Q&A with Maz Evans

Vi Spy is back for a second adventure and we recently had the chance to ask Maz Evans some questions about this series!

The characters in Vi Spy are unique, funny and offer so much scope for accents.  When you are writing, can you picture their accents and style of speech?  How do you picture them all speaking?

Well thank you so much! The accents of my characters are dictated by something very specific in fact – whether or not I can do them! As I narrate the audiobooks, I have to be able to voice the characters! So sadly, there will never be anyone from Newcastle in my books until someone else narrates them… But I come from a scriptwriting background, so dialogue is super important to me. I often speak the dialogue out loud when I’m writing, which can draw some peculiar looks when I’m not in the privacy of my home!

Siren is perhaps the best villain out there….where did the inspiration for Siren come from?  

Ha! Siren is one of my very favourite characters I have ever written! She came to me in one of those glorious – and very rare – eureka moments. I was working out the characters in EVIL (the Ex-Villains’ Improvement League), a support group for supervillains who want to go straight. I noticed that all the characters I was coming up with were male – and then when I thought about it, there were very few female villains out there, and they were often the same kind of woman. So Siren was immediately born and I’ve loved writing every word that has dropped huskily from her lips…

What’s next for Vi Spy and gang?

Well now – in NEVER SAY WHATEVER AGAIN – Vi is living the dream at Rimmington Hall, the spy school she was so desperate to attend. But it’s not going as well as she’d hoped. While her stepbrother, Russell Sprout, is excelling, she’s struggling to make the grade – although Russell has problems of his own when his mum decides she wants to be in his life again. Umbra is still on the loose and Vi and family are determined to find out who they are – before the world is put in terrible danger again…

How much writing do you do each day?  Do you have a special writing space?

Over the years I’ve developed a process that works for me, which now involves me totally clearing the diary for a few weeks every few months and setting myself a 5,000 per day word count for 10 days to write my novels. I’m a big, big planner, so by the time I sit down, the book is pretty well-formed in my mind – although it still takes me by surprise. I have just bought my first house, so have my first office, which is a real privilege – but I’ll write anywhere I have time.

How do you balance the fun, puns and jokes with the more serious issues presented in your books?

I’m often asked this question and I’m afraid I still don’t have an answer! For me, however daft they are, I want my books to be true to life – and life is never all funny or all sad, it’s a bit of both. I never want to preach to people, but I do want to make them think. And I really want to entertain them. At the end of the day, whether you make people laugh or cry, you are trying to elicit an emotion from them – that’s really what writing is all about.

What do you hope readers will take from reading Vi Spy?

As with all my books, I hope that adults will raise a few knowing smiles and kids will see something of their lives represented. The series is really about the realities of living in a blended family, which I know is something many children and their parents will understand. I am part of one myself and while they come with their challenges, they can also be a wonderful blending of humans who wouldn’t come together otherwise. That’s something to be celebrated, I feel – I think literature has portrayed the negatives of stepfamilies for too long. I also just want my readers to have a good time. That’s the point of me.

If you could be a hero or a villain, which would you be and what might your name be?

You asked me where my inspiration from Siren came from? Enough said…

Vi Spy: License to Chill and Vi Spy: Never Say Whatever Again are both written by Maz Evans, with illustrations by Jez Tuya, Published by Chicken House Books. Both are available now!

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