Today I have the great pleasure of interviewing fellow Texan Gail Giles, author of Dark Song, a dark and haunting young adult story that was released earlier this month.
“Ames is not the person she was a few months ago. Her father lost his job, and her family is crumbling apart. Now, all she has is Marc. Marc, who loves her more than anything. Marc, who owns a gun collection. And he’ll stop at nothing–even using his guns–to get what he wants. Ames feels her parents have betrayed her with their lies and self-absorption, but is she prepared to make the ultimate betrayal against them?”
— Description from GoodReads
The dark theme of this story really struck me — so I focused my questions around that. Here’s my interview with Gail:
What led you to write Dark Song?
“I watched a Court TV case about a girl and her boyfriend that conspired to kill her mother. I got interested and researched and found 22 cases of young girls hooking up, usually with older boys, then when faced with parental disapproval, conspiring to murder the parent or parents. These 22 cases had all occurred with 18 months. To me this was a cultural phenomenon—a female’s Columbine. Boys take their anger out to the street, to the school; girls turn it in, to themselves or to the home.”How do you cope with writing such an emotional story? How does it affect you?
“I’ll admit it’s pretty depressing. It does take an emotional toll. I’ve said many times if you don’t laugh during the funny parts, or cry during the sad ones, while you write, why should you expect your reader to do so?” How would you describe the story, in five words or less?
“Family falls apart.”What do you want readers to take away from this novel?
“I want readers to understand Ames—why she would cling to Marc, so easily and so early, but why that love was just as false as the picture she presented of her early family life.” Is there anything you’d like to add?
“The odd thing is that I am not a dark person in life. I mostly make people laugh. You wouldn’t expect that would you?”
I’d really like to thank Gail for taking time to answer my questions, and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for allowing me to participate in the Dark Song blog tour.
Dark Song by Gail Giles is available from Amazon.
Author Gail Giles discusses her book, Dark Song, a haunting story of a young girl whose love of the wrong boy leads to a choice between him or her family.
Author Gail Giles discusses her book, Dark Song, a haunting story of a young girl whose love of the wrong boy leads to a choice between him or her family.
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