When Paige
asked bloggers to help her promote Johnny’s Girl, I was immediately up for it.
Paige is by far my favourite author and I was so excited to be able to ask her
some questions.
Paige Toon was born in 1975 and grew up between England, Australia and
America. A philosophy graduate, she worked at teen, film and women’s magazines,
before ending up at Heat magazine as Reviews Editor. Paige is married, has two
small children and lives in Cambridge.
The Longest Holiday is her seventh book.
Interview
1. Your new short story Johnny’s Girl
comes out on November 7 (pre-order here). What inspired you to write more about
Meg and Johnny? How did Jessie come to mind?
I got the idea for Johnny's secret daughter when I was
writing Baby Be Mine and Meg was worrying Barney might not be his only secret
child out there - Johnny had a lot of groupies! There's so much mileage in
Johnny and Meg as characters, and I'm excited to be able to bring you a whole
Young Adult series from January, following the trials and tribulations of
Johnny's 15-year-old daughter Jessie.
2. How can a reader imagine the
process of writing a book and publishing it?
I was very lucky to get a book deal before I had
written my debut book, Lucy in the Sky - my publisher liked the idea about a
girl getting on a 14-hour flight and getting a text message from her
boyfriend's phone from the girl claiming to be sleeping with him. The idea is
so important - that initial hook needs to pull you in. I wrote a blog about
getting published on Simonsandschuster.co.uk - search for Paige Toon Author
Voices.
3. Are you planning to write stories
about characters we already know, like Kitty, Bridget, Holly etc.?
Whether they become main heroines, I'm not sure, but
you will definitely see them again. Kitty is in Johnny's Girl and Bridget is a
big character in next May's Thirteen Weddings. I'm loving writing about her
again.
4. I love all of your books, but
Chasing Daisy is kind of my favourite. What inspired you to write this story
and will we ever read more about Daisy?
My dad used to be a racing driver (in fact, if you've
seen the movie Rush, my dad's Formula 1 BRM drive was bought by Niki Lauda from
right out under him!). Knowing how dangerous the sport is gave me the idea for
that thing that happens halfway through Chasing Daisy... I don't want to spoil
it for anyone who hasn't read it.
5. All your books and their characters
are somehow connected to each other and that’s really great. How did you come
up with that?
I stole the idea from one of my favourite author,
Marian Keyes, who did this with her Walsh sisters books. I wanted readers to
know what happened to Lucy and Nathan, so I linked that book to Johnny Be Good
and have done ever since.
6. What can we expect from your YA
series?
It's very much written in my style so I think my older
readers will (hopefully) love it as much as my younger ones. Jessie is my
feistiest heroine to date - I loved writing her character and can't wait to
write the second book in the series.
7. You write about so many different
characters, where do you get your inspiration for them?
I usually get a plot idea first - often one just pops
into my head when I'm watching TV or a film or reading a book or even just
looking out the window. The character develops the more I think about the plot.
They take on a life of their own.
8. I am so glad Laura found her Happy End and that you dedicated a story to her. Will there be more about Leo and Laura?
You'll definitely hear about them again - Bridget will
certainly talk about them in Thirteen Weddings. I love that I can now write
short story e-books because, even if characters don't warrant a whole book, at
least I can drop in on them from time to time.
9. Your books are always located in
great and amazing places, what can we expect of the places in your future
books? Any new locations in sight?
Thirteen Weddings is set mainly in England, but
there's one wedding near San Sebastian in Spain. I love writing about beautiful
locations.
10. Last
but not least: If you could pick one male and one female character of your
books, who would it be and why?
It's very hard to choose because I'm attached to them
all, and if you asked me this question tomorrow I might say someone else, but
right now I'm thinking a lot about Johnny and Meg - I love that he's a bad boy
gone good - he's so sexy and I think that comes across in Johnny's Girl. And I
couldn't possibly separate him from Meg, so I'll go for her as my fave heroine
too!
You can find the author on Twitter: PaigeToonAuthor
No comments:
Post a Comment