{"id":3389,"date":"2025-07-12T05:01:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T05:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/3389\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T05:01:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T05:01:03","slug":"q-a-mezzo-soprano-indyana-schneider-on-her-second-novel-since-the-world-is-ending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/3389\/","title":{"rendered":"Q & A: Mezzo-Soprano Indyana Schneider on Her Second Novel: Since the World is Ending"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first draft didn\u2019t work. Australian mezzo-soprano and novelist Indyana Schneider<\/a> says that plainly, without flinching. By the time Schneider\u2019s debut novel, \u201c28 Questions,\u201d hit shelves in January 2022, she\u2019d already completed a full draft of her follow-up, \u201cSince the World is Ending,\u201d and it wasn\u2019t good. But what followed was, in her words, \u201ca really fun journey.\u201d That journey included rewrites, structure experiments, character rearrangements (on scraps of paper, no less), and a constant negotiation between life as a singer and life as a writer.<\/p>\n

OperaWire takes a moment to visit with Schneider to learn more about how she is balancing everything.<\/p>\n

OperaWire: What was happening with your first and second books at the same time?<\/p>\n

Indyana Schneider: I was still working on the first book\u2014revisions and drafts\u2014and that came out in January 2022. But by then, I already had a first draft of the second book. It wasn\u2019t good. It\u2019s been a long, but really enjoyable journey since then.<\/p>\n

OW: How did \u201cSince the World is Ending\u201d begin?<\/p>\n

IS: When my agent was selling my first book, I was living in Vienna. She asked if I had any ideas for a second novel, and I didn\u2019t, but obviously, you can\u2019t say that to a publisher. I told her, \u201cGive me a weekend,\u201d and I came up with four one-liners. She picked one, and that became the seed. That was August 2020, and it led to a four-year journey writing the novel.<\/p>\n

OW: What inspired the plot of the book?<\/p>\n

IS: It was a mix of things. The initial spark came from the pop song \u201cIf the World Was Ending\u201d by JP Saxe. It\u2019s a duet where the singers know they\u2019re not good together but would still spend their last night on earth with each other. That hit me hard. At the time, I was obsessed with how, in your late 20s and early 30s, compatibility often trumps passion.<\/p>\n

OW: What is the story about?<\/p>\n

IS: It\u2019s about a violinist named Maya whose ex shows up during a very intense, very high-stakes weekend. She\u2019s juggling a performance, personal pressures, and this unexpected reentry of someone who knows her too well. It\u2019s a love triangle, but it\u2019s also about timing, memory, ambition, and what happens when life and art clash in real time.<\/p>\n

OW: How did that evolve into the book\u2019s structure?<\/p>\n

IS: The first draft leaned into the song. The second draft took on this nihilistic poem about letting kids touch the paintings if the world is ending. The final version incorporates my own experience as a classical singer, including the pressure, sacrifices, and mindset. The novel is a blend of those three threads.<\/p>\n

OW: What are the central tensions in the novel?<\/p>\n

IS: One is how to be a musician and a person. How do you practice for hours, live with perfectionism, make a living, and still be a sister, daughter, lover, or friend? The other major one is freedom versus discipline. Musicians often party hard after being extremely disciplined. And then there\u2019s art versus life; how much of yourself do you put into your art?<\/p>\n

OW: Would you call it character-driven or plot-driven?<\/p>\n

IS: The first book was very character-driven. This one is more plot-driven, though it\u2019s still in the first-person present tense. You\u2019re very much in the mind of Maya, the violinist. She\u2019s doing her best, but there\u2019s tension throughout.<\/p>\n

OW: Why first person present?<\/p>\n

IS: I went back and forth on it, but the story involves flashbacks and the arrival of an ex, so it became a neat way to separate timelines. It keeps the reader grounded in the now.<\/p>\n

OW: Was it tempting to write from other characters\u2019 perspectives?<\/p>\n

IS: Yes! I really wanted a chapter from Josh\u2019s POV\u2014he\u2019s the ex. In one draft, I had a whole chapter, but my agent wasn\u2019t convinced. So I rewrote it as Maya reading his diary. That let readers into his head, but stayed within the rules of the narrative voice.<\/p>\n

