Interview: Alice Kuipers | Book Book for Young Adults Girl plus a book

About Alice Coupeers

Prize author of 40 things I want to tell you and Life on the door of the refrigeratoris an expert chronicler of the teenage heart and she takes her job to new heights here. Roman with rivets, high concepts with heart, Me and me Well, what feels to be torn apart and finally to find out who you really are.
Where your love for books/storytelling/reading/writing/, etc. come from?
When I was very young, I loved to read that love of reading never left me. I have read tons of books all the time – as I am sure many of you do. I think what happened to me then was that I started to have ideas, the books I read, thoughts caused, and then it seemed natural to record these ideas. I never thought of sharing my stories or poems (this is what I started writing), I just wrote. Then, over time, I wanted to contact the readers. I still like to read even more than I like to write. I always have a pile of paper books next to my bed and a stupid book list on my Kindle desired list.
How long have you been writing?
I first wrote a novel in class when I was eleven. It was a job. It was thirty pages long and it was about two alien species at war. Then I wrote short stories and poems through my teens. When I was eighteen, I only traveled one year. This year I wrote a magazine, but I found that my interest was keen by writing fictional stories. When I got back from my trip to the world, I wanted to take time to write. I spent the bigger part of my bachelor’s degree by writing a novel.
When and why did you start writing?
I think I start writing everywhere every time a new book begins. It’s so hard to understand what the idea is and what the story I want to tell be. And this is such a risk – what if people hate it? What if it’s not good? What if I do all this work and the book is terrible? These questions struck me as a writer when a new project started, so I have to take a deep breath and adjust the world. I have to write the way I did it when I first started-as no one would read it. My new book, I (s) IIn fact, it began nearly twenty years ago. I started the idea, but I didn’t know how to write it. I needed a lark, the main character and it took me a long time to find her. When I did, the book was running on the pages.
As for why I write, well, I think it makes me more relaxed. I was a very worrying person before. I have been suffering from a panic disorder for a long time (one of my characters suffers from him, in my second novel). Writing, for some reason, makes me feel deep calm. Creating something out of nothing gives me a sense of peace.
When was the first time you considered yourself a writer?
I love it when people ask what I do and say “writer”. I first considered myself a writer when I was about nineteen. I was sitting on fire and this man started talking to me. He asked me what I was doing and I said, “I’m a writer.” I guess I felt brave or just wrote something, or maybe I drank a few drinks. Anyway, I’ve never said it before eachS
“Are you published?” he asked.
“No,” I replied.
“You’re not a writer then,” he said, turning.
Instead of making me feel small, which I think was his intention, it made me feel determined. I remember thinking, That’s right if I have to post to make other people believe that I am a writer then I guess I have to try to post somethingS The publishing part took another eight years.
What inspired you to write your first book?
Life on the door of the refrigerator is my first book published, but it is not the first book I wrote. I first wrote a book called RepeatFor a girl whose life is divided into two. Just like Lark’s life in I (s) I. I liked to write RepeatAnd inspiration was that feeling of making a choice – what if I had chosen differently? What if I never went on a trip to eighteen? What if I didn’t part with my boyfriend at that time, etc.? This question has been part of my life for a long time and I am happy that I finally researched it on the Lark history page.
What cultural value do you see in writing/reading/telling stories/etc.?
The life of a creative life makes me better in all other parts of my life. What yourselfS Through fiction, we can experience other lives and other choices – and so for me, telling stories is the creative way out that makes me feel most. The stories, I believe, are the root of who we are – we live in the stories we tell ourselves.
How do you choose the names of your characters?
I often start with a name that tells me, but then, in a later project, draft, when I think of a reader, I think of a name that can talk to readers. Lark is named after her mother, who was a song artist. Unusually, I had no name for “filling in” for her-I continued to try names and nothing works. Then her name came to me one day. He just jumped into my mind. I often choose name names using books to name babies or websites. I introduce the year when the hero is born and look at popular names (and less popular names) than that time.
What was the most difficult part of writing this book?
Lark has to make a choice at the beginning of the novel, but she can’t do it. Because of this, her life is divided into two lives. It was challenging to make both life interesting – and preserving all the differences between life in my mind was complicated. I often had to remind myself in which life we were going down. Then there is a scene where she meets her other self. I rewrite this scene about a thousand times. It was in my head for centuries, but getting it on the page was a completely different question.
What did you like most about writing this book?
I enjoyed the characters in this novel. Lark is in parkour and free climbing and she is the author of songs. I had to explore all these elements to make it as real for a reader as it did. I watched people who make a parkour, ask them questions and interviewed them songwriter, and I have to watch many videos for free climbing on YouTube a lot of fun. However, I enjoyed all the characters. It was fun to hang with them in my office. And the other part I liked was to listen to all the music that Lark listens to – I have to hear many great singers and bands.
What inspires you?
When I teach writing, I often say that inspiration comes from two places: observation and imagination. To me, it means looking at the world, watching. Going galleries, reading news, listening to conversations, paying attention, asking questions. Then, when I’m tired of the world, I need time to do nothing. I turn off my phone, go offline, look out the window and dream. The ideas come to me like that. I am also inspired by the books I read – there are some incredible books outside and make me want to write books even half better.
What are some of your favorite authors who you think have had an influence in your work? What impact did you have on your writing?
When I was eighteen, I went around the world alone for nine months. Some of the books I read during this time have affected me deeply, partly because I was alone and had an endless time, partly because I was so actively trying to change, partly because they were great books. The sex of Jeanette Winterson’s Cherry, east of John Steinbeck, the sorrow of Bao Nin war, there are three that I remember. As I was old and wrote more, I continued to read. I think every book inspires me in some way as a writer – either showing me what to do or shows me what not to do. I am currently completely inspired as a writer from Nicolas Yon. Her work is exceptional. How could anyone read her books and not feel so that the world has shifted a little?
Who designed the covers?
A woman named Amy Frue made the cover – this is her website. She did an incredible job. I love this cover!
http://www.amyfrueh.com/Books-1/
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
While writing I (s) II learned that I cannot open the doors I have closed in my life. Living with regret is not a way to live. Constantly considering what may be, makes me unhappy, as well as the desire for something I cannot have back. In the movie Lalaland, when Emma Stone has this reversal at the end, thinking about what life would be like if she took a different way, I reminded me what I learned to write I (s) IS Emma Stone’s character has a sweet, loving daughter, a great career, careful (and hot!) Husband, but she is still wondering what might be. It is part of our nature to think about a path that is not a poet, but in fact, seeing what this life course is, as Lark finds, is horrifying.
Do you have anything specific you want to tell your readers?
All readers who are also writers are welcome to come to my website to register for my newsletter. You get free access to my online course Freeflow: Writing Travel and Monthly Writing Tips and Book Recommendations. There are also a bunch of free workshops on the site. www.alicekuipers.com
For me (s) me
This is the seventeenth birthday of Lark, and although she is hated to remind the day since her mother’s death three years ago, this is largely. Lark has written a song to killers to perform with his band, the weather is stunning and has a meeting with the magnificent Alec. The two bring the canoe to the lake and everything is perfect – until Lark hears the screams. Anabel, a little girl she used, watched, drowned in the nearby reeds, while Annabel’s mother tried desperately to reach her. Lark and Alec are closer and they both dive. But Alec hits his head on a rock in the water and begins to fall apart.
Alec and Annabel are drowning. And Lark can save only one of them.
Lark chooses and at that moment her world is divided into two different lives. She must live with the consequences of the two choices. While Lark turns out to be descending more than once, she has to decide: which life is right?
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