Malorie Blackman

Malorie Blackman

About Author

Malorie Blackman had a variety of jobs before she became a full time writer and spent many years working as a Database Manager for Reuters travelling extensively within Europe and the United States.

After 82 rejection letters, her first novel, Not So Stupid!, was a selected title for the 1991 Feminist Book Fortnight, and Malorie participated in the first BBC TV Black Women's Screenwriting Workshop in 1991. She has written a number of books for young readers including the Whizziwig series, which have been dramatised successfully for children's television.

Malorie's books for Transworld include Operation Gadgetman!, Hacker, Thief!, A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E., Dangerous Reality and Pig-Heart Boy. Hacker and Thief! both won the Young Telegraph/Fully Booked Award - Malorie is the only author to have won it twice! Hacker also won the W H Smith Mind Boggling Book Award in 1994.

Pig Heart Boy tackles the controversial use of genetically altered animal organs for human transplants. This she does with great feeling, skilfully exploring the complex emotions the issue arouses. The book received great praise from the critics and was shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal. The BBC adapted Pig-Heart Boy for children's television to great critical acclaim and it was awarded a BAFTA for Best Children's Drama.
Noughts & Crosses is her most ambitious novel to date. Aimed at teenagers, it is set in an alternate reality, where black and white are right and wrong. It is a stimulating and often provocative read in which two young people attempt to make a stand for their beliefs regardless of the horrifying cost to their own lives. It has received much praise and has won the 2002 Children's Book Award, the 2002 Sheffield Children's Book Award and the Lancashire Children's book Award. Most recently it was voted one the nation's 100 favourite books in the BBC Big Read survey. On request for a special novel for World Book Day in March 2003, Malorie wrote An Eye for an Eye, a sequel to the hugely popular Noughts & Crosses.

Knife Edge, the sequel to Noughts & Crosses has had huge critical acclaim. Described as 'a powerful story of race and prejudice' in The Sunday Times and 'devastatingly powerful' in The Guardian, is just as gripping, hard-hitting and uncompromising.

Cloud Busting, published in September 2004, tells the tale of Davey and Sam. Davey is the new boy at school and Sam takes an immediate dislike to him. But slowly Sam realises his enjoys Davey's company when they are alone until something terrible happens which changes their lives forever. The uneasy friendship they form is told in lyrical verse and this title is ultimately a celebration of friendship and individuality.

In July 2005, Malorie delivered the eagerly awaited and dramatic conclusion to the Noughts & Crosses trilogy: Checkmate. As Rose grows into a young adult, she unexpectedly discovers the truth about her parentage and becomes determined to find out more in order to honour both sides of her heritage.

In her spare time, Malorie likes going to the cinema, the theatre and watching TV, enjoys playing computer and board games, and reads absolutely everything...except Westerns.

She lives with her husband and daughter in South London along with a large collection of books, over 10,000 at the last count.

Interview

NOBLE CONFLICT

PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY

JUNE 2013


Malorie Blackman's latest novel, Noble Conflict, explores a future community that is protected by a force of elite 'peacekeepers', The Guardians. Their job is to maintain the region's hard-won stability which is constantly threatened by a group of external 'rebels'.

When teenager Kaspar joins the The Guardians, he fulfils a lifelong ambition and is determined to be the best Guardian he can be. But after he meets one of the rebels, he starts to question what it is that the Guardians are really protecting, and why, and begins to question everything he has ever been told.

Author Malorie Blackman tells us more.


Q: Why are writers and readers being drawn to future 'dystopian' worlds, like the world we find in Noble Conflict?

A: I'm drawn to this genre, both as a writer and a reader, because not only are scenarios and characters created but whole societies or even worlds can be created as well.

By creating a dystopian world, a writer can sometimes hold up a more polished mirror to the real world. Obviously all fiction requires imagination to create, but arguably dystopian fiction, as with fantasy and science fiction, perhaps take imagination to another level.


Q: Why did you decide to use a dystopia setting to explore society?

A: Sometimes the best way to look at something is to see it from an angle or through a prism. Sometimes looking straight on at something doesn't give you the complete picture.


Q: Was there, before you started writing this book, a significant event that for you typified what we need to change as a society?

A: A number of psychological studies have played in my head for a number of years, so I guess they had a definite impact on the story I ended up writing.

