Tag: Books

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Guest post: Ava Eldred on new YA murder mystery novel ‘Exit Stage Death’

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In celebration of new release Exit Stage Death, we are delighted to share a guest blog post from YA author Ava Eldred on how her love of musical theatre and murder mysteries came together to create a book you won’t forget!

by Ava Eldred

In one of the first lines in my new novel, Exit Stage Death, our main character Livi makes the observation that musical theatre and murder mysteries are actually pretty similar.

I won’t share her justification here (you’ll have to read it!) but I realised in the writing of the book that while our reasoning is different, I mostly agree with her, and that those similarities are one of the reasons it was the most fun I’ve ever had with a writing project.

I’ve worked in theatre myself for over 15 years, so in some senses bringing that world in to my YA novels was inevitable, but since I write murder mysteries, it wasn’t immediately obvious how the two might intersect.

When I thought about it a little more deeply, though, I realised that quite a lot of the things that can be taken from enjoying musicals can also be applied to mystery novels. Both allow a level of escape that feels safer, somehow, than other art forms tackling the same subjects might allow.

That is not to say that either musical theatre or YA murder mysteries sanitise things – more that, in adding the heightened layers that bring a little unreality to proceedings – the singing and dancing that we’d probably never come across in real life, the way YA protagonists have of becoming the default investigator that is unlikely outside of novels, we give the audience a way of processing things at a slight remove.

Fear is allowed to give way to thrills. Looking at it like that was part of the inspiration for Exit Stage Death – murder aside, the book tackles the complexities of coming of age, and finding a sense of belonging, which are things that all teenagers will come up against. The idea to set those growing up moments at a musical theatre summer camp, where a fellow camper is found dead on the third day, followed very quickly.

I’ve never met a teenage girl who didn’t like solving puzzles, whether that’s who the rogue arm in their friends Instagram photo belongs to, or who the killer is in their favourite book.

When it comes to theatre, and particularly my own creative work within it, I’ve always been more interested in work that holds a mirror up to the real world than going in for pure escapism. There is absolutely a place for both, but when I think about my favourite contemporary shows, there’s always a layer of something real that elevates them from good pieces of theatre to my all time greats.

The way that Next to Normal explores complex mental health conditions through song and dance, and even how less obviously dark shows like Wicked delve in to the complexities of female friendship and fitting in, make them a really enjoyable way of approaching and untangling scenarios that we may one day be faced with in our day to day lives.

I feel very similar about YA murder mysteries, both the ones I’ve written and many that I’ve read – YA authors are so brilliant at cutting right to the heart of the matter, and teenage audiences are so open to emotion in a way that adult readers sometimes resist, which makes them the perfect readers to explore things that are objectively terrifying, like murder, through a lens that usually isn’t. It’s facing the scary thing, whether that’s emotional or physical, and finding a way to unpack it.

I’m also always keen to make sure the protagonists in my novels have agency and, even when they’re afraid, find a way to use it. Teenage girls are so smart, and in a society that often tries to gaslight us in to thinking that isn’t the case, I think it’s our job as writers to push back against that every chance we get. That intelligence, too, is a reason murder mysteries are so appealing to this audience – when done well, they allow the reader to feel clever, give them something to push up against, and something to solve.

I’ve never met a teenage girl who didn’t like solving puzzles, whether that’s who the rogue arm in their friends Instagram photo belongs to, or who the killer is in their favourite book.

When I think of myself as a teenager, so many of the things that were most important to me weren’t things I saw represented in TV, or film, or other forms of culture. My platonic friendships were my most important love stories, and having interests like theatre and reading to throw myself into made so many things a whole lot more enjoyable.

My teenage self would have loved Exit Stage Death, if I do say so myself – there are plenty of platonic love stories, a touch of romance, questions to be answered, and a whole lot of songs to be sung along the way.

My biggest hope for this book is that the teenagers of 2025 who feel the same find it, and perhaps feel like someone understands.

Exit Stage Death is OUT NOW and published by UCLan

Exit Stage Death

Livi Campbell’s summer to-do list is simple:
1. Have the best final summer at Camp Chance.
2. Prove to her parents that acting is an acceptable career choice.
3. Smash all her rehearsals and get the lead in the senior showcase.
But when a fellow camper shows up dead under mysterious circumstances and Livi finds a note suggesting all is not as it seems, she must team up with her campmates to catch the culprit before they kill again.
Enter Juliet, the social media influencer with everything to prove; Aaron, the nepo baby who isn’t sure he wants to be in Hollywood at all; Daisy, the inexperienced newbie trying to find her place; and Sam, the leading man who broke Livi’s heart last summer.
The players are in place. The stage is set. Curtain up.

Ava Eldred

Ava Eldred was born in London, and has spent much of the last decade writing and developing stage musicals, as well as producing large scale theatrical concerts.
Her work has been performed both in London and internationally. She is a recent alumnus of Faber Academy’s Writing a Novel course.
Her debut novel, The Boyband Murder Mystery, was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

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Interview: Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel

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We chatted to author Kenneth Oppel about his new dystopian/sci-fi YA novel, Best of All Worlds, and the inspiration behind it.

Could you introduce us to your new novel – Best of All Worlds?

It’s a survival thriller in which Xavier, my teenaged hero, wakes one morning to find that his family’s lakeside cottage has been moved somewhere completely different. When he, his father, and heavily pregnant stepmother go to explore, they find themselves on a farm – hens, two Nubian goats, thriving crops! When they wander further, they realize they’re trapped inside a dome.

I wondered how people would react to finding themselves in an inexplicable situation – what kind of story you’d need to tell yourself to make sense of it…

The book beautifully blends dystopia/science fiction with social commentary and touches on a range of topics that are relevant in the world today – can you talk a little about the inspiration behind the story (without spoilers)?

I wondered how people would react to finding themselves in an inexplicable situation – what kind of story you’d need to tell yourself to make sense of it, what your plan of action would be. I also wrote the novel because I was fed up with conspiracy theorists, science deniers (especially deniers of climate change), and people who mangled the concept of freedom to justify hate, racism, and blatant self-interest. The world is hard enough for adults to navigate; for kids it must be even more bewildering, being deluged with misinformation.

We absolutely loved the worldbuilding in Best of All Worlds. Xavier and his family have almost everything they need to survive in the dome. Did you have to research anything when creating this world?

Oh yes! I learned a lot about sustainable farming, the best kind of milk goats to get (also how to breed, castrate and butcher them). I read about the best time to plant certain crops and harvest them. I went down way to manner research rabbit holes. I also, sadly, had to research various conspiracy theories and the people who perpetrated them.

Without any spoilers, this book keeps you guessing to the end, and we thought the characters and the different ways they reacted to situations were really well crafted. Did you always know the direction this novel was going in? Would you say you are a big plotter? Or did the story develop as you wrote it?

I am a big plotter and planner, and spend a lot of time “daydreaming” the world of the story before I start chapter one. But during the writing there are always delightful surprises. The biggest was probably the decision to introduce another family into the dome, one that had vastly different values than the first.

