We sat down for a chat....with Teri Terry

Teri Terry's debut novel, Slated, is a dystopian thriller set in a future London. Slated is one of the titles on our recent Top 20 books list. So we're delighted to have author, Teri Terry on the blog today.

 



Teri Terry's been Slated!

Little M: How did you start writing?

Teri: I've always made things up - including things like really creative excuses for not handing my homework in on time, why I was late, and how something got spilled/broken/forgotten (you get the idea). Writing stories down seemed less likely to get me into trouble.

Little M: What was the first book you wrote?

Teri: Morris: the Life Story of a Beautiful Grey Tabby. I was maybe 11, the story was about my cat, and I did my own, very bad, illustrations. It's about 50 pages long.

 

Little M: What types of book do you like read?

Teri: I read widely, but mostly YA books: it is rare that I read anything meant for adults. I'm immersed in the kind of writing I do, and part of the reason I write YA is because I love it. Also there just isn't enough time to read everything I'd like to! I particularly like science fiction and fantasy, some mysteries, occasional realism but that isn't usually my thing.

Little M: How did you get the ideas for Slated?

 Slated actually began with a dream. The prologue in Slated  - as published - is almost word for word what I wrote early one morning, waking up after dreaming about this girl, running, on a beach. You know that strange thing in dreams sometimes, how you don't know how you know stuff, you just kind of do? It was a bit like that. I honestly don't know where the idea of Slating came from; it appeared on the page in a mad rush.

Teri Terry - not Slated

M: Slated paints a picture of how a cruel future London views teenagers. Did events surrounding the London riots of August 2011 influence aspects of the story in Slated?

Teri: I finished writing Slated in January 2011, so not unless I have a secret time machine! But I must say that watching the riots unfold on TV was a very eerie experience. In fact much of the backstory to Slated seemed to be coming true that year, like the economic woes in Europe. The riots here were frightening to watch in any event - things seemed to spiral out of control so quickly - and it wasn't that much of a leap to see them continue to to do so.

 

 

Little M: When is the next book in the Slated series coming out?

 Teri: Fractured will be out in May 2013! I've just finished the final edits last weekend

(Ed. note: that would have been around 22-23 Sept).

 

*****

 

You can read our review of Slated here.

Fractured will be out in May

Teri Terry's website