However, change is not always good. The beautiful, golden city of Hayven has its dark side - Cliders. Gifters turned rogue, aka, Cliders are determined to aid fallen Clider, Madrina, return to rule Hayven. They will stop at nothing to make that happen, including harming those Ava has grown to love. Again, Ava is faced with a choice: spend her days finding a way to inhibit Madrina’s return, or walk away. After all, she isn’t the chosen one. Yet, there exists a third option - rig the future itself.
The Interview:
Hello
there Jessica, and welcome to my blog! I’d like to start off with asking, how
did you come up with the concept of your book? Was any of it drawn from
personal experience?
Hello Emily! Thanks for having me! The
concept of Gifted derived from me simply wanting something to read. I wanted to
read a contemporary YA fantasy novel that didn’t feature instant-love, a chosen
one, a girl born into a dystopian society or a protagonist who kicks butt on a
daily basis. I wanted to read about someone relatable, someone who gets their
life flipped upside down and becomes extraordinary because she risked her life
to help someone else. I wanted to read about someone extraordinary yet normal
at the same time. Someone who worries about her size and her looks, but never
says it aloud. Someone who suffers from insecurities but doesn’t show it.
Someone who thinks about the small stuff. Someone who is fun to be around.
Someone human.
Not much was drawn from personal
experience. I wanted to read about real young
adult relationships as well and so the relationships and friendships that occur
in this novel are based on experiences I’ve gone through, my friends have gone
through, or someone I know has gone through.
Choices
are a large part of the book. Ava could choose to go into the alleyway, or not.
She could choose to walk away from the growing problem, or try to fight
Madrina’s return. What choices do you think you’d make in these situations?
Knowing me, if I was running late, I would
have gone into the alleyway despite the fact that they creep me out because I
would assume nothing bad would happen to me! We all hear those stories of
people making a choice that resulted in an unfortunate consequence, but when
it’s time for you to make a similar choice you’re just like, “Nah! Nothing will
happen to me! That was a one-time thing!” So I’d go through the alleyway
thinking, since it’s already happened to someone else, it won’t happen to me. I’d
also choose to fight Madrina’s return because I have too much of a conscious to
let innocent people die when there may be something I could do about it.
Is
there a character in the book who you relate to most? Are you more of an Ava, a
Madrina, or Theodore?
Literally all of them. Yes, even Madrina.
I’m not a crazy murderer, I promise! It’s just that, despite Madrina being the
antagonist in this novel, she isn’t a senseless
murderer. She doesn’t want to rule Hayven because she likes the idea of sitting
on top. She fights because of the same reason Ava does – she truly believes
she’s doing the right thing and she comes up with some very justifiable reasons
that actually make you stop and think, hold on, she might be on to something.
Madrina can explain why she does what she does and they’re not brainless,
selfish answers either.
I relate to Theo because he’s a little on
the weird side. I got tired of reading about the hot protagonist and the hot,
bad-boy love interest because that wasn’t relatable; the bad-boy isn’t
everyone’s type. So I went for something a little different. Theo isn’t smoking
hot; you like him more for his weird personality rather than his looks.
However, because so many readers are into this type of male protagonist and
seem to expect a romantic relationship to form, a few readers say they don’t
feel a connection when it comes to Theo and Ava’s love story and I’m just sat
screaming at my laptop screen, “THERE IS NO LOVE STORY!” Ava and Theo are not
in love because they’ve just met and I don’t believe in instant love. I believe
in instant lust, infatuation or plain old interest, but not instant love. I relate to Ava the most because she’s
relatable. She’s the most human character I think I’ll ever create.
What
do you think sets Ava apart from a typical “chosen one”?
That she isn’t one! You don’t have to be a
chosen one to make a difference and that’s what I’m trying to get across in
this book. You can change the world for the better simply because you want to,
not because fate made you.
Diversity
plays a role in the novel, Ava’s friends are all unique and special in their
own way. How important is diversity to you in YA?
Very important. It is no secret that YA books
are severely lacking in diversity; there’s just no question about it. Thanks to
this, most books just aren’t relatable. I was born and raised in London, one of
the most diverse cities in the world, so when I read a book where the majority
of the characters are from one race group, the book makes less of an impact on
me because it isn’t realistic and it isn’t relatable because the lack of
diversity isn’t my world. In the next three books of my series I plan to
introduce more diverse characters than seen in book one. I’ve already plotted
story-lines and roles for Asian characters, Muslim characters, Latin characters
and homosexual characters. I love diversity and I intend to pile it into my
books as much as I can get away with!
What
extraordinary gift do you think you would be sent to Hayven for?
I’d love to have invisibility. Think of all
the mischief! Or I’d like to fly so I can fly through clouds, just to see what
they feel like.
Lastly,
do you have any advice for aspiring authors who want to approach diversity in
fantasy? Did you need to do a lot of research on different diverse issues and
spectrums?
I am a firm believer of writing what you
know. If you write on a topic you have no clue about, it tends to show in your
writing. Like I said, I love diversity because one of my biggest fears is
ignorance. My friends come from all over the world because I’m attracted to
people who are different from me, who can teach me about places, cultures and
religions I never knew much or anything about! I didn’t do any research for
Gifted because I grew up in a diverse world and because I like to learn about
other people, I ask questions and I’m rewarded with answers. So as the years
have gone on, I’ve accumulated a bit of knowledge on certain things. If I need
more, I ask my friends! Researching on search engines can be rather tricky
because you tend to get opinions rather than facts, and a lot of mixed ones for
that matter. My advice is, if you want to write about diversity, ask diverse
people. You might make a few friends along the way!
Thank you very much to Jessica for allowing me to interview her and for sharing her book with the world! Be sure to check out Jessica's website for all news on Gifted!
Her links:
Emily @ Paperback Princess
