UNCOVERED INTERVIEWS: Elle Field on the 'B-Side' blog tour!

Today, Elle Field joins us for our Q&A as part of the B-Side blog tour. B-Side is Elle's latest novel - a spin-off to her previous Arielle Lockley novel, Lost.

So, what have you been up to since we last spoke to you?
I’ve gone from writing the last book in the Arielle Lockley series to writing that *and* a spin-off book – 2016 has been super busy. Oh, and I’ve also moved house, and been to Disneyland!

Can you tell us more about your latest book, B-Side?
B-Side is the spin-off to Lost and tells the events of Lost from the perspective of Etta, Felicity’s goddaughter. Etta has an amazing voice and a real passion for jazz, but she hasn’t made her musical dream come true – she’s like Arielle in that respect.

When Etta finally starts to get somewhere with her music career, it coincides with Felicity’s health deteriorating rapidly, and this has Etta trying to block everything out in a very unhealthy way… B-Side is definitely grittier than the previous two books in the series!

What inspired you to write this novel?
When I started writing Found, which I thought would be the next book in the Arielle Lockley series, a character kept whispering in my ear... so, I ignored Arielle’s voice and started writing Etta’s story! Originally my plan was to have Etta’s voice tell Part I in Found, with Arielle finishing the book off; when I reached the editing stage, I knew they both deserved their own books.

Arielle really vilifies Etta in Lost, but because the story is told in first-person, can we really trust Arielle? I had to share Etta’s side of the story though she, of course, can be an unreliable narrator – just like Arielle! I also wanted to share more of Felicity’s background, and Etta is the perfect character to give us those glimpses of Felicity’s past.

What are you reading at the moment?
I’ve recently read The Queen’s Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler, which I absolutely loved and can highly recommend. It’s a new fantasy trilogy and the story is superb. I’ve also read the last two Shopaholic books – it was like visiting an old friend catching up with Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood).

Are there any authors who have inspired you?
I’m a massive fan of Sophie Kinsella, Adele Parks, Dorothy Koomson and Maggie Alderson, who are all brilliant authors, and very inspiring.

What kind of research did you do for your latest book?
Whilst I enjoy music, I’ve never had much exposure to jazz music – Etta’s passion is jazz, so my research involved a crash course in how jazz developed as a music genre from its New Orleans origins to the jazz music we listen to today. I spent a lot of time listening to jazz, too.

I also learnt about the production side of the music industry, though I knew a bit about that from my first ever book, Torn, which has never been published. In Torn the main character, Lottie, works in A&R, and she pops up in B-Side… Maybe one day I’ll revisit that book!

What did you enjoy most about writing B-Side?
Writing a completely different character to Arielle. Etta is sweary, colourful and passionate with a not-so-legal recreational habit(!), but she’s also vulnerable and fragile. She was great fun to write.

What are you working on next? (If you can tell us of course!)
I’m currently editing Found, the final book in the Arielle Lockley series, which will be out this summer.

B-Side (Arielle Lockley Series Book 2.5):

"What do I honestly know about the music industry? I'm just another idiot with a dream who is naive enough to hope that I might be the next big star."

Etta Millhouse has always had big musical ambitions to match her big voice, but she's also got three very big problems - the addiction she won't admit to, her godmother's illness that she can no longer ignore, and her godmother's useless business partner (who she wishes she could ignore).

Keeping an eye on Arielle's poor business decisions is the last thing Etta wants to do when she's offered the chance to record a demo with a top producer. But, a promise is a promise, even if it has her reaching for another pick-me-up... And then another. And then one more.

When the secret she must keep for her godmother, Felicity, sends her drug habit spiralling out of control, can Etta battle her demons in time and make her dream happen? Or, will her music career be over before it's even begun?

B-Side sits between Lost (out now) and Found (out summer 2016) in the Arielle Lockley series - read Etta's version of events in this gritty Lost spin-off.

Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01E8YYFFY
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E8YYFFY
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29542411-b-side

About Elle Field

Elle Field writes romantic comedies, and is the author of the Arielle Lockley series and Geli Voyante's Hot or Not. She grew up in Yorkshire, then moved to Scotland to study International Relations and Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews. Elle now lives in London with her boyfriend and their cat. She's a massive fan of sunshine, giraffes, The Killers, Audrey Hepburn movies, playing Scrabble and tea. Oh, and reading, of course!

You can buy Elle's books here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00CHIC1GE
Visit her website: http://www.ellefield.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ellefie
Like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellefieldauthor

Giveaway!

Elle Field is running a giveaway to celebrate the release of B-Side! Prizes are Amazon vouchers, a paperback set of the Arielle Lockley series (Kept, Lost and B-Side) and a set of vinyl coasters. To be in with a chance of winning, simply enter below:

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BLOG TOUR: Interview with Elle Field, author of Lost

Last year we spoke to the lovely Elle Field about her novels Kept and Geli Voyante's Hot or Not. And yesterday saw the release of Elle's latest book, Lost. Lost is the sequel to Kept, focusing on Arielle Lockley (and there'll be a third book in the series released later this year!) Elle has stopped by on her Lost blog tour to answer our weekly questions...

So, what have you been up to since we last spoke to you?
Working hard on getting Lost finished, the second book in the Arielle Lockley series. I've also transitioned from being an author with a day job who writes when she can, to an author who spends half the year working in a day job and half the year writing books. I'm thrilled to have more time to write.

Can you tell us more about your latest book, Lost?
Of course! Lost begins two months after the end of Kept, and Arielle is busy planning her shop launch in London, as well as her wedding to Piers. With a new-found foe interfering with her business decisions, not to mention haughty wedding planners and loved ones facing personal struggles, Arielle needs to figure out what's important before all is lost.

What are you reading at the moment?
I'm on a bit of a crime thrillers spree at the moment, and am working my way through Black Wood by S.J.I. Holliday and Prey by James Carol. Chick-lit wise, I recently read Tied Up with Love by Amelia Thorne. I really loved it!

Are there any authors who have inspired you?
It's great to see authors who were originally self-published getting traditional publishing deals or being hybrid authors. It's even better to see that they are doing so well! Rachael Lucas, Anna Bell, Talli Roland and Cathy Bramley, to name a few, are all so inspirational.

What kind of research did you do for your latest novel?
As Arielle is planning on opening a shop in London, I did lots of research into the retail rental market in London and had fun thinking up her dream shop. This involved research trips to Camden Lock, the King's Road and Covent Garden, as well as trawling through estate agent websites to get an idea of the costs involved. Some places were asking for £250,000 per year, and that was just for the rental charge! I also had to research what it would be like to plan a wedding , picking out dresses and venues for Arielle's big day to Piers, which was a lot of fun. I stuck to online research and bridal magazines as I didn't want to attend wedding fairs and boutiques, not being engaged myself!

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I really liked sharing Ob's voice - he writes the prologue and epilogue - and I also enjoyed including a new character who makes trouble for Arielle's business plans. It was lovely to catch up with the characters of Kept again, even though some of them don't have a very happy time throughout the book.

What are you working on next? 
I'll be working on the next, and (probably) final book in the Arielle Lockley series. Found will be out later on in the year, and it may share more of Ob's perspective this time round. I also want to finish writing The Dirtification of Tabitha-Rose, especially since Tabitha has a big part in Lost - in fact, part of her plotline in Lost came out of The Dirtification of Tabitha-Rose. I really love how my characters cross over and pop up in my other books.

Thanks, Elle!

Lost is available in paperback and Kindle format now. If you haven't yet read Kept, the first book in the Arielle Lockley series, buy it here.

You can find out more about Elle Field by visiting her blog or Facebook page, or following her on Twitter.

About Lost

"I'm starting to realise that age is just a number, but Tabitha pointed out I'm only saying that because I'm twenty-five, engaged, and have my life together. (Touch wood things stay that way.)" 

Arielle is back! OK, she's not on her way to becoming the next Coco Chanel, her childhood dream, but she is one way step closer to running her very own shop with her business partner, Felicity. 

