LAURA ELLEN INTERVIEW AND BLIND SPOT GIVEAWAY

Today I’m excited to interview Laura Ellen about her debut book BLIND SPOT that was released yesterday. Laura was a Michigan SCBWI who recently moved to Arizona. Roz, the teenage main character, grapples with macular degeneration, an eye disease that robs her of her central vision. It was fascinating seeing the world as she does. And I loved that this is a contemporary murder mystery/thriller that kept me turning the pages.

Laura had her debut party last night at Nicola's Bookstore in Ann Arbor, my favorite Indie bookstore.. She lived in Ann Arbor until this summer. I went to the book signing with a friend of mine who is also a friend of Laura's and was one of her beta readers. It was so much fun watching Laura debut and seeing so many neighbors and friends from our SCBWI group there. 

Here’s a description from Goodreads: 

Seventeen-year-old Tricia Farni’s body floated to the surface of Alaska’s Birch River six months after the night she disappeared. The night Roz Hart had a fight with her. The night Roz can’t remember. Roz, who struggles with macular degeneration, is used to assembling fragments to make sense of the world around her. But this time it’s her memory that needs piecing together—to clear her name . . . to find a murderer.

This unflinchingly emotional novel is written in the powerful first-person voice of a legally blind teen who just wants to be like everyone else.

Hi Laura. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became a writer.

Thanks for having me Natalie J

I grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska and for most of my childhood we lived out of town where there really wasn’t much to do. My sisters and I used our imaginations a lot – looking for monstrous villains or renegade gnomes or passageways to a parallel universe – we spent a lot of time making up stories and acting them, especially in the summer when we had all day and night to play. I was an avid reader too and loved listening to Mystery Theater on my transistor radio at night. All that imaginative play and fascination with story was bound to manifest somehow. I think I was around seven when I wrote my first story and I’ve been making stuff up and writing it down ever since. 

2. I've always wanted to see Alaska. Living there must have been amazing in the summers. Roz is diagnosed with macular degeneration at 16. I know you were also diagnosed with this disease in your teenage years. Share how your own experiences with the disease helped shape Roz’s experiences and how her experiences are different than yours.

My teen days were full of anger and frustration, and I channeled all of that into Roz’s character. Most of what she deals with I did too in some fashion. I was never placed in a Life Skills class –but I wish there was something like that for me when I was growing up (one without a Mr. Dellian that is!).  I struggled to find my way mostly on my own and it was a hard journey for me.  

 Dellian though was definitely something I experienced. Actually he is fashioned after three different teachers I had. These teachers not only didn’t accommodate me, they seemed to take pleasure in humiliating me. I never understood their motives for treating me with such animosity and condescension – but I gave Dellian a motive in the book. 

Unlike Roz, I sat and took it for quite a while, thinking there must be something wrong with me for my teachers to treat me that way. I wanted that part of Roz’s experience to be different from mine; I wanted to give her the voice I didn’t have. 

3. You really did draw from your own experiences. So sorry for how your teachers treated you. That's terrible. You tackle a lot of difficult issues in BLIND SPOT like how kids with disabilities are treated, drugs, and teenage sex. What were some of the challenges in portraying these issues and what advice do you have for the rest of us who may want to include them in our stories?

It is always a challenge, when writing edgier material, to keep it on that line of ‘acceptable’. I try not to be crass or vulgar but I also try to keep it real. These things do exist in teens’ lives – not everyone’s but in many it does, especially in the lives’ of teens who have low self-esteem. My advice to writers is: if you aren’t comfortable, don’t write it. Teen readers aren’t naïve and they can smell a phony. But if you are comfortable writing that edgier material, do so with purpose. Don’t put it in just to be edgy. It has to belong in your story; it has to make sense there. If it can’t be justified, don’t write it.

4. Great advice to use these difficult issues with purpose in your story and not just throw them in. Roz is a great, independent character who doesn’t want to be treated differently just because she’s been diagnosed with macular degeneration. I have to admit that there were times I wanted to shout at her though “No, don’t do that!” Did you have that feeling sometimes and how did you resist the urge to make things easier for her?

