For today's Saturday Spotlight, I am featuring the awesome possum, Lisa M. Forester and her new YA novel, Freaks, coming out November 28th!
Lisa M. Forester:
Lisa M. Forester is a Young Adult fiction author living in the North West of England and her debut novel ‘Freaks’ is due for release on the 28th of November 2013.
She has lived on a diet of books since she was six (when she was handed an Enid Blyton story for the very first time) and she constantly lives in hope that reading will become an Olympic sport. After being inspired to write by the plethora of amazing YA writers that exist across the globe, she put pen to paper and produced ‘Freaks’ – which I am sure she would very much love you to read.
She has lived on a diet of books since she was six (when she was handed an Enid Blyton story for the very first time) and she constantly lives in hope that reading will become an Olympic sport. After being inspired to write by the plethora of amazing YA writers that exist across the globe, she put pen to paper and produced ‘Freaks’ – which I am sure she would very much love you to read.
FREAKS BLURB:
Nobody's perfect... or are they?
Abigail always knew that she was different, but what she didn't know was just how different.
That was until her 16th birthday, when her parent's revealed a devastating secret that confirmed her worst fears and changed her life forever.
Abigail is an Allelobrid: one of five children born as a result of their parents illegal science experiment in genetic engineering. The aim: to create a perfect human.
Yet perfection comes at a price.
Forced into a life on the run, Abigail finds love, danger and an organisation that will stop at nothing to get what they want.
When lives are at risk and freedom is threatened - could being perfect be enough to survive?
Abigail always knew that she was different, but what she didn't know was just how different.
That was until her 16th birthday, when her parent's revealed a devastating secret that confirmed her worst fears and changed her life forever.
Abigail is an Allelobrid: one of five children born as a result of their parents illegal science experiment in genetic engineering. The aim: to create a perfect human.
Yet perfection comes at a price.
Forced into a life on the run, Abigail finds love, danger and an organisation that will stop at nothing to get what they want.
When lives are at risk and freedom is threatened - could being perfect be enough to survive?
Pretty awesome synopsis, huh? I really can't wait for this book to come out (a little over a month to go!). I actually was going to feature Freaks for this weeks WOW post, but the Blogger App seemed to mess everything up (-_-). I have a lot of theories for this book, but fortunately enough, Lisa saved my sanity by answering a few questions about herself and Freaks that will hopefull tide
1) Welcome to The Lovely Grace Lisa! I'm so glad that I got the chance to
feature you on my blog! Freaks is your debut novel, and all I have to say
is that the description is pretty awesome, and I'm so excited for it to
come out! But before you became an author (or decided to become an author)
what did you want to be?
My dream is still to become a fully-fledged author – at present I try to
co-ordinate both working and writing. When I was at school I would change
my mind regularly about my dream job. I am so indecisive! I’ve wanted to be
an English teacher, a librarian, a vet – you name it! I guess that’s why I
love writing so much… when writing a book I get to be whoever I want to be!
2) What made you want to become a writer, and who influenced you?
Making up stories is just something I’ve always loved to do. My Dad used to
make my bedtime stories up, and he would include all of my favourite
cartoon characters and I would get to go on lots of adventures with them –
so I suppose you could say that he was a great influence to me. I’ve been
making up stories for as long as I can remember. I still have the first
book I wrote when I was eleven. It’s called ‘Cinderalli’s Silver Story’ and
I illustrated it myself too. It was a proud moment haha.
3) Freaks (like I said before) has a pretty awesome synopsis. Is this book
set in the future or is it set during present day?
It’s set in the present day, and is part located in England and part
located in the USA. I’m so glad you like the synopsis – I found that to be
the hardest part of the book to write!
4) Action, mystery, romance, and of course, a secret ready to turn
Abigail's life upside down. That's A LOT to take in! How long did it take
you to write this book?
Probably about 5 months for the first draft – but it’s been edited a lot
since then. I became obsessive. ‘FREAKS’ was all I could think about. I’d
sit in bed with my laptop on my knee and write until the early hours. Sleep
became a luxury.
5) What was something that kept you motivated during the writing process?
My family and friends, definitely. FREAKS is the second YA novel I’ve
wrote - the first is sat on the top of my wardrobe just waiting for the day
when I rework it into something comprehensible. My husband has so much more
faith in my ability than I do and has encouraged me every step of the way.
He never grumbles about the amount of time I spend with my characters, he
read the book first and he did the first edit.
My friends are awesome too. I’m lucky that I have a group of friends who
are all complete YA bookworms. We have our own book club and I call them
‘my geeks’. I’d run ideas by them and ask them for their opinions. When so
many people are supporting and encouraging you – it’s hard not to be
motivated.
6) So your main character, Abigail, is an Allelobrid; what made you want to
write about a girl who was made to be perfect? And are you *glances around*
an Allelobrid? (cue scary music).
The moral behind the story is that no one is perfect, and being completely
perfect would make you a freak. It’s Abigail and the other Allelobrid’s
perfection that makes them freaks. That makes them the ones who stand out.
