Can you sum up The Graces in one sentence? "Everyone said the Graces were witches - I was going to make them mine."

Why did you write The Graces? Frankly, the world needs to love complicated, unlikeable female characters as much as I do. I'm doing my bit for the cause. I've also always been curious about ideas around power. What is it, what makes some people have it and others not? Finally, ever since I was taught "The Crucible" in school and read Robin Jarvis and Terry Pratchett at an impressionable age, I've been obsessed with the idea of witchcraft.

What does it mean to be on the YA Book Prize shortlist? It's shocking. At some point I feel sure someone's going to sheepishly announce that they made a mistake and they meant to shortlist a different book called The Aces or something. You just have to look at the two previous winners to realise what a fabulous prize it is, and how unbelievably flattering it is to make it onto the shortlist.

Which book made you a fan of YA? Wait, this is tricky. How far are we allowed to go back, here? I mean, Carrie by Stephen King... The Secret History by Donna Tartt... I see these as YA books. I think the book that really introduced me to the modern label of YA was The Hunger Games. I'd heard a rumour that it was a rip off of "Battle Royale" (a beloved film of mine) so I approached it with some reservation. Then I found myself totally devouring the whole trilogy over 48 hours of a particularly rainy holiday.

What is special about YA from the UK and Ireland? I think it has a kind of fearlessness to it. There's a sense that it wants to be upfront with its audience about the big, complicated, terrible stuff, instead of playing it safe and dumbing down. It's very admirable, and an ethos I aspire to.

Who will survive? |The Life and Death of a character | Life After E.L.E. [Book 1: The Frozen World]

One of the most difficult parts of writing a book like Life After E.L.E. is deciding who lives and who dies…

As a reader, I can remember being so angry over seeing some of my absolute favorite characters being “killed off” by the author.

However, as an author, I have realized that – though the story is mine – I don’t always get my way.

And it was not an easy lesson to learn – nor is it always…

I first off want to thank anyone who had my back throughout my stay on tumblr's drag race. I also really want to appologize. I honestly mentally checked out of the competition the wednesday after the second challenge. The first two weeks I actually went balls out (well, tucked) and tryed my hardest to convey myself and learn from the judges.  However durng the last few minutes of my shift at work on wednesday, I recieved a call from my mother to come straight home. My grandmother who basically is like my second mother who took care of me till I was ten and have been living with the past three years had been admitted to the hospital. So the following weeks, I skidded by and was trying to just keep up. The comedy video week, I was going to drop out of the competition because the day I was going to do the video was the day of her funeral.Lacy talked me into staying so I kept strong in her honor but just couldn't do it. Between getting my paycheck stolen this week, to my mother and father getting a divorced, my ex drama and all this jazz, I mentally checked out and did everything for this challange hella last minute. I didn't want any of this knowledge to become public till now so no one thought I was getting by through sympathy. I made it to week six based off of what I had. But I just couldn't do it anymore. The fact that I was just doing this but not going out and preforming, I didn't get that rush I got that made it feel worth it. I am not that proud of myself because I didn't do that much of what I wanted but am happy of the ewperience. All of the other girls are awesome and were really amazing towards me (even though almost everyone else hated the contreversy that was made with me getting on).   

If better circumstances, maybe I would have made it farther. I want to appologize to nicole for not listening to the makeup critiuqes, lacy for not getting a single star and pioretta for losing her challange.

Thank you boxxa, marcie, eve, gemini, bobobette (not being shady, she knows why) and the names that are slipping my mind for giving me the strength and love to make it this far.