Dark Parties: Author Interview

May 25, 2012 Heidi Uncategorized 0

Hello and welcome! YA Bibliophile is the next stop on the blog tour for Sara Grant’s Dark Parties! Today I have an author interview and a giveaway for you! First, a bit about Dark Parties and Sara Grant:

Dark Parties: Sixteen-year-old Neva was born and raised in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. Hundreds of years ago, her country constructed an electrified dome to protect itself from the outside world. What once might have protected, now imprisons. Her country is decaying and its citizens are dying.
Neva and her friends dream of freedom.
A forbidden party leads to complications. Suddenly Neva’s falling for her best friend’s boyfriend, uncovering secrets that threaten to destroy her friends, her family and her country — and discovering the horrifying truth about what happens to The Missing. . .

Bio: Sara Grant was born and raised in Washington, Indiana. She graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, with degrees in journalism and psychology, and later she earned a master’s degree in creative and life writing Goldsmiths College, University of London. Sara is senior commissioning editor for Working Partners, a London-based company creating series fiction for children. She has worked on ten different series and edited more than 75 books. Dark Parties is her first young adult novel.

Author Interview:

YA Bibliophile: I read in your bio that you have a degree in psychology. Did that come in to play at all when you were writing Dark Parties?

Sara Grant: Understanding – or at least observing – human behavior plays a fundamental role in developing characters. I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Indiana University, but I think my life experiences have a bigger influence on my characters than any scholarly study.

YAB: Speaking of college, if you could design your own degree that was made up of any kinds of courses that you wanted what might it have looked like?

SG: I love learning. While I was attending Indiana University for my bachelor’s and Goldsmith’s College for my master’s, there were so many more classes I wanted to take. If I had endless money and time, I think I would never stop taking classes. The quirkier the better. Classes and seminars are always a great source of inspiration. Subjects that might not initially seem interesting can end up generating the best ideas. So my own degree would be an eclectic mix of everything from archaeology to forensic pathology from the history of rock ‘n’ roll to philosophy and everything in between.

YAB: Do you have any writing rituals or steps you need to follow when working on a project?

SG: I try not to be too precious about my writing time. I try to write whenever and wherever I can. I find some of my most productive writing is on planes, trains, boats, etc…. Sometimes shaking up my writing time and location helps inspire me.

YAB: If you could travel to the world(s) of any book(s) you’ve read where would you want to go?

SG: I hate to avoid the question, but the truth is…there’s no place like home. Also I tend to read lots of dystopian novels – so I definitely wouldn’t want to go to any of those settings. I love murder mysteries and thrillers. Most of those locations prove they aren’t too friendly to tourists. I recently took an amazing vacation in the Maldives. For a week I was on this really small island in a hut over the ocean. I may have to use it as a setting for a future novel just so I can go back there!

YAB: What’s the best book you’ve read recently?

SG: I’ve only recently discovered Libba Bray. I read Going Bovine and Beauty Queens last year. The books are wild and imaginative and layered. As soon as I finished them, I wanted to go back and read them again because there was simply too much to appreciate in one reading.

Thanks so much to Sara for taking the time to answer my interview questions. I too am a fan of all things Libba Bray! Also, I wouldn’t want to visit any of the dystopian settings I read about either! No fears about avoiding that question!

Check out the full tour here!

And now for the giveaway… I have another of the book-inspired necklaces to give away!