I got to interview the lovely Gina Blaxill (the author of Pretty Twisted) and here are the first ten questions I asked her!
See the whole interview here!
1. Did you ever talk to someone over the internet, and agree to meet them as a teenager?
As a teenager I mainly talked to my friends from school online - I met my first "Internet person" when I was at university. We're still good friends now - we chat online, exchange birthday and Christmas presents and meet up face to face.
2. Was there somebody like Freya in your life?
There are always Freyas wherever you go! I see her as the kind of girl you always notice whether you're in school or working - the one that seems to have everything and you maybe secretly want to be. Usually I've found that these girls aren't as perfect as they seem, funnily enough - which I guess is the case with Freya in the book.
3. Is Jono based on anybody you know?
Like all my characters, he is a little bit like me - I was feeling lonely and out of place when I wrote the book, so that definitely came into it. He's also inspired by the teenagers who used to be on the bus I used every day when I was working in Norwich. There was only one bus you could get so I saw them pretty much every day - it was a bit like a social club! I got to evasdrop on a lot of their conversations and got a bit of an idea of what it was like to be a college kid living in the countryside.
4. Do you see yourself in Ros?
Ros is the character who is most like me. Like her, I draw and bake cakes, and at her age I also got quite angry about being the "reliable one" in my group of friends, who was always expected to be sensible and supportive. I also love dogs!
5. Have you ever lied about your age to a guy over the internet?
Nope! I'm usually pretty cagey with details like that.
6. Do you have a favourite Young Adult book and if you do what is it?
A book which really got to me was Lucas by Kevin Brooks - it's the only book I finished then immediately read. It's rather heartbreaking and very atmospheric and profound.
7. What was your favourite book as a teenager?
I was really into fantasy books, especially by Tamora Pierce because they were mainly about girls. Her first book "Alanna: the First Adventure" is about a girl who disguises herself as a boy to become a knight. It's the first book in a quartet and I loved it so much I read all the others in one day (I was at a friend's house too - she must have thought me very anti-social, coming over to see her and then just reading...).
8. Who is the author you most admire?
Agatha Christie - she's not a YA author, but she wrote so many crime novels. I'd love to have the ability to constantly invent so many clever plots and mysteries. There's a reason why after the Bible and Shakespeare she's the best selling writer in the UK.
9. Which author would you really like to read your book?
This is an interesting one - I'd love any of the YA authors who are popular today to pick up Pretty Twisted (and hopefully like it), especially ones I read when I was a teenager.
10. Now you've written the book, is there anything, looking back that you wish you could change?
This is a tough question - but I'd say I could probably make the book a little longer. My dad is adamant that there should have been a fight at the end which I'm not so sure on, but I probably could have extended the investigation part.
So thanks a lot to MKB for the opportunity to interview Gina and hope ya'll like the interview!
Sorry I haven't been around much, exams made my life a bit sucky recently. I haven't been able to read much either...can you believe I haven't even finished Jane Eyre yet and I've had it for about three weeks!!!
Anyways, love ya'll long time!
JB xx
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