Purchase The Big Event from Amazon UK
Purchase The Weekend Spa Break from Amazon UK
Today I’m thrilled to have the lovely Anne John-Ligali, author of The Friendships Online short story Series (see review of The Big Event here and The Weekend Spa Break here)
First off congrats on a really enjoyable series, perfect for chilling out and unwinding!
Can you tell us a little bit about the series?
My short story series is about friendships, human behaviour, social media, and how social media plays a big part in our daily lives whether you are into it or not. I thought about how I was going to present this idea so I pinched a little bit from my own life and created a group of friends. These bunch of friends have known each other virtually for a good number of years. Then for one night they finally get to meet up in the real world at this huge glamorous Christmas party called The Big Event at The Dorchester Hotel.
You’ve a nice range of characters there, can I ask which came first, the characters or their actions?
Definitely their actions came first. I enjoyed having each character act out their flaw, or quirk, and to have these flaws contradict what Constance had read about them online. I thought hard about what I wanted each character to say or to represent, which is why their flaws differ. Karmel fails to embrace growing old, Jagger boasts about how great he is at dancing, Henry wants to appear that he’s over his drinking problem, Stan constantly seeks validation in any way possible and overshares on line, Constance is far too assuming and Estelle is trying to cope with a child that has additional needs.
Have you always wanted to write chick lit?
There was a time I used to write songs. I come from a musical background and began playing piano by ear at the age of five. When I got older, I played on and off and took up songwriting. I seriously thought I was going to nail it with my music back then, but later realised it’s a near-impossible industry to crack even as a songwriter. I had put fiction on the back burner to focus on music and invested a lot of time and money. But after a good seven or eight years later, with a tons of demos on CD’s gathering dust, I decided to shift my goal posts and began writing stories. When I first started writing stories I was a bit of a butterfly, I would try everything, even poetry, although I wasn’t good at it. But my love for chick lit came much later after reading one of Sophie Kinsella’s books that had me laughing all the way to the end. I realised it was a lovely genre and I kept on reading and discovered new authors along. Eventually I found myself wanting to write it too.
I’m so interested in your mix of future projects in your bio, can you tell us about them?
Yes, I have a full-length novel that I have been working on and off. Got the idea in 2014 and have had small parts of it workshopped in writing groups. There’s still a
bit to go but it’s more than half way there. Also, my seven year old daughter loves reading and writing. We’ve done lots of brainstorming on projects and she’s come up with lovely titles and ideas for children’s stories. Whenever she gets an idea, I quickly get out my Dictaphone and leave it to run. (for ages) lol.
That’s brilliant! By the way I’ve been over to Books and Authors UK and adore the mix of books you review there, can you tell us a little bit about it?
Like most bloggers it started with my love for books and wanting to share what I had read with readers. I started my blog in 2013 and back then it has always been a platform to support a good mix of indie and traditional authors. When I started blogging, I noticed most blogs back then only supported traditionally published authors. So I thought by adding this edge to my blog (which was definitely an edge back then) would make it different from the others. But now, with the rise of indie authors, you’d find most bloggers are keen to support self-published books, which is a great thing. There are so many good indie books out there. The mix of books on my blog range from children’s to non-fiction, true crime, time slips and urban thrillers. And of course, romantic comedy.
Lastly, If you had to pick three favourite books what would you pick (they don’t have to be chick lit by the way!!!)?
I would love to pick The Girl From Nowhere by Dorothy Koomson for its drama, twists, turns and compelling characters. The Paris Time Capsule by Ella Carey; I adore time slip and reading about Paris during the Belle Epoque era was not only stunning, but her writing took to there. My third book would be The Other Us by Fiona Harper, another time slip but with a modern twist. A very cleverly written book that answers that universal question, ‘what if?’ (Ooh, I wish I could pick a fourth.)
Definitely going to go look out ‘The Other Us,’ sounds brilliant! Thanks so much for coming over, Anne, I look forward to reading more from you in the future 🙂
Thank you so much Bernadette for having me, and for supporting me on blog tours. Much appreciated!
(Beyond a pleasure, Anne!)
About the author
Anne John-Ligali is a writer and the founder of Books and Authors UK, a popular website featuring author interviews and book reviews. She loves all things books: reading, writing, going to book events, and meeting other book lovers. She has written a series of short stories and is currently writing her first novel.
Anne has always loved stories and read many books as a child, including the entire Sweet Valley High and Caitlyn series. Her interest in writing fiction came years later, when she began writing for pleasure in 2007.
Originally from Peterborough, Anne now lives in London. After moving to London, she studied graphic design at the University of Arts and has held a number IT administration jobs in the city. Anne continues writing and aspires to write more women’s fiction books, a non-fiction book and several children’s books.
Author blog: http://annejohnligali.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/booksnauthorsuk/
Books and Authors UK: www.booksandauthors.co.uk
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