Author Crush Friday: Lisa Cresswell
Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.
We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to Lisa Cresswell, author of Vessel (May 26, 2015; Month9Books). Thank you for talking to us today, Lisa! We’re honored! As an added bonus, Month9Books is offering 3 ebooks internationally so make sure to post in the comments below to enter to win!
GLITTER: How did you come up with the plot for Vessel?
LISA: I don’t remember the exact moment the idea struck, but it kind of came from e-books. I was imagining what it might be like if we quit making paper books all together in favor of e-books. I had heard about solar storms and the effect it can have on electronics. It made me think, what if all our knowledge was electronic and we suddenly lost it all? If you’ve ever lost everything in a computer crash, you know how catastrophic that can be. Imagine that on a worldwide scale. What would become of us?
GLITTER: If you were chosen to be the Vessel, would you become the vessel no questions asked?
LISA: I would have questions for sure! But it’s hard to answer the question without giving away the story! I think, in the end, I would do it.
GLITTER: Do you think that the earth is changing as we speak? If so, how did that impact your story?
LISA: I do, but the earth is always changing. The population of our planet is reaching critical mass. It’s never supported this many humans before. We’re kind of tittering of the edge. Our technology has enabled us to get this far. Hopefully, it’s not our undoing. I’m not really a doomsayer, I promise! But we do need to be concerned about the impacts of our actions on the world.
I think maybe the impact to Vessel, considering all that, is just how reliant we are on technology and how pervasive it is in our lives. Yes, we can live without much of it, but life would be vastly different than it is now.
GLITTER: Where’s your favorite place to write?
LISA: I’ve written in a lot of places, mainly because my life is so busy I have to fit it in whenever I can. I write first drafts long hand in a notebook. I’ve written a lot in my car waiting for my daughter to get out of dance practice, but it’s not ideal. My favorite place to write is either on my bed or sitting on my porch if the weather is nice. There’s not much better than being outside, watching the sun set on a warm summer’s eve, dreaming up stories.
GLITTER: What character do you relate most to?
LISA: Alana for sure. She’s my hero, beaten and unsure of herself, but ultimately strong. Men are physically strong, but women are so much stronger mentally than men. We have to be.
GLITTER: What one YA novel do you wish you had when you were a teen?
LISA: That’s a hard question to answer. I’m not sure I can name a single book, but I can think of authors I would loved to have read as a teen. Chris Crutcher, Sherman Alexie, and Neil Gaiman come to mind as writers of honest, funny, bittersweet stories that I love. The fantasy of Gaiman is especially inspiring to me.
GLITTER: Do you have things you need in order to write ie. coffee, cupcakes, music?
LISA: No, I can’t afford to be picky because I write in all sort of weird places. The only real requirement is paper and pen. I do love a nice cup of coffee though, but I find writing in a café pretty distracting. Music is a distraction for me as well. I like quiet.
GLITTER: What are you working on now?
LISA: I have two works in progress I’m excited about. One is a contemporary YA about a boy searching for the father he’s never met and the other is a YA steampunk adventure story. I hope to start querying them by the end of 2015. And should Vessel be a big hit, there’s definitely a sequel hovering in the back of my mind too.
Lisa, like most writers, began scribbling silly notes, stories, and poems at a very young age. Born in North Carolina, the South proved fertile ground to her imagination with its beautiful white sand beaches and red earth. In fifth grade, she wrote, directed and starred in a play “The Queen of the Nile” at school, despite the fact that she is decidedly un-Egyptian looking. Perhaps that’s why she went on to become a real life archaeologist?
Unexpectedly transplanted to Idaho as a teenager, Lisa learned to love the desert and the wide open skies out West. This is where her interest in cultures, both ancient and living, really took root, and she became a Great Basin archaeologist. However, the itch to write never did leave for long. Her first books became the middle grade fantasy trilogy, The Storyteller Series. Her first traditionally published work, Hush Puppy, is now available from Featherweight Press.
Lisa still lives in Idaho with her family and a menagerie of furry critters that includes way too many llamas!
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