Monday, July 8, 2013
Indie Author Week - Debbie Edwards
Today's Spotlight Author is Debbie Edwards who has self-published her first YA Paranormal novel, titled Marvin's Curse.
Debra J Edwards
is a full time teacher and part time writer living in Surrey. She hopes
that this will be reversed soon and this will then read; Debra J
Edwards is a full time writer and part time teacher!
Her series
of Aggie Lichen books tell the story of a gang of feisty tooth fairies
trying to save their world. They are both funny and ridiculous. I mean,
teenage tooth fairies indeed.
Based
completely on the author's earlier work placement as a teenage tooth
fairy, the stories convey an air of realism as the characters deal with
bullying, sibling rivalry and, of course, good against evil!
Debra has now finished writing Marvin's Curse. Marvin's Curse is her 4th novel and her first piece of YA paranormal writing.
Debbie can be found on:
Welcome to the Spotlight Debbie! Lets talk about your novel, Marvin's Curse. Is there one character in your novel that you feel the most passionate about?
It
has to be Marvin himself. I felt so sorry for him as I created his
character. He’d lost the father he’d worshipped and was still so grief
ridden a year later when the story began. Having lost my parents, I felt
his anger at the world. Imagine being a teenager, with all the
emotional and physical changes that come with it, losing your beloved
dad, gaining an unwanted step-dad – surely that was enough for anyone?
Then the author throws a curved ball and ‘gifts’ him with being able to
talk to the dead. Oh, and let’s move him to a house near a graveyard
just to make it more interesting! It doesn’t scare him. Marvin is never
scared, but he just can’t help ‘putting his foot in it’ – a little
tactless, shall we say. I just want to cuddle and reassure him!
What aspect about Marvin was the most difficult to envision? The easiest?
The
most difficult aspect was him being a 17 year old boy. Now I’ve been
seventeen, but not a boy. I had to try and put myself in a boy’s shoes;
How would he think? How would he talk? What would his interests be? I
had to cross check with my husband, who luckily had been both seventeen
AND a boy! Phew! Also, I ran things past some brothers of students I
know to ensure I was thinking along the right lines.
The
easiest aspect was how he looked and spoke! As Marvin developed, I had
actor Jay Baruchel playing him, kind of geeky like in Sorcerer’s
Apprentice. In that film, I liked how Baruchel portrayed Dave and so
moulded Marvin in a similar way.
During the birth of your novel, was there any point where Marvin took an unexpected turn?
This
is a tricky one to do without spoilers! The whole book is about the
changes Marvin goes through at this difficult time. I can say that he
changes quite dramatically in many ways. Without giving anything away…
He has always avoided girls, they make him nervous. Meeting Stella
changes that gradually over the book. He learns to trust her, sees her
as a friend rather than a girl. We also see the heroic side to him to
when he is thrown out of Moghador, leaving Stella behind. He was quite
selfish, an introvert before, now the reader starts to see the other
side to Marvin. Now Marvin starts to see it too!
If Marvin suddenly sprang from the pages, what questions would you have for him/her?
How are you and Stella going to cope in the human world?
Will you be returning to Moghador to attend to ‘unfinished business’?
How are things with your step-dad now? Have you returned home?
Before we get to my last question I want to share with readers a bit about Marvin's Curse.
How would you handle the dead?
After losing his dad, 17 year old Marvin finds he can see and talk to
the dead, an inherited 'gift'. Bonus, you might think, but Marvin hates
it. It makes him different and he just wants to be 'normal'. He meets
Stella in the graveyard that backs onto the house he's just moved into.
'My name is Stella, Stella McCartney. It says so inside my trousers.'
(!?!)
A
mysterious business card reveals that Stella has lost her memories and
all signs point to Moghador, a gateway to hell where a pawnbroker holds
the answers. And Stella is DEAD! She just doesn't know it... yet!
Marvin's Curse can be purchased on:
Is there a particular passage or scene from your novel that you feel embodies Marvin the best?
I think this bit shows his rudeness/tactlessness so well.
‘Look, this always
goes a certain way,’ said Marvin, trying not to stare at her. ‘You want
me to do something. I refuse to do it and then send you away.’
‘What if I don’t want anything?’
‘Sorry?’
‘What if I don’t want anything from you?’
‘Well, that would
be a first! First time in a year that any sp…’ He stopped suddenly. No
unfinished business? They always have unfinished business! Oh god! She
doesn’t know. She doesn’t know she’s dead. A slight panic came over him.
How the hell was he going deal with this? Within seconds he had his
answer.
‘Do you see a light?’ he asked, pushing his hands towards the sky. ‘Do you see a very bright light?’
‘At this time of day?’ said the girl. ‘Don’t be stupid!’
No, she definitely doesn’t know.
‘And you’re sure that there’s nothing that you want. Nothing you need to find out. Nothing you need to have finished…’
She stared at him,
widening her eyes. ‘Just this conversation!’ She turned to leave, but
Marvin was quick to jump in front of her.
‘Hey!’ he said as she stopped walking. ‘Sorry, I’m just not good with sp… er, people.’
‘Understatement! You are rubbish with people!’
Thanks so
much for sharing this with us! Its been great having you here. I look
forward to giving Marvin's Curse a read in the near future!
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