March 1, 2012
I’m very excited to be touring Allison Rushby’s book Shooting Stars (what an awesome title)
Meet Josephine Foster, or Zo Jo as she’s called in the biz. The best pint-sized photographer of them all, Jo doesn’t mind doing what it takes to get that perfect shot, until she’s sent on an undercover assignment to shoot Ned Hartnett—teen superstar and the only celebrity who’s ever been kind to her—at an exclusive rehabilitation retreat in Boston. The money will be enough to pay for Jo’s dream: real photography classes, and maybe even quitting her paparazzi gig for good. Everyone wants to know what Ned’s in for. But Jo certainly doesn’t know what she’s in for: falling in love with Ned was never supposed to be part of her assignment..
And now for the usual questions:
What inspired the plot for your book?
The initial inspiration was reading an article about a real-life sixteen-year-old paparazzo. I found my eyes boggling as I read about how he got around LA either on his pushbike, or his dad drove him late at night. I couldn’t imagine what this part-time job must be like (as I guessed it had to be extremely cut-throat, especially compared to working at McDonald’s!), so I decided to imagine away and came up with Jo. I had an absolute ball researching this book, including reading trashy magazines and a lot of books written by, and about, the paparazzi (fellow Aussie Darryn Lyons’s Mr Paparazzi is a fabulous one if you’re looking). The things they had to say about celebrity — about the dark side of celebrity and fame — were truly revealing.
Why did you decide to write in this genre?
I started out writing women’s fiction and found that my voice was slightly more suited to YA. I really love the immediacy of YA and the fact that characters tend to act on their true emotions, rather than already being weighed down by years and years of emotional baggage!
What is your writing process like?
I’m completely mad about plotting and now that I’m ten or so books in, have my own little formula and way of doing things. I’m sure it would seem completely crazy to other writers, but it works for me! I really like a lot of the screenwriting processes, which may seem strange, but, at its essence, story is story.
What are you working on now?
At the moment I’m writing something very different — a Downton Abbey-esque six episode e-serial for St Martin’s Press, tentatively titled The Honourables, which will be published Summer 2012, with one episode being published per month. It’s been a very steep learning curve learning all about writing serialised fiction, but I’m enjoying the writing very much, especially as the series is set in London in the 1920s.
What do you do when you’re not writing?
We’re currently living in the UK for 18 months, so we’re trying to pack in a lot of travel throughout Europe in our free time. We’ve just got back from a long weekend in Dublin, the next trip is a week in Lapland and then we’re off for two weeks in Berlin, Prague and Vienna at Easter.
Who do you like to read?
Anything and everything! At the moment, I’m reading mostly travel memoir (as I’m also writing a travel memoir in the few spare minutes I have per week!) and a lot of lovely fiction and non-fiction set in the 1920s, which has been great in helping to shape the dialogue in my e-serial.
Bio:
Having failed at becoming a ballerina with pierced ears (her childhood dream), Allison Rushby tried writing instead. This is working out a lot better for her as it means she can sit on her backside most of the day and eat a lot more than a ballerina ever could. Plus, she can wear her pyjamas until midday and her book, movie ticket and DVD purchases are tax deductions. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Over the past ten years, she has published five books for young adult readers and five for adult readers in the women’s fiction genre. She is originally from Brisbane, Australia, but in 2011 and 2012 will be living in Cambridge, UK where she will most likely spend her days whingeing constantly about the weather.
She is currently working on a six episode New Adult e-serial for St Martin’s Press, a new YA novel, a travel memoir and her sanity. Oh, and she got the pierced ears in the end, thanks for asking…
Checkout Allison’s webpage http://allisonrushby.com
Posted by Sara Hantz in Uncategorized @ 10:16 am
