interview & giveaway: Claudia Mills, author of Zero Tolerance

As part of the blog tour for Claudia Mills and her latest contemporary MG Zero Tolerance (which I loved, as you can see from my review), I'm incredibly honoured to be able to interview Ms. Mills herself on Zero Tolerance. And once you've finished reading the interview, don't forget to enter the giveaway to win one copy of Zero Tolerance yourself!

Find Zero Tolerance on Goodreads or Amazon.

Welcome, Ms. Mills!

1. First, I have to ask: is any part of Zero Tolerance based on real life?

First, I have to say, thanks for hosting me on Pass the Chiclets today!
Sierra’s threatened expulsion from school for an innocent mistake was based on an actual incident that took place a few years ago in a middle school near my home in Boulder, Colorado, when an honor student faced serious sanctions for bringing a knife to school in the wrong lunch. I don’t even remember how that story played itself out; I just remember thinking how much the student in question would have to rethink so many of her fundamental assumptions about how her world worked.

It's so fascinating that you took a real-life situation and spun an entire story from it! I wonder if the student will ever read Zero Tolerance herself...

2. Sierra has a group of girlfriends who often share pagetime in their interactions with Sierra. How did you ensure each of her friends had a distinct personality?

Unlike some of my fellow authors, I don’t keep a notebook of personality traits and distinguishing features of each character. It seems a bit strange to say this, but I just somehow enter into the scene as I write. I hear the characters talking, see their gestures and glances, as I’m writing it all down. I feel as if I’ve eavesdropped on their conversation. Sometimes that makes revision difficult for me, as the original scene feels so real, the way “it really happened.”

Amazing! It's always interesting to learn about the writing process, and it's very intriguing that your scenes are almost cinematic for you.

3. I adored the budding romance between Sierra and Luke. What was your favourite scene of theirs to write?

“Good girls” are always attracted to “bad boys,” aren’t they?
I think my favorite scene was in Chapter 14, when Luke opens up to Sierra for the first time, as he tells her about “Backwards Day” in kindergarten and about his parents’ quarrels over how to respond to his alleged attention deficit disorder. I always love the moment when characters first make a genuine connection.

Haha, I suppose they are. And yes, I loved that moment too, so much that I actually quoted it in my review!

4. Sierra's mother and father have a very push-and-pull dynamic. Was this challenging to write from Sierra's perspective?

I grew up in a much happier family than Sierra’s in many ways, but I still remember vividly the few moments of conflict my parents had: those memories are seared into my heart. And I know my own two boys had to listen to occasional moments of parental argumentation that they would rather forget. So I tried to tap into the universal awfulness of being a child witnessing parental discord, while being so powerless to intervene in the situation.

5. Are there any outtakes which you really loved and were particularly sad to cut?

Yes! Initially I had Sierra write not one but two letters from the school secretary’s computer. The second letter was a love letter from Ms. Lin to the principal, Mr. Besser. I adored the scenes when Mr. Besser is now trying to avoid Ms. Lin and finally has a confrontation with her about it. Delicious! But both my writing group and my editor thought two letters was one letter too many, so that one had to go. Wah!!!

Oh my gosh, that sounds hilarious and so fun! I so wish we had been able to read that scandalous letter.

6. What's the one scene or aspect of Zero Tolerance you hope readers will remember?

It’s the scene in the hallway during the expulsion hearing, when Sierra has to decide how she wants to respond to her father’s carefully laid plans to destroy the principal. So much is at stake for her in that scene. What happens during those few minutes in the hall allows Sierra to define her own identity and decide what kind of person she wants to be.

Oh yes, that scene resonated with me, and I could understand how Sierra's journey was coming to a defining moment. It's great to hear how important to you it is.

Thank you for the wonderful questions, Eden, and for giving me this chance to share my book with your readers.

Thank you so much to Ms. Mills for this interview! And now... you want to win a copy of Zero Tolerance, right? You know you do. So go ahead and enter! This giveaway is open to Canadian/US residents and ends September 24, 2013.

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interview: Linna from 21 Pages

Make some noise for the lovely Linna, book blogger extraordinaire at 21 Pages!

Describe yourself in a rhyming haiku (5-7-5 syllables).

Pffft haikus are childsplay. Wait, you want this thing to rhyme?!?

Prone to rambling in

Parenthetical asides

(It's a bad habit.)

...I spent a while trying to make that rhyme but I couldn't do it. Also I'm assuming that rambling has two syllables... damn you, japanese poetry!!

You've got over 1200 followers, regular commenters and a massive review archive. How do you feel about how far you've come?

Yknow, I feel kind of funny about it. I started this blog in January of 2010, posted two reviews, than promptly abandoned it for a couple of months. I can't even remember what brought me back, but I'd never even really read a book blog before launching myself headfirst into the sphere. So I'm almost baffled at how much I've gained because of it. The awesome people I've met, the books I've discovered... becoming utterly addicted to twitter, sentence fragments. It's almost hard to imagine what it was like before I randomly decided to start reviewing books. :)

You usually post very regularly. How do you balance life with the blog? With networking online?