What came first for you – the concept, the characters, the setting, something else…? And is this different for each book you write?

Usually the concept or setting. Best of All Worlds was definitely concept; books like Airborn and The Boundless were the settings.

What would be your top three writing tips for any aspiring writers out there?

Don’t expect it to be perfect the first time. If you get stuck somewhere in the story, jump to another place. Get as much feedback as possible from trusted readers.

You’ve been writing since you were very young, and you’ve written so many books; has there been a career highlight during this time?

Having a book in outer space. Airborn went to the ISS for six months with Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk, and I got to meet him afterwards, and see my space book – though sadly they didn’t let me keep it!

Can you tell us about anything else you’re working on?

I have a couple novels vying for attention at the moment. One involves U-Boats, the other a young rock band behaving badly.

Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel is published June 2025 by Guppy Books in the UK (publishing simultaneously in US and Canada)

Kenneth Oppel

Kenneth Oppel is the bestselling author of many books, including Airborn, which won the Governor General’s Award for children’s literature and a Michael L Printz Honor Book Award, and the Silverwing trilogy, which has sold over a million copies worldwide. Some of his other books include Ghostlight, The Boundless, Every Hidden Thing, and Inkling. The Nest and Half Brother both won the Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year for Children Award. Kenneth lives in Toronto with his family.

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine and blog for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

Aphrodite by Bryony Pearce book cover. Bright pink background against a single yellow eye with long lashes
article, Blog, Blog series, Bookshelf, Interview, Interviews, on writing, Writing craft

Interview: Aphrodite by Bryony Pearce

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Join us as we chat to Bryony Pearce about her new YA novel, Aphrodite, a powerful Greek mythology retelling which introduces readers to goddess Aphrodite in a way they’ve never seen before …

Could you tell us about your novel, Aphrodite, and what made you decide to write it?

Aphrodite is a retelling of the life of the Greek goddess of love and beauty, a story that contains themes of power, love, betrayal and family.  

I have always loved myths from around the world and characters from mythology have appeared in many of my other novels: Angels Fury contains Nephilim; The Weight of Souls, Anubis; in Savage Island Carmen is a modern day Maenad; Hannah Messenger and the Gods of Hockwold contains many of the Greek gods.  

I have a particular fascination with Greek mythology and have been wanting to construct a complete Greek myth retelling for some time. Aphrodite struck me as the perfect vehicle for a modern rewrite, with the confusion about her birth, the possibilities of her power and the way she is a catalyst in so many stories.

This Greek retelling gives Aphrodite a powerful voice in a way that she hasn’t had before. What elements of her story did you enjoy writing the most?

I am so glad you saw the power in Aphrodite, as I was keen to give her that strength. In many ways she represents womanhood as a whole, and her story highlights the dangers for powerful women when they threaten the status quo.  

I loved writing the scenes where her power emerges, where she literally battles for her life. I also loved writing the scenes where she uses her cunning, hidden behind the mask of her pretty face.

From the beginning, parts of Aphrodite’s character are quite innocent, despite the violent nature of the world all around her and how she must protect herself. Was this balance hard to get right as you were drafting?

What I found most difficult was remembering to make sure that she retained her innocence and didn’t have more knowledge than she should. It is easy to allow authorial voice to creep in, for example, in naming plants, animals and so on, so I had to keep checking myself – does she know this yet? How would she react to this thing that is so strange to her? What would she do here? How would she learn? Who will teach her?

What does your writing process look like? Do you plot or pants your way through a novel, and what was it like working with an editor on this book?

I am one of the strictest plotters you’ll ever meet. I do character work, world-building research (I researched an awful lot about Ancient Greece from food to clothes to geography, politics, marriage customs and religious observations). Then I plan every beat of the story in advance. Following this, I write a chapter outline. And only then do I start to write.  

Some writers feel that writing like this removes the freshness from their work and cannot bring themselves to do it, but I feel that it allows me to focus on the language rather than worrying about what is going to happen next, to construct beautiful scenes, to ensure that everything fits together, that every action has consequences, that every scene moves the story on and every word has a role to play, and I can seed, early on, themes and elements that will be important much later.

You obviously know Greek mythology very well. Did you always love these stories growing up, or did you come to them later on?

I have always been a fan of world mythology. From a pre-teen I I had books about various myths, Egyptian tombs, the lives of the Mayans and Aztecs and explorations of religions and how they developed.  

My favourite stories have always been folklore and myths, from Havelock the Dane to King Arthur. Pantheons and heroes fascinate me and have so much to say about the values of a culture and how, ultimately, we are all so similar.

What has your writing journey looked like so far, leading up to the publication of this novel? Do you have any tips for other writers on a similar journey?

This is the thirteenth full length novel I have had published (and I’m hoping it isn’t unlucky number thirteen). I started to write in 2004, with the aim of seeing if it was possible for me to write a novel. I had no intention of trying for publication. However, once it was ‘finished’, I realised that I had a lot of love for it, and approached agents, who sent me to Cornerstones Literary Consultancy for feedback. After a rewrite following their advice, I entered the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices Competition 2008 and was one of the winners. From there I got my first agent and, in 2009, my first book deal.  

I also write short stories for adults which have appeared in various anthologies and magazines.  

In terms of tips for other writers, I would recommend that you read widely within your genre, and that once you have taken your first draft as far as you can alone, seek constructive feedback before approaching agents, whether that be through paid support such as literary consultancies, or through writing groups, mentors, or critique centres such as Wattpad.

I also recommend entering competitions, which are usually run by industry professionals, who might remember you and which often have great prizes from free feedback to book deals. Be polite, persistent, resilient and keep your love of writing – that is the most important thing, that you keep loving what you do

What can readers expect from you next, and can you share what you are writing at the moment?

I am hoping to see my third adult thriller on the shelves, which is doing the rounds with publishers at the moment. This is set in London, and involves a woman who ends up entangled in a children’s game, gone terribly wrong. The current title is Simon Says.  

I am hoping also to write a sequel to Aphrodite, which goes into her role in the Trojan War (which in my version she starts deliberately, as a gift to her lover, Ares).  

I will be able to write the sequel if Aphrodite does well, so … hint, hint …

Bryony’s writing prompt:

Imagine that you wake, full grown, in a strange world, naked and alone, with no memory and no skills. Where are you? Why and how did you end up there? Do you have the ability to survive, or are you helpless? What are your priorities (shelter, clothing, food, exploration, weapons etc.)? Do you receive help and support from the locals, or are you in great danger? What do you find when you explore? What do you become?

Aphrodite is out now, published by UCLan. It is available on Amazon and, if it isn’t on the shelf in your favourite bookshop, you will be able to order it from them.

Bryony Pearce

Bryony Pearce is a multi-award-winning novelist and short story writer. She has written a mixture of thrillers, paranormal adventures, science fiction and horror, for Mid-grade, Young Adult and Adult readers. Her most recent novels are based on Greek mythology: Hannah Messenger and the Gods of Hockwold, for readers aged 9-12, and Aphrodite, for young adults.

