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photo by Darren James |
I'm honored to have Cath Crowley here for a World's Quickest Interview (WQI). I read her book, A LITTLE WANTING SONG, and raved about it >>here<<. Cath has a beautiful, amazing voice and her characters are unforgettable. A LITTLE WANTING SONG reminded me why I love reading (and writing) contemporary YA.
GRAFFITI MOON is Cath's newest book and will be available in the US on Feb 14 (Valentine's Day release date - how awesome is that!), but it's already out in Australia where it's picking up awards right and left.
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Australian cover. |
Describe GRAFFITI MOON in one sentence.
Light-scattered dream.
How long have you been writing?
About ten years.
Who or what inspired GRAFFITI MOON?*
Graffiti Moon is a story about a group of teenagers who are outsiders. They spend one night together, out in the city, and it changes things for them. They don’t work out who they are – that would be hard in one night – but they work out that it’s okay to be different.
Shadow and Lucy, the main characters, connect through art. So the conversations they have are inspired by the artists I love - Mark Rothko, Sam Leach, Rosemary Laing, Jeffrey Smart, Pablo Picasso, Johannes Vermeer, Michael Zavros, Rosalie Gascoigne, Bethany Wheeler, Ghostpatrol and Miso. I wanted to write about two people who speak through images as well as words.
Poet is my favourite character. He mostly comes from my imagination, but he’s partly inspired by all the teenagers I’ve worked with who say they can’t write and then they produce these amazing lines.
The inspiration for Shadow and Lucy’s love story was the painting The Lovers by Magritte; it’s of two people kissing through sheets. I thought that first dates might be easier if people couldn’t see each other.
How long did it take you to write it?
About two years.
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US cover. |
Besides writing, what do you like to do most?
Reading.
Grilled chicken, fried chicken or no chicken?
Grilled chicken.
What's your favorite holiday and why?
A mix of lazing around reading and going out and seeing things that inspire me to write.
Watch sports or play sports?
Not really. I like Pilates and walking.
One wish. What is it?
More empathy in the world. And that there would be another series written by Aaron Sorkin. Oops. That’s two. But one wish is never enough.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
Read. Study great writers. Write every day to find your own style. Be curious about the world. Write about thing things that matter to you.
Thank you, Cath! In our back-and-forth email exchanges, Cath has been a huge encouragement to me. I'm so thrilled she could be here to share a little bit of her wisdom. I hope you're all salivating over GRAFFITI MOON like I am! And if you haven't read A LITTLE WANTING SONG yet, add it to your TBR list.
If you get a chance amid holiday festivities, leave a comment and let Cath know how awesome she is!
*I decided not to hold Cath to the Twitter-length answer for this question. For one thing, I forgot to mention the short-answer thing when I asked Cath to do the interview (this is when I pull the I'm-a-mom-with-tons-of-little-kids card and claim scatter-brainedness). Then, after I read the answer, I thought it was so cool, I didn't want to cut it down at all. Nobody minds, right? :)