Q&A with Susan Juby, Author of The Woefield Poultry Collective

When I posted my review The Woefield Poultry Collective the other day, I forgot to mention that it was a part of a blog tour. Thanks to Shannon HarperCollins Canada for putting it together. To read what the other participates thought of this great book, go to the new and improved Savvy Reader website.

Today, Susan stops by to answer some questions I had for her.

Marie: What's easier (or more fun) to write: Adult fiction or YA? Why the switch?

Susan: I wouldn’t say one is easier, exactly. At about the halfway point in any book, I begin to despair and feel as though I will never finish! When I write YA it’s because I love writing about the teen experience. It’s much more fun to write about than to live through. I wrote the adult book (such an odd term!) because I wanted to write about characters who were older. My main goal is to make their voices distinctive and authentic, even if the action of the book is a bit absurdist.

Marie: Your latest book is situated on a farm. Do you have any experience living on a farm? If yes, what was that like? If not, what was your research like?

Susan: I grew up on a small acreage and we had chickens and pigs and a horse as well as a large garden. I took those things entirely for granted and managed not to learn one thing about small scale farming. Now I would love to move onto acreage again, though my experiments with growing vegetables suggest things could go very wrong unless we get a lot of professional help. To research the book I read many books on Peak Oil, sustainability, the local foods movement and visited beautiful and productive little farms in our area. I also went to agricultural fairs and farmer’s markets.

Marie: The characters for Woefield were really fun and quirky. What was the inspiration for these characters?

Susan: They are all composites. Prudence was inspired by the lead character from Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. Seth was partly inspired by some of the bloggers I enjoy reading and by an image I had of a young man in a dark and dingy bedroom, his face lit only by a computer screen. Sara was inspired by some of the kids I saw showing off their animals at agricultural fairs. Earl was inspired by some of the laconic older men I’ve known and a biography of Bill Munroe, the founder of modern bluegrass.

Marie: Any plans to write a sequel to Woefield? (I'd love to read one).

Susan: I’d love to write one! It depends on whether people enjoy (and buy!) this book.

Marie: What's up next? What are you working on? Is it adult or YA?

Susan: I’m working on a sci-fi story for young adults. I’m in the despair phase.

Marie: PS. I absolutely loved Woefield.

Susan: Thank you! You’ve made my day.

Marie: Thanks for stopping by today Susan. I'm looking forward to reading more of your work.

Q & A with Anne Fortier

HarperCollins Canada has put together another fabulous blog tour. This time it's for Anne Fortier's book, Juliet. If you remember, I posted my review of this wonderful book awhile ago. Today is part two of the tour as Anne stops by to answer a few of my questions. Enjoy!

Me: How long did it take you to write Juliet? Are you working on anything right now?

Anne: I got the idea for JULIET in 2005, and started writing later that year. By early 2008 I had entered the editing phase together with my agent, and by early summer 2009, I rounded up my final edits with the publisher. Because JULIET has been sold to 33 countries so far, there has been an obscene amount of PR work to be done, but I am doing my best to get going on the next book.

Me:In Juliet, the point-of-view shifts from first person in the present to third person in the past. How did you decide to write it this way?

Anne: I was very aware that it can be tiring for the reader to switch back and forth between two different narratives, so I did not want to create two parallel narrators. I wanted the reader to identify first and foremost with Julie Jacobs in the present day, while the medieval narrative is told from several different points-of-view, and quite often from Romeo’s. In that way it resembles Shakespeare’s play, which has many different characters in play in different scenes.

Me: How did you decide to take on the subject of Romeo and Juliet?

Anne: It actually started with a fascination with the city of Siena. Only after deciding to write an historical novel set in Siena did I discover – thanks to my mother – that in fact, the very first version of the Romeo and Juliet-story had been set in Siena, long before Shakespeare. Knowing that, it was irresistible to sit down and think about what the Bard’s tragedy might have looked like, had the events played out in the city of the Palio horserace.

Me: Do you remember the first time you read Shakespeare? Did you love it right away or warm up to it later?

Anne: I first read Romeo & Juliet in high school, in a Danish translation, and I definitely did not fall in love with it then and there. I thought the language was very complicated, and there was always something about Romeo that annoyed me – the infatuation with Rosaline followed by the sudden passion for Juliet. It wasn’t until I started working with the play in order to write JULIET that I began to fully appreciate it. Now, or course, I love it.