In addition to writing her own novels, Bryony teaches creative writing at City University (London) and works as a consultant and mentor, in order to help aspiring authors achieve their dreams.

She lives in Gloucestershire and has two teenagers. Consequently she spends a lot of time at the side of sports fields, listening to concerts and being creative in car-parks.

www.bryonypearce.co.uk

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

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Interview: The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton

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We spoke to author Alwyn Hamilton about her glitzy new YA fantasy thriller, The Notorious Virtues, full of power, money, magic and… murder!

Could you introduce us to your novel, The Notorious Virtues, and tell us a bit about the inspiration behind it?

The Notorious Virtues is 1920’s New York meets Grimm Fairytales. A group of heiresses compete to win their family’s money and magic in a tournament of virtues.

There are so many pieces that came together to make this story. It’s partly inspired by all the folktales of “The King had 3 sons and he sent them on a quest for a McGuffin to decide the heir”.

It’s also inspired by my friend who is a social worker and once pointed out that there is a recurring narrative in fantasy of glorifying a young person’s lost birth parent at the expense of the adoptive parents. It’s very you were raised by peasants but secretly you’re royalty, which is a terrible narrative for adoptive kids or kids in the foster system. She wished that fantasy would include more positive adoption stories. Apparently what I heard was write a story that subverts the narrative of the glorious perfect birth family that makes you special.

The Notorious Virtues has such a fascinating world and magic system, with a long history. Do you have any tips for aspiring writers attempting their own fantasy?

Well since you bring up world, one of the number one mistakes I see aspiring fantasy writers make is feeling like they need to have the whole world built before they start writing the story. Yes, of course you need to know some things, but the world will grow as you write it. No matter how prepared you are, you will inevitably hit something you have to invent on the fly. Don’t let building the world stop you from telling the story. Most of the time it’s an excuse.

Not only is this book a fantasy, but it brilliantly and seamlessly weaves in a mystery, romance, a competition and fairy tales, while also exploring themes of family bonds and power. How tricky was this to do? And was this always the plan or did some elements appear as you wrote the novel?

This book was a built over such a long period of time that I would struggle to tell you what originally was in there and what came in the writing. The character of August is probably the biggest component that came in after I had pitched it. I realized quickly that Nora needed someone to talk to and be her mystery investigator sidekick (August would say she is the sidekick). And I think with him the mystery became a more active part of the book.

This novel is packed full of magic and charms. If you could choose to have one charm yourself, what would it be able to do?

A lot of the charms were born from necessity in the world. I think it got cut in editing, but there was a charm that kept high heels from sinking into the grass at garden parties. I have been to enough outdoor weddings that I would gladly take a charmed shoe!

The Notorious Virtues is told from multiple POVs and there are so many brilliant characters – did you have a favourite to write? And why?

Authors aren’t supposed to have favourites… but my favourite is Nora, also known as Honora Holtzfall, the once heiress apparent trying to win back her place in the family, while also solving her mother’s murder. Nora is such a mix of brains, sass and reckless self-confidence. Writing her, and especially her banter with August, was the most fun.

Could you tell us a little about your writing routine? Do you have a method to plotting and writing your books, or does each book have its own unique journey?

I’ve heard the saying that you never learn to write a book, you only learn how to write the book you’re currently writing (and the next one is a whole new beast). I think that’s true to an extent, but I have always written better in a café than in my house, so I try to have a rhythm of leaving the house.

We cannot wait for the next book in this series! Can you tell us about anything we can expect (more Nora and August scenes please!) or about anything else you are working on?

I feel like if I reveal anything about book 2 a sniper will appear pointed at my head. I am currently writing it, the fairy tale aspect is way bigger than in book 1, lots of fun creatures to see. And after that I have an idea I am so so so excited by. But we’ll just have to wait to see if I sell it!

The Notorious Virtues is out on 27th March 2025 in the UK and published by Faber. It will also be publishing in the US and Canada on 1st April 2025 with Penguin Random House, and will be available in multiple countries worldwide, including France, Poland, Brazil, Spain and Italy.

Credit: Alexandra Hamilton

Alwyn Hamilton

New York Times bestselling author Alwyn Hamilton was born in Toronto and spent her early years bouncing between Europe and Canada until her parents settled in France. She moved to the UK when she was 18 and has been here ever since as an author/bookseller. Her first novel Rebel of the Sands was sold in 14 territories and won the Goodreads Choice Award for best debut. Her fourth book The Notorious Virtues will release in 2025. Follow @alwynhamilton on TikTok.

https://www.alwynhamilton.com/

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

Island of Influencers by Monique Turner
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Interview: Island of Influencers by Monique Turner

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Interview by Lauren Marples

Monique Turner chatted to our contributor, Lauren Marples, about her topical YA thriller debut, Island of Influencers, a book that deftly tackles the dark side of social media with an addictive storyline.

Your novel, Island of Influencers, is centred around influencers and social media. Could you tell us a little about the inspiration behind what made you decide to write it?

I’m a curious person by nature, and the concept of influence is something I’ve studied in depth. What makes this person’s message so hard to ignore? Why have the masses flocked to this ideology? I can’t rest until I find an answer, and this research is what led me to helping create informative videos on YouTube. The realms of social media are the perfect place to observe human behaviour, especially in regards to influence.

I started working behind the scenes of YouTube channels as both a personal assistant and a scriptwriter, and I was lucky enough to witness influence from inside the fishbowl. Suddenly, I had access to the private aspects of human behaviour through direct messages and emails, and it was fascinating to learn how many people wanted to live the influencer lifestyle and, in contrast, how many people had absolute disdain for anyone who did.

I began writing Island of Influencers as a way of responding to the desires of the masses on the outside looking in, and to process everything I was part of. Harper, my protagonist, is a reflection of all the people wanting to be inside the influencer world – yearning, desperate and naive. Belle, her famous cousin, is the antithesis of that fairytale – she’s the harsh reality that Harper refuses to see until it’s too late for both of them.

Island of Influencers is the result of years of social media observation and study of human behaviour, broken down into a fun, bite-sized concept that can be consumed by anyone who is remotely interested in internet culture.

We love the different influencer usernames: ‘Readathorien’, ‘Kottage Kay’, ‘Sssiguard’! What was your process like in creating these influencers in particular?

Thank you! I had so much fun creating my characters, including their usernames, Tubeify channel niches, and even their channel logos.

Readathorien is my personal favourite! Obviously, I’m a huge book nerd, and I often consume booktube, booktok, and bookstagram content, so her username had to reflect her online niche. The username Readathorien is based off the viral fantasy series A Thorien of Witchers (a fictional book I created for my world), and her channel on Tubeify was started based around this series, so her fanbase is the same fanbase for the book series. Her username was birthed from the concept that art breeds more art, and I live for art that transcends its original format, when the work takes on a life of its own and the fans create new space for it all over the web to theorise about and build upon the lore.

