How, What, Where and When? with Keren David, on 'The Disconnect'.
I
am delighted to have Keren
David appearing
in my (still sort-of new) series, How
What Where and When!
In this post, the queen herself will be answering my Qs on
her new Barrington Stoke book, ‘The Disconnect’!
'The
Disconnect' is about Esther and her peers accepting a challenge
to go without their mobile phones for 6 weeks, with the promise of
cash and a job at the end of it – I mean, is there a downside to
that…?
Hey,
angelic Keren! Thank you so much for being part of this series.
Hi
lovely Grace! Thank you so much for asking me to do this.
Okay,
I’m going to mix up the order of questions for you, I think –
we’ll start with a When!
As in, when did you think up this (brilliant) premise for a short
story?
Thank
you! I think it was in the course of a conversation with my son
who was revising for A levels. I was talking about the benefits of
cutting down on screen time, he was unconvinced. It was the
conversation we'd had a million times. And then I asked what it would
take for him to give up his phone...how much money... and it
developed from there. (Naturally I didn't pay him. He needs to
develop self control. And so do I)
What
do we need to know about the
story of Esther, her friends and her family?
Esther's
an ordinary Y11 girl, living in north London. Her mum and step-dad
run a cafe, her dad and sister live in New York. So her phone isn't
just Esther's way of keeping in touch with friends, it's also a
lifeline for Facetime-ing
half her family. As for her friends – their
socialising is partly on the phone, partly off. They're communicating
all day long. But how much do they really know about each
other? (Whoops, now I'm asking the
questions!)
Where
do you find is best to go to
write? A cafe, maybe? Or do you stay at home?
Anywhere
but home. Best place is a deserted cafe, with no music, no one else
there, and no internet. Hard to conjure up.
How
did you create such 3D
characters? Any tips for aspiring authors?
I
work on voice a lot before I can write a book. I need to know the
narrator so I can hear them speaking to me. That sounds a bit
airy-fairy, but it just means that there needs to be separation
between them and me. I can't write my own story – it
has to be someone different that I've dreamed up.
My
main tip for aspiring authors is to write every day, to write the
book you want to read, and to write without fear. It doesn't
have to be perfect first time.
Thank
you so much for your answers, Keren! You’re a babe.
Readers,
you can grab this brilliant book from Barrington Stoke, or on The Book Depository, OR order
it into Big Green Bookshop, perhaps. (also the big book
stores/websites, but let’s support the little guys, shall we?)
Comments
Post a Comment