{"id":129768,"date":"2020-09-01T16:35:42","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T05:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=129768"},"modified":"2020-09-02T11:31:25","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T00:31:25","slug":"will-kostakis-and-ellie-marney-in-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2020\/09\/01\/will-kostakis-and-ellie-marney-in-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Kostakis and Ellie Marney in conversation!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Will<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Titans of Australian YA Will Kostakis and Ellie Marney have new books out \u2013 Will returns to the world of Monuments with the gripping urban-fantasy Rebel Gods<\/a><\/strong>, and Ellie\u2019s latest page-turning thriller None Shall Sleep<\/a><\/strong> has us tracking a serial killer in the 1980s. Both award-winners and popular among teenagers (and adults who love reading about them), Will and Ellie are dropping by The Booktopian today after giving a readers a sneak peek of their work in a sold-out session at this year\u2019s digital Melbourne Writers Festival.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n
\"Will<\/a>

Will Kostakis<\/p><\/div>\n

WILL:<\/strong> Before we begin, Ellie, I have to say, I read two of the books in your Every<\/strong><\/a> series before I met you, and they were so good, I didn\u2019t want to meet you because I was convinced you couldn\u2019t live up to my expectations. And then I met you, and you were every bit as awesome as I hoped. You\u2019re one of Australia\u2019s finest YA writers, and None Shall Sleep<\/em> is your finest yet. If you had ten words to pitch it to somebody, what would you say?<\/p>\n\n\n

ELLIE:<\/strong> Thanks! And hmm, okay\u2026 how about: \u201cYA Silence of the Lambs<\/em>\u201d. That\u2019s five words and easy to remember, heh. I always find elevator pitches so hard! What\u2019s your ten-word pitch for Rebel Gods<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> \u201cTeen god juggles family and potential end of the world\u201d. Ten words! I win!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE:<\/strong> I love that we get to explore more about the characters from Monuments<\/a><\/em><\/strong> \u2026 What was your inspiration for Rebel Gods<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> Monuments <\/em>was always a two-book project. Rebel Gods<\/em> was the part I was itching to write \u2013 it\u2019s a story about growing up and leaving the nest, told through this fun fantasy adventure about killing gods. Monuments <\/em>is the origin story, the set-up, and Rebel Gods<\/em> is the pay-off. I fell in love with Connor, Sally and Locky writing the first book, so getting to explore them, and their dynamic together in my first-ever sequel, was so much fun. None Shall Sleep<\/em> is a stand-alone, you could have written anything \u2026 What inspired you to dip into the world of the FBI and behavioural science?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE:<\/strong> As far as inspiration goes: I am (to no one\u2019s surprise) a murderino \u2013 which means I\u2019m into true crime stories. I read Mindhunter<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>by John Douglas back in my twenties, and found it completely fascinating. The details of forensic investigation and the behaviour of serial killers are things I find intriguing, but also the psychology of investigators as well \u2013 I always want to know how they handle diving into all that darkness day after day. I listened to a lot of episodes of the Real Crime Profile podcast while writing None Shall Sleep<\/em>. I find detectives just as interesting as murderers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m also a long-time fan of Thomas Harris, particularly his books The Silence of the Lambs<\/a><\/strong><\/em> and Red Dragon<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. I really wanted to write a YA take on Silence<\/em>, but for years I put it off, thinking it might be too hardcore for YA audiences \u2026 then I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> And I\u2019m so glad that you did! What stands out to me is how distinct the characters feel, how did you go about crafting them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE:<\/strong> I actually knew the basic character tropes I wanted for None Shall Sleep<\/em> \u2013 and I wanted them to riff on Silence<\/em>, to some extent. But Emma and Travis and Kristin and Simon all wanted to be their own people, and somehow they arrived on the page already living and breathing. <\/p>\n\n\n

\"Ellie<\/a>

Ellie Marney (Photo by Justine Bernhaut).<\/p><\/div>\n

I did spend a lot of time researching their emotional journeys \u2013 I do a lot of character profile work before and during the writing. One of the best references for that, I discovered, was a book called The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma<\/a><\/em><\/strong> by Alice Ackerman and Becca Puglisi \u2013 it contains a whole lot of scenarios and backstories for characters, and gives you some really good insight into character psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n