Sssiguard has a reactions channel on Tubeify. His username is based off the Scandinavian name Sigurd, derived from the Old Norse name Sigurðr which means “victory” and “guardian”. From the get-go, Sssiguard sees himself as the victor, even before the competition has begun, and the triple ‘S’ comes from the sound made by a snake. Sssiguard’s actions in the book can be very sssnake-like. I changed ‘gurd’ to ‘guard’ because I wanted to emphasis that he sees himself as the guardian of his internet niche. In his eyes, reactions are his territory (proven in the Cancelled Club challenge).

Unlike Readathorien’s username, which is based off her niche, I wanted Sssiguard’s to be based off his personality.

Kottage Kay’s username is interesting, because how lucky is it that she has a name (Kay) that, when paired with a slightly altered spelling of cottage, so perfectly fits with her cottagecore channel niche! It’s almost like it was given to her by the gods, manufactured in some way, like she’s an industry plant destined to succeed in whatever she does. Who knows!

You mention The Hunger Games in the novel, and the competition is very similar to the arena, yet with a modern twist. What else were you inspired by when writing Island of Influencers?

Absolutely! The Hunger Games is a series that captivated me when it was first released. I couldn’t help but compare it to my own world. I can see the parallels even clearer now as I grow older, and for me, the internet is a very dystopian place, so merging the two concepts together just worked.

Obviously, my main inspiration was YouTube, specifically large-scale competition games with huge stakes and disgusting sums of money to be won. That’s the foundation of the novel.

But this book was also inspired by George Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. All of these books deal with censorship, how easy it is to influence a society, control through media, getting stuck in systems that benefit only the rich and powerful, and how certain tools and technologies can be used to distract the masses from the realities of the world.

Music has also inspired many of the stories I’ve written, Island of Influencers included. This one is hard to explain, but sometimes I just stumble upon a song and something about the musical composition or the lyrics just invokes this whirlwind of activity in my brain. In the duration of that three minute song, I can create an entire world and storyline based on the vibe, and then magic just happens.

While writing the beginning of Island, I listened to loads of songs where the lyrics focused heavily on success, status and money, but I then switched to cinematic, epic instrumental pieces as I transitioned into act three, which really helped to unfurl the humour of the novel and reveal the darkness hidden beneath.

The innovation of technology is hinted at towards the end of the novel. Do you think that the way people create content will change in the future?

It’s already changing, without a doubt! Technology has advanced so rapidly within the span of my own lifetime, and today the changes are almost daily. Trends come and go quicker than you can jump on the bandwagon, the algorithms switch-up before you can even figure them out, and the days of old-Hollywood celebrity have been replaced by overnight successes who fade from relevance just as quickly as they appeared on our screens.

The internet has become an uncontrollable beast and people are tired. We’re overwhelmed with content now and it’s getting harder to discern what is genuine, relatable content, and what is actually marketing and promotion disguised as genuine, relatable content. There’s been a radical change in how people engage online, there’s less connection between creator and consumer and we’re seeing a rise in passive lurking and low conversion rates from views to shares, comments and likes on all forms of content.

People looking to become content creators or influencers are trying to go too big too soon these days, everyone wants their first video/ book/ song/ post to be a viral hit, and to gain millions of followers and subscribers overnight. That isn’t sustainable, and we’ve seen evidence of that through those who have gone viral overnight and then fallen short because they have no catalogue behind them to be able to keep the momentum going.

Personally, I think we need to go back to the drawing board and remember what made the early days of social media so great. The audience doesn’t want to be mindlessly sold to, they don’t want to feel like a number on a page, or like they’re the product of a strangers empire. People want to feel seen and valued by the creators they follow. There’s no better feeling than watching your favourite content creator rise from nothing into the stratosphere, to feel like you’re part of something that others on the outside don’t understand. 

My best advice to anyone who wants to become a content creator is this: don’t aim to grow a fanbase, aim to create a community of like-minded people. That might mean that you start with two of your mates engaging with your stuff, and then a third and fourth person might find you organically, and then soon you’ll have ten people engaging with your content, and then fifty. It’s the snowball effect. It’s slow and frustrating, and the outer shell might flake away and change, but the core is solid.

I’m looking forward to the days of social media where creators are focusing on community again, and not just spewing out content for the sake of making a profit.  

The ending of the novel is quite obscure (no spoilers!). Do you think that Harper regrets becoming an influencer?

The ending was my favourite part to write, simply because I knew it would throw people for a loop. To me, the whole novel is obscure, but the darkness in the first three-quarters is blanketed by humour and absurdity which puts the reader at ease, and when that blanket is lifted toward the end, it’s unsettling. It comes across as quite jarring, but the darkness was always there.

I mentioned in a previous answer that I was inspired by Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. I love how Heller used satire to draw attention to and criticise certain aspects of society and human behaviour. It’s the same tactic a magician uses, a slight-of-hand trick. 

In Island of Influencers, I said, “Look over here at this ridiculous, entertaining thing while I do something underhand in the shadows,” and then by the time the reader and the characters notice, it’s already too late. The seeds were sown from the first page and, in the end, we all must reap what we sow. 

Funnily enough, this is also a tactic used by those in power in our real world. What’s the best way to assert control over the masses without anyone noticing or putting up a fight? Distract the people elsewhere.

And as for Harper, does she regret becoming an influencer in the end? I think that’s open for interpretation. She got everything she ever wanted, her dream came true after years of trying to make it happen, but it came at a cost. Only the one who pays the price can decide whether it was worth it.

Personally, I would never want for myself what she now has. 

Some readers might feel cheated by the end, because of how obscure it is. But my intention was never to make the reader feel comfortable, but to show how easy it is to be deceived, even when you have all the clues laid out before you.  

Can you tell us about anything else you are working on?

I have just handed in book two of the Influencer series to my editor, and I’m super excited to dive into edits for this one. It follows different characters in the same world, trying to navigate social media in the days following book one. We do also get to see what happens to some of the characters from Island of Influencers, and you may be surprised by where they’ve ended up.

For now, that’s all I can say, but I will leave you with this little snippet that I think captures the vibe of book two perfectly: “Are you entertained yet?”

Island of Influencers is out now in the UK, and soon to be out in Poland, published by Chicken House.

Monique Turner

Monique was born and raised in the cold north of England on a diet of strong brews and thick gravy. Whilst growing up, she struggled to find her place in the world, so she vowed to create stories where those who don’t fit in can finally feel like they belong. When T.M. Turner isn’t writing, she can be found roaming the southern coast.

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

article, Blog, Blog series, Bookshelf, on writing, Writing craft

Guest post from author of YA novel ‘Pieces of Us’, Stewart Foster: Don’t Hide Behind the Songs

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Hear from Stewart Foster (author of Pieces of Us) speaking from his own experience on why music matters and how important the spoken word can be in expressing emotion.

TW: This blog post contains content relating to mental health issues and eating disorders.

by Stewart Foster

There was a key moment in the early days of writing Pieces of Us. It came when I worried about some of my friends’ reactions, should they read the book. All would know a little about my eating; some knew it was a big thing, others probably just thought it a quirk of my nature – a thing Stew did.

