ANIMAL

Nearly a year ago I interviewed G.S. Banks about books, travel, advice, and being a female author. Now, she has just published her book, ANIMAL, and I read it in one sitting. The book details the story of Nina Gregory, a fashionista born to parents with animal-like super powers. At first, Nina has no desire to follow the likes of her parents, but a sudden catastrophe begins to change her mind. ANIMAL weaves a tale similar to that of X-Men and Harry Potter, but flowers uniquely as its own narrative.

I interviewed G.S. Banks about the process of writing and publishing ANIMAL, and here is what she has to say:

1. Have you always wanted to write a YA novel? What influenced you to become a YA author?

Most of the protagonists in my head are youthful females - either teens or early twenties. It is a period of life I remember as quite dramatic, emotional and underlaid with this constant sense of experimentation and searching... Even though I actually still live like that now, in my thirties, I like the distance I have between life then and life now - like looking at it all through a lens, which I find somehow useful when writing.

2. How did you create the idea for this book?

I love superhero tales, especially origin stories. I'm fascinated by the way so many of our greatest superheroes are based around animals of one kind or another - Batman, Catwoman, Spiderman. There's this connection between humans and animals that fascinates me, so I wanted to explore that.

3. What was the writing process like?

For me the writing process is always changeable. My writing overall has been a slow evolution over a long period of time where things have become more fluid, more 'easy' although I hesitate to bandy that word around. Sometimes there can be this perception that writing is something you can just pick up and do - which you totally can, of course - but to conceive, structure, world-build, dialogue, character design, edit, so on and so forth. It's a technical act. An act of great feeling and emotion yes, but also intensely technical for me anyway. I love the craft and the nuances of plot and character. So to actually answer the question - the writing process was joyful, painful, boring, thrilling, and a whole other list of suitable adjectives!

4. What was the publishing process like?

I published ANIMAL on Amazon, which is startlingly easy. It was getting the manuscript done that was the overwhelming majority of the work. I had help from my husband and also a digital artist for the cover. The rest is relatively simple.

5. What is your plan for this book and the potential series?

With this book I am putting it out there, it is doing great especially on Instagram where there's a community of avid readers who are enjoying getting their hands on the book. I will continue to promote it, whilst I work on my next book. There are more books to come in The Anitar Chronicles series, so watch this space!

6. Any other thoughts on the story of the underdog or advice to aspiring authors?

The superhero tradition of storytelling regularly begins with the hero as an underdog, or in some way massively disadvantaged. My favourite ones anyway, such as Wolverine who was physically malformed and stripped of his memories. Nina Gregory (the heroine of ANIMAL) is more of an "of this world" character, the whole book is very "real" in fact, but in her own way she has disadvantages and setbacks right from the start. I feel like most of us do, one way or another and I'm just not that interested in perfectly likeable, amazingly powerful characters who begin and end that way in a story.

My one piece of advice to aspiring authors would be - never give in. Even when it seems like no one cares, literally no one, and you can't get through the next chapter and it's time you got a real job. Just find a way, read lots, write even more and never give in.

Photo Courtesy of G.S. Banks

Interested in reading ANIMAL? You can find it here on Amazon.