Exclusive Interview with Marta Acosta, author of Dark Companion + Giveaway of Dark Companion (int)
URL HERE
Marta : Hi, Soumi, and thanks for inviting me here to Pages From My Thoughts!
I wanted to write an homage to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and other Gothics because I’ve always loved Gothic novels. They’ve got suspense and tension, dark secrets, romance, and frequently feature a poor, isolated young woman who is being tricked and manipulated by others.
Me : Dark Companion is a Gothic Romance, what was the inspiration behind the book?
Marta : Well, I call it a Gothic, not a Gothic Romance, because the romance in the story is not the primary focus. The primarily focus is Jane’s introduction to Birch Grove Academy, discovering the secrets of the school, and also discovering things about herself.
Jane is very smart, but she has no experience with people outside her poor, violent environment, and she has no experience with affection. She’s starved for love because she’s grown up without even a mother. She falls for the beautiful guy because he represents everything she wants to possess: a family, security, status, safety.
Me: Would like to share a few words about Jane Williams, the female protagonist of Dark Companion?
Marta : Jane’s a broken girl who survives by her wits. She’s figured out that if she hides her rage, smiles, and gets good grades, she’ll be rewarded. So her speech and behavior are calculated to get her what other girls take for granted. She started studying as a way to get ahead, but she’s fallen in love with science and math – they help her understand and appreciate the world. I really wanted to feature girls who were bright, interesting, and had more on their minds than clothes and boys.
Under Jane’s protective exterior, she has a good soul, and is loyal to her friends. One of her new friends, Mary Violet, is sort of an anti-mean girl. She’s warm, funny, and bright and she immediately accepts Jane and begins to introduce Jane to her world, including her supportive family.
Gothics frequently feature “twinning” – mirror reflections – and Mary Violet’s loving, emotionally healthy family is the twin to the entitled, manipulative Radcliffe family.
Me : You have introduced two male leads, Lucian and Jack, What makes these two brothers different from each other?
Marta : The brothers are another aspect of “twinning” in the book. Lucky is so beautiful that he’s always been spoiled. Beautiful people do get special treatment and it’s easy for them to think that they’ve earned it. Lucky takes the easy way out because others are eager to do things to please him. He’s aware that most people, and especially girls, never get past the way he looks to the person he is.
Girls say, “Oh, no, I would be smarter than that!” but it’s simply not true. Giving special attention to beautiful people has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with emotion. It’s not just girls who fall for gorgeous men. Brilliant men marry beautiful idiots every day, when everyone else can see that the relationship is doomed from the start.
Jack is the odd one in the family. He doesn’t look like them, and I think his awareness of being different shapes his behavior. Since he was the first son to parents who desperately wanted children, they let him be his own wacky self. Even though his parents are morally compromised people, they love Jack and he’s devoted to them.
Me : What are your most favorite gothic classics, you would love to recommend?
Marta : Jane Eyre of course! Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is a wonderfully twisted, dark, romantic story. One of my favorite creepy stories is a movie called The Uninvited, about a brother and a sister who buy a beautiful seaside house that may be haunted. I have to close my eyes now and then because I’m easily scared.
Me : What is you most favorite scene from Dark Companion?
Marta : That’s easy. I love the scene when Jack takes Jane home from the party and they’re standing together in the birch grove with the fog swirling around them. I wanted the scene to echo the yearning mood of certain scenes in Jane Eyre when she’s alone with Mr. Rochester, yet thinks he’s in love with Blanche Ingram.
Me : Is there any new project you are currently working on? Would you like to tell us a little bit about it?
Marta : I’m working on the first of a series of gothic mysteries featuring Mary Violet. Mary Violet is invited to stay with Birch Grove Academy’s most famous alumna, an ancient poetess who lives in a secluded house. There are ghostly incidents, dark secrets, romance, and humor. And there is lots of poetry! I’m tentatively calling it Mary Violet and the Case of the Silent Songbird.
Also, I just made audiobooks of my Casa Dracula series, which are romantic comedies. It’s been great fun working with a talented narrator to make my characters come to life.
Soumi, thanks for having me here to share my thoughts about my new book! Readers can find out more about my books by visiting my website, and I’m also on Twitter. I love hearing from reader!
I would like to thank author Marta Acosta, for such lovely interview, and I'm honored to have her on my blog.
Tor Teen is very generous to offer one Hardback copy of Dark Companion for the international giveaway purpose on my blog.
Giveaway Ends on 25th August, 2012.
The Winner will be announced withing 48 hours of giveaway ending, and the winner will have 48 hours to response, otherwise another winner will be chosen.
The Giveaway is International, feel free to enter.
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