Interview : Natalie Corbett Sampson

Please welcome Natalie to Books for Company.

Natalie is a Young Adult writer and currently has two books, Game Plan and Nine. 

Describe Game Plan with one word beginning with E?
After googling ‘adjectives starting with ‘e’’ the one I like best is ‘existent’, which (according to the document I found) means ‘real’. Above many other goals, I wanted to make Game Plan real to readers. I could throw in ‘emotional’ and ‘endearing’ and ‘edentulous’. No, not edentulous, that has something to do with teeth and the lack of.

Tell us about your main characters Ella and Katherine?
Ah. In a somewhat narcissistic way, both Ella and Kat are like me… I struggled to make sure they were different enough to be believable as two different characters. Ella is a typical teen. She loves her friends and her sport and wants to be accepted and successful. She is insecure but hides it well. She is also stronger than she realizes. Katherine has more life experience; she has longer termed goals and a broader focus. She is analytical to a fault, she is cautious and scared but brave enough to take a chance.

What's your favorite thing about writing a book?
It has become therapy for me. When I don’t get my writing time in, I’m all out of sorts, crankier, even, than usual. I hate coming up with an idea, but once an idea claims me I LOVE the process of seeing the whole picture, zooming in to the details, from a gesture or a visual hint to a word, the difference between a ‘grin’ or ‘smile’ that makes the scene real. I love my imaginary friends and I celebrate their successes, mourn their losses. It’s such a gift to be able to experience that.

What three things do you always need when writing?
Silence. M&Ms and my cat nearby. Though one cat likes to jump in and out of my lap all day and that gets tiresome. Beside me on the bed or rug is good enough.

Any inspirations for Game Plan? Experience, Other Books etc.
Game Plan is largely autobiographical in many ways… I was not a pregnant teen nor a basketball star, though I tried really hard to be the latter. But Ella’s insecurities are mine – then and even now, to some extent. While I’m blessed to have been able to have three children the old fashioned way, I am also an adoptive mom and most of the frustrations Katherine faces are from my own experiences.

How would you like readers to describe Game Plan?
As I said, I hope people find Game Plan to be real, to be relatable. I hope they laugh a little, and maybe cry a little, if they’re not on a bus somewhere where they’ll be embarrassed by that. I hope they hand it to a friend and say ‘you gotta read this!’

Find Natalie 

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