GCC Presents: Amanda Ashby

There are a slew of amazing books coming out right now and one of them is FAIRY BAD DAY by Amanda Ashby who is part of the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit with me, so naturally I wanted to bring you an interview with her about the book. Let's get the skinny on FAIRY BAD DAY first, shall we?

It’s going to be a fairy bad day

First, my rightful designation of dragon slayer is STOLEN right out from under me by Curtis Green. Sure, he’s really cute, but that doesn’t give him an excuse.

On top of that, I am assigned to slay fairies. I know what you’re thinking—how hard could it be right? Wrong! These menacing beasts with their tiny hipster clothes and mocking sarcasm love taunting me. And they won’t STOP!

But the thing that tops my list of stuff to ruin my day? That would be the GIANT KILLER FAIRY that I have to hunt down and slay because I am the only one who can see it. There is someone who can help me. Unfortunately… it’s Curtis.

Now let's meet the lovely Amanda!

Q: Please tell us what your new book is about and what inspired you to write it.

Amanda: My new book is Fairy Bad Day and to be honest it all started with the title, which I thought was cute. I wrote a chapter for it but my agent wasn’t keen. However, she agreed that the title was cute and so we brainstormed a new idea and then went from there. And if I’m making that sound easy, then I’m lying! I think because it had such a weird start, it took ages for me to find the true story that was lurking within!

Q: If there was a soundtrack for your book what are five songs that would be on it and how do they relate the story?

Amanda: I actually wrote Fairy Bad Day over two years ago and since then my laptop died, taking with it my playlist and I honestly can’t remember all the songs that I had on there, so this is what I would put on it now rather than what was on when I was writing!!!!!!

Dog Days are Over by Florence and the Machine
Modern Love by David Bowie
Hymm to Her by The Pretenders
I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton
Ant Rap by Adam and the Ants

Q: Who were some of your inspirations to become a writer or the inspirations that keep you writing? Feel free to include other authors, teachers, parents, or people in other creative fields, whoever is an inspiration to you!

Amanda: My desire to become a writer has always stemmed from the books that I’ve read and so to begin with it was just me and the computer trying to figure the whole process out. Since then I’ve met lots of writing friends and some have totally inspired me but the two people who keep me on track every single day are my cps, Sara Hantz and Christina Phillips.

Q: Even though music plays in so heavily into my storytelling, I rarely can actually listen to it while I'm writing. Can you? How does music fit into your writing process?

Amanda: I listen to music everyday when I’m walking, which is also when I do my thinking and plotting, so I really like to have a playlist to inspire me. Sometimes I will have music on when I’m actually writing, but often I’ll be so lost in the story that I won’t even notice that it’s finished!

Q: What is next for you? What are you working on now?

Amanda: I’ve got a middle grade series called Sophie’s Mixed-Up Magic that starts next year, hopefully in summer and I’ve also got a new YA book called Demonosity, which will be out either at the end of 2012 or the beginning of 2013 (and I’m really excited about this one because it has demon knights in it!!!!!!)