Featured Interview With Megan Tayte
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m Megan, I’m a writer and I’m an incurable romantic. I grew up in the Royal County, a hop, skip and a (very long) jump from Windsor Castle, but these days I make my home in Robin Hood’s county, Nottingham. I live with my husband, a proud Scot who occasionally kicks back in a kilt; my son, a budding artist with the soul of a paleontologist; and my baby daughter, a keen pan-and-spoon drummer who sings in her sleep. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me walking someplace green, reading by the fire, or creating carnage in the kitchen as I pursue my impossible dream: of baking something edible.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve been writing for as long as I could write. In my ‘treasures’ shoebox I have my very first story, written aged six. Reading it now, I assume my school was offering a Most Adjectives Crammed Onto a Page Prize – I can’t fathom why else I felt the need to be quite so descriptive. From there, I wrote many stories through my childhood and teens, but I didn’t quite get the courage together to write a book until adulthood. I’d written a lot of non-fiction books before I took a stab at fiction, and then I was hooked. When I write fiction, I feel like that six-year-old again, totally enchanted by writing. I think that’s the crux of why I write – it’s the most ‘me’ I can get; it’s what I always knew I wanted to do. So it takes me to a really happy, calm, fulfilled place.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
On my ‘favourites’ shelf are plenty of classics. I specialised in African-American history and literature as part of my degree, and Maya Angelou and Alice Walker in particular have always been firm favourites. My copy of Oliver Twist is yellowed and well-thumbed, as are Wuthering Heights and The Phantom of the Opera. I read plenty of women’s fiction, a fair amount of crime and thriller fiction, some literary fiction and the odd humour title. But of course it’s YA that dominates my shelf: Stephenie Meyer, Cassandra Clare, Maggie Stiefvater, Rachel Vincent, Richelle Mead, Veronica Roth, Lauren Oliver, Becca Fitzpatrick, Jenny Downham, John Green, Lauren Kate, Suzanne Collins. I also have a soft spot for Harry Potter, which was the catalyst for my love of epic series fiction and is now my son’s passion.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Ceruleans series began life as four discrete ideas that I planned to make into four discrete books. Then one day as I was walking (something I do when I’m looking for inspiration) the ideas knitted together, and from there the overall story arc of the series took form.
There are many inspirations for the books. The story is quite personal to me, based on a mix of experience and fiction woven from my imaginings and ponderings. The setting – in a part of coastal Devon where I spent every summer as a child – was a key inspiration. But the story, about love and loss, light and darkness, good and bad, is based on my own efforts to make sense of a world in which people close to you can die; in which being true to yourself can be incredibly difficult; and in which love – for people, for places, for a way of being, for a passion and an ethos – is the only reason to hold on.
Here’s an introduction to Death Wish, the first book in the series:
IN SEARCH OF THE MEANING OF DEATH, SHE’LL FIND THE MEANING OF LIFE.
Seventeen-year-old Scarlett Blake is haunted by death. Her estranged sister has made the ultimate dramatic exit. Running away from school, joining a surfing fraternity, partying hard: that sounds like Sienna. But suicide? It makes no sense.
Following in her sister’s footsteps, Scarlett comes to the isolated cove of Twycombe, Devon, with grand plans to uncover the truth. Alone. But she hasn’t reckoned on meeting two boys who are determined to help her. Luke: the blue-eyed surfer who’ll see the real Scarlett, who’ll challenge her, who’ll save her. And Jude: the elusive drifter with a knack for turning up whenever Scarlett’s in need.
As Scarlett’s quest for the truth unravels, so too does her grip on reality as she’s always known it. Because there’s something strange going on in this little cove. A dead magpie circles the skies. A dead deer watches from the undergrowth. Hands glow with light. Warmth. Power.
What transpires is a summer of discovery. Of what it means to conquer fear. To fall in love. To choose life. To choose death.
To believe the impossible.
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