Author Q&A Session #6: With Ellen Allen

I hope that your coffee mugs are on your hand, because, in an another Author Q&A Session, we have Ellen Allen, the debut author, who has enthralled us with her YA thriller, The Sham. So get comfortable and read on about this brilliant author. 

Read the review of The Sham here

 

Me: Firstly a very warm welcome to you on my blog. And congratulations on your new book, The Sham. Please tell us briefly about the story behind, The Sham.

Ellen: Thank you for having me and thanks very much!

The Sham is a YA crossover thriller, about an eighteen-year old girl, Emily Heath, who is desperate to leave her small dead-end town called, “The Sham” with her boyfriend, Jack. The problem is that Jack is very, very sick; his body is failing and his brain is shutting down. He's also in hiding, under suspicion of murder. The police think that Jack is a sham himself, someone else entirely, and responsible for strange signs that have been painted across town and for one of Emily’s classmates washing up dead in the local floods. As the town wakes to discover new signs plastered across its walls, Emily must decide who and what she trusts, and fast: local vigilantes are hunting Jack; the floods, the police, and her parents are blocking her path; and the town doesn’t need another dead body.

Me: So what was the hardest thing about writing this story: Keeping it going? Or finding the perfect ending with a surprise?

Ellen: Finding the perfect ending with a surprise. Definitely. I wanted to have a real twist, so I just kept writing down options for what might have happened for weeks and weeks. Finally, it came to me – my Eureka moment!

Me: The main character of your book is Emily. What trait of her intrigues you the most?

Ellen: I like Emily a great deal. She’s a composite of the person that I wanted to be at 18 and the person that I thought I actually was; I probably wasn’t anything like her in real life. I really love her – she’s smart, feisty and ever so slightly damaged. It was fun to write from her perspective because I got to work out some of those teenage neuroses; the huge difficulties you have at 17 or 18 trying to reconcile what you want, what you know and what you can actually do. I remember feeling continuously pushed and pulled between huge insecurities (am I good enough? will I do well enough?) and a burning desire to burst onto the world and mold it to my liking. As for her traits, I want her intelligence!

Me: Please do tell us what inspired you to write The Sham.

Ellen: The idea for this book came to me in a nightmare. It was so vivid that I imagined I was 17 again, at school, in the same group of 4 friends that I used to hang around with. We were involved in a murder and cover-up. I started writing partly as a way to get it out of my head and then the characters turned into real people... and Emily and Jack were born.

Me: What is your occupation apart from being an author?

Ellen: I live in the south of France where I teach English to French adults and kids. It's a great job for an author to do because I’m always very close to the English language. Also, I seem to understand my own language much more as I examine it from the perspective of another one; I'm re-learning some basic German at the moment too.

Me: You are a self-published author. What were the hardships you faced after your book was released? Is it hard to market your book after it's release?

Ellen: Well, you go through months of editing, formatting, proofing, designing the book cover, etc. and then it's released and you realise that you haven't even started the hard work yet! There are over a million books on amazon and it's hard work to get people to read mine. That said, I find it really rewarding because you know that you've done everything yourself. So you can really celebrate when you manage to link people to the book. Then they just have to like it...!

Me: Now that The Sham has released and has been loved by the readers from all over the world, you must be busy with your next novel. Tell us more about your next venture?

Ellen: I don't like talking about new stories before they're fully formed in my head – I’m a bit superstitious! - but I’m very excited. This one is much bigger in terms of cast and scope. I'm really enjoying how it's coming together partly because I'm at the point where I'm working out if all the twists and turns work and who's who. I hope it will be out sometime next year.

Me: How do you unwind yourself after a long days work?
Ellen: My favourite time of the day is story time with my daughter when she goes to bed. We normally read a couple of stories and then talk about the kind of day we've had. When we've said goodnight, it's movie time for me. I love films.

Me: Who is your inspiration in life?

Ellen: My grandmother died 7 years' ago and she was my inspiration. She wasn't an easy woman to understand but I was very close to her; she taught me how to read and took me to the library most weeks as a child. It's because of her that I have a love of reading and writing. Thankfully, my daughter shares my love of libraries and we hang out in our local French one a lot.

Me: Many, many thanks for sparing time to have this interview with me. I can only wish you all the best for all your future endeavors.

Ellen: Thank you so much! I really appreciate you hosting this author interview and if anyone has any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me.
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Ellen's Bio:

Ellen Allen have loved reading ever since she was tiny and discovered Enid Blyton in a corner of her classroom - The Magic Faraway Tree. She is an author of indie YA novel The Sham,  also an avid reader, a wild swimmer, and collector of writing titbits and all things bookish.  
She lives in the south of France with her small daughter and would, one day, like to be able to master the French subjunctive.  




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