My character, seventeen-year-old Jonas, felt the same way. In the first chapter, he says to his best friend: ‘Louis, if ever I thought anyone would actually read this, I’m not sure I would write the first line.’ And I sat back from the screen and thought, ‘God, that is so true for me too.’

I kept writing, still with those worries in my head, not just about the bulimia but also the closeness of Jonas’s relationship with Louis. Later in the book, there’s a poem called The Cormorant. I wrote it one Sunday evening after watching a nature programme on TV showing a cormorant regurgitating food for its young. It repulsed me; an instant picture of what I was doing to myself in the bathroom. That poem went under my bed with thousands of other pieces of poetry I’d written since the age of ten.

I eventually showed it to my best friend two years later as we put songs together to record. He had no idea what The Cormorant was about, until late one night, I explained it – that it wasn’t about an ugly seabird, it was me. Like others, like my whole family, he had no idea of my secret, just thought I’d lost weight as I’d got taller. The next evening as we recorded it onto tape, he stopped midway through and said, ‘Stew, you could have told me, you didn’t have to hide it in a song.’

Looking back, I realise I wasn’t hiding behind the songs – showing him was my way of telling him, in the same way that you might write a diary and secretly hope someone might read it.

Looking back, I realise I wasn’t hiding behind the songs – showing him was my way of telling him, in the same way that you might write a diary and secretly hope someone might read it.

In a secondary school visit recently, I was reminded of how I used to feel at school, even later at university, because I believe this can be what mostly holds us back, like the Year Seven student I met recently who told me he found it hard to write.

‘Why?’ I asked him.

‘Because I always end up on my Xbox.’

‘No, why?’

‘Because I want to talk to my friends.’

‘No, why?’

‘Because I don’t have confidence, and I’m scared what my friends will think.’

‘There you go!’

The giggling in the room didn’t hide that that’s what the majority of classmates were thinking too: confidence, trust, peer pressure, what will my friends think?

Students are in the middle of the most confusing years of their lives, often feeling isolated in class, often (at university) hundreds of miles from home. Whether through song, poem, short story, third person, first person, or writing about dreams, it’s OK to put your feelings and emotions in them. In my case, a novel. And in that novel, what it took for me to write it – to block out those worries, block out those I thought would cast doubt – was to come up with this plan.

When my friendship ended with the person I’d first shown The Cormorant to, I was guilty of pushing those poems back under the bed until years later, whilst at university, I met someone who resurrected those feelings of close friendship and trust. They backed me with my writing – from emails to Facebook messages full of poetry, lines, thoughts, and chapters. They joined me in dreams of huge contracts and winning The Booker Prize.

And on those nights where doubts crept in, when Jonas’s actions became explicit and his secret eating disorder came out (along with it mine), I would hesitate over paragraphs, lines, words, and then I’d gather myself and say, ‘If I can say this to my friend, then I can write it in this book.’

It’s hard to put our feelings out there.

In poetry.

In songs.

In books. But for me, it became harder to say nothing at all.

Pieces of Us is OUT NOW and published by Simon and Schuster

Pieces of Us

Two secrets, an unbreakable bond … and a powerful and heartbreaking love letter to a life-changing friendship, from award-winning author, Stewart Foster.

As the summer before college begins, Jonas is hiding a secret. He suffers with bulimia, but no one knows. Not even he knows how bad it really is. Until he meets Louis, a confident dreamer who believes in a better future for Jonas and together they enjoy a sun-kissed summer filled with music, memories and life-changing moments.
But when tragedy strikes, Jonas must decide if he has the strength to face things alone ….

Stewart Foster

Stewart Foster is an adult and children’s novelist, born in Bath. His books have won multiple school and library awards and are recommended by Empathy Lab and Reading Well.
His first children’s book, The Bubble Boy, was published in 2016, winning Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award in 2016 and many schools and libraries awards, as well as being nominated for The Carnegie Book Award.
Since then, Stewart has written four more children’s books: All the Things That Could Go Wrong, Checkmates, The Perfect Parent Project and Can You Feel the Noise?

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

article, Blog, Blog series, Bookshelf, Interview, Interviews, on writing, Writing craft

Interview: ’Til Death by Busayo Matuluko

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Busayo Matuluko chats to us about writing and her new debut YA novel ’Til Death.

Could you introduce us to your novel, ’Til Death, and the inspiration behind it?

’Til Death is a cosy-until-it’s-not mystery about a bride who is poisoned on her wedding day. After receiving threats telling her to cancel her wedding for over six months, her super sleuth cousin, Lara – who has a true passion for mysteries – decides to take it upon herself to solve the mystery of who is sending the notes and who has poisoned her cousin.

’Til Death came about after watching YouTube videos of Nigerian traditional weddings during the pandemic. I had a very morbid thought and said, “Wouldn’t it be crazy if she just died right now?” Now, that’s not a normal thought for a person to have, and I was like, “Busayo, that’s horrible… but as a mystery? Genius!” However, if I was going to write it, I had to know who did it, so I went to the worst-case scenario possible, and the story was born.

The book centres around wedding preparations and parties in Lagos, and features a large cast of characters (suspects!). Did you have a system to keep track of all the characters, clues and red herrings?

I wish I could say that I had a very intricate system and my own murder board like Lara, but unfortunately, it was a lot of back and forth editorially, trying to make sure everything fit in its place perfectly – especially because it was in such a short timeline. I had to make sure it was even possible to do this much in so few days. I will definitely be taking notes for my next book on how to keep a better system, I’ll just say that!

But to be honest, it was very easy to keep track of the characters because they lived in my head so naturally, and I very easily knew what one would say versus another. I also planted red herrings while I was writing, and a lot of them stuck, thankfully, through the editorial process. So, it’s nice to know that I at least did something right.

Family dynamics play a huge part in ’Til Death. Was this always something you wanted to include? Who were your favourite characters to write?

I think with weddings it would be hard not to include family dynamics and a huge cast of characters. When I set out to write ’Til Death, I knew that I wanted to introduce readers to not only Nigerian culture but Nigerian wedding culture, so the fusion of these was something I took much delight in.

Weddings already bring so much drama, but I feel like it is heightened when it’s a Nigerian wedding. You’ve got caterers arguing with mothers of the bride, and you’ve got guests moaning because they didn’t get enough party bags. All of these tidbits I definitely wanted to feature – I could write a whole book about weddings if you let me.

My favourite character to write, apart from Lara, would be Joseph. He’s just so annoying in the best way. I really loved finding pieces of dialogue that were extremely irritating but made a very good point. I also loved writing Seni and Derin’s feud as the wedding went on because I understood both sides equally. I see a lot of myself in Derin, in that I can be too trusting, but I understood some of Seni’s motives also – I can be just as petty, haha.

Main character Lara is a true crime enthusiast, as well as a reader of thrillers and mysteries. Are these interests that you share? Were there any other interests or elements from your own life that you’ve included?

