1) Why young adult? Did you choose this genre or were you 'chosen' by it? I was chosen by it. Definitely. When I wrote my first Kelly Ann novel, My Desperate Love Diary, I'd no particular age group of readers in mind but I guess, since it was a teen girl's diary, publishers assumed this was my target audience. In fact, women of all ages have told me they enjoyed these books and my oldest fan is in her seventies! I think it helps that I don't write with only teens in mind so I'm never talking down or moralising to them. Girls of any age just wanna have fun! 2) Is there an author, living or dead, who inspired you particularly? Probably Sue Townsend with her novel "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 133/4" Absolutely hilarious! 3) Please, tell us about your last book and, if you can, about your future projects. My Scorching Summer Diary is a story about seventeen-year-old Kelly Ann leaves behind her boyfriend, family and friends in Glasgow to live and work in a London hotel for the summer. But losing her luggage and fending off tube gropers on her first day isn't a good start. Almost being arrested for stealing men's underwear on her second isn't any better. However she does manage to make friends, even though, to impress her new pals, she pretends to be older and more sophisticated than she is, with a doctor boyfriend. London life is fun, even though she has to work in a steaming hot kitchen all day. But her made-up life starts to get very complicated, and she has rely on old friends to save the day. As for future projects, I've several things in mind. I'm revamping an adult Kelly Ann story I worked on some time ago. I'm also thinking of writing a novel about a love hate relationship which develops between a working class boy from the wrong end of town and a privately educated, spoiled rich girl. A kind of modern, urban Wuthering Heights but with much more humour. 4) How was your writing journey? Was it difficult to find an agent and get published? Yes and no. I'd always wanted to be a writer but had heard how difficult it was to get published and this put me off for years. I just didn't have the confidence to try. But when my daughter and niece read some of the early Kelly Ann diary entries on my computer, they thought they were a hoot, and so they encouraged me to finish the novel and send it off. I was gobsmacked when I was taken on almost immediately by a great agent, Guy Rose, and published shortly after by a major publisher Random House. I know how lucky I am as there are many talented authors who have had to try much harder for much longer to get into print. 5) What's your opinion about this E-book revolution?
Would you consider the indie route? I think it's very exciting and it provides a whole new way for authors to reach readers. While I personally love the feel of a real book I can see e-books have advantages. Easy to pack on holiday for example. Also they're kind of anonymous so you can read a soppy romance on the bus and no one will know it isn't War and Peace. And yes, I might try putting a novel directly on to Kindle to see how this works. Perhaps the adult Kelly Ann story, "All or Nothing" once I'm satisfied with the revisions. 6) Nowadays many publishers expect their authors to use social media a lot
to promote their books. Many authors, on the other hand, would prefer
to write only, without being distracted by digital trivialities:
what are your thoughts? Hmm, this is a difficult one. I can see where an author could spend so much time interacting with social media that they never get round to writing anything! On the other hand I think it's great that readers and authors can get in touch directly in a way which would have been impossible ten years ago. Some authors love social media, some shun it completely. I'm an inbetweener.
To know more about Liz, please visit her website: http://www.lizrettig.com/
To buy her latest book, simply click on the cover below:
