An Interview with a character

It’s now 50 days to the release of The Next Together! When did that happen? How is it that close? (but also, how is there still fifty whole days to go?!?)

To celebrate, I thought I’d post a little teaser. Here’s an ‘interview’ I conducted with my main character Kate, in the spirit of my new blog series Behind the Book. This is set just before the beginning of The Next Together, and there are no spoilers at all.

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Hey Kate, how are you feeling about starting university?

Hi! I’m really really excited about uni, especially because it means I’ll be moving closer to my grannies (I have married grandmothers, it’s 2039, get over it.). I can’t wait to go and steal all their baking!! I’m going to eat so many pies.

What are you studying?

Biology. AKA THE BEST SUBJECT, OBVIOUSLY. I have major plans to take over the world one day. Wait, what?

Have you made any friends at uni yet?

Not yet!

And is there anyone you’re going to be sad to leave behind? A boyfriend?

Nope! I’m single and ready to mingle. I have high hopes for fresher’s week. If you are/see any shy, brunet boys with glasses, hit me up, okay?

What are your hobbies?

Uh…..does stalking cute boys count as a hobby? Because I’m an expert at that.

Oh, fandom! I’m big into fandom. Have you heard of that famous blogger, Spartacus? No? Well, he does social activism stuff. He’s a little bit illegal, and a little bit hilarious, and a whole lot of cute. I’m a big fan, as you can tell from my AO3 page.

Wait, now I think about it, that’s just stalking cute boys as well. Dammit.

Well, I hope you meet the boy of your dreams at university. Any words of advice for any fellow freshers?

Nobody has any idea what they are doing. Just fake confidence and everyone will be so impressed and intimidated by you that you won’t have to worry about anything else.

And don’t go mad on the canteen food. You’re better than that.

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If that wasn’t enough of a treat for you, here are my characters Kate and Matt….as mermaids. I may have discovered a website that lets you create them, and gone a little crazy with power.

P.S. I’m going to be at YALC at the London Comicon this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday. If you see me, come and say hello, and I’ll give you a signed The Next Together bookmark. Here’s what I look like, as of Monday:

And here’s what the bookmarks look like (just so you can weigh up the pros and cons of coming up to me):

In other ~*~Events news~*~, I’m going to be talking on a panel at the Nine Worlds convention in London on August 7th about diversity in YA.

Here’s the full description:

Beyond the Binary: gender and sexuality in YA – 1.30pm – 2.45pm, Room 38
More and more non-traditional characters enter the YA stage. Characters who defy gender norms and gender binaries. Characters who fall somewhere along the LGBTQIA* spectrum. Characters who kick ass and take names. How does YA explore these new stories, who are the characters we should be paying attention to, and what is there still to come?

Panel: James Dawson, Tom Pollock, Sarah Benwell, Lauren E James, Laura Lam, Emma Trevayne, Marieke Nijkamp

A rebloggable version of this post can be found here.