Character Interview with Seb from THE BIG SMOKE

Guess who's joining us today?! Seb from THE BIG SMOKE! This is a New Adult novel by Cally Jackson that follows the lives of Seb and Ceara as they navigate their first year of university in a big, new city. It's great. You should read it!
(My review is here)

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Welcome Seb. Thanks for joining us today :-)

Thanks for inviting me. This is the first time I’ve actually been invited to be on a blog. Cally usually just quotes me without checking if I mind.

First things first: How would you describe yourself? 

Um, I’d try not to. But if I had to, I guess I’d say that I’m a country guy who’s attempting to get used to living in the city and going to uni. And not doing a very good job at it!

What do you think of the portrait of you on THE BIG SMOKE’s cover (lying there looking all laid back and sexy and stuff ;-) )? 

*looks at floor for a long period of time* Wow, okay. That’s embarrassing. You know how photos in magazines are always photo-shopped? Well, so is that one on the cover. I’m not nearly that ‘sexy’ in real life. I mean, it’s definitely me, but it’s the best version of me, not the way I look every moment of the day. Does that make sense?

I hear you haven’t read a book in years (*gasp* The horror!). If you were tied down and forced to read something, what book would you choose and why?

Probably The Big Smoke, so I’d know for sure all the humiliating things Cally has told everyone about me. Then again, I’d probably prefer not to know. 

Actually, there’s this book that Cally always says was one of her ‘inspirations’ for when she was writing the chapters from my perspective. It’s got some weird title. Catcher something. Maybe if I read that, I’d understand why Cally thought she could share so many of my private thoughts with everyone. Catcher in the Dry, that’s it… I think.

Do you have an embarrassing childhood memory you’ve never shared with anyone else (and now feel the sudden urge to share with ALL the readers of this blog?!)? 

Cally’s shared a fair few of them already so I guess I may as well add another to the list.
One time when I was about nine, my mate Brad convinced me that someone had been murdered in his house before they bought it. And, of course, the murder had happened in the room that I slept in. It got to about ten that night and I couldn’t hack it anymore. I was too scared, so Dad had to come pick me up and take me home. Soft, I know. Yet another thing that Brad will never let me live down.

When you moved to “the Big Smoke” you got a house mate. What was it like having to share your space with someone? 

Sharing a unit with Luke is… interesting. To be honest, we want to kill each other a lot of the time, cos he’s so friggen anal about the house being spotless all the time and I’m not the tidiest guy around. We’ve definitely had some big arguments over the past few months, and sometimes they’ve been over much more important stuff than me not wiping the gravy spots off the kettle. But underneath it all, Luke’s a pretty good guy. He just needs to take a chill pill every now and then.

Can you tell us exactly what you thought of Ceara during the very first conversation you had with her? 

It’s a bit hard to remember exactly what I thought of Ceara the first time I met her, cos my head was spinning like crazy. I pretty much saved her life. She was walking along the street reading a book and almost got herself run over, but I pulled her off the road just in time.
Okay, I guess I do remember a little bit of what I thought. Again, this is kind of embarassing to talk about, but what the hell - I thought she was intense but beautiful. I really wanted to spend some time with her and get to know her, but then my mate Heath came along and ruined the moment. If she had’ve asked me to skip my lecture and stay with her, I would have for sure. But she didn’t, so we went our separate ways.

Now here’s a deep one: What do you think about the concept of destiny?

Deep is one word for it. I’d probably choose ‘corny’, but anyway….
If you had’ve asked me that question a year ago, I would have laughed at you (still did, a little bit). But considering some of the crazy shit that’s happened since I moved to Brisbane, maybe there is such a thing as destiny, after all. Ugh, I can’t believe I just said that. Seriously, can you delete that last part? Please?

And lastly ... just between you and me (and everyone else reading this) ... are you sick of Cally yet? I mean, you’ve been stuck inside her head for a preeeeeeetty long time, right?! Must be good to finally get out!

Geez, you have no idea. That girl needs to get some professional help. I mean, she’d done a decent-enough job of telling my and Ceara’s stories five years ago, but then one critiquer told her that she hadn’t let the reader get to know the characters well enough, so she decided to re-write the whole bloody book.
I think she and Ceara have more in common than Cally will admit – they’re both total perfectionists. And book worms. And both a bit messed up in the head. Cally might deny it, but I’ve lived in her brain for 12 years now, so I reckon I’m in a good position to judge it. And just between you and me (and everyone else reading this), there’s definitely a loose screw up there somewhere. I’m just glad I’m escaping before the screw falls out completely. I feel sorry for her next bunch of characters…

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HAHAHA! Now that was fun, right?! ;-)

If you'd like to hear more from Seb, you can purchase a copy of The Big Smoke:

• in paperback format from Cally's buy page (Australia and New Zealand) or Amazon (rest of the world)
• in e-book format from Smashwords(preferred digital supplier), Amazon, iBooks,Kobo, Diesel and other e-stores.

