Hey guys, today I hope you'll welcome to the blog Katie Dale, who's doing a blog tour of her new book, "Someone Else's Life," - the review for which can be found here.
Katie's book is one to definitely watch out for, and today she's stopped by to offer some insight into her book and answer some questions! So without further ado, dive in Katie! :D
1. What inspired you to bring such a deep idea to your book?
I heard a story on the news about two babies that got swapped at birth and it just really stuck with me. How would I feel if that happened to me? What would I do? So I decided to use it as the basis of a story. Then I needed a reason for my character to discover she was switched, and started researching genetic diseases when I came across Huntington’s disease- a late-onset fatal hereditary disease for which you can be tested at age 18, but for which there’s no cure. Suddenly the questions became much tougher – what if it was me? Would I really want to take the test if there was no cure? Would you?
2. Do you think that such issues need to be addressed in Young Adult Fiction so that readers have a deeper insight into such matters or should they be left alone?
I think so long as they’re handled appropriately – respectfully and accurately – pretty much any issue can be addressed in Young Adult Fiction. I was particularly intrigued by Huntington’s disease as I’d never heard of it before, and was surprised to learn that it affects as many people as cystic fibrosis. In fact one of the problems sufferers of Huntington’s disease and their families face is that not many people know about it or understand what it is. There are probably twice as many people affected by Huntington’s disease as the official figures state because so many people go undiagnosed, are mis-diagnosed or choose not to be tested, and there is not enough support for those who do have the disease. If understanding and awareness of HD grows, hopefully so too will support and funding for sufferers and their families.
3. Did you draw inspiration from other books or did you cultivate this all on your own?
I really enjoyed books like The Face on The Milk Carton by Caroline B Cooney, in which a teenage girl discovers she isn’t who she thought she was because she was kidnapped as a toddler – a thriller which evolves into an emotional family drama as people’s lives are broken apart and the somehow have to be pieced back together. I’m also a big fan of Jodi Picoult and how she manages to convey all sides of a controversial conflict by making you care for the characters on each side of the dilemma till you realize that nothing’s black and white, and that it’s impossible to judge someone till you’ve been in their position. I guess elements of both came together in my book, but the plot and its repercussions are all my own.
Random Trivia! :)
1. What's your favourite book?
Ooh, that’s a tough one, but Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie is just magical and has stuck with me since my childhood, when I’d wait at my window for Peter to take me to Neverland. It still gets my every time.
2. If you could eat any food for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
Chocolate cake!!
3. What's your opinion on movie adaptations, should they be done?
I love a really good movie adaptation as it can really effectively bring a story to life. Unfortunately, not all adaptations are well-handled, and if viewers don’t enjoy the film, it may put people off reading what are often really awesome books. Also, the beautiful thing about books is that as you get inside the characters’ heads and as read you conjure up your own pictures in your head of what characters look and sound like – and if the actor/actress chosen for the roles don’t fit your image, it can be quite disjointing and disappointing.
4. If you could be one character from any book you've read, who would you chose and why?
Marianne Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility because although she gets her heartbroken and faces many hardships, she falls completely and utterly in love and lives every second of her life to the full.
5. You're stuck on a deserted island for an infinite amount of time, and you can only chose 3 items - what would they be?
1) A pack of cards – you can play an infinite number of games with a pack of cards.
2) A snorkel – snorkelling is one of my all-time favourite hobbies, like flying with the fish! Plus it may come in helpful when fishing for food!
3) A infinite-paged notebook with a pen (is that allowed? If not, I’ll scrap the playing cards and make my own!) A simple pad and pen can provide endless entertainment – drawing, doodling, writing – plus it’d be useful for writing those rescue messages to stick in bottles!
Katie Dale
Author of Someone Else’s Life
Published by Simon & Schuster February 2012
Website: katiedaleuk.blogspot.com
Twitter: @katiedaleuk
So thank you Katie for being so awesome and answering those questions for us ;)
Again, be sure to check out the review to Katie's novel here and you can find links to purchase on the review as well! :)
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