Q & A

Five questions for authorVyshali Manivannan '05

Your novel, Invictus, will be releasedsoon. How does it feel to be published atage 20?

Insane. And a little embarrassing. I wrote it when I was 15 and it's hard for me to reread it because my style has changed so drastically. It's strange to think people will get to know me by my 15-year-old voice.

Is this your first book?

I actually wrote a novel in sixth grade but it was a completely failed attempt.

What's Invictus about?

The protagonist is a living robot; he's also the villain of the story. His character development drives the whole story.

Now you're working on new stories. Howdo you find time to write?

I write pretty much whenever the demons kick in. I try to set aside an hour or two every day for my own sanity, but sometimes the voices just don't stop. That's when I sacrifice other things, usually sleep, just to make the voices stop. That sounds so crazy.

A quote appears at the bottom of your emails: "The author is a barbaric god whorevels in human sacrifice." Does this describe you?

To some extent. Writing is basically a game of creation, and the author is a god with complete power over all her characters. A real story is not about someone being happy; there's always conflict, pain. In that regard, the author is kind of barbaric. You have to make your characters suffer. It's like torturing your children.