I think my interests with Lara align in the fact that we both love mystery novels. While I do like some aspects of true crime, I’m definitely not a buff like she is. I need to have a surge of energy to want to sit through a true crime documentary. But, of course, I feel as though if I were ever in the predicament, I could do it better than the criminals in the documentary.

It is funny that I say this because, at one point in my life, I did think I was going to be a forensic psychologist… but that dream was short-lived. Like Lara, my mum thought it wasn’t the best fit for me, but unlike Lara, she was right, haha.

Sickle cell is also an important topic in the novel, and the story helpfully informs and educates readers who may be unfamiliar with the disease. What do you hope readers take away from reading about sickle cell in your novel?

Well, firstly, I hope they leave the book with a better understanding of sickle cell, but I also hope readers gain a new or better understanding and recognise the validity of invisible illnesses. These conditions can seem covert, even if it looks like someone’s life is fully under control and, in my character’s case, quite glamorous – but sometimes, there are factors they can’t control. I really hope it helps start up conversations about stigma.

You started as a booktokker before becoming an author. Could you tell us a little about your journey to publication?

So, I was writing before I became a BookTokker, but I used BookTok as an outlet to talk about my works in progress and get people excited about them. I can talk for days and will if you let me, so even when I didn’t think these books were going anywhere, I was still telling a lot of people about them –strangers, though, not my friends, because I felt embarrassed.

When I would post about my book, it made me want to continue writing because people were eager to read it based on just the basic premise. BookTok also helped me be introduced to my current agent, so in a way, I really have it to thank for helping me meet my agent, and then her to thank for everything after. It’s such a special little community.

There is someone out there that wants to read your story, and there is someone’s representation you will be fulfilling with your story.

What would be your top three tips to any aspiring writers out there?

  1. Put. The.  Words. Down. On. The. Page.
  2. Find what works for you and stick to it. You don’t need to listen to outside voices about their processes if it’s not going to work for you.
  3. There is someone out there that wants to read your story, and there is someone’s representation you will be fulfilling with your story.

Are you able to tell us about anything else you’re working on, or that we can look forward to soon?

I don’t think I am, but just for you guys!

My next novel is Desperate Housewives meets Devious Maids x Greenleaf.

If you are older (or just love nostalgic TV shows), it is based on the episode of Desperate Housewives where the wives have a dinner party at each other’s houses. Renee starts with drinks and appetisers, and Gabrielle ends with desserts… but when they get to Gabi’s house, there’s a dead body.

Set in Nigeria again, it will follow three housewives and their maids, with one character aiming to find out what they did with the dead body.

I think that’s all I can say.

Well, that and a familiar character will be coming back… and maybe going undercover.

’Til Death is out now and published by Simon and Schuster (SimonYA)

GIVEAWAY

Like the sound of this novel? We’ve teamed up with Simon and Schuster to giveaway 3 copies of ’Til Death. Check out the details on our socials: Twitter/X (@paperboundmag) and Instagram (@paperboundmagazine). Giveaway ends 23:59 10/2/25. UK Only.

Credit: Matt Crosby

Busayo Matuluko

BUSAYO MATULUKO is a Black British-Nigerian nurse, YA/Crossover mystery and romance writer, and an extremely opinionated, award-nominated BookToker. As someone who grew up reading many books without the representation she desired, she started writing to fulfil that need. Her books are filled with vibrant Nigerian leads that talk too much, and she will always find a way to wriggle in two Black people falling in love. When she’s not writing, you can find her on Twitter at three a.m. tweeting her most random thoughts or binge-watching TV shows she’s already watched about a thousand times.

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

article, Blog, Blog series, Bookshelf, Interview, Interviews, on writing, Writing craft

Interview: The Vulpine by Polly Crosby

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Interview by Laura Jones

Join author Polly Crosby as she chats to our regular contributor, Laura Jones, on what it was like to write her new dystopian release The Vulpine following the success of previous YA novel This Tale is Forbidden.

Please introduce The Vulpine to our readers.

The Vulpine is a dystopian novel set in a world where disability and chronic illness have been outlawed. Children born with any sign of illness are labelled as ‘Imperfect’ and sent to the ‘Hospital for the Imperfect’. If parents refuse to give them up, then they risk them being snatched away by The Vulpine – hooded, cloaked monsters who live underground and feast on Imperfect children!

Ora is fifteen years old, and as far as she knows, she is perfectly healthy. But then one day she learns that her parents have been secretly giving her black-market medication, and that she too is Imperfect. Forced to confront a very different and frightening future, Ora sets out to confront the Vulpine, and in doing so, begins to unravel a web of dangerous secrets.

I find writing for teens more challenging than writing for adults, because I remember the books I read as a teenager, and they meant so much to me.

How was the process of writing The Vulpine, and your debut YA novel This Tale is Forbidden, different to your previously published work such as Vita and the Birds and The Illustrated Child. What are the biggest differences in writing for YA as opposed to an adult audience?

I love the freedom of writing dystopian fairytales, and the world building it allows, which is very different to writing my historical novels. I wrote This Tale during the Covid pandemic, when I was classed as extremely clinically vulnerable, and it was a wonderful world to escape to when my own world had shrunk to the size of my house.

I find writing for teens more challenging than writing for adults, because I remember the books I read as a teenager, and they meant so much to me. They helped shape who I am, and I feel I have a duty to be honest with and mindful of my readers – but this only means writing YA is even more rewarding!

Ora’s world has many parallels with the world in which we live and you have highlighted that your own experience with Cystic Fibrosis shaped the themes and ideas within the book. Why did you feel it was important to tell this story and what message are you hoping readers will take away with them long after the last page has been turned?

I didn’t realise quite how much I was writing about my own chronic illness until I was deep into writing this story. In past years, I have shied away from writing about my own health, but the pandemic really made me analyse just what it’s like to be seen as different.

I hope The Vulpine will make readers a little more aware of diversity and difference in our own world, because every person has much to give to society, in spite of their differences – and quite often, because of them.

The Vulpine successfully blends realism with mythical beings, fear with love and separation with community. How important was it for you to entwine all of these factors into Ora’s story?

I have always loved folklore and fairy stories, and even in my earlier books for adults I use magical realism to heighten the feeling of ethereality in my novels. I really enjoy the play between reality and fantasy – the thought of a ghostly world that we can’t quite see. To me, it feels so much more enticing than full on horror (oh, and also, I’m a wimp!)

As someone who sits alone for hours writing, I crave time with other people to balance out those times alone. Life is never black and white, is it? No one person is all good or all evil, and I like the idea that we can be fearful and anxious but still have hope and love. 

If you had to sum up The Vulpine in only three words, what would you choose?

“Crikey, that’s hard!” – is that good enough?! OK, umm … 

Fear…hope…and claws! 

What top tips would you give to readers looking to pursue their dream of becoming a published author? What are your biggest challenges?

Never give up. It took me twenty years – and four complete manuscripts – to finally get published. But writing is not just a job. It’s a passion. To me, it’s like breathing – it’s something I have to do. My top tip is to write every day. Set aside half an hour. Use your phone to make notes, write snippets of dialogue, ideas, settings. A successful story for me comes from the amalgamation of three different things.

