Interview with Sophia Bennett
DE: Endlich kann ich euch heute das zweite Interview der Buchmesse präsentieren. Sophia Bennett ist mit dem Roman "Wie Zuckerwatte mit Silberfäden" bekannt geworden, der jedes Fashionherz höher schlagen lässt.
Schon mit
sieben Jahren wusste Sophia Bennet, dass sie Autorin werden will. Doch bis ihr
Traum in Erfüllung ging, war es ein langer Weg. Sie arbeitete zunächst als Unternehmensberaterin
und Lobbyistin, bis sie 2009 den von Barry Cunningham (zu meinem Interview mit dem Harry Potter Entdecker geht es hier) initiierten Times-Chicken
House Schreibwettbewerb gewann und ihren ersten Roman „Wie Zuckerwatte mit
Silberfäden“ veröffentlichte. In ihrem aktuellen Buch „#rausmitderdicken“ geht
es um Cybermobbing.
Ich traf die Londoner Autorin auf der
Leipziger Buchmesse zum Interview und sprach mit ihr über ihren Alltag, Mode
und ihr neuestes Manuskript.
Auch diesmal könnt ihr in diesem Post die original englische Version des Interviews lesen. Wer aber doch Lust auf die deutsche Variante hat, sollte hier entlang gehen :)
EN: When she was seven years old, Sophia Bennet knew that she wants to be an author. But until her dream came true, it was a long way. She worked in a range of jobs until she won the Times Chicken House writing competition by Barry Cunningham (read my interview with the man who discovered Harry Potter here) in 2009 and published her first novel "Threads". Her latest book "Castle" deals with a girl trying to rescue her dad from a large, crenelated building.
I met the London author at the Leipzig Book Fair and talked to her about her everyday life, fashion, and her latest manuscript.
It was because I loved reading so much and I loved to
escape into stories in imaginary worlds. I wanted to create those myself. I
knew I wanted to have lots of kids and the mums in my storybooks they tended to
be writers too. They stayed home and their kids would play around them, so I
thought it would be a good job when you have children. It is in fact terrible,
because my kids sit on my leg and they mess up my computer. I have to escape in
my garden shed.
Could you tell me more about your writing process? How do you create a
novel?
I have lots of ideas. Some of them stick and some of
them don´t. About the ones, who stick, I talk to my publisher Barry Cunningham
and see what he likes. I write about six pages describing what will happen in
the book first. I love to plot, but the characters take me ages. It takes about
a year for the them to develop in my mind. Then it usually takes me about five
or six months turning that into a story and another six months rewriting it
into something better.
Every novel has a special topic, for example child soldiers or the
conditions in sewing factories in “Threads”. Do you feel it´s your duty to wise
up young people?
Yes, I do feel that. I was really interested in
politics and what was happening in the world when I was growing up. And I think
I am privileged to write for young teenagers, because they are making up their
minds about what kind of people they will be. They are going to run the world
in ten years, so if I can help them decide to do good things with their life’s
than that´s my contribution to the world.
Which of your experience did you put into your books?
Oh my god (laughs).
My books are like my diary. I include the things I love. I put different bits
of my family in different characters in my books. Things going on around me and
things that really make me angry inspire my books all the time. People who make
me enraged become bad characters. When a friend of mine read one of my books it
was really strange, because it felt like he read my diary.
What changed in your life after your novels became successful?
Everything changed. I did not have to work in an
office anymore. I work in my garden shed now. And my job involves doing
research, watching videos on Youtube and visit art galleries, which is lovely.
I talk in schools and tell kids about my books, so my whole lifestyle changed.
I am doing the thing I always wanted to do.
How does your daily routine look like?
I take my younger son to school and then I procrastinate
for two hours. I do anything except write. I make tea, put a load of washing
on, go for a walk or look at websites. Then I write through the day until five
o clock. My husband picks up my son from school and I feed him. And sometimes I
try to do a little more writing on the evening. I have good days, but also bad
ones, on which I spend the whole time looking on what I did yesterday and not
liking it. One a good day I write about 3000 words and on a bad day I might
write just 200.
Are you already working on a new book?
Yes, I am nearly finishing my new book. It is about a
girl, who is picked to be an assistant to the fiancée of the lead singer of a
rock band. And she travels around with the band and thinks it is the biggest
cliché in the world to fall in love with a rock star. But then she ends up with
the band and everything changes.
Who is your favorite fashion designer?
My most inspirational fashion designer is definitely
Vivienne Westwood. I have some shoes of her called “Melissa´s”. They are made
of plastic and smell like bubble gum, which is amazing. And I love that she
invented punk clothing. Right now Roksanda Ilincic is my favorite designer.
What book are you reading at the moment?
A book set in Amsterdam by a friend of mine called
“This is not a love story” (by Keren David). It is about two boys and a girl,
who all love the wrong person.
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