Review: DRIVE by Stephanie Fournet
I have loved everything I’ve read from Stephanie Fournet, and DRIVE did not disa[...]
Please help me welcome Lisa Maxwell, I’m excited to have her as a guest today! She’s stopping by for an interview as part of her SWEET UNREST Blog Tour, so check out her Q&A below and be sure to enter the giveaway!
A world where souls walk free and dreams become portals to the past…
Lucy Aimes has always been practical. But even her rational mind can’t explain her dark and familiar dreams of a time long ago, filled with people she shouldn’t know, but does. When her family moves to New Orleans, Lucy’s dreams suddenly become more intense. Reluctantly drawn into the old city’s mystical undercurrent, she searches for answers about the nighttime visions that haunt her.
What Lucy finds is Alex, a mysterious boy who behaves as if they’ve known each other forever. They’ve only just met, and she shouldn’t be drawn to him, but she is. As she tries to unlock Alex’s secrets, a killer strikes close to home and a century-old vendetta unspools, putting Lucy and everyone she loves in mortal danger.
Q&A with Lisa Maxwell
What inspired you to want to become a writer?
Unemployment.
No, seriously. I’d recently moved from the Midwest, where I grew up, to Birmingham, Alabama because my husband had gotten a job there. I had a newly minted PhD, no job prospects, and 2 small kids to watch. I felt absolutely stuck. I’d been reading a lot of romance and a bunch of YA and thought, “why not?” I’d always written—essays, academic articles, research stuff—but I’d never really thought about writing creatively. It didn’t take long, though, before I was absolutely hooked.
If you could meet one person who has died who would you choose?
My grandmother—my dad’s mom. She died suddenly and unexpectedly when I was only a year and a half old, but I grew up with all these stories about her—how lovely she was and all that. I don’t actually have any memories of her at all, so I feel like she’s just a story to me now. I’d love to see if my imagination meets the reality.
What was your favorite book when you were a child/teen?
Strangely enough, I really loved what a lot of people might think of as “boy” books: WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS, MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, THE BLACK STALLION. When I got into my teens, I read thrillers by Dean Koontz and David Morrell.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Read everything. Don’t limit yourself to reading what you think you like. You have to read beyond what you think you like—read beyond YA or beyond romance. And if you only think you like literary stuff, you have to read more commercially. All of those types of books have something to teach you about writing, but if you don’t read widely, you’re not going to have much new to bring to the genre you choose to write.
The only other advice is to finish what you’re working on and keep writing.
Do you have any hobbies? Writing doesn’t count!
I like to eat and I love to cook. I love finding new restaurants—everything from dives to 4-star places. And I love trying new recipes.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go, and why?
Italy. Always Italy. I mean, I’d love to see Tahiti, but if someone was putting me on a plane right now, it would be to Venice or Rome. I lived there for a summer in college, and I never get tired of it—the food, the people, the art, the smell of cigarettes and the roar of the motorini when you’re sitting in a piazza. It feels like home.
What drew you to writing this genre?
I really love the freedom of YA. I like that moment right before adulthood crushes in on you, before the bills and the mortgage payments and the worries about getting your kids into a good school start.
The teen years are this really magical and wonderful (and often awful) place between—between childhood and adulthood, between independence and dependence, between who you think you want to be and who you are really going to become. There’s so much possibility there. What’s not to love?
And I really love magic. Realism has never been my thing. Even in all my studies and my “literary” reading, I’ve always been drawn to the authors that use magic to make reality more real, to make truth more true. Writers like Toni Morrison and Tim O’Brien. I’m not sure that I could write a straight-up, magic-free book.
Are you a social butterfly or a wallflower?
I love entertaining. I love to have people over and to put on an elaborate dinner or party, but if I’m in a room full of people I don’t know, I’m probably standing in a corner wishing I could be at home in my PJs with the kids and a movie.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in writing YA in today’s market?
I think writing for publication is always challenging, because so much of it is about luck. I’ve known people who are wicked talented, who have amazing books, but the timing is off or the market is over-saturated or they don’t hit the right editor at the right time.
And even if you do get a deal—even if you get a great-big-giant life-changing deal, there’s no guarantee that the book will do what the publisher wants it to do. There’s no guarantee that it’s going to be the bestseller they hoped it would be or that you’ll get another contract after that.
Talent and hard work are important, absolutely, but there is this weird element of luck. And no matter what YOU do, you can’t plan for that or work any harder to affect that. Getting over that fact and making yourself write the next book is really the hardest part, I think.
What book do you love that doesn’t get a lot of hype?
I love this question! The book that I absolutely adore is BLOOD MAGIC by Tessa Gratton. It is so beautifully written and wonderfully plotted and imaginative. The sequel is just as wonderful.
Are you working on something new? Can you tell us what’s coming next?
I have a bunch of stuff coming up! In 2015, the sequel to SWEET UNREST will be out, probably in the fall. THE GATHERING DEEP is going to be a continuation of the story, but it’s from a different character’s perspective all together. I also have a strange and dark little Middle Grade that I’m keeping my fingers crossed will find a home.
Then I’m really, really excited about my Spring 2016 book from Simon Pulse, probably because I’ve been writing and re-writing it since 2011. Right now it’s titled HEARTLESS THINGS. It’s kind of Peter Pan of the Flies meets War Horse. A girl and her friend get kidnapped from London and taken to a strange world called Neverland, but things aren’t quite what they seem. There are wickedly dangerous fey of all kinds, a sexy, brooding pirate boy with a clockwork hand, and a punk rock-ish boy who calls himself Pan. I’m SO excited for readers to finally meet these characters!
About Lisa Maxwell
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Lisa Maxwell is the author of Sweet Unrest (Flux, Fall 2014) and Heartless Things (Simon Pulse, Spring 2016). She has a PhD in English, and when she’s not writing books, she’s a professor at a local college. She lives near DC with her very patient husband and two not-so patient boys.
Many thanks to Lisa for stopping by today to answer my questions! Readers, be sure to enter the giveaway below.
