, is still in love with him; she finds it difficult to act merely as a friend and she keeps pulling away.
Set in the beautiful Rome, this is a sensual and romantic story of friendship and love.
Author: Petra.F. Bagnardi Petra F. Bagnardi
Work: A Veil Of Glass And Rain
Genre:  Contemporary Romance, New Adult, Erotic Romance.
Alisha: Petra, tell us three interesting/unique facts about yourself.
Petra:
Ideas come to my mind mostly while I’m brushing my teeth.
I could eat pizza every day.
When I was a teenager I was in love with Michael J. Fox.
Alisha: Well we at least have one thing in common which is that we could both eat pizza everyday. What is your favourite reading genre and why did you decide to publish a book within the NA romance Indie scene?
Petra: My preferred genre is Romance, but I read and appreciate every genre that contains strong romantic elements.
While I was working on my debut novel, “A Veil of Glass and Rain”, I wasn’t thinking about the NA genre, I just knew that I wanted to write a story about two friends falling in love in a moment of life when childhood and adulthood still fade into one another, so the feelings, the actions and reactions of the characters are often extreme and irrational.
Alisha: You have a very distinct writing style that I would describe as organic and visually aesthetic. Are there any authors over the years that have inspired your writing?
Petra: When I was a teenager I fell in love with two Italian authors in particular, Elio Vittorini and Italo Calvino. More recently I’ve discovered the books written by American novelist Carol Goodman. All of them have very distinctive voices and all of their books are written with a clear, but poetic prose.
Alisha: Can you tell us about your writing experience from the beginning of A Veil of Glass and Rain, pitching and planning, throughout the writing stages and the completion of it. What journey did you take to get to where you are, having completed your debut novel? How long did it take you to complete?
Petra: It took me about six months to write “A Veil of Glass and Rain”. In the beginning there weren’t words, but images and voices floating in my head. So I decided to buy two big notebooks and I began to write Brina’s story assuming her POV. As her story went by on the pages, Eagan’s voice got louder and louder, so I decided to let him tell his version of the story. Finally, I wrote everything on my lap-top and I gave it a structure and a style.
Alisha: If you could cast anyone as Eagan and Brina, who would it be?
Petra: Chris Evans and Troian Bellisario!
 
Alisha: Good choice. Do you read what you write?
Petra: Yes.
Alisha: What did you find to be the most challenging aspect about writing a romance NA novel?
Petra: Writing the sex scenes. I had to do a lot of rewriting, because I wanted to find the perfect balance between sensual and poetic.
Alisha: Well I think you certainly achieved that balance. Eagan and Brina’s story covers the first half span of a lifetime together. Were the seeds of your characters sown from the idea of anyone in particular in your life and does the story relate to anything on a personal level that you have ever experienced yourself?
Petra: Brina and Eagan’s story comes from some of my personal experiences, some of my friends’ experiences, but also from books I’ve read and movies I’ve seen.
Alisha: Brina is a very delicate, sensitive and moral character. How did you come to find the voice of her narrative? Does her personality reflect part of your own or did writing from her perspective amount to you stepping out of your own shoes?
Petra: There is a part of myself in Brina, in Eagan and in each one of my characters. 
Brina’s character in particular was challenging because, as you said, she’s very sensitive and delicate and she loves with such abandon that, at times, while I was writing, it scared me, but it also fascinated me. I like writing about people who have some of my traits, but I love writing about people, like Brina, who are almost completely different than I am, because it’s challenging and it forces me to open my mind to new emotions and experiences.
Alisha: What is up for you next? Do you plan on writing anything else in the near future?
Petra: Yes, I do. I’m actually already working on Neal’s story (Eagan’s best friend in “A Veil of Glass and Rain”).
Thank you Petra. 
For more A Veil Of Glass And Rain, check out the links below:

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