With The Vulpine, those were a world where disability is banned, a monster hidden beneath the ground, and a girl who thinks she is healthy, and whose world is turned upside down when she finds out she is not.

Some authors comment that their characters appear to them during activities in their everyday lives and they become friends, getting to know everything about the character before they appear in a story. How do you develop your character’s identities and which of your characters inspires you the most?

I often find dialogue really helps me get into what a character’s like. It’s not until they start talking to people – arguing, joking, crying, laughing, that I realise exactly who they’re going to be. Also, writing in first person is great because it gives you a real idea of a person’s internal thoughts.

As to which character inspires me the most, I would have loved to have read Ora’s story when I was a teen, as she is far more fearless than me – I’m not sure I’d set out underground in search of monsters that crunch children’s bones! 

Can you tell us what else you are currently working on and the adventures we can look forward to reading about soon?

I’ve just finished writing a new novel for adults, a witchy, folkloric book set 250 years ago. YA-wise, I’m currently planning my next teen novel. I can’t say too much about it at the moment, but it’s going to have a huge, sweeping romance, and I’ll be doing some strange things with time… 

The Vulpine is out now and published by Scholastic

Credit: Matt Crosby

Polly Crosby

Polly Crosby grew up on the Suffolk coast, and now lives with her husband and son in the heart of Norfolk.

Polly writes dystopian fairytales for teens and gothic historical mysteries for adults, her latest of which, The House of Fever, came out last August. 

Huge thanks to Laura Jones for preparing the interview questions. Laura is one of our regular contributors and her reviews feature in issues of PaperBound Magazine. Read her review of The Vulpine in our forthcoming spring/summer issue, out later this year.

Laura Jones

Laura Jones is a secondary school teacher in Cornwall. She teaches English and Media and recently completed an MA in Publishing. Laura is part of a local writing group and hopes to eventually complete one of the many book ideas she has saved on her laptop, some of which are inspired by the Cornish landscape.

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

article, Blog, Blog series, Bookshelf, on writing, Writing craft

Author of ‘Honeysuckle and Bone’, Trisha Tobias, on why we need Messy Protagonists

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We are thrilled to share a guest post from YA author Trisha Tobias. Trisha discusses the importance of imperfect protagonists in today’s YA, like Carina in her new novel Honeysuckle and Bone.

by Trisha Tobias

Strap in, friends, because I’m finally ready to speak my truth: we need to make room for messy underrepresented protagonists in YA.

Young adult fiction is constantly changing. Part of that change can include making large leaps away from what’s old. But those leaps can create their own problems, like overcorrection. And while YA fiction has come a long way in depicting marginalized protagonists, allowing those same characters to embrace their imperfections on the page is the next step in crafting memorable heroes with relatable, meaningful stories. And I think we’re ready for it.

In my debut novel, Honeysuckle and Bone, eighteen-year-old Carina accepts an au pair job with a wealthy political family in Jamaica. But Carina isn’t just in Jamaica to pad her bank account. She’s got a history, one that fills her with so much shame that she runs away to escape the guilt—and the consequences of her actions. Except Carina soon learns that no matter how far she runs, she can’t escape what haunts her.

Carina is a Black teen who does her best, but “her best” tends to be a bit off. Honestly, it takes Carina a while to figure out how to properly deal with her issues. And in the meantime? She does almost everything…kind of wrong. At times, she’s more focused on self-preservation than “doing the right thing.” Which could make Carina frustrating to root for as a protagonist. But it also makes her very real.

In an extreme attempt to counterbalance decades of poor portrayals, these characters can sometimes find themselves flattened, no longer emulating how real teens think or behave.

Today, underrepresented YA protagonists are most at risk of being sanitized. In an extreme attempt to counterbalance decades of poor portrayals, these characters can sometimes find themselves flattened, no longer emulating how real teens think or behave. Instead, they present something more aspirational. They know what they shouldn’t do, and they’re rarely tempted to do those things anyway. They’re minimally judgmental or biased. They’re largely “unproblematic.”

It’s a strong swing of the storytelling pendulum, but it’s understandable. In the not-so-distant past, young adult fiction presented its marginalized teen protagonists (the few that existed, anyway) in…interesting ways. As a kid, it seemed to me that many books with characters who resembled me were either reductive reflections on American slavery or stories about troubled, “urban” Black teens. If not this, then my archetypal characters were sidekicks or “magical” helpers, probably with too much sass and a roll of the neck. It wasn’t great.

Cue the big push toward better depictions of characters with underrepresented identities. That shift towards positivity and away from stereotype was needed. Organizations like We Need Diverse Books have been instrumental in their vision, messaging, and education on this, and there’s still more work to do.

But where do we go from here?

We let the flawed marginalized main characters loose.

Of course, readers shouldn’t expect fake people to act in completely “real” ways all the time. After all, protagonists are meant to be bigger than life, and oftentimes, the audience feels they should be better than us common folks. But all of us, at some point, make decisions that stem from recklessness, selfishness, or prejudice. It’s not who we are at our best, but it is honest. We need to see some of that honesty in our protagonists.

Imperfect protagonists aren’t just fun—and challenging—to read about. They serve an important function for the audience. They act as models of personal growth and positive change. They reveal the complexity that comes with being a human in an ever-changing world. And these messy protagonists offer less-represented readers permission to be normal people rather than feeling like they must live up to an impossibly high standard of living—a standard that is often forced upon them.

Because the truth is this: we are all fallible.

Because the truth is this: we are all fallible. Yes, we should aspire to our ideals. But we will make mistakes. Luckily, fiction shows us that we can acknowledge our faults and choose to be better. Messy protagonists reveal that redemption is available to all who accept it, and change is possible, no matter where on the path someone starts.

Carina is deeply flawed—and that’s okay. She joins the growing ranks of marginalized teen protagonists who remind the rest of us that perfection isn’t the goal. Trying our best is. And all the missteps and mistakes? They’re unavoidable. In fact, they’re the whole point.

The mess is the point. And thank goodness.

Honeysuckle and Bone is OUT NOW and published by Simon and Schuster

Honeysuckle and Bone

A deliciously dark YA contemporary gothic ghost story where even paradise is haunted, from debut author Trisha Tobias.
After a tragedy rips her life apart, Carina Marshall is looking to reinvent herself in her mother’s homeland of Jamaica. With her new gig as the au pair for the wealthy and powerful Hall family at Blackbead House, Carina wants nothing more than to disappear into their world of mango trees, tropical breezes and glamorous parties.
At first, Blackbead House seems like the perfect escape, but new beginnings don’t come easy. Because Carina isn’t who she says she is, and Blackbead House already knows…

Trisha Tobias

Trisha Tobias grew up listening to her mother’s hushed ghost stories, tales of towering spirit wolves and the warning scent of honeysuckle because a duppy might be nearby. She isn’t sure if the myths are true, but they fuelled her imagination and her love for stories that are often only told in whispers. She is a 2019–2021 Highlights Foundation Diversity Fellow and a 2018 Walter Dean Myers Grant recipient. She is currently an associate developmental editor at Dovetail Fiction.