Interview with Jessica Bell, author of String Bridge

Jessica Bell has organized a jam-packed blog tour to promote the release of her gorgeous (I'm telling the truth. I've read it) book, String Bridge, and today I am pleased to be hosting her here on my blog :-)




1. What is your favourite time of day to write?

I tend to write better at night. For some reason I become really alert when it gets dark. I think it’s ingrained from my days as a bartender and waitress.

2. Are you a plotter or a pantzer?

A bit of both. I plot enough to know my protagonist’s goals and where the story has to end up, but not in detail. I like the element of surprise.

(I do the same...)


3. What's a completely random fact about you that most people don't know?

Um … any clothing that is body fitted, I can’t wear twice in a row. Even if I’ve only worn it for a couple of hours it has to go in the washing machine.

(Hmm... I don't have that problem!)

4. What was your favourite book as a child?

Enid Blyton’s The Faraway Tree.

(Oh my gosh! I loved The Faraway Tree! I loved all Enid Blyton's stories actually...)

5. If you were stuck in an elevator and had the choice of any writer, living or dead, to be stuck with, who would it be and why?

This is a tough question. I’d actually prefer to be stuck in an elevator with a musician. Can I do that? They’re bound to have some sort of instrument on them. Live entertainment in a time of need. Er … musical instrument, folks, get your minds out of the gutter. :-)

6. Out of all the characters you’ve ever created, tell us about the one you’d most like to meet in real life.

Well, I’d have to say I’d like to meet the character I’ve recently conjured up for my third novel. Her name is Concetta. An Italian a cappella singer from Milan, who moves to Arles, France to be close to the spirit of Vincent Van Gogh, whose art inspires her music. But this woman moved there right in the middle of a political change which limits people’s ability to have unique identities. It's illegal to wear clothes. In some streets, it's also illegal to sing without accompanying instruments. Concetta breaks these laws in protest. As punishment, her vocal chords are brutally slashed and her eardrums surgically perforated. Unable to cope living a life without song, she resolves to drown herself in the river clothed in a dress stained with performance memories. But her suicide attempt is cut short as someone grabs her by the throat and pulls her to the surface.

(Wow. Intense.)

7. Have you ever based a character on a real person you know, and would you tell that person?

All my characters have various traits of various people I know and/or have met. I think all writers do that. Aren’t we all constantly observing behaviour? I think we do it without even being aware sometimes. Having said that, though, none of my characters are one person in entirety. For example, Alex, in String Bridge, has the same occupation as my partner, the temper of an ex-boyfriend, and the past of someone completely fictional. Would I tell them? Well, I don’t really think it’s necessary in cases like this. And I think I’d steer clear of writing about a real person anyway, unless I was writing non-fiction.

8. If for some reason you couldn’t be a writer, what would you be?

Haha. Are you kidding? A rock star of course. :-)

9. Lastly (and most importantly): chocolate or ice cream?

Ice cream. No doubt about it! And I don’t even care what flavor.

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Jessica Bell is a literary women's fiction author, poet and singer/songwriter who grew up in Melbourne, Australia, to two gothic rock musicians who had successful independent careers during the '80s and early '90s. She spent much of her childhood travelling to and from Australia to Europe, experiencing two entirely different worlds, yet feeling equally at home in both environments. She currently lives in Athens, Greece and works as a freelance writer/editor for English Language Teaching publishers worldwide, such as HarperCollins, Pearson Education and Macmillan Education. In addition to String Bridge, Jessica has published a book of poetry called Twisted Velvet Chains. A full list of poems and short stories published in various anthologies and literary magazines can be found under Published Works & Awards, on her website. From September 2012 Jessica will be hosting the Homeric Writers' Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca, home of Odysseus.

