Imposters #BlogTour – Interview with Scott Westerfeld

Imposters returns to the world of Westerfeld’s mega bestselling series, Uglies, where everyone has a compulsory operation when they turn sixteen, making them supermodel beautiful. Big eyes, full lips, no one fat or too skinny…

Scott Westerfeld is the author of twenty-two novels. He has have won the Philip K Dick Special Citation, the Aurealis Award, the Victorian Premier’s Award, and have been named NY Times Notable Books and BBYA Top Ten Children’s Books of the Year.

Scott was born in Texas, grew up on all three coasts of the US, and went to Vassar. He is married to writer Justine Larbalestier and they split their time between New York City and Sydney, Australia. @ScottWesterfeld

Interview with Scott Westerfeld

Why did you want to write Imposters and what do you hope readers take away from the story?
I wrote Impostors to grapple with what happens next. At the end of the Uglies series a revolution had happened, an authoritarian regime overthrown. But our own world shows that rebellion is just the beginning. An equal and just society doesn’t just come into being, it has to be fought for.

So I wanted to find out what happened in the Uglies world. Did they achieve that just world? Or did they wind up in a reality-show future with  bubbleheads in charge. (Like we did.) 

 

Do you have a fictional character you created that is very close to you?

Hunter in So Yesterday is the character most like me, which makes him kind of embarrassing. Dess in Midnighters is the funnest to write, because of her mathy brain. Tally and I have a much more complicated relationship—we fight a lot, despite the love. That’s why I’m pleased that Impostors introduces a new character, Frey, who’s struggling to find her own truth in a world where almost everything is false.

 

In 5 words, why should readers pick up Imposters:

Hidden identities! Hoverboards! High-speed chases!

 

How has your writing [approach] changed since your first published book?

I’m much more in control of my craft than I was. I take a lot fewer wrong turns in the writing process. Maybe that’s because I’ve gone from a seat-of-the-pants writer to someone with an outline in their head.

Alas, I’m also a lot slower than young me. You win some, you lose some.

 

Tell us something about yourself that not many people know:

I was a philosophy major at uni. It’s an underrated novelist major. You deal with big ideas, keep your thoughts organized, write a lot, and read a lot of dialogs.

 

And what’s the perfect cure for a bad day?

Writing. If I write a good scene, nothing else matters.

 

Tea or coffee?

Coffee! Made at home with one of these: https://www.thelittleguy.info/

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Finally, what is the question you wish people would ask and never do?
Hah, I’ve been interviewed so many times now I don’t think there’s a question I haven’t been asked. My fave so far:

“Is there any scene in your past books that you wish you could go back and change now?”

I think about it every day, and the answer always changes.

Frey and Rafi are inseparable . . . two edges of the same knife.

But Frey’s very existence is a secret. Frey is Rafi’s twin sister-and her body double. Their powerful father has many enemies, and the world has grown dangerous as the old order falls apart.

So while Rafi was raised to be the perfect daughter, Frey has been taught to kill. Her only purpose is to protect her sister, to sacrifice herself for Rafi if she must.

When her father sends Frey in Rafi’s place as collateral in a precarious deal, she becomes the perfect impostor-as poised and charming as her sister. But Col, the son of a rival leader, is getting close enough to spot the killer inside her.

As the deal starts to crumble, Frey must decide if she can trust him with the truth . . . and if she can risk becoming her own person.

 

Imposters is out today!