PaperBound Magazine is an online magazine for the young, and the young at heart. We are dedicated to showcasing authors and illustrators for children’s and young adult fiction and we strive to deliver inspiring content, uplifting stories, and top tips for young and aspiring writers yet to burst on to the literary scene.

All our issues are completely free and run by volunteers, however if you would like to support PaperBound and the work we do, you can help us out by buying us a virtual book. We appreciate any support you can give us!

Don’t forget you can read with the latest issues of PaperBound Magazine – completely free – here.

Blog, Blog series, Bookshelf, Interview, Interviews, on writing, Writing craft

Interview: YA author Cynthia So on their new release ‘This Feast of a Life’

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In celebration of Cynthia So’s new YA release, This Feast of a Life, we caught up with them to hear about what inspired the book, what their publishing journey has been like so far, and their own writing advice for our readers.

Please tell us about your new book, This Feast of a Life, and what inspired you to tell this story.

This Feast of a Life centres on the lives of two teenagers, Auden and Valerie. Auden is learning how to cook from their parents, and they start a food blog where they can record their family’s recipes along with the stories that come with them. It’s also a space for them to use their new name, Auden, which they just picked for themself and don’t feel comfortable using anywhere else yet. 

Valerie’s mum, who loved cooking, passed away over a year ago – and the kitchen’s been left unused because Valerie and her dad both don’t know how to cook. But when Valerie discovers Auden’s food blog, it sparks a curiosity about food and cooking – as well as about the writer of the blog. Soon Auden and Valerie are meeting up and reviewing restaurants together, but will they figure out what it is that they’re truly hungry for in their lives? 

The initial idea for the book came from thinking about food blogs and how everyone always complains about the long preamble you have to scroll through before you get to the recipe. But sometimes I actually find the preamble kind of charming! So I thought: what if you fell in love with someone through reading their recipe preambles? It’s not quite what happens in the book in the end, but that’s the nugget of an idea that I started with.

This book is told in dual narrative from both Auden and Valerie’s points-of-view. Did this style of narration come naturally to you as you explored each character and their individual voices before writing?

I always knew that it had to be dual narrative based on the story I was trying to tell, which boiled down to this: the love story of two chaotic bisexuals who are deeply terrified of committing to a relationship for very different reasons. (Or at least Auden thinks of themself as bisexual in the beginning of the book, although their understanding of their sexuality evolves.) 

It’s crucial to the book that Auden and Valerie have extremely contrasting approaches to romance and dating, and I wanted to give them both equal space to explore their feelings.

The theme of food and how it brings us closer together is weaved beautifully throughout this book, and the bond strengthened between Auden and Valerie over Auden’s food blog is really inspiring. Have you ever written a food blog yourself, or been inspired by any in particular?

I’ve never written a food blog, but I was a book blogger for a while. That and my experiences in fandom as well showed me what it was like to connect with someone online through a shared interest, and how absolutely vital some of those connections can feel. 

I’m very inspired by a lot of food blogs I come across! I especially love the Woks of Life, written by a family of four Chinese American cooks who also share stories from their travels. I love the warm vibe of this blog and the fact that there’s a whole family working on it together.  

Similarly, Made with Lau is a blog created by the son of a Chinese chef, to share his father’s recipes with the world, and the recipes are so wonderful because they’re also accompanied by videos of his father making them.

Auden and Valerie have very different home lives and family dynamics; Auden is a non-binary teen within a busy, larger family while Valerie handles the grief of her mother’s passing (alongside a drifting relationship with her father) almost entirely alone. Was this dichotomy of home life important to explore when writing This Feast of a Life?

Yes, absolutely. As mentioned above, part of the joy of writing a dual narrative book is contrast, and it was fun to flesh out what makes Auden and Valerie so different. I loved writing a bigger, bustling family and exploring the pros and cons of being the baby of that family. It was nice to alternate between that and the quiet stillness of Valerie’s life – and I took care to show how important chosen family is, and how Valerie spends a lot of her time with her best friend and her best friend’s older sister. They’re family to her. But there’s still so much emptiness, especially when she goes home. I wanted to contrast that against Auden’s home life to really emphasise what’s missing from Valerie’s. 

However, both Auden and Valerie are in fact quite lonely characters, even if Auden has a much bigger family. I wanted readers to understand that it doesn’t matter how many people you have around you – loneliness comes from not being seen, and neither Auden nor Valerie feel very seen at the beginning of the book.

We love hearing about writers’ journeys at PaperBound! Do you have a writing routine, and can you tell us about your publishing journey so far?

I’d love to say I have a writing routine, but I sadly don’t. Writing my first book and writing my second book felt like such different experiences, and I expect it will be the same every time I write a book – I will have to find a new way to write it. 

I’ve been writing stories ever since I can remember, but I stopped dreaming about publication somewhere along the way. Being selected as a New Voice for Proud, the 2019 LGBTQ+ YA anthology published by Little Tiger, changed my life. It helped me see a path towards writing as a career, and I started working hard on my first novel after that. My first book, If You Still Recognise Me, came out in June 2022, and it was wonderful to be shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the YA Book Prize in 2023. I love getting messages from readers who tell me that If You Still Recognise Me made them feel less alone, and I hope that This Feast of a Life will reach people in the same way. .

Do you have any advice for writers who want to pen their own young adult stories?

Know why you want to write for young adults, that’s the first thing. For me, it’s because I know how formative books were when I was that age, and how life-saving the right book could be. I felt a lot of things as a teenager that I really relied on books to help me navigate. 

The second thing is to have a very clear understanding of why you want to write this particular story, and what is most important to you about it. Writing a book takes a long time, and sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of why you’re doing it, and the overall shape of the story you want to tell, when you’re in the middle of wrangling plot points and herding characters. So make sure you know the heart of it: what about this story makes you feel alive writing it? Never forget that part. 

I’m always, always fond of writing moments of realisation in romance – when characters realise they want each other, and when characters give into that want.

What was your favourite part of writing this book?

Valerie’s journey with her grief felt very meaningful to me, and I loved giving her the space to express that grief in a variety of ways. 

I’m always, always fond of writing moments of realisation in romance – when characters realise they want each other, and when characters give into that want. This book was no exception! It’s like a roller coaster for me, the ones with the long, slow climb towards the top that feels almost torturous, and then the exhilarating rush of descent at the end. 

And of course, the food! I never tire of writing descriptions of food, honestly.

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Cynthia So

Cynthia So is the author of If You Still Recognise Me, which was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the YA Book Prize in 2023. They were one of the new voices in Proud, an anthology of LGBTQ+ YA stories, poems, and art by LGBTQ+ creators, published in 2019. Their short fiction and poetry have also appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Anathema, among others. Cynthia was born in Hong Kong and lives in London with their wife.

This Feast of a Life is published by Little Tiger and out now.

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