Studies such as the Milgram Experiment and the Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment shocked me profoundly when I first heard about them as a teenager. [Both experiments study how we respond to authority]. I found the Milgram Experiment in particular to be extremely interesting in terms of what it said about what each of us may be capable of when commanded by authority figures.

I believe each individual has the power to effect change for better or worse in society. I wanted to explore that within my book.


Q: How have you used history to develop this future world - for example, the idea of a young, elite specialist force driven by propaganda?

A: History is so important both national and world history. It's crucial for each of us to have a good grounding in the historical events which have lead to our country and the world being the way it is today.

So the idea of a story in which a young, elite force who believe they are acting for the good of their citizens but who have been 'misled' by propaganda very much appealed to me.

There are examples of this from all around the world. The easiest way for governments around the world to turn the spotlight away from themselves is to present to their people another portion of society, another country, another culture as the focus of attention, the so-called 'enemy'.


Q: The two societies you describe are differentiated by one's reliance on technology while the other has developed its sixth sense. Do you see technologies like the internet taking us away from our more instinctive abilities?

A: Maybe it's inevitable that technology refocuses our attention. For example, as a child and teenager, I kept at least a couple of dozen telephone numbers in my head. Now my friends and family are all on speed dial or in my Contacts list so I can remember only a handful of phone numbers at best.

I believe that children should be encouraged to spell correctly. Some argue that with the advent of spelling checkers this is no longer needed. As technology advances, old skills are inevitably replaced by new ones.

There is so much potential in the human mind that still lies untapped. I loved the idea of some people having a greater degree of empathy, so much so that they can share fears, feelings and maybe more from a distance. Some twin studies are already exploring this. I wanted to take the idea of a 'sixth sense', a deeper empathy, and explore that further. I wanted to create a world run by those who are afraid of the citizens whose thoughts they cannot monitor and thus control.

Maybe we'll find other ways to tap into our more instinctual natures. Let's hope that the way we do that is constructively.


Q: In this story you create weapons that can't actually kill. Did you enjoy the irony of creating 'humanist' soldiers?

A: Yes, I did! I loved the idea of the use of non-lethal weapons in Noble Conflict as a way of claiming the moral high ground, only to discover that the reason for using non-lethal weapons is actually more cruel than using weapons of destruction.


Q: The story could be set anywhere - do you have a setting in mind, perhaps the US?

A: In my head it was always set in Europe.


Q: Did you have the story plotted before you started writing it?

A: Yes, I always plot out my stories before I start but sometimes my characters lead me in surprising directions that I hadn't anticipated. Both Rhea [a rebel] and Kaspar headed off in directions I hadn't anticipated which made it more fun to write.

The last third of the book was tricky because I had to try and make sure that it remained credible and that the reader still believed the actions and motivations of the main characters. That was probably the part I spent most time on.


Q: What would you like readers to take away from Noble Conflict?

A: I'd like readers first and foremost to enjoy the story. It's not for me to say what they should take away from it. But if it makes readers just that little bit more questioning about what they are told by governments and also the media, then I'd be satisfied.


Q: Will you be revisiting these characters or the setting?

A: Watch this space!


Q: What are you writing now?

A: My next novel, a sequel to Boys Don't Cry called Don't Let Me Go (working title only!)


Q: How is it different being an author now from, say, a decade ago in terms of the demands on you?

A: I do less actual writing and more talking about writing now than I did ten years ago!


Q: How does your writing day go?

A: Breakfast, write, lunch, write, dinner, write. Bed. Not at all glamorous, I'm afraid.


Q: What are your top tips for teen writers?

A: Read! And write from the heart on subjects you care about.

 


BOYS DON'T CRY

PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY

NOVEMBER 2010

Malorie Blackman talks to ReadingZone about her new book, Boys Don't Cry:


"A major part of the reason I wrote this book is because I've not seen very much written about teenage pregnancy from the boy's point of view; the media tends to talk about it as if it's only a girl's problem.

Some teenage dads don't stick around because they are fearful, others want to but find it hard to cope; they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

What I have tried to do in Boys Don't Cry is to tell a story about teen dads and the issues that teens face and what they have to deal with.