When I decided to make Roz have a visual impairment and use my own experiences to do so, I told myself I would have to lay it all out there if I wanted to make her experience real. I made so many stupid, idiotic mistakes when I was a teen -- when I think back I want to shake me and say “what were you thinking?”  The reality is teens make mistakes that, when they look back on, are shake-worthy, but in the moment they seem right. Often these wrong choices are made because we are so focused on an imperfection we think we have – we all have a ‘blind spot’ and those ‘blind spots’ can make you do dumb things. That’s what I wanted for Roz. I know, I’m so mean to my characters!

5. So awesome you incorporated the theme of your story into Roz's actions. You're right. Teens do make a lot of stupid decisions. I confess that I made many and it's a miracle in some ways that I'm alive to tell it.Your agent is Jill Corcoran. Share with us your journey to obtain an agent and to find a publisher.

I met Jill at a SCBWI LA conference through one of my critique partners, but I didn’t query her right away. I’d read that she liked ‘lyrical’ writing and I didn’t think that was me. At my friend’s urging though, I finally did. Two minutes after submitting the query, she requested the full. But I’d had a few almosts with agents reading my full at that point, so I didn’t let myself get too excited. When she started reading it though, she kept emailing me, giving me updates “I’m on such-and-such page and loving it” etc. Then with her page updates, she started talking specifics in the novel and if I’d be willing to revise.  I said yes, and next thing I knew, she’d made an offer of representation. 

We revised the novel twice and then started sending it out. I was lucky enough to have a few offers so I was able to choose which house to go with. I chose Karen Grove of HMH because she understood my vision for Blind Spot (wanting it to be a thriller first with the heart about Roz’s struggle) and because she related so intensely to the story (there are a lot of Dellians out there, unfortunately).

6. Sounds like you had a great road to publication. How are you marketing your book? Are you tapping into any markets that might be interested because of the macular degeneration issues of your story?

Ah marketing! It is so hard to know what to do when it is all new! So far I am doing blog interviews, a few appearances at bookstores, libraries, and conferences – whatever I feel comfortable saying ‘yes’ to I am doing! I will be reading at the LA Central Library tomorrow night (October 25) with three other authors. My blog tour kicked off today over on Authors are Rockstars, and I’ll be at Xpresso Reads tomorrow. You can go to my website for the entire blog tour schedule.

Also, I ran the ‘What’s Your Blind Spot’ campaign October 2-October 16^th. Teens and authors sent me their own ‘blind spot’ stories – that thing they were so obsessed with, it made them lose sight of something else. We will be announcing the 5 winners and sharing the stories Friday October 26^th over on I Read Banned Books

7. What are you working on now?

I am writing another murder mystery/thriller, also set in Alaska, but this time the main character’s senses are fully functional! 

Thanks Laura for sharing all your great advice. You can find Laura at her website,  Twitter, and Facebook. 

Thank you Natalie, it was fun!

Laura's publisher generously offered an ARC of BLIND SPOT for a giveaway. And I just purchased a book to give away too. Both are signed by Laura.  To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on November 3rd. I’ll announce the winner on November 5th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. 

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. International entries are welcome.

 Here's what's coming up:

On Monday I am SO excited to share an interview with New York Times best selling author Cinda Williams Chima and give away a copy of THE CRIMSON CROWN, book 4 in The Seven Realms series. This is a fantastic fantasy series as good as George Martin's A GAME OF THRONES. Even if you haven't read the other books in Cinda's series, you'll want this book and you'll want to read Cinda's awesome advice. She's an amazing  writer that I was lucky enough to meet at a SCBWI conference.  

Next Wednesday, I'm interviewing our follower Angela Brown about her debut book NEVERLOVE and Gwen Gardner about her debut book GIVIN' UP THE GHOST with book giveaways. They are both paranormal books and Angela and Gwen have joined forces for their book releases. It's going to be a fun interview.

The following Monday, I'll be interviewing a teen for my ASK THE EXPERT series and sharing THE SPINDLERS by Lauren Oliver with you. I'm a huge fan of Lauren's and I was excited to get an ARC. The world building in her new book is amazing and it's a great story.

And don't forget our Tuesday Tips and Casey's Thursday agent spotlights.

Hope to see you Wednesday!