Cameo appearance by William Kostakis
Sunday, April 5, 2009
After our fantastic Penni Russon interview, I bet you had no idea how I could improve further. But I did. And this time I'm targeting our teenage audience (I apologise for saying 'our' all the time. It's just me, sitting at my computer, occasionally eating bread) - with a cameo appearance by William Kostakis, the nineteen-year-old author of Loathing Lola. You can find his website here, or check out Loathing Lola's website. While Penni Russon's Undine series is poetic and magical, William Kostakis' Loathing Lola has an eerie accuracy to actual teenagers and their behaviour, with blunt humour. I did a review of this novel a few month back, and you can find it here.
Steph Bowe: If you could describe yourself in three words, which words would they be? (And I suggest not using words like ‘nice’, ‘pretty’ and ‘good’ because your Grade Six teacher will read this and be very disappointed).
William Kostakis: Nice, pretty, good.
SB: Describe Loathing Lola in one sentence. Don’t read it off the back cover.
WK: Funny, smart, silly and sweet, Loathing Lola is top of world in cool.
SB: How long did it take you to write Loathing Lola?
WK: Too long. Close to 10 years, but to be fair, it changed A LOT.
SB: If you rewrote it, or started over entirely, what would be different?
WK: Most, if not all of it. More Victoria Hammond. Definitely more Victoria Hammond, that woman is crazy batshit insane, and definitely deserved more word-time.
SB: Is there anything that you cringe at when you read it?
WK: Front page. Bio. "William Kostakis, a ninteen-year-old..." NINTEEN!? To be fair, it isn't my typo... It happened between the publisher and the printer...
SB: You’re writing a new book called Magnum Opus. Do you enjoy deceiving people, or is it really that good? (Don’t try to lie. We already know you like deceiving people).
WK: I love deceiving people. I get invited to schools by people who I trick into thinking I'm a reputable author - they get the shock of their lives when I turn up :-P. But Magnum Opus isn't about deceiving people, it's about poking fun at the "ZOMFG SECOND ONE MUST BE FIVE-TIMES MOAR AWESOME THAN TEH FIRST ONE, kthxbai" expectations of the industry (and any creative industry for that matter). But right now, that's all I'm saying about it... watch this space.
SB: Are you going to continue writing books for teenagers or will you branch out into other genres?
WK: See, here's the thing, I don't see myself as writing solely for teenagers. Yes, teenagers probably see more of themselves in Loathing Lola than adults would, but Loathing Lola's found a particularly strong (and unexpected) adult audience. Really, I see myself as writing good stories, for a wide audience. I don't *just* wanna write for one group of people. So, to answer the question, I'm going to continue writing good books. And hell, one day, I might even write great ones...
SB: How many times was Loathing Lola rejected? Is it worse than being dumped?
WK: 6 times, I think. And I wouldn't know, I'm always the one doing the dumping (urgh, that just sounds nasty...)
SB: Favourite author? (Other than yourself.)
WK: Terry Pratchett. The man is made of awesome.
SB: Favourite type of dessert?
WK: Microwaved chocolate cake and ice-cream.
SB: Favourite zombie movie?
WK: Sex and the City: The Movie.
SB: You’re aware of the fact that your author photo makes you look smug and self-righteous. Are you?
WK: I'm not successful enough to be smug quite yet :-P Give it time, I say...
(Edit: Author photo below is not the said smug photo).
SB: Xena Warrior Princess or Sabrina the Teenage Witch?
WK: Xena ftw.
SB: Advice for aspiring authors. Like myself. Not that I ask for advice.
WK: Keep writing, keep reading, and when someone tells you you're crap - listen to them. The odds are, they're right.
SB: One last question: do you have message for the people?
WK: Buy my book?
Thanks again to William. You can find his blog here.