Debut novelist is ‘write’ on the mark

ERIN Anastasia is finally ready to reveal a project she has poured her heart and soul into for the past few years, her debut novel, Lost Oceans.

The 22-year-old Pinetown resident is an avid reader, but a story of her own began to take shape in the back of her mind.

It wasn’t until her first semester holidays that she began jotting down her story.

While the saying goes, putting pen to paper, for Erin it was more finger to keypad.

She created a new note on her phone and began furiously typing up what would become the intro to the book.

She remembers accompanying her mother and brother to the shops that day but her eyes were glued to her phone and her mind was racing to get the words out.

“My brother was the first one to know about it. He was very curious and wondered who I was chatting to and why I was sending them an essay. I was very self-conscious about it so told him that he couldn’t tell anyone,” said Erin.

In-depth view

The book’s opening pages are from the male protagonist’s point of view while most of the book follows Mia, the female lead. Erin said she did this to give readers an in-depth view of how he, Elijah, found Mia, what his thoughts were when he found her and why he chose to help her, despite his concerns.

Lost Oceans is a 390-page soft cover novel about a girl who wakes up in a hospital with no idea of who she is or where she is from.

Her only possession is a locket with the inscription, Mia. She is afraid and alone.

Mia is introduced to the man who found her, he garners her trust and the story begins to unravel.

Both have secrets. Each has insecurities and their situations play on their minds as their secrets are slowly revealed throughout the pages of the book.

Writing on the beach

Erin described herself as a typical Durban girl with a deep love for the ocean.

“Sometimes I would just go to the beach, sit there with my notebook, stare at the ocean and just write.”

“I had the final chapter scene in my head when I started writing but I jotted down the outline of the chapters and where things would need to go and what to fit into each chapter. So I knew how the final reveal would happen,” said the budding author.

As the book progressed, Erin found she followed her initial guidelines to some extent but often found herself taking a different path with her characters, opting to rather highlight important issues and scenes she felt needed to be included.

Self-discovery

While she finished writing the novel back in April in 2014, she spent the following year going through the book, changing pieces and doing edits.

The final “it’s done” was in February this year.

“With it hitting the world soon, I really hope that readers feel the story. It has an important message that you need to find yourself first, before you can be another’s. It’s okay to be a little bit lost and one day you will be found. You need to find the courage within yourself to complete that journey,” said Erin.

While the writing was a new journey in itself, Erin was embarking on her own journey of self-discovery.

Initially she opted to study IT, but after the first semester she could tell her heart was not in it and approached her parents to get their blessing to alter her career path.

“I realised the amount of passion I had for writing so I spoke to my family. My parents were so supportive of my choice as they said it was my life I had to live and I needed to do something that would make me happy,” said Erin.

“I feed that through writing this book, I found myself.”

Further study

She signed up with UNISA to study law. This, she said, would give her the opportunity to continue her passion for writing while she pursued her other dreams.

“There is this belief that you can’t be artistic and an academic. I am a very firm believer that if you want to do something, and you push yourself, you can do both. I don’t believe in the labels,” said Erin.

Her family, best friend and editor are the only ones who have been privileged enough to read her book before the e-book launches on Amazon and Smashwords soon.

To order a paperback copy, visit Amazon.com or Erin’s website, www.erinanastasia.wixsite.com.