Della Says: OMG! - Keris Stainton

(Note to reader: I’ve a copy of ‘Della Says: OMG!’ to give away and all details can be found at the end of this post)

When scans of embarrassing pages are sent to her mobile and appear on Facebook, Della’s distraught – how can she enjoy her first proper romance when someone, somewhere, knows all her deepest, darkest secrets?”

I was lucky to read ‘Della Says: OMG!’ when a single copy was out on tour and the story has stayed with me since. I kept a diary in my teens and I can appreciate just how devastating it would be to have pages of it splashed across social media (cringe!). And it is this clever idea that drives the pace of the narrative and is what makes it utterly current and creative.

‘Della Says: OMG!’ is an impressive debut, one that is both contemporary and original. The concept and the deliver are both exciting. Della is a likeable character. She’s smart, funny and sharp. This is a story that young teenage girls will enjoy.

‘Della Says: OMG!’ is a sparky, a vibrant debut.

Asking Keris:

What inspired you to write ‘Della Says: OMG!’? Where did you find that first seed of a story? The seed is true! When I was a teenager, my sister had a party when our parents were away (she was supposed to be staying with a friend), and the next day I realised my diary was missing. Thankfully, I found it (tucked under my mattress with something unpleasant scrawled across one of the pages), but the fear that someone else was reading it has always stayed with me. And that was in the olden times when there was no mobiles or social media. Imagine what someone could do with a secret diary now…

Has your journey to being published been a smooth or a bumpy ride? Smooth, but long. It took about four years from signing with my agent to the book being on the shelves. But I can’t complain; it’s all been lovely.

Can you offer any tips for people wanting to be published? Join a writing group. It doesn’t need to be a scary real world one (*shudders*). I founded an online group and it was the best thing I ever did. Not just for feedback, but for support and cheerleading too. Write a really good query letter. When I first sent a book out to an agent, I basically wrote “Please find enclosed three chapters of my book. Yours sincerely…” and heard nothing back. Then I read some American query letters (on another writers’ forum) in which the authors were really selling the book and themselves. Once I started sending out that kind of query, I had much better feedback. The American agent Kate Schafer Testerman regularly blogs query critiques and they’re well worth reading.

Who do you feel would be your ideal reader? Me, aged 14, probably. I love books when you start reading and immediately identify with the character. I love reading and thinking “I thought that was just me!” And I’m 38. It would have been such a comfort when I was 14 to know I wasn’t the only girl who thought if a boy asked her out he was doing it for a bet.

What do you plan to write next? The book that will be out next year, I hope. I’ve written some of it already. It’s set in New York and it’s about a British girl who goes over there for the summer. And who may or may not meet a very gorgeous American boy.

And who would be the one person you’d most love to hear read (and adored) ‘Della Says: OMG!’? She already has - Meg Cabot. She’s my favourite YA author and she read it, loved it, and gave me a quote for the cover. I still can’t quite believe it actually.

And, finally, (with the skilful smoothness of the finest of interviewers) do you in any way know Simon Cowell? I’m afraid not. But I did used to work in the music industry so I may know people who know him. They’ve never mentioned it though.

You can buy ‘Della Says: OMG!’ by Keris Stainton here.

And Keris has agreed that I can give away a copy of ‘Della Says: OMG!’. All you have to do is leave a ‘please pick me’ comment by 3pm (GMT) April 24, then I’ll pop all names in a mug and ask a small child to select a winner. This competition is open to all.

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About Keris: Keris Stainton was born in Canada, and brought up on the Wirral.

As a freelance journalist, Keris has written for publications as diverse as Practical Parenting, Scarlet and The Daily Express, and edited the women’s book site, Trashionista, for two years.

In 2005 she gave up her job as an administrator in Corporate Recovery and Personal Insolvency (which is exactly as exciting as it sounds) to write full time.