MARTA ACOSTA-Interview with the Author
The Reading Cafe would like to welcome author Marta Acosta.
WEBSITE LINK: Marta Acosta
TRC: Hi Marta and welcome to The Reading Café. We would like to start with some background information-please tell us about yourself.
Marta: I’m the author of the Casa Dracula series and Nancy’s Theory of Style. I’m a northern Californian, born and raised, and the beautiful landscape and moderate weather here inspire me. I was the only daughter in a pack of boys, and I think one of the reasons I loved reading was to enjoy female companionship, even if it was fictional!
TRC: What is the title of the first novel you ever wrote and what was your inspiration behind the storyline?
Marta: The first novel I ever wrote was called Mystery Dance. It was a noir thriller and was never published because editors said it was “unmarketable.” It was inspired by people I saw every day in my neighborhood, yet never met. I wondered about their lives – and their secrets.
TRC: Do you have a specific style of writing?
Marta: I think my writing tends to be clean and succinct. It’s usually marked by humor.
TRC: You also write humorous novels under the author-name Grace Coopersmith. What was your decision behind the dual-personality model?
Marta: My agent and editor suggested another name since I was switching genres. Some authors use different names for every genre. It’s too much work for me to keep up with two identities, though, and my fans couldn’t find me.
TRC: At The Reading Café, we believe that Young Adult novels are no longer just for teens. Many authors write YA storylines knowing that grown-ups will be reading their books. What would you say to our many readers about Dark Companion and its attraction for the adult reader?
Marta: I wrote Dark Companion as a novel featuring a teenage character, not as a teenage novel. I spend a lot of time with teens and know exactly how very bright and complicated they are: I don’t talk down to them, and I didn’t “write down” for them. The story and characters are as complex as anything I write for an adult audience. Actually, many teen readers like my Casa Dracula series and I hope they’ll enjoy my YA!
TRC: Dark Companion is your new Young Adult release for July 2012. Would you please tell us something about the premise behind the storyline?
Marta: When foster teen Jane Williams is invited to attend elite Birch Grove Academy for Girls and escape her violent neighborhood, she thinks the offer is too good to be true. She’s even offered her own living quarters, the groundskeeper’s cottage in the center of the birch grove.
Something’s not quite right about the school — she thinks she sees things in the birch grove at night. She’s also beginning to suspect that the elegant headmistress and her sons are hiding secrets. Lucky is the gorgeous, golden son who is especially attentive to Jane, and Jack is the sardonic puzzling brother.
The school is a dream for a science and math geek like Jane. She also loves her new friends, but the longer Jane stays at Birch Grove, the more questions she has about the disappearance of another scholarship girl and a missing faculty member.
TRC: Where did you come up with the idea for Dark Companion? In which genre would you place Dark Companion?
Marta: Jane was selected to attend the school also because she’s impoverished, emotionally damaged, and will be easy to exploit by The Family. I often deal with the idea of the haves and have-nots in life.
I call Dark Companion a contemporary Gothic YA, and I use many of the tropes of classic gothics: a single girl in an isolated setting, mysteries, a supernatural element, a large and ominous building…
TRC: There were parts in the story that I let a tear or two fall-quite heartbreaking in some scenes. Did I over react, or was it your intent to pull at the heart-strings of unrequited love?
Marta: You didn’t overreact! The story is an homage to Jane Eyre and one of the most heartbreaking moments in Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel is when Jane’s heart is breaking and she’s declaring her own humanity. I always cry at that scene.
TRC: Jane Williams, the heroine, has suffered greatly throughout her young life especially within the Child Protective Services. Did you have to do any research for the novel with regards to foster care or are some of Jane’s experiences based in reality?
Marta: A good friend, who is a social worker, has told me about the conditions for foster kids and for gang youth. I’ve followed news about the foster care system, met foster parents, seen documentaries, and known high-achieving foster kids who have heart-rending personal histories.
Readers ask “Why does such a smart girl do what Jane does?” but kids who’ve suffered abuse and have no guidance or love often make terrible mistakes. I wanted Jane to learn from her errors and then make better choices – and she does when she befriends Mary Violet and begins to know her stable, loving family.
TRC: There are some other potential storylines in Dark Companion. Do you have any plans for future novels involving Jane, Jack and Lucian? A trilogy or perhaps a continuing series?
Marta: I’m working on Mary Violet mysteries. A character like MV is very close to my heart because I have a penchant for silly girls who are more than merely silly. MV’s very smart and loving and I can see her getting into all sorts of shenanigans.
TRC: If so, would you please tell us about your next novel?
Marta: Besides the MV mystery, which I’m calling Mary Violet and the Mystery of the Silent Songbird, I’m working on a gothic ghost story about two young women who haunt each other across time. It’s set in modern Northern California and the Gold Rush Barbary Coast.
TRC: Was there anything you found particularly challenging about writing Dark Companion?
Marta: Can I say tech issues? Gadgets and online culture (MySpace who?) change so rapidly that they’re outdated by the time a book is actually released. Cell phones alone ruin great plot devices. As an author, sometimes I want a phone to get crushed so a character must struggle to survive.
TRC: Many authors bounce information and ideas between each other or their spouses and family members. With whom do you share ideas and information, and why?
Marta: I share my ideas with my agent because she’s the one who will have to sell a book. My husband and family try to be patient with me nattering on about stories, but they never offer any feedback except my mother, who thinks I should write a book about my father’s life.
TRC: Would you like to add anything else?
Marta: Only that I’m always happy to hear from readers!
LIGHTNING ROUND
FAVORITE FOOD: homemade tortillas with slices of avocado
FAVORITE DESSERT: chocolate cake
MILK OR DARK CHOCOLATE: semi-sweet!
FAVORITE TV SHOW: I just went through an insane ten-season marathon of MI-5, a British intelligence agency series. The amazing cast included Richard Armitage, who also starred in one of my favorite miniseries, North and South. I like competitive talent shows, but I record them and then fast-forward through the filler.
LAST MOVIE YOU SAW: I tried to watch Hall Pass and it filled me with the desire to fly to LA and slap the scriptwriter and director for wasting the casts’ talent.
FAVORITE MOVIE: Only one? Oh, no! Possibly The Philadelphia Story with Kate Hepburn.
LAST BOOK THAT YOU READ: It’s a gardening book, The Rose by David Austin, because everything is blooming right now!
DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? I have two insane rescued pointers, Betty von Snoggles and Bosco de Gama, who will leap over things rather than run around them.
FAVORITE FLOWER: I couldn’t chose one, but I’m very fond of antique varieties of rose, the simplicity of pansies, nicotiana scenting the air at night, and the cheerfulness of native dahlias.
LAST VACATION DESTINATION: My last big vacation was London, my favorite city, a few years back. More often I visit the wine country ranch that inspired the setting for my Casa Dracula novels.
TRC: Marta, we would like to thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions. It is always a pleasure to meet the real person behind the author. Dark Companion is a wonderful and novel idea and we wish you all the best.
Marta: Sandy, thanks so much for having me here at The Reading Café and for taking the time to read my book and ask such thoughtful questions!
************GIVEAWAY************
Marta is offering one eligible member of The Reading Cafe a paper copy of her latest release DARK COMPANION
1. You must be a registered member of The Reading Cafe. If you are not a member, please register using the LOG-IN at the top of the page or using one of the social log-ins.
2. If you are using one of the social log-ins, you must include your email address with a comment, so that we may contact you if you are a giveaway recipient.
3. Open to continental USA and Canada only.
4. Contest runs June 23-27, 2012
