sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Lara Morgan Blog Tour

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I am delighted to welcome fellow West Aussie and awesome author Lara Morgan here today on the final stop of  her blog tour to promote her new book, Genesis.  Welcome Lara.
1.    Congratulations on the release of Genesis, you first YA novel. Can you tell us a bit about the book?

Genesis is set 500 years in the future in a world greatly altered by climate change. Rising sea levels have drowned major cities, a new disease called the MalX is taking hold and water costs more than clothing. In the city of Newperth, a sixteen year old girl called Rosie Black is struggling to survive after the death of her mother. She is one of the poor – a Banker – and when foraging for things to sell to help buy food she comes across a mysterious box. Inside though are some things a powerful corporation called Helios want and are prepared to kill to get. Rosie finds herself on the run and is forced into an alliance with a feral boy called Pip and the man he calls boss. Although unsure of their motives she has to work with them to find out the secret Helios is trying to hide before she loses her family and her life.

2.  You have previously had two adult titles published. What differences have you found in writing for younger readers versus adult readers?

Structurally the Rosie Black books have not been as complicated as my adult books which was one of the reasons I wanted to write a young adult novel. The adult books I’ve written were epic fantasy so had many complex storylines that had to be interwoven and after working on those I needed a break, so I turned to young adult so I could have a more stream lined framework to create in. Not to say the actual writing has been any easier – it’s still just as much work to create good believable worlds and great characters! The main difference I’ve found between writing for adults and young adults is that the focus of the story must always remain on the younger characters, the adults must never intrude too much or take away from the story of Rosie. This is probably why in much of YA fiction parents are in the background and I had to make sure when writing the adult characters in the book that they too never took any of the reader’s attention too far away from Rosie herself. I learned that very early on. In writing for a younger audience there are also other considerations such as the amount of swearing used in the book and how sex is depicted, but the content of these is driven by the age group you’re writing for.

2.    Do you prefer writing for adults or for young adults?

I always prefer doing what I’m working on at the moment! So yes, right now I am really enjoying writing for young adults, but I don’t actually see a great deal of difference between that and writing for adults. For me it’s always about the story and I don’t dwell to much on what age group may read it but just try to create the best story I can.

3.    Do you perceive a difference in the ways you and/or your publisher promote your adult titles versus Genesis?
Definitely there is a greater emphasis on internet promotion for this age group and trying to be more interactive within that. Teens are so active online it makes sense to be part of that community to reach them – hence this blog tour!

4.    Anything else you’d like us to know about Genesis and its genesis? (sorry, couldn’t resist that one)

Genesis is, of course, the first in a series about the character Rosie Black and there will be two more books about her coming out over the next few years. Much of the premise for the series was based around me thinking a lot about climate change and wanting to write a story about what it would be like for someone to live in a future where a lot of the bad stuff that’s being predicted came to pass. So within the conceit of an adventure story, a story of growing up, there is also an environmental message– albeit not a heavy handed one – about what could happen both environmentally and socio-politically to our world if we don’t really do something about it. Although Rosie’s world has space travel and a colony on Mars the Earth is basically dying and is not a great place to be anymore.

5.    Lastly, what next for Lara Morgan?
Well book 2, Equinox, in The Rosie Black Chronicles, is in the final stages so I have to get that done and sent off to the publishers and there is also the third and final instalment of my adult fantasy trilogy to complete so I’m pretty busy. Of course I have some ideas for a totally different book bubbling away but it’s way too early to talk about it yet. 

Find out more about Rosie Black and win a copy of Genesis at Lara’s blog: http://laramorgan.wordpress.com
Or check out the new Rosie Black book trailer and website at http://www.rosieblack.com.
genesis is available for purchase online here or in good bookstores.
Lara’s blog tour is stopping at all these great blogs.
Oct 11 Who is Rosie Black?
http://content.bommerangbooks.com.au/kids-book-capers-blog (that’s here)
Oct 12 Writing tips on creating a futuristic world.
Tuesday Writing Tips http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com (that’s my other blog)
Oct 13 The Publishing Process
www.kids-book-review.blogspot.com
Oct 14 Writing YA.
http://ripping-ozzie-reads.com/
Writing a Fantasy Series
http://www.sandyfussell.blogspot.com
Oct 15     Interview
http://www.weloveya.com
Oct 16 Interview
http://bookgryffin.globalteacher.org.au/
Oct 17 Writing sci fi
www.rhiannon-hart.blogspot.com
Oct 18 Heroines in YA
www.yareads.com
Oct 19 The Boy in this story; creating male characters in heroine driven YA.
http://www.thephantomparagrapher.blogspot.com
Rosie Black’s past & future
http://belka37.blogspot.com
Oct 20 Interview
http://sallymurphy.blogspot.com

Comments

  1. Thanks, Sally and Lara.

    It's interesting to find out that writing YA and adult fiction really isn't that much different.

    I'm looking forward to reading more of Rosie's story.

    Dee

sallymurphy.com.au