The Kidlit Interview Series
Children's literature encompasses some of the most imaginative, entertaining, well-written fiction out there, so every Tuesday I shine a spotlight on it by interviewing a different middle-grade author. Come back regularly to find writers answering crucial questions like who they'd want riding alongside come the zombie apocalypse...
That is, *normally* I shine a light on a middle-grade author. But this week I have a special one-off YA guest, Kat Ellis, author of the creepy and mysterious Blackfin Sky. We'll let her off since she's an honorary dragon already by virtue of being Welsh ;) Oh and because she's super-talented and cracks good jokes.
You'll usually find Kat up to no good on Twitter, taking photographs in cemeteries, or watching scary films with her husband and feral cat. Blackfin Sky is her first novel, about a girl who falls from Blackfin Pier on the night of her birthday and drowns… only to show up at school three months later as though nothing happened. It will be published in the UK on 14th May (tomorrow!) by Firefly Press, and in the US in September by Running Press Teen.
You'll usually find Kat up to no good on Twitter, taking photographs in cemeteries, or watching scary films with her husband and feral cat. Blackfin Sky is her first novel, about a girl who falls from Blackfin Pier on the night of her birthday and drowns… only to show up at school three months later as though nothing happened. It will be published in the UK on 14th May (tomorrow!) by Firefly Press, and in the US in September by Running Press Teen.
THE HERE BE DRAGONS 8 KILLER QUESTIONS
1) Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?
Definitely Michael Grant. He knows how to write brilliant apocalyptic stuff, and I reckon he can throw a mean punch.
2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)
Oh, I’m all about the future - in the most geeky, uncool way. Stick me in a Starfleet uniform and send me where no-one has gone before! (Boldly or otherwise.)
3) What’s your favourite thing about writing for teens?
Being a teen, you’re on the cusp of everything – leaving school, moving out on your own, finding out what you’re going to be, having real adventures in life. And ANYTHING is possible. How can that not be the most exciting thing to write about? And the most exciting people to write for?
4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a YA book – what’s your special talent or power?
While I’m tempted to say ‘kicking witchy asses’ is my special power, it would probably be more practical to come up with something that will be useful longer-term. So… the ability to make stuff float. I reckon I could make some serious dough doing that. Have my own TV show and shiz. Like Dynamo.
5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?
I once cemented up my dad’s air bricks (the holey ones that let the house breathe or whatever) because I was bored, and had to face The Wrath of Dad. This was not long after I accidentally set his bin on fire in the living room, so it was especially wrathy.
6) What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing when you started out?
The publishing business seems to work on a cycle of “Do everything NOW NOW NOW! And now waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiitttt… and do more things NOW NOW NOW!” Stoppy-starty, if you will.
I wish I’d known sooner that there would be these lulls, so that I could cram them full of writing time, and leave myself a bit less manic during the NOW NOW NOW times.
7) What would your daemon be?
My cat, Pilot. He’s appropriately evil, and possibly the biggest domestic cat that ever lived. The neighbour’s dog is scared of him.
8) My book doesn’t have dragons, but it does have... a haunted weathervane, a creepy mime, and a circus in the woods.
Definitely Michael Grant. He knows how to write brilliant apocalyptic stuff, and I reckon he can throw a mean punch.
2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)
Oh, I’m all about the future - in the most geeky, uncool way. Stick me in a Starfleet uniform and send me where no-one has gone before! (Boldly or otherwise.)
3) What’s your favourite thing about writing for teens?
Being a teen, you’re on the cusp of everything – leaving school, moving out on your own, finding out what you’re going to be, having real adventures in life. And ANYTHING is possible. How can that not be the most exciting thing to write about? And the most exciting people to write for?
4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a YA book – what’s your special talent or power?
While I’m tempted to say ‘kicking witchy asses’ is my special power, it would probably be more practical to come up with something that will be useful longer-term. So… the ability to make stuff float. I reckon I could make some serious dough doing that. Have my own TV show and shiz. Like Dynamo.
5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?
I once cemented up my dad’s air bricks (the holey ones that let the house breathe or whatever) because I was bored, and had to face The Wrath of Dad. This was not long after I accidentally set his bin on fire in the living room, so it was especially wrathy.
6) What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing when you started out?
The publishing business seems to work on a cycle of “Do everything NOW NOW NOW! And now waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiitttt… and do more things NOW NOW NOW!” Stoppy-starty, if you will.
I wish I’d known sooner that there would be these lulls, so that I could cram them full of writing time, and leave myself a bit less manic during the NOW NOW NOW times.
7) What would your daemon be?
My cat, Pilot. He’s appropriately evil, and possibly the biggest domestic cat that ever lived. The neighbour’s dog is scared of him.
8) My book doesn’t have dragons, but it does have... a haunted weathervane, a creepy mime, and a circus in the woods.
Well we may differ on who the most exciting readers to write for are, but Kat is spot on about the stop-startiness of publishing :) To find out more about Kat and her books, stop by her blog, website, Tumblr, Twitter or Goodreads page.
Come back next Tuesday for the Here Be Dragons interview with Elen Caldecott, author of The Great Ice-Cream Heist!
