Want to know whether your Queen of Teen prefers sweets to chocolates, shoes to handbags, and what makes her laugh or scream? How about her tips on writing books, or what she was like when she was your age? Click on each question to discover how the writers ‘fessed up in our exclusive Queen of Teen Q&As.
1. What makes you smile?
Reading back the Shiraz, Carrie and Uma stuff I’ve just written. Thank heavens I make myself laugh (!).
2. What makes you scream?
When my cats drag in decapitated birds and plonk them on my desk when I’m typing.
3. Describe your favourite outfit.
My Burberry Prorsum black wrap dress and black Louboutin heels.
4. What's your favourite girlie movie?
You’ve Got Mail, with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.
5. What's your favourite saying?
It’s fine. It’s all going to be fine. I say this a lot to convince myself.. which makes it true.
6. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
About an hour. Or if I’m in a hurry, 30 minutes. Lipstick, diamonds, nail varnish, iPod.. out the door.
7. What's your star sign?
Libra.
8. Bags or shoes?
Shoes. I like amazing shoes with very high heels.
9. Sweets or chocolate?
Chocolate. I’m not into sweets at all. I can eat Dairy Milk chocolate until I make myself bilious.
10. What were you like as a teenager?
Difficult, funny, sensitive, determined and ambitious.
11. How does writing teenage fiction differ from your work as a journalist?
Writing novels is definitely harder than being a journalist or doing television. I love being an author and I’m massively proud of it, but after every novel I
think “That’s it. No more!” because I’ve literally gone doolally living in an imaginary world for months.
12. Are Ronnie, Claudette or Fleur from LBD based on what you were like as a teenager?
Sort of. But then so are Shiraz, Carrie and Uma too. I think most of my fiction is semi-autobiographical. I could go through all of my novels with a red pen
and say "Yeah, this page sort of happened to me in 1988" or "This part isn’t true but it nearly happened to my friend." I’ve got a good memory for funny stuff.
13. How do you feel about being compared to other authors like Louise Rennison?
I don’t get compared to Louise much. I think our books are too different. I don’t really get compared to anyone.
14. What do you do to become inspired when you experience writer’s block?
I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I think sometimes you just need a rest. I treat my brain like a computer hard drive. I switch it off
for a bit when it won’t work. I either take a long nap or go shopping in London and try again tomorrow.
15. Were you ever a chav, and what inspired you to write about chavs?
People didn’t use the word chav when I was young, but if the word had been around I’m certain people might have called me it as I did my share of drinking in parks and
smoking on street corners.
I wanted to write a book about a very working class girl from a poor background as I don’t think there are funny books out there for normal everyday girls to identify with. Shiraz isn’t a bad person at all. She hasn’t got a bad bone in her. However, because she wears a hoodie and hoops and lives on a rough estate, everyone think they know exactly what she’s like. To be honest, the title Diary of a Chav is a bit of a tease really, as I wanted people to read it and question whether Shiraz is a chav and question what the silly word means in the first place.
I wanted to write a book about a very working class girl from a poor background as I don’t think there are funny books out there for normal everyday girls to identify with. Shiraz isn’t a bad person at all. She hasn’t got a bad bone in her. However, because she wears a hoodie and hoops and lives on a rough estate, everyone think they know exactly what she’s like. To be honest, the title Diary of a Chav is a bit of a tease really, as I wanted people to read it and question whether Shiraz is a chav and question what the silly word means in the first place.
16. Who is your favourite character from your work?
Uma Brunton Fletcher. She is a reformed teenage hoodlum who loves Shakespeare, smoking Embassy Reds and beating suckers at online poker. I love her.
Click here to read the best nominations for Grace Dent
