Hi everyone! Today I am absolutely over the moon to be bringing you my stop on the YAShot 2018 Blog Tour! When I found out I had been paired with the lovely Sara Barnard for this post I was DELIGHTED. Sara is one of my absolute favourite authors and also happens to be a very wonderful person and quiz winning Queen (#TeamBarnard!). Today I’m bringing you an exclusive Q&A with Sara, you can also find out more about her three incredible books at the bottom of this post! Enjoy! ❤

Hi Sara! Thank you SO much for popping onto the blog today and answering my questions. Here we go!

What inspired you to write? Is it something you have done all your life or something you came to a little later?

I’ve been writing since I was really young, so I don’t actually remember a time when I wasn’t doing it! My dad is a writer so I think it was always a natural thing for me to just make up my own stories.

Why do you choose to write Young Adult books? Why do you think YA books are so important?

I just really enjoy writing about teenagers. I think they’re really important, especially for girls, because they are one of the only places where girls’ stories are centred and championed instead of being side-lined.

I totally agree with you! As a secondary school teacher I think it’s very important teenagers can see themselves reflected in literature and I think that YA books do this well.

Can you share a bit about your writing process with us? Are you a thorough planner? Do the characters come first or the plot?

My writing process is to just try my best to get it done! I’m not a planner at all and I’m very bad for procrastinating. The characters always come first, and to be honest I’m lucky if the plot comes at all 😀

Can you pick five words that summarise each of your books?

– Beautiful Broken Things: friendship, trauma, recovery, hope, love

– A Quiet Kind of Thunder: communication, first love, anxiety, relationships

– Goodbye, Perfect: no such thing as perfect

I LOVE how clever your answer is for Goodbye, Perfect. You’ve managed to perfectly capture your books here.

Can you pick a song that reminds you of each of your books?

– Beautiful Broken Things: Always Gold, Radical Face

– A Quiet Kind of Thunder: You Make My Dreams Come True, Hall & Oates

– Goodbye, Perfect: Stronger Than That, The Bahamas

Which of your characters has been your favourite to write? (If you can choose!)

Suzanne. She’s always been my favourite!

There is a focus on the dynamics of female friendships in your books, which is one of my favourite things about your books: was this something you did intentionally? What inspired this?

With BBT I wanted to write about female friendships when they were right at the centre instead of being sidelined. And then with the next couple of books it was always just a part of it. I can’t seem to keep away from them! I think they’re endlessly fascinating and something every girl has some experience of in different ways.

Goodbye, Perfect (which is perfect, by the way) is your newest book baby. The book has a huge focus on a pupil/teacher relationship: how did you go about tackling this hugely controversial topic?

I wanted to be as honest as possible about the experience from Eden’s point of view. I wasn’t interested in actually telling the pupil/teacher relationship story; it’s all about how it affects Eden and what it’s like for her dealing with the aftermath.

Eden is the main character in Goodbye, Perfect do you think she would be friends with Steffi and Caddy if their worlds collided?

Probably not! I think both Caddy and Steffi would feel very intimidated by her and wouldn’t even try, though Eden would be friendlier than they expect. Eden has a lot of edge, and they’re both quite soft characters.

Can you recommend three YA books that you think everyone should read?

On The Jellicoe Road, Melina Marchetta

Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein

Am I Normal Yet?, Holly Bourne

Quickfire Round!

Favourite book? – Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel

Physical book or eBook? – Physical (but I’d say audio if it was an option!)

Hardcover or Paperback? – Paperback

Favourite genre to read? Contemporary

Favourite reading snack? – Carrot sticks

Favourite animal? – My cat

Favourite soundtrack/album? – Not sure I have an all-time favourite but I love the Alexi Murdoch album, Time Without Consequence, which was most of the soundtrack to the film Away We Go.

Favourite movie? – I don’t have a single favourite, but I do love big blockbuster disaster movies like 2012 and San Andreas.

Favourite place to visit? – Wales [YES – I mean, obviosly I’m biased but Wales is the best]

Hogwarts House? – Hufflepuff

A quote that inspires you? – It always seems impossible until it is done.

Thank you ever so much for joining me on the blog today Sara. You’ve been a fab guest and I’ve loved reading your answers and think my lovely readers will too. I can’t wait to see you at YAShot 2018! ❤

Sara lives in Brighton and does all her best writing on trains. She’s written, ‘Beautiful Broken Things’, which was selected for the Zoella Book Club, ‘A Quiet Kind of Thunder’ and ‘Goodbye, Perfect’. She thinks sad books are good for the soul and happy books lift the heart. Us too.

MUST READ: ‘A Quiet Kind of Thunder’          FOLLOW ON TWITTER: @saramegan

Click on the covers below to find out more about Sara’s incredible books. If you enjoy YA contemporary novels then I really do urge you to pick up Sara’s books if you haven’t already. If you are in the US, please note that Beautiful Broken Things has a new name of Fragile Like Us. Sara writes books full of feeling, with emotional plot lines and some of the most gorgeous characterisation you’ll find in YA. Treat yourself!

    

Another huge thanks to Sara for joining us and also an enormous thanks to the wonderful people who organise YAShot for inviting me to be part of the tour and matching me with one of my favourite authors, I’m such a lucky girl!

Have you read any of Sara’s books yet? Which one is your favourite?

Will I be seeing you at YAShot this year? 

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