OW: How did structure shape \u201cSince the World is Ending?\u201d<\/p>\n

IS: This second book is set over three days\u2014a long weekend\u2014which made things more bite-sized and manageable. The first novel covered four years and was a very different writing style, very minute-by-minute and tense. For this one, I wrote out character journeys and daily schedules to create a macro structure, then riffed from there.<\/p>\n

OW: Do you try unconventional methods when writing?<\/p>\n

IS: Definitely. There\u2019s one party scene with so many characters that I cut up pieces of paper with their names and moved them between couches and outside smoking areas just to see if the scene made sense. I like trying things like that.<\/p>\n

OW: How do you manage your writing process?<\/p>\n

IS: I try to write every day when I\u2019m drafting. I aim for 500 to 1,000 words a day\u2014no more. I have a friend who says you should leave the desk wanting more. She writes 500 words a day, stops even if she wants to continue, and that gives her momentum. For this current book, I also sit down and jot ideas for half an hour before writing anything.<\/p>\n

OW: How does being a singer affect your writing, and vice versa?<\/p>\n

IS: They complement each other well. You can\u2019t sing for more than a few hours a day, so I write when I\u2019m tired of singing and sing when I\u2019m tired of writing. That said, there\u2019s always a nagging anxiety: when I\u2019m not singing, someone else is. When I\u2019m not writing, someone else is. But I\u2019ve never felt underprepared for either.<\/p>\n

OW: Have you faced skepticism about balancing both careers?<\/p>\n

IS: Once, someone questioned it and I said, \u201cIf I\u2019m ever not at the level you expect, let me know. Otherwise, let me manage my time.\u201d My agent is thrilled about the book. My singing agent is, too. Unless you\u2019re independently wealthy, most singers at this stage have other jobs. And both my careers feed each other.<\/p>\n

OW: How did music shape the novel\u2019s themes?<\/p>\n

IS: Music is in the foreground but it\u2019s accessible. My editor at Scribner isn\u2019t a music expert, so we had lots of conversations about assumed knowledge. But the novel stands on its own. If you\u2019re a musician or close to one, you\u2019ll get extra layers. If not, it\u2019s still a tense love triangle set over a weekend in a European city.<\/p>\n

OW: Is Vienna more than just a backdrop?<\/p>\n

IS: Definitely. Vienna is basically a character in this novel. I lived there, and did one major rewrite during a summer stay in a friend\u2019s flat while she was moving. It was chaotic, but great. The whole book has a strong weekend-away energy.<\/p>\n

OW: How much of the book came from personal experience?<\/p>\n

IS: The first book felt very personal. For the second, I wanted to tell a story and build fictional characters. That said, I did interviews with musicians in Hanover\u2014asked about their lives, their relationships with parents, and even their views on other instruments. Some of those opinions made it in. There are jokes about harpists and trombonists, and a love triangle involving a Black cellist living in Vienna. I wanted to explore how race and gender intersect in classical music.<\/p>\n

OW: Do you see yourself continuing to write about music?<\/p>\n

IS: Absolutely. I\u2019m working on a third novel and a TV script, both are rooted in classical music. It\u2019s a world I know, and it\u2019s exciting and sexy.<\/p>\n

OW: What draws you to fiction in general?<\/p>\n

IS: I think every novel is a window into a life unlike your own. That\u2019s why I read. I just finished a book about a rehabilitation program for ISIS brides in Iraq\u2014dark, funny, and brilliant. The author had actually worked in that world. Any opaque world is fascinating.<\/p>\n

OW: Do you separate your audiences between music and writing?<\/p>\n

IS: People who loved the first book now see opera content on my Instagram. And music fans see writing content. I haven\u2019t split them. My friends joke I turn hobbies into careers. I don\u2019t knit, but if I did, they\u2019d expect me to open a scarf shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the World is Ending\u201d hits bookstores on July 17, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first draft didn\u2019t work. Australian mezzo-soprano and novelist Indyana Schneider says that plainly, without flinching. By the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[223,88,3986],"class_list":{"0":"post-3389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-indyana-schneider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}