The very first idea was an image that came to me of a girl waking up in a high tech room and having no idea where she was or why. I guess fairy tales are so deeply embedded in my subconscious, I was thinking about a modern sleeping beauty without even realising it.
In Beauty Sleep, Laura is cryogenically frozen. How much research did you have to do on cryogenics for this book?
Quite a bit – I wanted it to be convincing. I read a lot about the theory but also the human stories behind it. While I was writing the early drafts, there was a very sad story in the news about a 14 year old girl who wanted to be cryogenically preserved and had to go to court to win that right. She did, and I think it will have eased her pain towards the end of her life. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/nov/18/teenage-girls-wish-for-preservation-after-death-agreed-to-by-court
But there was also a story about a women who died in a cryo-chamber used for ‘cold therapy.’ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11987722/Coroner-finds-woman-who-died-trapped-inside-cryotherapy-chamber-suffocated.html
I also visited an ice chamber in a spa – it wasn’t for me!
What does your typical writing day look like?
Pretty much every day is a writing day. My life is quite busy because we run a small farm growing fruit plants. I’m usually at my desk by about 8.30 but I tend to work at one thing in short intense bursts of 20 minutes to an hour at a time. Unless I have a tight deadline, I alternate farm work, volunteer work for SCBWI (I manage the finances), writing, editing, interviews and domestic stuff. My daughter usually rings daily too and we often chat for about an hour! Then in the evenings I have fencing training or dancing and I always finish the day by reading in bed.
Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Read and write every day. Learn your craft – there are some excellent organisations that run courses and some brilliant books and websites on writing. I blog for one called Notes From The Slushpile. If you can join a writing community, online or in real life, it’ll help a lot. My friends from Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators have been my loudest champions and biggest supporters. It took me fifteen years to get a publishing deal, it’s nice to have some pals around when you’re dealing with a lot of rejection! It’s also a real joy to see your friends succeed – it gives you hope!
What books would you recommend to fans looking for similar stories to your own?
I’ve been waiting for the Black Mirror anthology to come out but it’s still not available! Teri Terry writes excellent thrillers with a sci-fi edge – her book Mind Games is one of my favourites. Christopher Edge writes for younger people but I still love his take on science fiction. For a more apocalyptic take on the genre, try Eugene Lambert’s The Sign Of One. Obviously The Hunger Games and Divergent And Scott Westerfield’s Uglies series. And the classics! I was such a fan of John Wyndham, HG Wells, Margaret Atwood, Aldous Huxley – I could recommend books forever and a day.
Can you tell us a bit about what you're working on next?
There’s always a heart in my stories – More of Me is about searching for your own identity and growing up, Beauty Sleep is about modern society but also about dealing with loss – my new book is about equality – or the lack of it. I think that’s all I can say about it, I’m editing it with my agent at the moment so it still feels a bit fragile – but it’s very much in my style, a strangely original thriller with a sci-fi edge.
And lastly what three words best describe Beauty Sleep?
Exciting, Emotional, Enchanting.
For your chance to win a copy of the book enter over on Twitter
🌟GIVEAWAY🌟— Jess Hearts Books (@JessHeartsBooks) May 10, 2019
RT & Follow for your chance to win #BeautySleep by @KathrynEvansInk UK only!@Usborne #UKYA #Giveaway #win #bookbloggers pic.twitter.com/YuRKVCuawl
Don't miss the rest of the blog tour!
