Today’s Q&A is with Gabrielle Tozer, author of Remind Me How This Ends, a YA contemporary due to be released tomorrow. Welcome, Gabrielle, and thanks for taking part in our Sunday Spotlight.

How many novels have you written and published and what prizes, if any, have they won?
I’m the author of three YA novels: The Intern, which won the State Library of Victoria’s 2015 Gold Inky Award, its sequel Faking It and Remind Me How This Ends (out March 27, 2017). My first picture book, Peas and Quiet (illustrated by Sue deGennaro), is due for release in July, while my 10,000-word (long!) short story ‘The Feeling From Over Here’ (featured in HarperCollins’ Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology) is out on April 24.

03 March Gabrielle Tozer coverWhat inspired Remind Me How This Ends?
Music (lots of Vance Joy, James Bay, Lorde, Ed Sheeran), the blurry line between friendship and something more, feeling lost, decision-fatigue, growing up in rural and regional Australia, resisting change but needing it, and grief, specifically unpacking what happens when you don’t get a chance to say goodbye to the person you love most.

What did you do when you finished the book?
The first draft? What I always do: get the train to my mothership, Officeworks, to print it off! Oh, and head out for a celebratory drink and debrief with my husband. I avoid reading the manuscript for as long as my deadlines allow, but once those weeks or months have passed, then out comes the red pen and the rewriting and editing begins… But the final draft? Chocolate and a solid day of binge-watching Netflix.

What genre would you like to try your hand at writing and why?
I’d love to write a contemporary-fantastical middle-grade novel – something that tugs on the emotions and is full of heart, but also outrageous, quirky and completely over-the-top in the best possible way. I grew up reading Roald Dahl, Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman, so I’ve always adored out-there stories and larger-than-life characters.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing (work and/or play)?
Watch TV and films, listen to music, walk, catch up with friends and family for long and lazy lunches, dance, travel, read and listen to podcasts.

Lamingtons or pavlova?
Lamingtons. Can’t go past chocolate and coconut!

Thanks, Gabrielle, and good luck with the book.

~

Synopsis for Remind Me How This Ends:

‘Milo was a discoloured memory with blurred edges and a washed-out palette. Yet five minutes with him and everything came back to me in an instant.’ Layla Montgomery’s life fell apart at thirteen. After her mum died in a shock accident, Layla’s grieving father packed their bags and forced her to leave behind everything she’d ever known. Milo Dark has been stuck on pause since the Year 12 exams. His long-term girlfriend moved 300 kilometres away for uni, his mates bailed for bigger things, and he’s convinced he missed the reminder to plan out the rest of his life. As kids, Layla and Milo shared everything – their secrets, a treehouse and weekends at the river. But they haven’t spoken since her mum’s funeral. That is, until Layla shows up five years later in his parents’ bookshop without so much as a text message. Pretty soon they’re drawn into a tangled mess that guarantees someone will get hurt. And while it’s a summer they’ll never forget, is it one they’ll want to remember?

A boy-meets-girl-again story from the award-winning author of The Intern and Faking It.

~

tozer-portraitAuthor: Gabrieller Tozer
Title: Remind Me How This Ends
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 9781460751688
ISBN 10: 146075168X
357pp
For years 14+
Gabrielle can be found on Facebook, Twitter and her website.

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