Blog Tour: Wish Author Interview and Contest!

Please welcome Alexandra Bullen, author of Wish. Check out my review of Wish.

1. What inspired you to write for teens?

As much as I love that my writing has found an audience with teenagers, I wouldn’t say that I ever set out to write for teens. If the kinds of characters I like to write about are related to best by teens, that’s great. I think there’s something really special about the intensity with which books and characters are appreciated at that stage in a reader’s life. But if people of other ages find something in what I write, too, (and I hope that they do, since we were all teenagers, once…) then that’s even better.

2. I saw on your blog you live most of the year on Martha's Vineyard. What's your favorite thing about island life?

There are so many things that I love about where I live, but very few of them have to do with the fact that it’s an island. The whole island situation is usually more annoying than anything else—travel takes on a whole new meaning when boats are involved. That said, I guess the fact that it’s not easy to live here is part of the appeal. It’s extremely quiet (for ten months of the year) and even in the summer, it always feels like time stops when you’re here.

3. Olivia uses a magic dress to bring her sister back? Do you believe in magic?

I do believe in magic. I’ve never been lucky enough to wear a magical dress myself, but I have known what it’s like to be given the very thing you need at the time you need it most. That always feels a little bit like magic to me.

4. If you could have dinner with any character from a book, who would you choose and why?

Hmm. This is tough. Many of the characters that I feel the most connected to, from the books and plays that I’ve read over and over again, aren’t necessarily people I think I’d want to sit down to dinner with! I find that I can get most involved with characters when they have been portrayed in a way that makes them completely human, flaws and all.

For example, last year I read a great book called Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, and the title character was an incredibly difficult woman, truly stubborn and at times a real pain. But by the end of the book, I felt all of this warmth towards her, like she was a relative I’d grown up loving (but only had to see once or twice a year.) She’d probably be not much fun to have dinner with, though. Definitely a picky eater.

5. If you were stranded on an island and could only take five books to read, what would they be?

I’ve done quite a bit of moving around lately, and while most of my books have been stuck waiting patiently, packed up in more boxes than I care to admit, there were a few that I shuttled around with me, wherever I went. And now that I’m somewhat settled (and, in fact, stranded on an island by choice) they are the same books that I keep out at the ready, the ones I go to when I’m feeling stuck and in need of a jolt:
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, and Seymour: An Introduction by J.D. Salinger, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, Birds of America by Lorrie Moore, and Angels in America by Tony Kushner.


Thanks Alexandra! You can follow Alexandra's blog tour to the The Book Muncher for tomorrow's stop. Also be sure to check out Alexandra's Blog and The Official Wish Site.


CONTEST!!!

Would you like to win a signed copy of Wish? Leave a comment below telling me what you wish for if you had a magic dress (it can be serious or funny). Contest is open until Saturday Jan. 23 Midnight (CT). Good luck!