Author Interview - Jaclyn Moriarty

by 12:30 AM 2 comments

Jaclyn Moriarty is the author of the Ashbury/brookfield novels and the new novel, A corner of White - Today she stops by to have a chat with us!


Today, September 18, is release day for your brand new novel A Corner of White. You must be seriously excited! Why don’t you tell everyone exactly why they should pick up your book!

Well, the cover design is beautiful. I honestly think that people should pick it up so they can admire the cover design. (But seriously, thank you so much. I’m very happy and excited about this book, and it feels like a fresh start for me. I hope that people will enjoy the story as much as I like the cover.) 

Where did you get the inspiration to write A Corner of White? 


The Kingdom of Cello came to me when I was living in Montreal, Canada. One snowy winter day, I went to a café to work. A friend had just given me a notebook that was bound in soft red suede, and I took it along with me to write notes. But when I opened it, I found a row of small coloured pencils, each in its own separate pocket. Instead of working on my then current novel, I started drawing pictures of a Kingdom. I called it Cello, just because I like the word. I think I was inspired by the strange beauty of a northern winter, and by a new and surprising notebook. 


A Corner of White is different from your Brookfield-Ashbury novels – What made you decide to go in a new direction, with the fantasy side? 


In a way this book is closest to the kind of story I’ve always wanted to write. I like real-world novels, I don’t mind pure fantasy, but my favourite books are those that have an edge in the real world but slip now and then into an imaginary world. 


Did you have any road bumps along the way in the story process? 


This has been a strange book because my original idea was that it would be for younger children, but the story kept stalling. One day I realised that my favourite thing to write is young adult ficiton, and that there was no reason why a book about a kingdom should not also be about young adults. So I made the characters into teenagers and that’s when the story found its voice. 


How long did it take to write A Corner of White? 

The idea for it came to me about ten years ago, and I have written (and lost) a whole lot of ideas and first pages since then. Once I started properly I spent about a year planning the trilogy, and a year writing the first book, A Corner of White. 


I am dying to know, who would your dream movie cast be for A Corner of White? 

Okay, off the top of my head, some of my favourite young actors are Ellen Page, Emma Stone, Chloe Moretz, Jennifer Lawrence, Rupert Grint, Kat Dennings and Michael Cera. They could have any roles they wanted in the movie. And for the adult roles, my favourites include Ryan Gosling, Lauren Graham, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Frances McDormand, Mark Ruffalo, John Cusack, Joan Cusack, and Allison Janney. Again, they are welcome to be whoever they like. (I hope I get to meet them on set.) 


You left us all hanging in the end of A Corner of White, with some killer details revealed. What can we expect in book two? 


In the first book, Madeleine and Elliot are just starting to believe in each other. In the second, they will work together to help solve a crisis in the Kingdom of Cello, while at the same time trying to figure out how to get through the crack between their worlds. They try science, history, imagination, poetry and many other tricks, all the time getting closer and closer to each other. 


Random Questions! 


Any hobbies? 


I love ice-skating on fr
ozen ponds. I’ve just started learning the cello. 

Any special or quirky writing habits? 


I always take coloured textas and pencils to a café to plan the next chapter. I like to run up and down flights of stairs before I write. I need to have a blue bowl full of fruit and chocolate on my desk while I’m writing. And sometimes I tip a glass of iced water on my head.
 

I would love to see this all in action! Your favourite book of all time? (Apart from any of your own, of course!) 


I usually find this sort of question impossible to answer because I’m too indecisive, so I just list favourite authors such as Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, E. Nesbitt and F.Scott Fitzgerlad—but for some reason today, this came straight into my head: Dylan Thomas, Under Milkwood



Author Links:


Website - Blog - Facebook - Goodreads -

A corner of White - 
Jaclyn Moriarty
Released: September 18, 2012
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Synopsis: "Madeleine Tully lives in Cambridge, England, the World – a city of spires, Isaac Newton and Auntie’s Tea Shop.

Elliot Baranski lives in Bonfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello – where seasons roam, the Butterfly Child sleeps in a glass jar, and bells warn of attacks from dangerous Colours.

They are worlds apart – until a crack opens up between them; a corner of white – the slim seam of a letter.

A mesmerising story of two worlds; the cracks between them, the science that binds them and the colours that infuse them.

‘Perfectly strange, and absolutely comical and heartfelt ... Jaclyn Moriarty is one of the most original writers we have.’ – Markus Zusak



You can find my review of A Corner of White here!

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2 comments:

  1. You are SO FREAKING LUCKY to have had an interview with Jaclyn Moriarty! She is one of my favourite authors OF ALL TIME, dead or alive.
    oh my gosh.
    WAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

    xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jaclyn sounds lovely! And I'd completely forgotten that today was the release day - hooray! Can't wait for book 2 :)

    ReplyDelete

Ooh yes, comments puh-leaaase :D