Hi, everyone! Today is the first day of the 2022 Debut Author Interviews! I'm happy to present an interview with Lillie Lainoff, author of the YA novel, One For All, which releases in March!
Would you please describe your book, One for All, in seven words?
Sisterhood, swords, secrets, self-love, spying, and swords!
(Okay, I said swords twice, but One for All is a Musketeers' retelling! There are a lot of swords! Plus, I committed to the 's' theme and had to see it through.)
What was the inspiration for the book?
One for All has foundations in summers spent in the fencing gym, watching movies like The Princess Bride and The Man in the Iron Mask during lunch. But I wanted to see/read about girls having exciting duels and saving the world. Tania, my main character, has Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, like me. Her experience as a chronically ill fencer (minus the ballgowns and spying on la noblesse, of course), is directly influenced by own experience as a chronically ill fencer. Every setback, every symptom... they're taken directly from my own life.
Random Question! What’s your favorite time of year?
I love Fall! Boots, comfy sweaters, and seasonal-themed beverages.
What’s one piece of advice you would give aspiring authors?
Find a group of writers who are at the same stage of the publishing process as you are, whether that's drafting, querying, on submission to editors, etc. Families and non-writer friends can be supportive, but they won't completely understand what it feels like to be struggling through writer's block, or the stress of waiting to hear about if an editor likes your book, etc. A group of fellow writers can help through the rough moments (and they won't ask you when your book will be made into a movie).
What are some books you’re looking forward to reading in 2022? And if you’ve already read some ‘22 books, would you like to mention them?
I've had the privilege to read a lot of 2022 debut authors' books! I loved (and blurbed) DEEP IN PROVIDENCE by Riss Neilson, and then BREATHE AND COUNT BACK FROM TEN by Natalia Sylvester (not technically a debut, but great ownvoices disability rep!) And then I also love COLD THE NIGHT, FAST THE WOLVES by Meg Long, THE BONE SPINDLE by Leslie Vedder, A HEAVY DOSE OF ALLISON TANDY by Jeff Bishop, HOTEL MAGNIFIQUE by Emily J. Taylor, ONLY A MONSTER by Vanessa Len, and A MAGIC STEEPED IN POISON by Judy I. Lin. I also read and loved AT THE END OF EVERYTHING by Marieke Nijkamp. I'm currently reading WHAT THE FIREFLIES KNEW by Kai Harris, and it's wonderful, too!
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Author Bio: A former Div I NCAA fencer for Yale, Lillie Lainoff is the founder of Disabled Kidlit Writers and the winner of the 2019 LA Review Literary Award for Short Fiction. Her non-fiction has been featured in The Washington Post Outlook, amongst other places. She received her MA in Creative Writing Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia. One for All, her debut novel, will be published by FSG in March 2022.
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I'm excited for this book--fencing and Princess Bride inspirations for girls sounds so good.
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