INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY – PERDITA & HONOR CARGILL authors of Waiting for Callback

Posted January 21, 2016 by Emma in Blog / 22 Comments

Hi Everyone, I have a special post from the lovely ladies, Perdita and Honor Cargill debut authors of the fabulous book, Waiting for Callback. Last week I posted my review and gave it 5 glorious stars. I would really recommend this book if you love Holly Smale Jen McLachlan!!! They very kindly allowed me interview them and here they are… But first here is a little more about the book…

Waiting for Callback
by Perdita & Honor Cargill
Publisher – Simon & Schuster
Release Date – January 28th 2016
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository

Geek Girl meets Fame meets New Girl in this brilliantly funny new series!

When Elektra is discovered by an acting agent, she imagines Oscar glory can’t be far away, but instead lurches from one cringe-worthy moment to the next! Just how many times can you be rejected for the part of ‘Dead Girl Number Three’ without losing hope? And who knew that actors were actually supposed to be multi-lingual, play seven instruments and be trained in a variety of circus skills?

Off-stage things aren’t going well either – she’s fallen out with her best friend, remains firmly in the friend-zone with her crush and her parents are driving her crazy. One way or another, Elektra’s life is now spent waiting for the phone to ring – waiting for callback.

Can an average girl-next-door like Elektra really make it in the world of luvvies and starlets?

As debut authors what
is your reaction to having your Waiting for Callback releasing in a
couple of weeks time to the world and what would you like to say to those
who’ve read it or are going to? (after this reading this post, ha.)
What we’d really like to say to readers (it’s still slightly
unreal thinking about having readers!) is that we had so much fun writing this
book that we really hope you’ll have fun reading it.  We want readers to smile and laugh and (even
if they’re not drama geeks like Elektra) have those lovely moments of
recognition when you see yourself in a book. 
Curl up and read it and when you’ve finished pass it on to your own best
friend because best friends are very important.
I loved that you wrote
a book based on the realistic approaches to acting and how it’s not as easy as
people think to get into such a career path, what made you write a novel like Waiting
for Callback?
The seed of the idea to write about the world of the professional
drama kid was Hon’s experience of that world. 
She had an agent and went out to auditions and very occasionally got
some small part and funny things happened that made us imagine other funny
things happening that would make a fun book. 
Also we knew from first hand that it wasn’t as glamorous as it sounds
and that there was a lot of rejection that teenagers would recognize and
respond to.  We wanted to write about a very
real character even if she’s doing something that is a bit out of the ordinary.
You two wrote seamlessly together
when I read your book, what is it like as a mother a daughter to write
together? And what was your writing together? Did it go to plan or were there
challenges along the way?
Ha,
the writing only looks seamless because we both scribble over each other’s
drafts endlessly and score out and rewrite until it all starts to smooth
out.  And we know Elektra’s voice very
well now and because we are only writing from one point of view that makes it
easier. And let’s not forget that we were professionally edited – a lot of
‘seams’ get ironed out during that phase.

We
write together very easily – possibly in large part because we sit at computers
at opposite ends of the house! The biggest challenge was just mastering the amount
of work because Hon had school work & exams and because of the way we work
I couldn’t just get on with it without her being around. On the other hand
having the book to disappear into was sometimes a nice break from studying for
her and it deflected attention away from all the real life stuff that otherwise
I’d have been nagging her about!  It
wasn’t easy but we had so much fun and laughed so much doing it that we never
contemplated stopping.   And now we’re
happily collaborating on book two…
Elektra is an awesome name by the
way, how much of each of you is written in her?
A family friend has a (lovely) daughter called Elektra and we
always really liked the name.  That was our
main character’s name from day one.  Hon
and I both have a dry, sarcastic sense of humour and there’s lots of that in Elektra.  Hon shares a few other things with her most
notably that she loses her phone ALL THE Time!
Favourite scene of Waiting
For Callback?
Such a tricky question! P: I have a soft spot for the
Squirrelina voiceover scene (Hon wrote the first draft at scary speed on
holiday) but it feels weird singling out a scene (we wouldn’t want to upset the
others!). Hopefully we’ve built a world where they are all better for being
alongside each other.
As writers who is your
inspiration?
All the generous writers out there who have welcomed us, helped
us and shown us the way (Emma Carroll, Jenny McLachlan, Abi Elphinstone and
Keris Stainton to name just a few). 
We’re watching and learning!

Quick Fire
Favourite film
P: the old ones.  Maybe His Girl Friday?
H: Don’t judge me but I adore Mean Girls.
Favourite actor or actress?
P: Gregory Peck? Cary Grant? I know, there’s a pattern here…
H: On stage Rory Kinnear (brilliant Hamlet) or Janet McTeer. On
screen you can never go wrong with the great Jennifer Lawrence …
Waiting For
Callback in 5 words?
Trying,
failing, humiliation, laughing, repeat!
Thank you so much ladies for taking time to stop by my blog. 

Perdita: I used to be the least numerate tax barrister ever to practise at the English bar but now I’m writing at last and it’s the best ‘job’ in the world – not least because I’m writing funny teen books with my daughter.

Honor: I’m 17, I’m in my last year at school doing A levels and yes, weirdly, I’m co-writing funny teen books with my mum and having so much fun with it. I used to do a bit of acting (mostly school but a tiny bit professional) and although Elektra, our main character, is nothing like me, I suppose that’s where the germ of the idea for Waiting for Callback came from. 

It is an UK ONLY (Sorry INT!)
It will end at the 31st January!!!
Once it finishes I will select a winner and email you. Then I will pass your details directly to the publisher so you can receive this prize. I am not responsible for any losses of books once I’ve passed the information forward.
Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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22 responses to “INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY – PERDITA & HONOR CARGILL authors of Waiting for Callback”

  3. Ramona

    An interesting concept, a mother-daughter duo. Interesting and quite daunting 🙂 I couldn't imagine doing it with my mother! 🙂 Great interview.

  8. Cilla P

    This sounds like a really fun book! What a cool duo – I can't imagine having to write a book with my mum but it sounds like this has worked splendidly for the authors 😀 Great interview!