| Interview with L. Brittney |
First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of
your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
When I won a short story competition in school at the age of fourteen. After that I never stopped writing.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
Very long! I started as a magazine journalist, then I was commissioned to write some non-fiction books (like
the three history “treasure Chests”, which I really enjoyed. Anyway, I started writing plays for adults, as a
hobby really because my great passion is the theater, and I was fortunate enough to get them published by
Samuel French. So I turned my hand to writing plays for children (over 40 so far) which have been
performed all over the world. Check them out on www.schoolplaysandpantos.com. Then I reached the point
where I felt ready to try a novel and “Nathan Fox” was born! As you can see, the motto of my published
career is “variety is the spice of life!”
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
NATHAN FOX: DANGEROUS TIMES is a novel for teens who like history with guts. An action-packed spy
adventure set in Elizabethan times, with an homage to Shakespeare. No gadgets, no gimmicks. Just
swordplay and intrigue.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Sir Francis Walsingham – England’s Spymaster General and Queen Elizabeth 1st’s Secretary of State. The
man was a genius. He organized a Europe-wide network of spies that make today’s intelligence services
look positively inadequate. Walsingham liked to recruit colorful agents like actors, playwrights, pirates and
adventurers.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My family are taking it all in their stride. My son is hoping it will be made into a film (he will be studying film
and theater studies at college in the fall), my daughter is only 10 and is really into pre-teen chick lit but she
is very proud of her novelist mum, and my husband, who doesn’t quite grasp the reality of how much(or
rather, little) money novelists make, keeps talking about retiring! But they are all very supportive.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Very naughty. A maple and pecan Danish. A very bad day could mean that I have to have two.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Brush my teeth, put the dog out and check out the visitors to the “Nathan Fox” website.
www.nathanfox-dangeroustimes.co.uk.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
That I am crazy about anything to do with Christmas. I have a collection of over 300 Christmas books and
about 50 Christmas videos and DVDs. I know – it’s bizarre.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Aquamarine.I’m a Piscean and I love being near water, so I would have to be the color of the tropical seas.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
My favourite cartoon character is Snoopy and, although I do not resemble him physically(I hope!) we have
the same personality. There are days when I feel I could probably be a fighter pilot and other days when I
need to lay on my back, stare at the sky, and reflect on the pointlessness of it all.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
I would like to go back to Ancient Greece and be a spectator at the original Olympic Games. It would be
awesome to see great warriors and athletes competing. No hype, no opening ceremonies, no drugs or
computerized results. Just strength, sweat and skill. Let’s get it back to the real thing, people!
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I have a really wide taste in music. I do listen to a lot of classical but I also love big band swing; 70’s
pop/rock; Motown and jazz. My favourite artistes at the moment (it does change!) are Il Divo; ABBA; Queen
and Shania Twain. I don’t listen to music when I’m writing because it would be too distracting. Besides, it
would drown out the moments when I talk to myself.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you
saw at the theater?
OK. TV. I love epic history documentaries, like anything by Ken Burns. I am addicted to comedy programmes
like Home Improvement and Rodney. My absolute favourite cop drama is a British programme called “Life on
Mars” but I also like Cold Case and CSI.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Don’t rely on the Internet for your knowledge. Use books for research too. Books have been checked and
edited. Too many so-called factual websites are opinion not fact. Books rule, OK?
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
More “Nathan Fox”. I have planned a series of at least 6. Book 2 will be published in the UK this time next
year. And who knows what else I might come up with? I’m currently working on something completely
different.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
You’re very welcome.
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of
your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
When I won a short story competition in school at the age of fourteen. After that I never stopped writing.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
Very long! I started as a magazine journalist, then I was commissioned to write some non-fiction books (like
the three history “treasure Chests”, which I really enjoyed. Anyway, I started writing plays for adults, as a
hobby really because my great passion is the theater, and I was fortunate enough to get them published by
Samuel French. So I turned my hand to writing plays for children (over 40 so far) which have been
performed all over the world. Check them out on www.schoolplaysandpantos.com. Then I reached the point
where I felt ready to try a novel and “Nathan Fox” was born! As you can see, the motto of my published
career is “variety is the spice of life!”
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
NATHAN FOX: DANGEROUS TIMES is a novel for teens who like history with guts. An action-packed spy
adventure set in Elizabethan times, with an homage to Shakespeare. No gadgets, no gimmicks. Just
swordplay and intrigue.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Sir Francis Walsingham – England’s Spymaster General and Queen Elizabeth 1st’s Secretary of State. The
man was a genius. He organized a Europe-wide network of spies that make today’s intelligence services
look positively inadequate. Walsingham liked to recruit colorful agents like actors, playwrights, pirates and
adventurers.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My family are taking it all in their stride. My son is hoping it will be made into a film (he will be studying film
and theater studies at college in the fall), my daughter is only 10 and is really into pre-teen chick lit but she
is very proud of her novelist mum, and my husband, who doesn’t quite grasp the reality of how much(or
rather, little) money novelists make, keeps talking about retiring! But they are all very supportive.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Very naughty. A maple and pecan Danish. A very bad day could mean that I have to have two.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Brush my teeth, put the dog out and check out the visitors to the “Nathan Fox” website.
www.nathanfox-dangeroustimes.co.uk.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
That I am crazy about anything to do with Christmas. I have a collection of over 300 Christmas books and
about 50 Christmas videos and DVDs. I know – it’s bizarre.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Aquamarine.I’m a Piscean and I love being near water, so I would have to be the color of the tropical seas.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
My favourite cartoon character is Snoopy and, although I do not resemble him physically(I hope!) we have
the same personality. There are days when I feel I could probably be a fighter pilot and other days when I
need to lay on my back, stare at the sky, and reflect on the pointlessness of it all.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
I would like to go back to Ancient Greece and be a spectator at the original Olympic Games. It would be
awesome to see great warriors and athletes competing. No hype, no opening ceremonies, no drugs or
computerized results. Just strength, sweat and skill. Let’s get it back to the real thing, people!
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I have a really wide taste in music. I do listen to a lot of classical but I also love big band swing; 70’s
pop/rock; Motown and jazz. My favourite artistes at the moment (it does change!) are Il Divo; ABBA; Queen
and Shania Twain. I don’t listen to music when I’m writing because it would be too distracting. Besides, it
would drown out the moments when I talk to myself.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you
saw at the theater?
OK. TV. I love epic history documentaries, like anything by Ken Burns. I am addicted to comedy programmes
like Home Improvement and Rodney. My absolute favourite cop drama is a British programme called “Life on
Mars” but I also like Cold Case and CSI.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Don’t rely on the Internet for your knowledge. Use books for research too. Books have been checked and
edited. Too many so-called factual websites are opinion not fact. Books rule, OK?
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
More “Nathan Fox”. I have planned a series of at least 6. Book 2 will be published in the UK this time next
year. And who knows what else I might come up with? I’m currently working on something completely
different.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
You’re very welcome.