My Sparkly Dark Side by Sara Grant

As part of the Half Lives blog tour, I’m pleased to welcome Sara Grant on to the blog to to talk about her mulitiple personalities…

I've got a confession to make. When it comes to my writing, I have from multiple personalities. I think most writers suffer from this affliction. We are chameleons and can slip under the skin of not only the hero but also the villain, the best friend, the sidekick and the love interest. 

I write for both young readers and teens, and my projects couldn’t be more different. My teen novel Half Lives is two separate yet connected stories set just before and hundreds of years after an apocalyptic event. My series Magic Trix stars ten-year-old Trixibelle ‘Trix’ Morgan, a new witch who is training to become a fairy godmother. I love the tangled plot lines of Half Lives but I am equally engaged by the zany comedy of Magic Trix.

One project influenced the other. Writing short, punchy chapters with exciting chapter breaks for my younger readers reminded me to bolster pace and the page-turn ability of my teen book. Developing complex multidimensional characters for Half Lives inspired the quirky lovable characters in Magic Trix. And both projects are packed with lots and lots of surprises.

And if you look closely you’ll find similarities between my two main characters – both are feisty girls who often make matters worse while trying to do the right thing. Both endeavour to help others – albeit in very different scenarios. Trix helps her shy best friend find the courage to perform in a talent competition while Icie struggles to save a small band of teenagers from a deadly terrorist attack.

I've always loved puzzles and I look at each story – whether for seven year olds or young adults – as a puzzle that I need to solve. I feel a sort of click in my gut when a story comes together. The rush I feel crafting a dramatic death scene is the same one I feel when crafting a well-timed joke.

I’m really lucky that my UK publisher believed that the writer of the dystopian thriller Dark Parties could find her sparkly side to create Magic Trix. 

About Sara Grant

Sara is an author of fiction for teens and younger readers and freelance editor of series fiction. She has worked on twelve different series and edited nearly 100 books. Dark Parties, her first young adult novel, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Europe. Her new novel for teens – titled Half Lives – is an apocalyptic thriller. She also writes – Magic Trix – a fun, magical series for younger readers.

Sara was born and raised in a small town in the Midwestern United States. She graduated from Indiana University with degrees in journalism and psychology, and later she earned a master’s degree in creative and life writing at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She lives in London.  www.sara-grant.com    @authorsaragrant