Someone you should meet!

I met lovely Vikki during a recent blogfest. She is positive and smart and witty! She also did a smash up crit job on my MS! I was so excited, I wanted to share my new friend with you! Here is our interview to tell you more about her...

Thank you for having me, Tara, it's fun to answer these questions!

You are quite welcome! So glad you came! And forgive my compound questions, I tend to go tangent. Here goes:

You've lived all over the world! Where is your favorite place to live? to write?

I have been lucky enough to live in various wonderful places! I have lived (albeit for only a few months at a time) in Vancouver, Sydney and New York. They are all beautiful in their own way. Vancouver is a handsome sports dude, who wants the high life of the city and the mountains not far away so he can board at weekends. Sydney's a cool surfer chick who doesn't have to try, because hello, Opera House? New York is well... New York! Gossip Queen crossed with a wise guy!

Then there is London, my home town. She may be grumpy and noisy and the tube too crowded at times, but she's multi-cultural, beautiful, busy and full of life. There's never a dull moment and always something amazing to do and see. It's a wonderful city and I am very excited that the Olympics are here and hopefully people will see how great it is!

My fave place to write is probably my spare room because I finally have a spare room and a desk of my own to write on! It's a luxury! Though I am typing this on the sofa. Old habits die hard.

Those personified descriptions floored me! Australia is on my list of places to go someday...And having a comfy writing space is essential!

I understand you like supernatural and superhero television shows, sounds adventurous! What are your faves?

I love all television shows where spooky things happen or people have powers! All of them! At the moment I particularly love Supernatural and Vampire Diaries, and also Alphas. It's a really fun show and I can't wait until season 2.

I had to look up Alphas. I will have to try it, looks like a good show!

What draws you to write YA? What genres to you read? What are you reading now?

I would say there are two reasons I write YA. The first is simply that those are the stories which speak to me, or rather, the characters who ask me to tell their stories, if that doesn't sound too vague an answer. They are the ideas I have. I wouldn't necessarily say I would never write another genre, if I got an idea I certainly would. I have a contemporary story idea I may someday write which would be aimed at an adult audience.

I the second reason, or perhaps part of the first reason, is that I think young adult characters speak to me because that's the time when you feel everything passionately. Everything is in the extreme. You explore who you are, what you believe, you find out hard truths about the world and make decisions about how you are going to act within it. It's an interesting age to write about.

I read everything, I am really into anything Sci Fi, and I read Dystopian and paranormal and contemporary. I just read 'Heart Shaped Bruise' by Tanya Byrne, which is a contemporary novel and it blew me away. A fantastic example of a strong voice.

Young adults are definitely extreme. As a high school teacher, I have witnessed a lot of drama!

I see natural writing skills and insights in your advice posts, which was why I had to follow you! Tell us where you get your blog post ideas.

That's very nice of you to say. I partly wanted to blog because I have been learning a lot about writing over the last few years. I took a class and joined a writing group and started to really read about the craft of writing more widely than I ever had. So I thought I had information rattling about in my head I wanted to share, and also write down somewhere before I forgot it all.There is a danger information will fall down the back of the sofa in my head if it's not recorded.

I also realised there was a lot more for me to learn, and the blogosphere (is that a word?) seemed a good place to do it! 

Before I started the blog I wrote a list, like the sad person I am, of all the topics I wanted to talk about, writing wise. I had 50 of them. I figured with that list I would at least keep a blog going for a year, so I started it! And I have used about 2 topics so far because I keep thinking of things I want to say and joining in fun challenges so I think I'll keep going for a while.

I have to write things down all the time. My brain must be full because I can't seem to remember much anymore. And you are not sad! I love lists! I have a folder full of post ideas. We all have lots to share!

Now where are you in your writing? Care to share an excerpt from or blurb about something you're working on?

I am finishing up a close line edit of a novel I hope to query soon, if I'm brave enough I may need encouragement! It's called NETWORKED at the moment and it's a YA Thriller set in the near future. It's about a girl, Devon, whose brother Kent went missing, presumed dead, a year ago. As the novel opens she's given a clue that somebody may know what happened to him, and becomes determined to find out the truth. I posted some opening hookers (http://viklit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hookers-hangers-bloghop-hookers.html) and closing hangers (http://viklit.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/hookers-hangers-bloghop-hangers.html) in my blog lately in the awesome Hookers and Hangers bloghop if anyone's interested. Here is the extended 'hanger' from the opening chapter (as it stands at the moment so do let me know what you think!):

The first mention of Kent in a year. My chest ached, as if a whole planet's extra gravity pulled on it. Confusion settled like a mass of writhing snakes at the bottom of my stomach. I couldn’t look away from the words. Why would anyone mention him now? Was this Kent’s writing? I'd never seen him write anything, only type.

I barely focussed on Havana's voice “Are you watching? What‘s your brother got to do with this?”

“I don't know,” I said.

But I sure as hell was going to find out.

I'm ready to sink my eyes into that!

Finally, what is your precious fish's name and what type of fish is it?

Aw, I keep Neon Tetra. They did used to have names, but over time I have ended up naming them after their behaviour, so I have 'filter fish' who stays near the filter and 'spot fish' who has a spot on her tail, for example, among others. They are hard to tell apart otherwise, but I can just about manage it! I do love keeping them, I find watching them very calming, and I like when they come up to the top demanding food when I walk in the room!

Thank you so much for interviewing me, it's been lots of fun! I love chatting about writing and making new friends so if anybody wants to visit, pop on over and say hi! Also I had the pleasure of reading Tara's draft and it's awesome, I'm quite sure it'll be a hit ;)

Fish are fun - just keep swimming! And you're the sweet one! Thanks again for letting us get to know you better, Vikki. 

I hope everyone will stop by Vikki's blog and say "Hi" and give her a boost to 100 followers!

Have a great weekend!