Hello everyone! We are behind schedule for the July author interview as we had difficulties to get the last three authors to send in their answers and we had to find new authors to replace the three authors who had signed up earlier for the interview. Nevertheless, I am happy to finally be able to publish the answers from all of them for the interview series.

It’s time to reveal the answers for all 12 questions answered by 12 author participants in the July Group Author Interview, in the 12 genres, 12 authors, 12 months and 12 questions series! Thank you for the support from the 12 Young Adult authors who have participated in this group author interview.

If you are an author and would like to participate in our upcoming interviews, check out this link, sign up and get your fans to ask their questions to the participating authors! The goal of this author interview is to increase the engagement between readers and authors, and to expose authors to new group of readers.

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So, the 5th question is “Writing a YA book is a good opportunity to shape the minds of the youngsters. What message do you aim to deliver to them?”

I’m not trying to influence anyone with anything I write. That is to say, there is no moral message overtly passed between me, the writer, and they, the reader. I’m simply trying to tell a story, and leave the decision of what’s right and wrong for them to follow. My only ‘message’ is that life is unpredictable, and that you have to adapt to your surroundings. My main characters aren’t perfect; they’re not supposed to be, but they grow in order to match their situation. In real life, teens are supposed to grow and mature as they go along.

Be inspire to make a difference.

The idea of ‘shaping the minds of youngsters’ has never entered my head. I just write what is in my head. However, when ‘Dear H’ was completed, it was pointed out to me how influential my writing was. I now use the books as a basis for workshops on bullying for both YA and adults.

There is a strong theme of the importance of friendships in my novel.

Overall, I think my underlying theme in all my books is about owning your voice. That teenagers do have a voice and that voice matters. That they are important and can make a change if they have the confidence to speak up. You don’t need to wait for adulthood to make an impact or be respected.

I would especially like for girls to feel empowered by The Sky Is Mine, to know that their voices count and to recognise their own self worth. This has become a running joke between my mum and me from when I was doing my GCSEs and I argued for the importance of women’s inner strength in every English Lit paper I wrote. Back then I probably wouldn’t have called it feminism, but these days, that’s definitely what I’d call it.

The Manakor Chronicles open up important questions: How do you decide if you believe something different than what your parents taught you? To what extent is it good to use your power? When do the ends justify the means? Many of the questions are moral ones. This is the time when readers decide who they want to be, what they believe in, and what is worth fighting for.

To set their own limits. That life can be scary and unfair but they always have choices–maybe not ideal, but they are theirs to make. That they can be smart and still have doubts, brave and still be vulnerable, that they can cry and fail and get back up and try again. That there is always hope.

You’re strong enough to fight through anything.

Believe in yourself and you can achieve anything

Read a book for fun and shape your own destiny. Don’t be mind shaped by others. Mind shaping is bad. Don’t you read YA dystopian novels?

Question everything – attitudes, beliefs, laws, social conventions, everything. Always remember the world is fixed against you unless you’re born privileged. Judge people by their character and actions not by their gender/ethnicity/sexuality etc. Kick arse where it deserves to be kicked.

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Best regards,

Jasveena

Founder of International Book Promotion