I get the urge to blog in waves, and I'm prone to going on sudden hiatuses for months at a time-- so the minute life starts piling on the work and I lose the inspiration to write, my posts start to dwindle. So I'm really not that great with balancing my blogging/school work! It helps that I think networking is fun (although sometimes trying to keep up with posts is not). Although by networking I hope you mean mindless chatter on twitter? That's professional networking, right? Right???

But I think you'd be surprised at how lazy I can be. I've made wasting time on the internet an art form.

Blogging obviously requires a major investment of time. How important is 21 Pages to you?

The best thing about having your own blog is that you can take a break when you need to, and, much to the joy of my procrastinating soul, no one is going to come crashing through the window telling me that I'm not getting my work done (not that that happens in real life)(often). You can't get an F on a badly written review, although the fact that everything I write is right there for the entire world to see is enough encouragement to do my best. 21 Pages comes after the physics test I have tomorrow, but it would probably beat the english essay due in three days. It's all relative to the scale of procrastination priorities I've devised since I started high school.

No one will love every book they review. Do you balance positive reviews with negative reviews?

Lol, definitely. Thing is, I probably wouldn't be so critical all the time if I didn't always choose which books I read, although sometimes I can write a much more in-depth, thoughtful, review if there are things I'm critical about. (Filled with lovely run-on sentences like that one just now.) Because when I love a book, I get incoherent, and that = crazy raving posts of praise praise praise.

Would you rather go ice-fishing (cod, trout and great white sharks) or deep-sea-fishing (catfish, anglers and marlins)?

I would probably fail at both. I've watched Deadliest Catch before, and I'd be one of those weaker crew mates that get swept off deck first. When it's only drizzling a little. So I guess I'd go with ice-fishing; cod and trout don't sound too ba-- GREAT WHITE SHARKS?! Sign me up.



Well. Isn't she a brave one?



Linna, thank you!

Be sure to find her:

21 Pages

Twitter

interview: Audrey from holes In My brain

Put your hands together for the alluring Audrey, book blogger over at holes In My brain (delightfully capitalized).

Describe yourself in a rhyming couplet written in pentameter (ten syllables).
NO FAIR. Lemme think about this *comes back in 30 minutes*

If only I paid attention in class,
Then I could kick this pentameter's a**.

It's terrible, I know. Aw sorry. I can't rhyme to save my life. Or think of couplets. Or write poetry.  Or sing. Or dance. Or.... ohkay, let's get away from this train of thought, eh?

holes In My brain has been around for nearly two years now -- how do you feel about how far you've gotten?
I'm happy, definitely! The first year was weird, I took a 4-or-so month break after a crazy summer of reading. Then after a heart-to-heart with my polar bear, I decided I should get back in the game.... so I did. The blogging world has definitely changed, but all in all, I really happy about what my blog has become and the awesome (like so awesome) bloggers I've gotten to talk to (like you!). 

You say in other interviews that it took you almost four months to gain your first follower. What do you think started the influx of readers?
A lot of commenting on other blogs! I was pretty much going-it blind at the beginning, so over the summer I was just in my own little bubble.  When I finally branched out and started reading other blogs and leaving comments, I began to get a few visitors here and there. I still remember my first commenter + follower was Alyssa from Teens Read and Write! Oh, then I had a contest. Hey, not gonna lie, it helps ;)

How do you manage to balance book blogging with life?
I don't! My priorities are skewed, despite what I may claim xD I spend wayy too much time online and blogging/reading as opposed to schoolwork... now that could have worked for me all through grade 11, but in grade 12, it's like a reality check as I need to step away from the computer and focus on homework a lot of the time.  It makes me sad because I'm addicted to the internet :p But anyways, I usually end up back online... and I fall behind in school.  Followed by some internal self-pity and external ranting, I will then buckle down and work a for a bit.

What's the best part of book blogging, in your opinion?
The books =)  I'm a reader and booklover at heart, so I gotta say getting all these YA recommendations (then falling in LOVE with the books) makes me happy (and eternally thankful).  I would have never discovered Melina Marchetta, John Green, or Sarah Dessen (my author love-triangle) without the blogosphere.
And.. can't forget the bloggers!! They're all so amazing and it's been so much fun talking to them, whether it's about books, Snooki, or prom dresses!! It's hard to believe the blogosphere can fit so much awesome.

Do you think you could beat me in a polar bear race, even if I gave you a headstart? (Be honest... you know I'm the faster one, what with me being younger and more spry and limber and all those youthful adjectives!)
Hehehe, I WOULD DEFINITELY WIN. Because my polar bear, named "DFTBA", is a grizzled vet.  He's been around the curb too many times, he's experienced and smart and cunning.. no way he will lose.  You may be younger, but I've got years of experience! Iiiiii am the champioooooon =D

We will see about that...

Audrey, thank you!

Make sure to check her out:
holes In My brain
Audrey on Twitter