Me: Tell us about your writing environment. (music or quiet, desk or comfy chair, etc.)

Anne: I always write most efficiently at a desk, but I do like to lie on the couch while I am working on a plot. When I was younger I always had music playing – music that fit the atmosphere of the story – but over the past five years I have come to prefer silence and find music very distracting. I don’t mind ambient noise so much, except if it is people talking. My most unfortunate habit is to eat sweets while I am writing; for some reason I just crave chewing on something. A toothpick helps, though.

Me: Tea or coffee? Cats or dogs? Dark or milk chocolate?

Anne: Hot chocolate, actually. Or herbal tea. Big black dog, and dark dark dark chocolate … 85 percent. I munch that whenever I feel a headache coming on, and it usually helps.

Well Anne, thanks so much for taking time to answer my questions. I really appreciate it. I can't wait to read more of your work. Hopefully, I won't have to wait too long. ;)

Q&A with Tish Cohen

HarperCollins Canada has put together a blog tour for Tish Cohen's new book, The Truth About Delilah Blue. I was lucky enough to be chosen as a participate and today's the day that Tish stops by to answer a few questions. Enjoy!

Me: At the end of The Truth About Delilah Blue you thank a bunch of people who helped you sort out some of the details in the story (information on art, coyotes, Alzheimer’s, etc). Can you tell us more about how you go about researching items when writing a book?
TISH: I usually write about subjects I have some base knowledge about, and then supplement what I think I know with books on the topic, online research and interviews.

Me: How do you feel about used book stores/charity used book sales/swapping websites (or sites like Bookcrossing.com who encourage members to give away their books?) What do you think the impact is on book sales?
TISH: Honestly, this is not a thing I worry about. Books can be costly and some people love to read but simply cannot afford to spend on new books—I completely respect that and am just thrilled to hear people are reading. Obviously this doesn’t help the publishing industry, but it doesn’t necessarily detract from it either—it might just mean people are buying more books than they would have otherwise.

Me: How important are the new internet tools (bloggers, websites like Twitter, Facebook and others) in promoting a book? How has this changed the way you work?
TISH: I don’t think social networking necessarily creates huge increases in book sales, but Twitter and Facebook are excellent ways to connect with your readers. In terms of impact on my work – social networking is an enormous distraction!

Me: Which of your books is your favourite? (I know it’s like asking which of your children is our favourite). Which one are you most proud of? Why?
TISH: I am most proud of The Truth About Delilah Blue because this book went through a great deal of change before it became the story we read between the covers. And I put more real life events into this one.

Me: Which one was the hardest to write?
TISH: Definitely The Truth About Delilah Blue

Me: Can you tell us a little about what you are working on now?
TISH: I am revising an adult novel about suicide and a teen novel that will come out next spring.

Me: What/who was your inspiration for Delilah Blue?
TISH: I wanted to explore the issue of aging parents and the eventual role reversal that its most parents and children. It is easy to imagine how adult children from loving homes might respond to their parents being needy, but what about children from disturbed homes? How would an adult child respond to the demise of a parent who had grossly wronged him or her? It seemed a fascinating scenario to wrap a story around.

Me: Tell us about your writing environment. (music or quiet, desk or comfy chair, etc.)
TISH: I usually write on my laptop because I don’t have wireless so am less likely to waste time on the Internet. So I tend to move away from my desk and write in a comfy chair somewhere at home or at the cottage. In terms of noise, sometimes I need quiet and other times I love to hear the hustle and bustle of people and action all around me.

Me: When did you start writing? Did you ever want to be something else?
TISH: Like Delilah Blue, I wanted to be an artist. The first manuscript I wrote was a picture book, about eighteen years ago.

Me: What is your favourite book that you’ve read?
TISH: Olive Kittredge by Elizabeth Strout.

Me: What do you do for fun when you are not writing? Do you have any hobbies?
TISH: I run, hike, do yoga, and read.

Me: Tea or coffee? Cats or dogs? Dark or milk chocolate?
TISH: Coffee, dogs and milk chocolate!

Me: What’s your favourite place that you’ve lived? If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be?
TISH: I live in Muskoka during the summers and that’s probably my favourite place on earth.

Thanks so much Tish for taking time to answer my questions. I really appreciate it.

For everyone else, don't forget to drop by the other tour stops. Click here for the schedule.

Oh, and come back here tomorrow because that's when I'll be posting my review of The Truth About Delilah Blue.