Author Interview: Aimée Carter!

Hey! So I promised a special feature for my one month blogoversary and here it is, an interview with the wonderful Aimée Carter, author of the not-yet-released-but-soon-to-be-a-bestseller The Goddess Test. Is there anyone left in the YA blogging world that hasn't heard of, and is craving, this book? Just in case you've been under a metaphorical (or literal) rock for the past few months, here's a description for you:

The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter
Publishing Date: April 19th (Widely available April 26th)
Publisher: Harlequin Teen


Description from Goodreads:


Every girl who has taken the test has died.

Now it's Kate's turn. 

It's always been just Kate and her mom--and now her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall. 

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld--and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests. 

Kate is sure he's crazy--until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess. 

If she fails..


You can see my review of the Goddess Test here


Aimée  was kind enough to answer some questions for me, and here they are:


Quickfire Questions:

Favourite flower - Lily

Favourite book as a child - I loved the Babysitters Club and the Thoroughbred series like no others.

Favourite smell - Cold leather

Place you’d most like to travel too - I've already been there, but I would LOVE to go back to London someday. Or Ireland. Loved both places.

Favourite fictional character - Remus Lupin, from the Harry Potter series.

Favourite book as an adult - Tie between three - Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling; and The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.

Main Q's:

What made you pick the Persephone myth out of all the Greek myths? - I never really consciously picked a myth. The idea of doing something with Hades and Persephone simmered in the back of my mind for more than a decade, and finally I came up with the (well-worn) trope of a girl who makes a deal with the "devil" to save someone she loves. From then on out, putting the two ideas together was easy, though I did play with the mythology to better suit the story. In the end, it wound up being much more of a sequel to the myth of Persephone rather than a retelling, since that myth does play a large role in the back story of The Goddess Test.

Did you write any books before the Goddess Test, and would you try to get them published now? - I have roughly two dozen manuscripts sitting on my hard drive. All of them terrible. Since writing The Goddess Test, however, I have written several more manuscripts that I would love to see turned into books someday. They're a wide variety of genres - all YA though, of course. Dystopian, paranormal, contemporary, and so on.

Who was your favourite character from the Goddess Test to write? - I think Ava was probably my favorite. She practically wrote herself, and I love the energy she brought to the page. Her voice was by far one of the strongest out of all the characters. My second-favorite would probably be Henry, even though he was a much more difficult character to write. Exploring his back story and why he had certain traits was fascinating though, and one of my favorite parts of writing the book.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be? - Unemployed! Or a very lazy waitress. Really, I went to school for film, so I would likely be doing something in that - probably screenwriting. Or in story development. Writing is the only thing I've ever been very good at, and I can't see ever willfully giving it up, even if all of this never happened.

Do you have any rituals to complete before you sit down to write? (thanks to my mum for this one!)  - Thanks, Caitlin's mum! Mostly I check email and force myself to get my head in the game. Sometimes focusing is easy, sometimes it takes hours. If I'm at a bookstore, I usually get something to drink at the café first, and I always put in ear buds and put a song on repeat to make sure I'm not easily distracted by conversations around me. 

What book/series by another author do you wish you had written? - Hmm. My first inclination is to go with something big, like Harry Potter or Twilight or The Hunger Games. But then I wouldn't have been able to enjoy those series, so this is a tough call. I think, in the end, I'm proud of the books I've written, and with luck they'll be successful enough to warrant more. That's all I can really hope for.

I asked twitter if they had any questions for you, and here were the first 3:

From @geekcdunbar “where are the links to your early FanFic especially the Harry Potter stuff, but I’ll take Hanson aswell”  - I honestly don't think any of my Hanson fan fiction is on the internet anymore. As for Harry Potter, most of it is rotten, and I've lost the links to most of it, but maybe sometime I'll post a short story on my blog for anyone brave enough to wade through its awfulness.

@Caitlingss wants to ask you about the “I wish Henry were Real” support group  - Ha! Best support group ever. :)

And @myshelfandi asks “if you were a box of cereal, what would you be and why” - Something no one eats, so I'd live a long life without losing too much of myself along the way.

Thank you so much for these terrific questions! I had a blast.


Thanks for the great answers Aimée! And for taking the time to answer my questions, it was an honour to have you as my first author interview!!


Because it's my one month blogoversary, and because 100 of you wonderful, wonderful people have followed this blog, I've also decided to do a giveaway...can you guess what I'm giving away?


Yep, that's right, a pre-ordered copy of The Goddess Test!! This will be open internationally, thanks to the Book Depository's awesome shipping, but please make sure your country is eligible before entering!!


***RULES***


It's fairly simple to enter, the only requirement is you must be a follower of my blog! Then post a comment with your name and email address incase you win. Contest is open from...now till 11:59pm Sunday 10th April, at which time I will contact the winner, who will have 48hours to send me their mailing info so I can pre-order their copy!!


Extra entries are up for grabs:


+1 for following the host blog (the Cait Files) **required**
+1 for following my twitter (@CaitLomas)
+1 for following Aimée on twitter (@aimeecarter)
+2 entries for a tweet or retweet of my contest (link evidence is needed, click the timestamp of your tweet to get an individual URL)
+2 entries for a post on your blog about my contest (again, put a link to this in your comment!)


So that's a total of 7 entries up for grabs, just like Kate had to pass 7 tests ;)
Good luck everyone!