Monday, January 6, 2014

Not All 17-year-old Young Adult Characters Have Superpowers!

Okay, yeah, I know this isn't earth-shattering news. But it's a way Raven Reviews opens an interview with me.* I quote:
"Lately, it seems all young adult novels involve a seventeen year old who either have a supernatural secret or find out he or she is a supernatural. Then I came across this next book where the teen was being raised by a black man and a white man and no mother. And they are always on the move. It seems strange, right? Then, the main character falls in love with her track coach. Seems like a lot of stuff going on here. I decided to take a closer look at the book and the author."
If you care to read the interview, head on over to Raven Reviews and find out what inspired Portrait of a Girl Running. There is also a link to an excerpt of the first chapter.

I did warn you I'd be doing some promotion of this book, didn't I?

8 comments:

  1. Of course not all 17-year-old young adult characters have superpowers. Some simply live in a futuristic dystopia. Duh.

    Excellent interview, though. And nice to see that blues has such influence in your novel. I don't think I got into it at all until my 20s, so at 17 Leila is ahead of me in both her artistic prowess and her blues appreciation.

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    1. And those 17-year-old young adult characters with no superpowers and who don't live in a futuristic dystopia at least have some interesting dentistry!

      As far as the blues go, I didn't know I liked the blues when I was 17--it was more of a mixed genre with blues influence. I didn't really start listening to it--actually spending money on it--until around the time I started writing the story. It just felt like a good fit--not too cliche.

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  2. That is an excellent interview. And I've always loved your title (cover is pretty cool too). I never got into characters with superpower powers or futuristic traits and settings, other than Dune. But that's another conversation.

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    1. Thanks Yvonne! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about doing an interview. I always find it hard to give good answers to the questions--at least answers that make it worth reading. Thanks for the positive feedback. :)

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  3. Great interview! And you said you don't do them. I think it was splendid.

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    1. I think that aside from the one I did for you on Uncharted, this is the only one I've done. That said, there will be more on the horizon. The perk is, they will be posted elsewhere, and so if someone doesn't feel like reading it, they don't have to! :)

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  4. A fine interview, engaging and thoughtful. As teens we seem to always be running. In retrospect, we find that mostly we have been running from our true selves and towards dreams that were born more from our insecurities than our strengths. Best of luck with your two books! :-)

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    1. There's a lot of truth in that--how our adolescence was so wrapped up in 'running from our true selves and towards dreams that were born more from our insecurities than our strengths.' And then we hit middle age and realize time is running out. Hopefully we by then our strengths are outrunning our insecurities --then again, do they ever? Maybe all they really do is close the distance.

      Thanks for reading the interview and for your best wishes with my novels.

      (I realize I need to get busy and post something--an update or something--on this poor languishing blog.) :-)

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