I liked the fact that this story championed individuality. It supported the
fact that being perfect wouldn’t make anybody happy. We should celebrate
the fact that we all have imperfections and we all have oddities, and
without them – we’d be the weird ones.
It’s taken me a while to realize that the people you see around you who
look like they are faultless – aren’t. We can’t all be Grade ‘A’ pupils
with perfect skin and an inability to be clumsy. Everybody has
imperfections, and that’s fine. It’s more than fine… it’s normal.
I am about as far away from being an Allelobrid as possible. I am clumsy
beyond belief, I am hopeless at team sports, I’m completely forgetful and
passing any Math exam required a HUGE amount of studying on my part – but
that’s fine. What I lack in mathematical ability – I’d like to think I make
up for in creativity.
7) According to the synopsis, Abigail is forced to go on the run due to the
fact she was gentically made to be perfect. Isn't it a bit of contradiction
that Abigail is forced to run because she's 'perfect' when those that want
to hurt her are trying to do everything to make themselves (and their
lives) seem perfect?
***MINI SPOILER ALERT*** Technically speaking, Abigail isn’t being chased
because of her perfection. She is one of the first human beings who had
their genes altered before she was born – it was just that her genes were
tampered to create perfection. Her body holds the key to genetic tampering…
but that doesn’t necessarily mean that her hunters want to make themselves
perfect. Maybe they just want to know how to tamper with genetics for other
reasons!
8) This book deals with the theme of 'perfection' a lot. Do you think that
the way that media portrays the image of perfection distorts our views of
what a person should be (like)? And what do you think the characters in
Freaks would have to say/ would feel about our media's views of a person?
The media can be guilty of contributing to a perception of what beauty is.
This is not healthy, and is particularly worrying for the YA audience when
at such an age you may not be fully secure about all your little
imperfections. We should be placing more emphasis on embracing
individuality. Perfection doesn’t exist – and if it did exist, it would be
weird. That is the underlying theme throughout FREAKS.
I think Abigail would lecture our media sources about the perils of
creating a false idealism of ‘perfection’ – and about how perfection
wouldn’t make someone in the real world happy. Their message should be
about not being afraid to be different because of any imperfections or
idiosyncrasies, and not wanting to simply ‘blend-in’. I think she would
encourage them to emphasize individuality and to stop placing so much
pressure on people to achieve something that doesn’t exist.
9) I SPOT A RELATIONSHIP IN THE SYNOPSIS! Can you give us a little hint as
to what we can expect? (*gives puppy dog eyes*).
You can expect a little blossoming romance between two of the characters –
but I won’t say which ones. However, I can absolutely confirm that the 16
year old me totally has a crush on the guy in this book. He would
definitely make my ‘book boyfriend’ list!
10) Are any of the characters based on you or the people in your life?
Not at all. I can’t even use the names of people I know in real life as my
characters names, because then – every time I write about them – I see the
person I know rather than my character, and it becomes entirely confusing.
11) What fictional character is most like you?
Oooh this is a brilliant question. I think it’s difficult to find a
character that is entirely like yourself – but if you remove the tomboyish
nature and the fiery temper, I’m going to say that I’m a little bit like Jo
from Little Women. She spent her teen years writing stories and acting out
plays, and she’s a total geek at heart. She’s awkward and clumsy. She’s
prone to spills and accidents and, unfortunately, I am too.
12) What are you currently reading? And would you ever want to spend a day
as the protagonist of the book that you are currently reading?
I’m currently reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. You know what? Awkward
siblings and college work aside – I think I could definitely spend a day as
Cather. I’d happily let Levi take me to Starbucks and sit and write
fan-fiction all day! It sounds amazing!
13) Other than reading and writing, what are some other things that you
like to do?
One of my favourite things to do is spend time with my family and friends.
I’m not really a fan of my own company… maybe that’s why I write? When I’m
alone, I get bored easily so I fill the void with my made up friends!
I like nothing better than watching a dvd with my family or going out for
pizza and a movie with my friends.
I also love to travel and wander around other countries. I’ve been so
lucky to see some amazing parts of the world whilst raising money for
charity doing treks with my friends. We’ve been to China to trek across the
Great Wall and to Morocco to climb Mount Toubkal. These experiences have
been tough, but they’ve given me memories to last a lifetime.
And 14) Do you have any special talents or skills?
I’m not sure that this is a talent or a skill – but I like to bake novelty
cakes. I’ve made a Harry Potter Hogwarts cake, a Cinderellas castle, a
‘Tangled’ Rapunzel tower… you name it! And the best thing about that skill
is the fact that you get to eat the end product.
So that's it for this Saturday's Spotlight! Thank you Lisa for taking the time to be interviewed! Make sure you go out and buy Freaks on November 28th at a bookstore near you!
Wanna learn more about Lisa? Click the links bellow!
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18484653-freaks
Website: lisamforester.wix.com/books
Twitter: @lisamforester
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authorlisamforester
And tune in next week for Eve Edwards, the author of the Lacey Chronicles, and her Halloween dinner party!
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