Hey bloglings! This is a major fan girl moment for me! I have Ines Bautista-Yao on the blog today. In case you don’t know, she’s one of my favorite Filipino authors .(!!!) She’s just released a new book called Plain Vanilla! (And the cover looks gorgeous, doesn’t it?)
Without further ado, here’s my interview with Ines!.
Farzy: What do you think makes a writer a writer?
Ines: A writer is anyone who loves the written word and puts pen to paper — uh, or maybe in this day and age it’s no longer “pen to paper” but words on a screen? Haha! That means anyone can be a writer. If you love writing, claim it!
Farzy: What’s the inspiration behind your novel?
Ines: I was writing an article for Total Girl magazine on stepping out of your comfort zone and that was when the idea hit. It truly felt like divine inspiration. I realized I could write a story about a girl who was forced to leave her comfort zone through a variety of dares. So I called the editor of Total Girl, my good friend Mimi Tiu, and asked if they had an article of dares I could make Tempest go through – and they did! Quite serendipitous actually.
Farzy: What’s your favorite word?
Ines: Ice cream Wait, that’s two words. Does that count? If it doesn’t, then I like fly.
Farzy: Do you like reading classics? If so, what are your favorites?
Ines: Yes! I adore Pride and Prejudice, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, The Secret Garden, The Little Princess, and Pollyanna. All girly books as you can see. I enjoyed The Great Gatsby despite how depressing it was and The Catcher in the Rye (even if Holden was annoying at times), and I don’t know if Shakespeare counts, but I really, really enjoyed The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth (yes, despite all the blood and gore haha!), The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night—I should stop before this gets too long.
Farzy: Do you write full-time or part-time?
Ines: I am a full-time mother and a part-time everything else. But I am always writing, even in my sleep, I’m thinking of how to work out difficult characters or plotlines.
Farzy: What’s your message to aspiring writers out there?
Ines: Always, always work on improving your craft. There is never a time to sit back and say, “I’m awesome” because that is the day your writing will begin to suck. And the best way to do that is to write every chance you can get, read a lot of good books (if you read books that aren’t well-written, remember that your writing will be influenced by them), and LIVE! Or maybe even fly.
EXCERPT
“But what about Margarita?”
“She sped off in another direction.” He shrugged, still pulling her along. But this time, he wasn’t holding her arm anymore. His hand found its way into hers. And she told herself she didn’t let go because it was dark and she didn’t want to trip on anything.
When they got to the covered courts, they didn’t bother to find a place to hide. It was so dark, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Paco sat on one of the benches and pulled Tempest down next to him. She was tempted to pull her hand away, but he still hadn’t let go. What was the protocol when it came to something like this? Do you let go when you’re about to do something like look at your watch or scratch an itch? Or do you just keep holding on till both your hands get too sweaty? And why did it have to be so complicated?
“I think this is awesome, what you’re doing.” He smiled at her. Or at least she assumed he was. It was too dark to tell.
“Sitting in the dark, holding your hand?” Tempest couldn’t pretend it wasn’t happening, so might as well call attention to it.
Paco surprised her by squeezing her hand and still not letting go. “Well, yeah, this too.” He laughed easily. “But I was talking about the dares. I mean, daring other people is something Marga and I do all the time, but daring yourself is cool. Why didn’t you tell me about it last night? I could have helped you do some of them while we were just hanging out. What’s on your list anyway?”
Tempest didn’t tell him that the dares had only materialized today because of him. “Well, nighttime hide and seek, sleeping under the stars, and glow-in-the-dark bowling are part of it. That pathetic excuse for chalk art this afternoon was too.”
“That wasn’t pathetic.”
“Whatever.” Tempest snorted. “There’s also doing a color run which I am seriously thinking of swapping with something else, running through sprinklers, flying a kite, making a slushie—”
“You’ve never made a slushie?” Astonishment.
“I lead a very dull life, okay?”
“Or flown a kite?” More astonishment.
“Fine, Mr. I’ve Done Everything Fun in the World, what haven’t you done? If you were to give yourself a list of dares, what would you put on your list?”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind breaking into an all-girls high school after dark and playing hide and seek.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“Boring. I’ve done that already.”
Paco burst out laughing. Tempest’s insides began to feel all warm and gooey. It felt good to make him laugh. And to have his complete attention. And to still be holding his hand.
Despite her quirky name and equally quirky family, 16-year-old Tempest Juan knows she’s ordinary. After reading a comment on Facebook which likened her to vanilla ice cream, Tempest decides she has to do something about it or be forever branded as plain, lukewarm, and well, vanilla. It doesn’t help that the comment was made by Paco Lorenzo, her cousin’s cute friend (no longer cute in her book!). When she happens upon a book of dares, she decides to attempt each one, no matter how hard. This is her personality at stake, after all. But somehow, Paco, the cause of all this, finds a way to be at every dare Tempest attempts, confusing her and forcing her to question what’s really going on inside her heart.
