Fang Girl Promo Blitz!
Hosted by Xpresso Book Tours
I have a fun interview and an awesome giveaway!
I have a fun interview and an awesome giveaway!
Things That Are Destroying Jane Greene’s Undead Social Life Before It Can Even Begin:
1) A twelve-year-old brother who’s convinced she’s a zombie.
2) Parents who are begging her to turn them into vampires.
3) The pet goldfish she accidentally turns instead.
4) Weird superpowers that let her rip the heads off of every other vampire she meets.(Sounds cool, but it doesn’t win you many friends.)
5) A pyschotic vampire creator who’s using her to carry out a plan for world domination.
And finally:
6) A seriously ripped vampire hunter who either wants to stake her or make out with her. Not sure which.
Being an undead, eternally pasty fifteen-year-old isn’t quite the sexy, brooding, angst-fest Jane always imagined....
Helen Keeble’s riotous debut novel combines the humor of Vladimir Tod with Ally Carter’s spot-on teen voice. With a one-of-a-kind vampire mythology and an irresistibly relatable undead heroine, this uproarious page-turner will leave readers bloodthirsty for more.
1) A twelve-year-old brother who’s convinced she’s a zombie.
2) Parents who are begging her to turn them into vampires.
3) The pet goldfish she accidentally turns instead.
4) Weird superpowers that let her rip the heads off of every other vampire she meets.(Sounds cool, but it doesn’t win you many friends.)
5) A pyschotic vampire creator who’s using her to carry out a plan for world domination.
And finally:
6) A seriously ripped vampire hunter who either wants to stake her or make out with her. Not sure which.
Being an undead, eternally pasty fifteen-year-old isn’t quite the sexy, brooding, angst-fest Jane always imagined....
Helen Keeble’s riotous debut novel combines the humor of Vladimir Tod with Ally Carter’s spot-on teen voice. With a one-of-a-kind vampire mythology and an irresistibly relatable undead heroine, this uproarious page-turner will leave readers bloodthirsty for more.
Interview
What
would you do if you woke up in a coffin and discovered you were a
vampire?
Um,
probably panic and cry in a very undignified fashion. I’m much less
tough and resourceful than FANG GIRL’s Jane! But once I’d got a
grip on myself, I’d do the same thing that Jane does – phone my
family. Who wants to be a solitary creature of the night when you can
go back home where there’s bed, broadband, and people who love you?
Do
you work with an outline, or just write and go with the flow?
When
I first started writing FANG GIRL, I was definitely just going with
the flow. The first draft was actually written in just thirty days,
as part of NaNoWriMo 2008 (National Novel Writing Month – a yearly
challenge where people try to write a whole novel in a month). But
given that it took me at least five drafts and an entire year to turn
that rough manuscript into something coherent (let alone
publishable), I’m now a firm convert to outlining.
Plus,
of course, these days I have to outline, because my editor
wants to know what I’m going to write before I write it, so she can
decide whether or not to buy it! So my second book, NO ANGEL, had a
fairly detailed outline… not that I stuck to it.
Which
came first – the story or the characters?
I
always get a couple of characters first (in this case, Jane and her
family), and then have to figure out what story to tell with them.
Then it’s an iterative development – I create new characters to
meet the demands of that story, but those characters in turn alter
the shape of the story so I have to change that, which may mean I
have to tweak the characters again… and round it goes!
If
you could go to lunch with any author, who would you pick?
I
can only have one? Peter S. Beagle, author of The Last Unicorn,
which I have probably read more than any other book in my life. I,
uh, may also have watched the animated film version every single week
between the ages of six and eight.
If
I could have lunch with more than one, then I’d want Peter S.
Beagle, Steph Swainston, China Mieville, Dan Abnett, Sarah Rees
Brennan, Terry Pratchett, Ursula Le Guin, Jacqueline Carey, and
Cassandra Claire. Now that would be a literary party to
remember!
Is
there anything about you that would surprise your readers?
I
may be a writer by night, but in the day I’m a professional
engineer, developing software for industrial controllers. The cool
(and terrifying) way of saying this is: “I design stuff that
controls nuclear power plants!” The more accurate way of describing
it is “I sit in a lot of meetings where people argue about tiny
details in C++ code.” But either way, it’s an awesome job!
Can
you give us any hints about book 2?
My
next book (out in Fall 2013) is not actually a sequel to FANG GIRL –
it’s another YA paranormal comedy with the same style of humour,
but it’s not about vampires. It’s called NO ANGEL, so you can
probably guess what romantic subgenre I’m poking fun at this time…
I’m
working on a sequel to FANG GIRL at the moment, though can’t yet
say when (or if) it’ll be released – whether or not my publisher,
HarperTeen, decide to buy it will depend on how well FANG GIRL does!
But I can tell you that the working title is THANK DOG, and in it
Jane meets the inevitable hot shirtless werewolf… who is not quite
what she’s expecting.
Helen Keeble is not, and never has been, a vampire. She has however been
a teenager. She grew up partly in America and partly in England, which
has left her with an unidentifiable accent and a fondness for peanut
butter crackers washed down with a nice cup of tea. She now lives in
West Sussex, England, with her husband, daughter, two cats, and
a variable number of fish. To the best of her knowledge, none of the
fish are undead.
Her first novel, a YA vampire comedy called FANG GIRL, is out 11th Sept 2012, from HarperTeen.
She also has another YA paranormal comedy novel (provisionally titled NO ANGEL) scheduled for Sept 2013.
Her first novel, a YA vampire comedy called FANG GIRL, is out 11th Sept 2012, from HarperTeen.
She also has another YA paranormal comedy novel (provisionally titled NO ANGEL) scheduled for Sept 2013.
~Giveaway~
INT
INT
It is always fun to learn how an author writes.
ReplyDeleteGreat interview! I fins it interesting that the author went from not using outlines to using them (and still sometimes doesn't follow them). There is so much involved in writing a good story. Now I remember why I am not a writer! :P
I've been meaning to read this -- crossing my fingers!
ReplyDeleteI loved this book. I thought it was hilarious. I really hope that we get a second book to this! Awesome interview.
ReplyDeleteLove the interview =) can´t wait for my chance to read,
ReplyDeletebest wishes, Linda
Great interview, hope I'll have the chance to read this amazing book. Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteYay thanks for participating, chickie! I loved this book and Helen is one of my favorite people! She's hilarious! And that means automatic awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like a lot of fun! I love humorous takes on supernatural creatures. Great interview!
ReplyDelete