*****Interview with Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Q:
In the description for FOUND, you write that the Penny Black trilogy is a companion to the Zellie Wells trilogy (Glimpse, Glimmer, Glow) and not a
continuation of that series. Can you tell us why you decided to write another
trilogy instead of Zellie Wells #4?
A:
I ran out of “G” titles that were appealing. Gastroenteritis? Gangrene?
Gluten-free? Ha. You know, I did consider writing a Zellie #4. I have all sorts of starts…that I won’t
rule out as good material for bonus short stories. They’re all episodic and not
enough to base an entire novel on.
I
felt like I’d got Zellie through the worst of it. She’d gotten the guy and he
was safe. Her relationship with her parents was moving in the right direction. Melody
came into her own and wasn’t just her annoying little sister. Ben and
Christopher were on their path to open the Society School. Zellie’s gifts had
gone from being a burden to a blessing. She’d owned it.
And,
I’m not going to lie, I wanted a fresh love story, a new location, and a more
evil villain.
Q:
Several characters from the ZWT make an appearance in FOUND, though?
A:
Yes! The main characters in FOUND are Penny Black (basically the new Zellie)
and Wyatt Adams (Zellie and Avery’s baby brother in the ZWT). The kids from the
Zellie books are now the adults and the supporting characters in the Penny
books. I had the best time writing about them as adults! Ben is still hot and a
gigantic pain in the ass.
Q:
FOUND is set eighteen years in the future. Was that challenging?
A:
It was challenging in that I’m kind of a techno-phobe. I just started texting
last fall. Seriously, it was too much for me. That’s why Zellie didn’t have a
cell phone. J
So,
here I go and create a world where cars have autodrive and everyone walks
around with micro computers strapped to their heads. It was especially
interesting for me to write Phoebe. She’s the youngest of the group at 16 and
therefore, the most savvy with tech. But, at the end of the day, I’m a writer.
I looked at what was possible now and expanded on that. Hopefully, it comes off
as plausible.
Q:
You’ve also included some new slang in FOUND. How did that come about?
A:
I wanted this new group of kids to have their own slang. Cool and OMG were done
to death in the Zellie books (and the adults continue to say those things) so I
looked to use words that meant the same thing, but were new. I looked to
Spanish. It made sense to me that eighteen years in the future, people in the
U.S. would speak spanglish even more than they do today.
Q:
If you consider Penny to be the new Zellie, how are they alike and how are they
different?
A:
Penny’s life has been infinitely harder, obviously. She’s been abused and
bounced around from foster home to foster home until she ran away to live on
the streets. Penny’s more closed off, more skeptical, more afraid. But, she’s
as funny as Zellie, as self-deprecating. Penny has no more of a chance against
the draw of an Adams man than Zellie or Zellie’s mom, Grace, did.
Penny’s
powers are not the same as Zellie’s, but they go through the same type of
discovery. This is one aspect where Penny didn’t have to go it alone, while
Zellie did. Penny has a whole school and group of peers to guide her.
Writing
the scenes between Zellie and Penny was the best. I was really proud of Zel and
the advice she gave.
Q:
What’s next?
A:
I’m in the plotting stage for FRAYED, the next Penny book, while I finish up
working on CROSSING, my first Contemporary NA Romance that should be out within
the next month or so. Definitely by summer!
*****Giveaway to be posted on each blog (using
Rafflecopter or whatever method you prefer)
One winner from each blog will receive a signed Zellie
Wells trilogy e-card. The e-card is the size of a credit card and has a scratch
off code on the back. You visit Greenersidedigital.com, input the code, and can
download the entire Zellie Wells trilogy in whatever e-book format you prefer.
