Paperback Princess: Author Interview

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

Author Interview - Marianne de Pierres

1:11 am | Posted by Unknown

Welcome to another segment of Australia Day Feature here at Paperback Princess, a commemoration to Australia Day by celebrating our fabulous Aussie YA Authors.

Today we have the lovely Marianne de Pierres once again, giving us insight into her Professional world. Enjoy!

You originally wrote Adult Fiction, what made you decide to try your hand at YA? Now that you've written both, do you have a preference?

I don’t tend to think of it as writing in genres. The story is what it is and the categorising takes place later. Having said that, writing for the YA reading market has given me the opportunity to interact with the fantastic YA audience. Their enthusiasm is so inspiring. I’ve truly enjoyed it.

What would you say is the main difference (if any) between writing Young Adult Fiction to Adult Fiction?

It’s commonly accepted that the age of the protagonist determines whether a book is YA and I guess that’s as good a measure as any. Most importantly, young people want characters they can relate to.

From doing some pre-interview stalking (LOL) I read that Burn Bright was in creation for approximately 10 years, did you know all along that it would be a YA novel? Did you always know that it would get published?

I didn’t know it would be YA to start with, and it took a few rewrites for me to settle on Retra’s age. However, I always had a strong sense that it would be published. Sometimes I get that about my books – a feeling that something is destined to be read by a wider audience.

The YA genre as a whole has had a recent boom, did you strategically submit/release Burn Bright at the time of the YA boom or was it just a coincidence? Had there not been a big YA boom, would you still have submitted/released Burn Bright?

The whole publication process is so slow and unsure, the idea you can jump on the bandwagon and catch it at the right time is unlikely! So, yes, it was really a coincidence for me in this case.

In a past interview, you noted that The Night Creatures Trilogy only came to fruition after Burn Bright had been contracted, did Burn Bright end exactly where it did in the book, or did you have to alter the ending of book 1 to cater for the following books?

The ending in Burn Bright was always there, but I did rewrite some scenes to make them less confronting. The early drafts had less hints at the back story which made it too confusing so I also included more information about Grave.

Burn Bright, Angel Arias and Shine Light are all very unique titles, what are your inspiration or why did you choose each of these titles for your books?

I had the idea for the title for book one, the other two titles were the result of discussion with my editors. We were trying to stay relevant to the books, and find a theme. And of course there was the amazing Kubicki covers to tie them in with as well. ~ I love, love, love your covers!

Your next YA series is called Emo Trader, can you tell us a little bit about this series? Have you started writing it already or is it still in it's ideas/creation stage?

It’s still in percolation stage – though I have written some notes. It is literally about a girl who trades her emotions to win back an object that’s important to me. I may end up writing some other things before I get to it. I’ll let everyone know when I know! ~ I'm already excited to read it, I like that idea of trading emotions to win back objects, very unique.

I rarely see Authors writing books for different genres. It takes a very creative person to be able to foray into a wide-array of genres, and to be able to do it as well as you have. Whilst most of your books are within the Fantasy/Sci Fi range, you also have Tara Sharp (Crime), Glitter Rose (short stories/novella/poetical/lyrical/romance) and of course The Night Creatures Trilogy (Young Adult)...what made you want to write within different genres?

I read fairly broadly, then I get excited about a genre or a style and that will send my mind sparking. The next thing I know is that I’ve written something different from the last thing. It seems to be a result of the natural ebb and flow of what interests me at an given time.

Do you find it difficult transitioning between one to another?

No, actually I find it keeps my brain sharper.

Which is your favourite genre to write in?

Whatever I’m writing at the time someone asks me.

Which is your favourite genre to read about?

Currently, it’s good crime – but you know, that’s likely to change at any moment …

You schedule your days as if you were working any other full-time job; 8am-3pm with a lunch break, five days/week...what do you do when you’re not feeling inspired to write, do you stay within your home office or do you take a rest and do something else?

Like a lot of writers I shamefully waste too much time on the interwebs and tell myself it’s research! If things are really stuck though, I go for a run. ~ I don't think that's exclusive to Authors, I think we ALL waste more time than needed on the Internet nowadays LOL

How many books do you write at a time?

Two is about my limit. Any more than that and I find I start to get too creatively tired.

Thank you Marianne for your time and I thank you once again for participating in my feature posts dedicated to Australian YA authors. I'm sure I say this for everyone, but we look forward to the release of the final book to The Night Creatures Trilogy and we certainly also look forward to your upcoming Emo Trader series.

Thanks, Angelica. May you and your readers Burn Brightly!