Blog Tour: Art of Lainey - Interview

Today I have an interview with Paula Stokes, author of The Art of Lainey, for you. But first, some info!

The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes
Published by Harper Teen
Publication Date: May 20th, 2014
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 384
Amazon, Barnes & Noble

To win back the one she loves, she'll have to go to "war."

Soccer star Lainey Mitchell is gearing up to spend an epic summer with her amazing boyfriend, Jason, when he suddenly breaks up with her—no reasons, no warning, and in public no less! Lainey is more than crushed, but with help from her friend Bianca, she resolves to do whatever it takes to get Jason back.

And that’s when the girls stumble across a copy of The Art of War. With just one glance, they're sure they can use the book to lure Jason back into Lainey’s arms. So Lainey channels her inner warlord, recruiting spies to gather intel and persuading her coworker Micah to pose as her new boyfriend to make Jason jealous. After a few "dates", it looks like her plan is going to work! But now her relationship with Micah is starting to feel like more than just a game.

What's a girl to do when what she wants is totally different from what she needs? How do you figure out the person you're meant to be with if you're still figuring out the person you're meant to be?

Interview

Thanks for answering some questions today, Paula!

You’re welcome :-)

• All right, this seems like a question someone has probably asked before, but I have to know, have you read Art of War?

Man, I hope people aren’t using classic texts in their books without reading them—that would be really irresponsible. I read three different English translations, opting to go with the Lionel Giles version for the quotes since it’s in the public domain and requesting/paying for rights can be really time-consuming and expensive. If I had to guess, I’d say I read the Giles translation about ten times during the writing and revising of my book. I also read some scholarly interpretations of the text and other novels that incorporate it into the narrative like Jodi Wing’s The Art of Social War and Kelly Roman’s graphic novel. Blending in The Art of War was a challenge because I didn’t want to grossly misrepresent the text, but at the same time two teenage girls’ interpretations of the book aren’t going to mirror a Chinese literature scholar’s interpretations. I tried to balance doing justice to the text with maintaining authentic teen voice.

• What was the inspiration behind The Art of Lainey?

I basically started free-writing for a local writing group on the topic of losing someone I cared about when everything else was going right in my life, and how it kind of pulled me under for a few weeks. The free writes inspired the outline that inspired the book. Lainey just kind of came to be as a character, but I think I chose to write her story instead of someone else’s because I wanted to peek behind the curtain of the so-called “popular girl” and find out if she was different from everyone else.

• Do you listen to music while you write? If so, are there any songs in particular that spoke to you as you wrote The Art of Lainey?

I don’t listen to music now because I quit writing at coffee shops and honestly prefer the quiet while working because I’m easily distracted. A lot of the songs for the official soundtrack were ones I heard the first time while working at a very Denali-like coffee shop, though. I’m super-proud of my playlist because I went way outside my musical comfort zone of 90s Nirvana-like grunge to find songs from all different genres. You can check it out here on Epic Reads/Spotify.

• Are there any books or authors that inspire you/help you through the rough parts of the writing process?

What helps me through the rough parts of the writing process are my author-friends. There are about ten other writers I talk to on a regular basis, and any crisis of theirs is a crisis of mine, and vice versa. That’s just how we roll. (Yep, I just quoted my own book #meta)

• Did anyone you know inspire any of the characters in The Art of Lainey?

Speaking of being meta, I mentioned this on another blog, but several of them are pieces of me, with fictional elements added. I was a jock-brain-rocker in high school and I’m kind of a whimsical free spirit now so Lainey, Bee, Micah, and Trinity were all places for me to explore parts of my own persona. I’ll be honest and say that although I’m no model or reality TV star, I’ve definitely had mean girl thoughts before, so even Kendall is probably partly based on me. I worked in a restaurant kitchen for several years and some of the fun memories I have about cooking and kitchen boys partially inspired the entire staff of Denali.

All right, now for some fun questions…

• Hogwarts or Middle Earth?

I think the nargles ate my Hogwarts letter :(

• Favorite Genre?

I read a lot of everything but probably like dystopians or action/thrillers the best. I read a lot more contemporary now than I used to, but I never expected to write a romantic comedy. I remember telling one of my Paper Lantern Lit editors that I had written a book with a body count of zero and she was like: “Really? What possessed you to do that?”

• Chocolate or ice cream?

Chocolate—it’s an all-season food!

Thanks, Paula!

Paula Stokes is half writer, half RN, and totally thrilled to be part of the world of YA literature. She started out writing historical fiction under a pen name and is now branching out into other YA genres.

When she's not working (rare), she's kayaking, hiking, reading, or seeking out new adventures in faraway lands. She's petted tigers, snuggled snakes, snorkeled with stingrays, and once enjoyed the suction-cuppy feel of a baby elephant's trunk as it ate peanuts from her palm. Her future goals include diving with Great White sharks, learning Krav Maga, and writing a whole slew of novels, not necessarily in that order.

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Catch up on the previous tour stops HERE!