This story puts the dads' case; they may be scared and not sure but they still step up and get on with it and, in this case, the teenage dad gets far more out of it than he'd expected. The situation is not lovely and glossy but I wanted to give a realistic portrayal of what might happen if you found yourself in that position.

It's a difficult subject to research because it's hard to chat to boys. I spoke to men who had had kids when they were teenagers, mainly about what they felt when they discovered their girlfriends were pregnant and how their families approached it. But it was hard to find guys who had gone through that experience and were then willing to share it.

Men find it much harder to express themselves in that way but having children does allow them to do that. Having children had changed the men I spoke to and opened them up emotionally, which I reflect in the book, but it was a hard one to convey.

When I first started writing the book, it featured a mum and two sons, but then I thought it would be interesting to have a very male house a father and two teenage sons, Dante and Adam.

The dad in the story loves his sons very, very much but never expressed it overtly. During the course of the novel this changes, mainly because of the introduction of Emma, Dante's baby, into their household.

The effect that Emma has on Dante is ultimately positive but he also had to realize that his life would change and to acknowledge this.

When I write contemporary books that are not thrillers, I plot the book much more loosely so I let the characters dictate where the story is going, and the influence that Emma has on all their lives evolved. She brought them all together. I wanted them to have to communicate and she was the pivot around that happening but it was a gradual process. Eventually, through his relationship with Emma, Dante realizes that his dad will always be there for them.

The character Adam also grew and developed as I wrote the story; he didnt have his own chapters to start with. When I started writing the book it was going to be just Dante's story, and what happens to Adam was going to be told from Dante's point of view, but as I wrote it I wanted to have Adam's voice helping to tell the story because Dante doesn't always see things too clearly.

I also like writing from two points of view, especially when they are very different voices; it changes the momentum, shakes it up and gives a story more texture.

Adam is gay and I created his character after seeing a number of 'gay bashing' incidents reported in the media. I wanted to explore the issue and how we relate to gay people and how they perceive themselves and how we perceive and relate to them.

Adam is attacked in the story and then suffers badly from depression. I had to do some research into depression and his injuries to relay it accurately, but the main point I wanted to make is that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

I wanted Adam to emerge as a stronger person, perhaps wiser, but not to lose his joie de vivre as a result of what had happened to him.

I am thinking about doing a second book where Melanie, the baby's mother, comes back for Emma. In my original story Melanie couldn't cope and was worried she was a danger to the baby, so she left Emma with Dante but comes back a couple of years later.

As I wrote the story, I decided to leave the ending more open because I wanted the story to be about how Emma's character was evolving and how she changed the dynamics of the family. The ending in the book seemed like a more natural place to stop; I was also way over my deadline!

I enjoy writing sequels because you know the characters and it's easy to adopt the mantel again and pick up where you left off; you can revisit the characters and be reintroduced to them. You get to explore the lives you already know in greater depth and I really like that.

The characters always surprise me; in my head these are real people. But I always have about three stories in my head and so when I sit down to write one, I always wonder if I should be doing the other one! I am in the lucky position where I can decide what I want to do. Also, I have to write what's in my head or I won't be enthusiastic about it, and being enthusiastic creates a better writing process.

I originally suggested the idea for Boys Don't Cry to my publisher, Random House Children's Books, about ten years ago it was one of the books I first signed up with them - but I let it go and got on with other things. I always had it on the back burner and I felt ready to do it now. It has been on my mind for some time, that teenage dads don't get a look in, and I felt what I'd like to do is a book from their point of view.

I love writing for teens so much and now the teen book market is very active I won't stop doing that, but I have not written a younger book for a while so I am thinking of that because I enjoyed writing Cloud Busting.

I still have to decide what I will write next and what form it will be in. I have one other project to finish and then Ill start on my next book.

I enjoy writing for teens because of the freedom it gives me. My daughter is also 15 and I have noticed how my books match up to her age. When shes left school and gone to university, I will be freewheeling

What I have tried to do in Boys Don't Cry is to give is a positive window into the teen world; the way teenagers are always demonized is really bad. There are many teenagers out there who want to do the right thing and who do step up, but they don't always get the credit they deserve."


November 2008

DOUBLE CROSS
(Corgi)

Malorie Blackman has returned to the world of Noughts & Crosses with a new story, Double Cross, concluding the series. Here, she talks to ReadingZone.com about why she wanted to write another book in the series..


