Not too long ago I had the opportunity to read and review the
novel WARRIOR GIRL. I truly enjoyed it and would say it’s in the New Adult
category since the characters are college age. Also, the authors were available
for an interview. Here I present Matt Lazar and Amanda Thomas. First, this is the description of their novel.
A beautiful young Korean girl, Sun Hi Kim, is beginning her first year at Oxford University. Thousands of miles away from home for the first time, she struggles to adjust to a different culture.
Sun Hi befriends two English boys. Miles is a handsome final year student who is also captain of the Oxford rowing team. Adam, a first year student who is also a hunk, hero-worships Miles, his rowing idol. Sun Hi knows that she's naive and has never had a boyfriend, let alone an English boyfriend. Her first forays into desire very nearly end in disaster.
Between rowing, her studies, boys, and an arrogant roommate, Sun Hi often feels overwhelmed. Playing World of Warcraft is the one thing she can do to escape her problems, at least for a little while.
I like how World of Warcraft
was incorporated into the novel. What gave you the idea to draw parallels
between the game and Sun Hi’s life?
Amanda Thomas: Matt came up with the idea of basing the novel
on WOW and I think it was a stroke of genius.
It certainly seems to have hit a chord with readers. I developed the character of Sun Hi and it
seemed like a great expression of her repressed self that she should be a true
warrior when she played World of Warcraft.
Matt Lazar: I wanted to incorporate World of Warcraft into
the novel in a way that was true to the experience of playing WOW, while making
sure that the story was accessible to readers who love fiction but who may not
be gamers. I played World of Warcraft for 6 months, as part of my Warrior Girl
research, and one thing I learned about WOW players is that the game is a key
part of their lives in many cases.
Sun Hi goes through so many
bad experiences, which caused great tension and made this a page turner. Did
you ever feel bad for putting her through so much?
Matt: Thanks so much! I'm glad WG was a fun read for you!
Usually the bad experiences are the memorable and formative ones, but I did
feel bad for Sun Hi a few times.
Amanda: I tried to imagine how a girl, strictly brought up
and very meek like Sun Hi would feel faced with the harsh realities of life
outside of the sheltered environment she had been raised in. Then I tried to add in her determination to
do well and to succeed at her studies.
I hope it made for an interesting conflict of emotions!
If your novel was turned
into a movie, what actors would you pick for the roles?
Amanda: Oh now that is a question. I like Robert Pattinson
and Jake Gyllenhaal as Adam and
Miles. For Marina well I think maybe
Korean actress Smith Cho as Sun Hi. I think a British actress like Keely Hawes
as Marina.
Matt: I think a James McAvoy-type would make a great Miles
and I can see Cory Monteith as Adam. Sun Hi would probably be played by an
unknown. The Warrior Girl movie would have a sweetness to it and the soundtrack
would probably have multiple Outfield songs in it like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N1iwQxiHrs
What kind of research did
you have to do for this story?
Matt: Sun Hi was inspired by the story of a girl I got to
know many years ago. I also played WOW as part of my research.
Amanda: I really only research certain aspects of Korean and
Japanese cultures as well as the Oxford Cambridge boat race of course.
Tell us a little about the
collaborative process. How do two authors work on a manuscript together?
Amanda: We did work together.
Matt came to the UK, where I am based, a couple of times and when I was
on a business trip to New York last year we met to put the final touches to
it. Matt is a great editor!
Matt: Working with Amanda was great! Without getting too much
into it, we used a process I call 'pair writing' that helped us set manageable
weekly goals and kept the project moving forward. I got the idea from Agile
style of software development that works great for building software, and I
think is applicable to many different types of collaborative projects that
require creativity and 'conjuring something from thin air' (which is the case
with a novel, or cool program/app).
What are you working on
next, either together or separately?
Amanda: I do a lot of ghostwriting and at the moment I am
working on the story of a young lad with intractable epilepsy who was sent home
from hospital to die in Ireland but whose mother fought for him to have
treatment in the USA. It is a very
moving and inspirational story. I am
also looking forward to working with Matt again
Matt: I'm developing a sequel to Warrior Girl - one teaser is
that readers will learn more about Kaito and what drives him.
Thank you for stopping by, Amanda and Matt. Learning more about Kaito, one of the antagonists, will be interesting.