She's also planning her perfect romantic wedding to fiancé, Piers, and Arielle is starting to believe that she's finally found her place in the world... 

Of course life is never that straightforward. 

With a new-found foe interfering with her shop decisions, not to mention haughty wedding planners and loved ones facing personal struggles, will Arielle figure out what's important before all is lost? 

About Elle 

Elle Field lives in London with her boyfriend and their cat. She enjoys exploring new places, watching musicals on the West End, and eating her way around London’s culinary delights.

Her first novel Kept was released in April 2013; Geli Voyante’s Hot or Not followed in October 2013. Lost, the sequel to Kept, is out now. Look out for the final book in the Arielle Lockley series, Found, towards the end of the year.

Giveaway!

Enter below to win a paperback set of the Arielle Lockley novels!

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UNCOVERED INTERVIEWS: Elle Field

We're delighted to have Elle Field here for the very first interview of Chick Lit Uncovered! Elle's books - Kept and Geli Voyante's Hot Or Not - were released last year and being big fans of her writing, we just had to ask her a few questions about her novels and future projects...

So, what have you been up to since the release of Kept?
I was hard at work finishing the edits for Geli Voyante's Hot or Not. It was published last October in Kindle and paperback formats; happily, it's getting glowing reviews!

Can you tell us more about your latest book?
I'd love to! It's about Geli Voyante who works in the Gherkin as a newspaper's Hot or Not writer. As well as scoring plenty of freebies, her job also has the added bonus of sitting next to Theodore Bones, the very hot political columnist who Geli has had a crush on ever since she started her job.

When her arch-nemesis Tiggy Boodles gets engaged, Geli finally sets about to try and convince Theo that she's not as shallow as her light-hearted column suggests and, more importantly, that she's the one for him. Geli soon realises though that just like there are two sides to every story, that also applies to people too...

Set in wintry London and sunny South Africa, Geli Voyante's Hot or Not is full of twists and turns, glamour and glitz, as well as frolics and fashion. Make sure you read it to find out whether Geli gets her man!

What are you reading at the moment?
I'm reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, which I am absolutely loving! When I'm working on my own fiction I'm very careful to read genres other than chick lit so I don't inadvertently contaminate my books.

Are there any authors who have inspired you?
Definitely! Maggie Alderson's Cents and Sensibility was the book that made me put pen  to paper and start penning my own chick lit tales. On the surface the book comes across as fluffy but, once you start reading it, it's clever and captivating writing - that's the type of book I knew I wanted to write.

Sophie Kinsella, Helen Fielding and Lauren Weisberger are other authors who have also inspired me - I'm a big fan of their work and it would be a dream come true if I achieved just a fraction of their success!

What kind of research did you do for your latest novel?
As I've never been to South Africa and that's where my main character is from and where the end of the book is set, I had to do a lot of research to make sure I did the country justice. Thankfully the Internet makes that job a lot easier - don't get me wrong, I would have loved a research trip there - but I also picked the brains of some South African friends to make sure that the book, and characters, were authentic as possible.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I enjoyed it all, but the scenes where Geli and Tiggy are fighting are some of my favourites. It was great fun setting up their rivalry and then playing around with words to make them subtly horrible to one other - their characters have to keep a level of professionalism as they both work for the same publication family. I also really enjoyed taking the book out of my comfort zone by setting the ending somewhere I have never been. I'm keen to make sure that I don't just focus and write about what I know, so I really enjoyed researching South Africa and basing part of the book there.

What are you working on next? (If you can tell us of course!)
One thing I'm working on is the sequel to Lost, which is the sequel to Kept. You'll be able to find out how Arielle gets on now she's back in London, and whether she gets her happily ever after with Piers. I'm also working on another chick lit book called The Dirtification of Tabitha-Rose. You might remember the character Tabitha popping up in Kept... since she's quite a colourful character, I think it's time to share her story! I don't have the exact release dates yet, but I'll be sure to share them as soon as I do.

Thanks, Elle!

You can find out more about Elle Field by following her on Twitter (@ellefie), visiting her on Facebook and Goodreads, and reading about her literary, London and life adventures on her blog.