Purchase String Bridge:

eBook

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Paperback:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

Soundtrack:

iTunes

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Where you can find Jessica:

String Bridge Website
Goodreads
String Bridge Book Trailer
String Bridge Merchandise
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Retreat & Workshop site

Gabrielle, The Authoress

As part of Gabrielle’s prize in the Power of Tension Blogfest, she won an interview on both my and Cally’s blogs (The Tension Blogfest? you ask. Wasn’t that, like, ages ago? Correct. But I’ve been out of the country recently, and before that... end-of-term-madness!).

So, let's get down to business!

I'd like to introduce to you all Julie Gabrielle Anne, all the way from Tennessee, USA (which is kind of far from South Africa...).

To set the scene, how long have you been writing and what type of stories do you write?

I’ve been writing since I was nine. I’d start a story, quickly get tired of it, and end up killing off the entire cast and tacking on “the end” just so I could say it was done. Not until I was fourteen did I start writing seriously. My favorite genres to write and read are humor, sci-fi, and action. Anything with big guns or big laughs :)

[At least you got to "the end". I only ever got a few chapters in and then got bored and moved on!]

Describe your favourite writing place.

My favorite place to write is at my desk. It’s older than me and came from my grandmother. I don’t like to sit at it, though. I have to sit on top of it, with my music going loud and my legs dangling off either side. It’s very comfy.

[Hmm, never tried sitting ON my desk...]

Are you a plotter or a pantzer?

I am both when I have to be, but I’m a pantzer by nature. It’s so much more fun to just dive in with no plan and start writing whatever crazy things come to mind. Sometimes, like with a prequel novel that I’m working on now, I have to plot because the novel covers twenty-five years, and I have to be careful not to mess up the timeline in the orginal novels.

[I'm with you on this. Pantzing comes more naturally to me too.]

Would you rather have a great plotline or fantastic technical writing? (No, you can’t choose both here!)

Definitely great plotline! You can always fix messy technical writing later, and it’s not as much of a headache as a disastrous plotline.

[Agreed.]

What's a completely random fact about you that most people don't know?

Hm. It drives me absolutely nuts when my younger siblings wrinkle the rug in my room. I can’t focus on anything else if the rug is crooked or has a lump in it.

[Haha, yup, that's pretty random!]

What was your favourite book as a child?

This one is an easy one. HOP ON POP by Dr. Seuss. It’s still one of my favorites. When I was learning to read, it was one of the few books I could read by myself and one of the first of Dr. Seuss’s genius books that I ever read.

[Ooh, I haven't read that one! Must go on the to-read-to-my-children-one-day list...]

If you were stuck in an elevator and had the choice of any writer, living or dead, to be stuck with, who would it be and why?

This is a tough one… Got it! Kate Brian. She’s the author who turned me onto romantic humor in YA, both reading and writing it. I think she’s a genius. In her Privilege series, the main character is a murderer and completely psychotic, but I still ended up rooting for her. What kind of crazy good writer can do that??

[Wow. I'll have to check out this Kate Brian.]

Out of all the characters you’ve ever created, tell us about the one you’d most like to meet in real life.

This is a close call between two characters from the same book, but I’d have to go with Darius Hanneman. He’s a cyborg turned con artist, teleporter, and fiercely loyal. He’s also a walking time bomb, almost always ends up getting somebody in trouble, and is never sorry. But on the rare occasion he can be sweet and sort of funny.

[Ok, I would be a little scared to meet this Darius dude!]

Have you ever based a character on a real person you know, and would you tell that person?

There is one character I based off a real person, but I never did and probably never will tell them. They’d be flattered to begin with, but when they found out who the character was… they’d be less pleased. Haha.

[Probably best to keep quiet then!]

Lastly (and most importantly): chocolate or ice cream?

*gasp* Is it even possible to survive with just one or the other? I love chocolate sooo much, but I’m ninety-nine percent certain I would expire without ice cream. Does chocolate ice cream count as chocolate?

[Hmm... Ok, you can have chocolate ice cream :-)]

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Thank you, Gabrielle, and congratulations once again on an excellent entry in the Power of Tension Blogfest.

If you're interested in following Gabrielle's writing journey you can find her on her blog, The Authoress | Of A Writerly Sort.

Crusader Challenge Prize - My First Interview!

Remember the nonsense poem that ended with a Bang!? The one I wrote as part of the first Crusader Challenge for Rachael Harrie's Writers' Platform-Building Crusade?

Well... I won that challenge!! And the prize was an Aspiring Author interview.

You should really go see it! Then when I'm super cool and famous one day you can say YOU were there for the first interview!

(Come on, stop laughing, a girl can dream, right?!)