For this part of tour I was very excited when Ms. Kipling agreed to let me interview her for her book Blinded by the Light. To read my review of the book Click Here. After the interview I will provide the links to where you can purchase the book.
1.) What four words would you use to describe
“Blinded by the Light”?
A blindingly good read!
2.) What inspired you to write this story?
I grew up in the UK in the 80’s when we
felt that there was a real threat of nuclear apocalypse. So I’ve always been a
little bit obsessed by how the world might end and most of my writing focuses
on this. My friends joke about the emergency supplies I keep under my bed . .
.because, well you never know when the Zombie hoards might attack. Personally I
feel that I’ll have the last laugh when I’m safely barricaded in my bedroom
eating tins of cold beans while my friends become zombie food.
For a long time I’ve also been concerned about
how much influence corporations have on the government and how they use this
power to their advantage. I started to
think about what would happen if a corporation had the power to take control of
the country and what the consequences would be. This really set the tone for
writing the trilogy.
3.) At the beginning we see how MaryAnn had
everything that she could want and within a matter of time everything that she
knew was taken from her. Throughout the story she had to go through changes and
transition from what she knew to what she knows now. What kind of transitions
did you go through while writing “Blinded by the Light?
I think the most important transition for
me is that I went from someone who wrote in secret to a published author. When
I first started writing I didn’t discuss it with anyone in case they asked to
look at my work and it wasn’t very good. Finally I plucked up the courage to
tell another writer friend and her enthusiasm just blew me away. It really gave
me the encouragement I needed to continue.
Once I got over the nerve-wracking embarrassment of showing my writing
to friends and family I had to face the prospect of publication and my book
being read by complete strangers.
4.) What inspired or what methods did you use to create the themes of
the “Echos” “Deltas” and “Alphas”
In the UK we still talk about the
class system and it’s something that has always seemed slightly ridiculous to
me. I think that if we see ourselves as belonging to a specific ‘class’ it just
creates greater divisions in society and gives people a reason to distrust each
other.
I wanted the society in Blinded by
the Light to reflect the class system, but to be even more divisive. The system
I chose; Alpha, Bravo, Delta, Echo is based on the phonetic alphabet which is
often used by the government, military and in business. In the Union Trilogy
this is how the government classified people to determine who was eligible for
the cure to the Sandman Virus. For example Alpha are the people who have enough
wealth to pay for the cure. Bravo was
deemed as having the essential skills needed to help society to survive
(Doctors, scientists, engineers, politicians).
Delta was the people who had natural immunity but were not wealthy or
skilled, they were used to perform menial tasks. Echo was not deemed important
and left to die.
5.) What was your favorite part about writing
your story? (non spoiler J)
My favorite part of the story was actually
the most annoying. I’d just finished my first draft of the book and was feeling
incredibly pleased with myself. One evening I was driving home down the M1
after finishing work. It was dark and lashing down with rain so the conditions
were pretty horrible. Peter one of my
characters, appeared in my head and sitting beside him was a cute looking dog
that I’d never seen before. So I asked (mentally. . not out loud because that
would have been plain weird), ‘where on earth did that dog come from?’ at which
point Peter replied that he’d always been there. I’d just never seen him.
So, I continued my drive home feeling a
little bit grumpy that I was going to have to rewrite part of the book to
include a dog. Then the weirdest thing happened; when I read back through the draft
copy there were holes in the story that Flash Gordon, the dog, fitted into
perfectly. So he really had been there all along, I just hadn’t noticed that he
was missing. He was my favourite character to write; but then who wouldn’t love
writing about a dog that likes to wear dress up and is named after one of the
greatest action hero’s ever? Now I can’t imagine the story without him.
6.) What should we expect from the next book in
the trilogy?
In the next book we return to find that
MaryAnn is living on the Outside. At the end of Book 1 she was left with a
decision to make, and in Book 2 we explore this a little bit further. We’re
also introduced to a new character, Charlotte Swift, who’s 13 and has lived on
the Outside her whole life. Part of the book is written from her POV which was interesting,
as by this point I’d grown used to having MaryAnn’s voice in my head and
Charlotte is a very different character to write.
In brief, Book 2 features a road trip, (I
love, love, love road trips: snack foods, good tunes, appalling map reading . .
.its the best adventure in the world,) more doggy dress up, even more caves and
secret hideouts, a scary re-education centre and much much more.
7.) What advice do you have for aspiring
authors?
You mention aspiring authors here, rather
than writers, so I’m going to focus on people who want to get published rather
than people who write for fun. Potential
authors need to be aware that the road to becoming a traditionally published
author can be long and extremely challenging. Once you start to venture down
this career path you realize how much competition there is and how many great
books there are.
It’s really important that when you
approach a publisher that you make sure you present the best work you possibly
can. The world of publishing is changing rapidly, there are lots of small independent
publishers out there and they operate on very small profit margins. Often they
can only afford a small team of staff. This means they have limited time to
shape and rework your book. Think of your book like a CV. You wouldn’t send a
poorly written, badly formatted CV when applying for your dream job, so why
would you send a roughly written draft of your book? It’s a bit like X Factor,
when you stride across that stage the judges are looking for someone with the
full package: looks, personality and a good voice . . . so make sure your book
has all of these.
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You can also follow her on her Social Networks
Twitter: @jkiplingauthor
Facebook: https://www.
If you don't have the ebook and paperback already here are some buy links where you can purchase the book
Link to eBook: http://amzn.to/15Yb3NZ
Link to Paperback: http://amzn.to/
Click on the link to enter the giveaway of a signed copy of Blinded by the Light
http://totalteenfiction.blogspot.co.uk/
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