Q & A with author Adele Griffin

Today I have something special for readers - an interview with Adele Griffin, author of the young adult novel, "Tighter" (which you can read a review of in the link below.) Welcome Adele and thanks for stopping by!

1. What made you decide to write a "retelling" of "The Turn of the Screw?"

ADELE: When I was in high school, I had to read it for English. I liked it but I didn't get it. The paperback followed me to a dozen different apartments, and one day I pulled it out and thought-- maybe I'll try again. And I loved it, and I saw the YA potential, maybe because it's all so passionate and raw and weird.

2. What made you decide to write young adult books?

ADELE: I'll run back to the word raw. There is a lot of fresh processing and imprinting in a young voice, and in YA. It's an energetic, stimulating genre.

3. What advice would you give aspiring young writers?

ADELE: To go deep. There's a lot of distraction at a person's desk today. But I don't think you can solve first draft problems by paddling around in them. I'm all for the time sink, the hard mile over a natural "talent."

4. "Tighter" is a ghost story. Do you believe in the paranormal? Why or why not?

ADELE: If I were a cynic about ghosts, I think it would be tough to write a ghost story. I like to keep my mind open and believe in possibility. When people tell me their personal ghostly encounters, I am completely riveted. It's so intimate, and yet they're asking you to leap with them into this entirely strange realm.

5. Who or what inspires you when you get a case of writer's block?

ADELE: I love that famous Beckett quote: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."