But you already knew your characters \u2013 Connor and Locky and Sally \u2013 very well, didn\u2019t you? What new things did you discover about them in Rebel Gods<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> Monuments <\/em>is largely set over three days, so we see our characters in one moment \u2013 the challenge in writing Rebel Gods<\/em> was seeing how they might grow and evolve. There\u2019s always been an interesting tension between Connor\u2019s home life and the adventure he\u2019s on \u2013 basically, the meat of contemporary novels fighting against the meat of fantasy novels. The fantasy stuff was the focus in the first book, so in this sequel, I brought the contemporary stuff, his relationship with his mum mostly, to the fore. Sally continues her journey towards being more open with those around her \u2013 she\u2019s very focused on the past in Monuments<\/em>, so letting her imagine a future for herself in Rebel Gods<\/em> was vital. Locky is the love interest in the first book, overwhelmingly charismatic and seen through Connor\u2019s eyes. Rebel Gods<\/em> allowed me to pull the veil back on his family life, explore why he is as ambitious as he is and the reality of an ambition realised \u2026 The big thing I discovered? That saying goodbye after two books is harder than I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You mentioned before worrying None Shall Sleep<\/em> might be too hardcore for YA audiences \u2026 I\u2019m fascinated by how that impacted the writing process. Did you ever second-guess yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE:<\/strong> Initially I did worry that the thriller elements might be too intense. But then I remembered all the books I was reading at fifteen \u2013 Stephen King, and Dean Koontz, and Flowers in the Attic<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, and The Exorcist<\/a><\/strong><\/em> \u2013 and I thought \u2026 Nah, I reckon the teenagers will be fine! Teens are pretty smart and daring readers, and they\u2019re very good at self-regulating. They often abandon books they\u2019re not enjoying. Usually gatekeepers get more nervous about scary or emotionally intense content in YA books than teenagers themselves. I think we should just let teenagers read what they want to read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m also someone who thinks that we need a broad range of content in our reading \u2013 comforting, entertaining, frightening, challenging. Scary reads are good at encouraging us to think about resilience \u2013 You can get through this, You can overcome incredible odds and survive. I think that\u2019s actually a relevant message for teenagers during this pandemic period of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was there a central message at the heart of Rebel Gods<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> It continues Monuments<\/em>\u2019 theme of doing what you can to change the world for the better \u2013 but that\u2019s often easier said than done. The first book ended with a clear challenge for our protagonists. Rebel Gods<\/em> is a book that\u2019s steeped in hesitation, second-guessing, doubting, questioning \u2026 basically it\u2019s an urban-fantasy Hamlet<\/em>. The central message? You might only have one moment to do what\u2019s right, seize it. The secondary message? Have a laugh in the meantime. That makes it sound like it was an easy book to write, which it wasn\u2019t \u2026 Did you run into any difficulties with None Shall Sleep<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE: <\/strong>Writing a book in a different time period (1982 is now considered historical fiction, believe it or not!), which was set in a different country, involved a lot of research into era-appropriate locations. I spent hours every day on Google Maps, looking up roads and landmarks in Virginia and Washington DC \u2013 and then I had to check that the roads and landmarks existed in 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the crime aspects and the character aspects and the story aspects were easy \u2013 but the setting was tricky as heck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was jealous of you, you know, because you only had to research Sydney! But it wasn\u2019t as easy as all that for Rebel Gods<\/em>, was it?<\/p>\n\n\n

\"9780734419262\"<\/a>WILL:<\/strong> Well, I wrote most of it in the early days of the pandemic, so my plan to wander around Sydney and discover locations, and write on location, was quickly scuttled. Google Maps got quite a workout on my end too.<\/p>\n\n\n

Writing action-fantasy has been a huge learning experience for me, as somebody who relishes writing quiet books like The Sidekicks<\/a><\/em><\/strong> about characters contemplating stuff. I mean, most of the conversations in Rebel Gods<\/em> revolve around committing deicide, so having to ground that story in reality was tough. It was also my first sequel, which poses its own hurdles. The pressure is on to make sure you stick the landing, and I felt it as my deadlines loomed. Add to that, wrestling with the general brain fog of March and April? It wasn\u2019t easy, but I challenged myself to find ways to persevere, and keep it fun, and I\u2019m so proud of the writer I\u2019ve become because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you learn anything about yourself, or your process, writing this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE:<\/strong> I think I learn something with every book I write \u2013 with White Night<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, for instance, I realised how effective using my own history and memories in my writing could be. With None Shall Sleep<\/em>, I realised that my best writing comes when I\u2019m writing something that primarily pleases only me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWrite the book you want to read\u201d was something I knew on an intellectual level, I think. But I\u2019d been writing to deadline for so long, I\u2019d kind of got out of the habit of really loving sitting down at my laptop to work. And None Shall Sleep<\/em> was a book I loved writing \u2013 every aspect of it was deeply enjoyable. I haven\u2019t had so much fun writing a book since I wrote Every Breath<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, to be honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> With deadlines in mind, what\u2019s next for Ellie Marney?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE:<\/strong> Right now, I\u2019m writing the last ten thousand words of the finale for my next book \u2013 unfortunately I can\u2019t tell you much about it! But I can tell you it will be releasing in 2021, and if you like the 1940s, and murder mysteries, and plucky girl gangs, and Enigma machines \u2026 then this might be the book for you. And Will, I know that you have something coming even sooner than next year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> I\u2019m lucky to have been chosen as an Australia Reads<\/a><\/strong> Ambassador. As a result, I\u2019ll be releasing a special-edition novella, The Greatest Hit<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, for $2.99 this November. I can\u2019t wait for you all to meet Tessa. People look at her and see her biggest mistake. While everyone else her age is taking their bold first steps into adulthood, she\u2019s just trying to outrun a song that went viral when she was fourteen. But now \u2013 an opportunity. A profile as one of The Five Most Forgettable Internet Celebrities of the Decade So Far gives her the chance to right a wrong, and the courage to sing her greatest hit as it was originally written. But will it be enough to win back the person she hurt?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE: <\/strong>And it\u2019s not your first novella \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> No, my first was I Can See The Ending<\/em>, a comedy about a burgeoning psychic struggling with his developing powers, that featured in Begin End Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology<\/a><\/strong><\/em> alongside your story Missing Persons<\/em> \u2026 That was a prequel to your Every series, so I have to ask on behalf of fans of that series (myself included), would you ever consider returning to that world?<\/p>\n\n\n