Q: Noughts and Crosses was going to be a trilogy, so why did you decide to add a fourth book to the sequence?

A: I must admit, I did think that Checkmate would be the last book in the Noughts and Crosses series. But to my surprise, a couple of months after Id finished Checkmate, a minor character in that book called Tobey Durbridge started whispering in my ear. At the risk of sounding like Im barking, it really is like that when, as a writer, you get to know your characters very well. Its like theyre real people desperately trying to tell you their stories. So I had no choice but to listen. And thats how Double Cross was born. Plus a number of people wrote to me wanting to know what was going to happen after Checkmate. They didnt enjoy the way Id left a couple of threads lose and dangling at the end of that story. In Double Cross, every lose thread is tied up in a secure knot!

Q: Double Cross seems to be a story about consequences that you need to think about every action you take because your actions can change the person you become

A: Thats certainly part of it, but I wanted to take it further than that. I wanted it to be a tale of revenge and redemption. A story of how our actions inevitably change the type of person we are and is there such a thing as going back? In Double Cross, Tobey seeks revenge for what happens to Callie Rose but it changes him in ways he didnt anticipate. In seeking revenge, he begins to lose a sense of who he is, he grows more like those he despises. I found that dilemma really interesting to write.

Q: What makes writing about for young adult readers so interesting for you?

A: I remember my teenage years as being so defining as far as my own personality is concerned. I remember when I was fourteen a feeling that I was ready to remake myself, move away from what I was to the person I wanted to be. And I think, I hope I succeeded at least in part. Its our choices, our actions that we are judged by but Ive always found peoples motivations fascinating. That sense of getting to grips with what makes people tick. And our teen years are such a period of emotional, physical and spiritual upheaval which is hell to go through but interesting to write about.

Q: You tackle overt and casual racism in these books by turning racism on its head, putting the white people in minority. Why did you take that approach?

A: I would hope that the books in the Noughts and Crosses series tilt reality in a way that makes the reader re-examine it. Its like looking at a chair youve seen every day for years. After a while, you stop seeing it. But if the chair is presented at a new angle or turned upside down then you take a fresh look at it.

Q: Why did you decide to explore the world of poverty, drugs, gangs in Double Cross?

A: Because its an ever-present issue. And I hope Tobeys world doesnt come across as a world of no hope. Theres always hope, even when everything else is lost, I truly believe that. But I also believe its about how you see the world. Tobeys best friend, Dan sees his current existence as all hell ever get. He describes his wretched life as his proper place. Thats his perception.

Tobey has more ambition. He wants to do something more positive with his life, but then events take over and threaten to drag him down too. But the thing about Tobey is, he lets events drag him down at least for a while. Thats his tragedy.

I also wanted to explore the world of poverty, drugs and gangs because for some people that world is as remote as Pluto. But its a very real part of society. What may be a problem in one neighbourhood, or one part of the country, or a different part of the planet sooner or later becomes a problem for everyone if we refuse to acknowledge its existence and do something about it. History has taught us that time and time again.

Q: You cover self-perception in this story and people who see themselves as failures. Is that something you have ever experienced, and is it a particular issue for teenagers?

A: Ive certainly had negative people in my life whove expected me to fail, who thought I couldnt do any better. Its very hard to believe in yourself when others dont, but you have to trust yourself and go for it anyway. It took me years to learn that. The trouble is that if enough people tell you youre not worth much or youre only fit for certain jobs or a certain role in life, its very easy to start believing that.

I guess my story is partly an exploration of just how well any of us know ourselves. I often wonder what I would do if was a Jewish person living in Germany in the 1940s or as a black person in the Southern States of America in the 1950s and 1960s. Or a black person living in South Africa up until the 1980s. Its very easy to imagine how you might act, but when faced with the reality of a situation, thats when you truly begin to learn who you are, I think.

Q: Will there be other Noughts and Crosses books?

A: Ha! After Checkmate I said no more and here I am, another book later. Will there be another Noughts and Crosses book? Who knows? If another character starts whispering in my ear...

Q: What else are you writing?

A: Im writing a novel on a completely different theme and with a completely different tone at the moment but thats all Im saying! Im very superstitious when it comes to talking about the story Im currently working on. I dont like to discuss it until its finished. In fact its the only thing Im superstitious about.

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