\"9781760877309\"<\/a>ELLIE:<\/strong> I had a great time working on that shorter prequel, but I think I\u2019d like to leave Rachel and Mycroft to carry on adventuring in their own little world \u2026<\/p>\n

Unless I had a pressing reason to look back \u2013 and since the books have been optioned for a TV series, that could happen. I participated in the TV script development process, which was incredibly fun, and a whole different type of writing. If the series is greenlit for production, and I ended up writing a few scripts for the series, I would actually love that!<\/p>\n\n\n

It\u2019s kind of the dream, isn\u2019t it, to have something you wrote turned into a film or a TV show\u2026 What would you like to maintain control over, if Rebel Gods<\/em> (or Monuments<\/em>, for that matter) was turned into a screen production?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> Honestly, I would be thrilled to be involved in any adaptations. I relish writing for the screen, and many of my books begin their lives as scripts. But as much as I would love some control, I also know that adaptation is a different interpretation of a story that suits a different medium, so I wouldn\u2019t be precious about preserving my original vision. I just want to be one of the people pulling it apart to create something new. There\u2019s so much about Locky and Sally that\u2019s left unsaid, because Monuments <\/em>and Rebel Gods<\/em> are written from a dominating first-person perspective, so I would love to see what other writers did to expand the world of the story. My dream adaptation would widen the scope and spotlight the three protagonists equally. Until then, fan-fiction writers can have at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, I\u2019m pretty content with two books in one year. That\u2019s enough for me. And I\u2019m just trying to catch up to you. You\u2019re a publishing powerhouse, even self-publishing some of your releases. What\u2019s the big difference between the traditional route and going it alone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE: <\/strong>With No Limits<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, and the Circus Hearts<\/a><\/strong> series, I was doing everything myself \u2013 writing, creating cover copy, contracting cover designers, organising marketing \u2026 It was incredibly satisfying and also loads of work. It was nice, with None Shall Sleep<\/em>, to just hand the book over to someone else and say, \u201cPlease tweak this!\u201d and not have to do it myself! You cede a fair bit of control, but it also makes some things easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever considered self-publishing something?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL:<\/strong> I have, but I think it will always be a pie-in-the-sky daydream for me. I yearn for that much control, but at the same time, I feel I work best with restrictions. And worrying about ISBNs and marketing and cover designers \u2026 I might take my eye off the ball, and I don\u2019t want to risk that. At the moment, I know what a Will Kostakis book is \u2013 a story brimming with heart and humour, with a pinch of the sads, informed by my queerness and my small but potent Greek family \u2013 and I want to spend the next few years focusing on writing as many of them as I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you think makes an Ellie Marney book?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ELLIE:<\/strong> Oh, wow, let me think \u2026 Okay, how about this: Stubborn, pragmatic and smart female characters; intelligent and supportive male co-conspirators; murder of some kind (almost always!); realistic forensic detail; puzzles and clues; unresolved sexual tension (sometimes it even gets resolved!); pulse-pounding action; dramatic, page-turning finales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WILL: <\/strong>I think you\u2019ve hit the nail on the head there, and I can\u2019t wait to get my hands on the next Ellie Marney read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—Rebel Gods<\/a><\/em> (Hachette Australia Books) and None Shall Sleep<\/a><\/em> (Allen & Unwin) are both available now from Booktopia.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You’ll find both of the books mentioned in this blog post in our Kids Month Top 50<\/a> collection!<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kids<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hear from the authors of Rebel Gods and None Shall Sleep!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":129805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[715,8010,10335,11844,11843,6861,6644,10422,6649],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/WillKostakisEllieMarney-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129768"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129906,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129768\/revisions\/129906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}