Author's Liz and Kate Corr!

Authors

​We are sisters and best friends (try writing a book with someone else and you’ll see why that last bit is kind of important). After spending our childhood in Essex, we now live ten minutes away from each other in Surrey. We both studied history at university and went to work in London for a bit. Then we stopped working to raise families, because somehow we missed the memo explaining that children are far more demanding than clients or bosses. When we both decided to write novels – on account of fictional people being much easier to deal with than real ones – it was obvious we should do it together.
Stuff Katharine likes: playing instruments badly; dead languages; LOTR; loud pop concerts; Jane Austen; Neill Gaiman; Loki; the Surrey Hills. Killing off characters.
Stuff Elizabeth likes: sketching, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, cinema, long baths, kitchen discos, Terry Pratchett, Thor, London. Saving characters.
Stuff we both like: YA / non-YA fantasy and science fiction,Star Wars, Star Trek, each other (most of the time).
Come chat to us on Twitter and Instagram!


Links:
Website: www.corrsisters.com
Twitter: @katharinecorr @lizcorr_writes
Instagram: @katharinecorrwrites @lizcorrwrites
​

Interview
​

1. Where did the idea for The Witch's Kiss come from?
At the start of June 2013 we were reading a lot of fairy tales and thinking about how they could be re-imagined, and we came up with the idea of a male sleeping beauty. We knew we wanted him to wake up in the modern world, so we decided to set the 'fairy tale' part of the story way back in the past: Anglo-Saxon England is both mysterious (on account of it being the Dark Ages, obviously) and fascinating. A lot of fantasy has a sort of medieval vibe, so we really wanted to do something a bit different. We also think witches are awesome - they're amazing symbols of female power, who can choose to do good or bad - so we knew we wanted to include a family of witches who have to deal with what's happened to our sleeping beauty. A final ingredient to mention is Christina Perri's Jar of Hearts, which we were both listening to around the same time, but you'll have to read the book to find out how it feeds into the story!


2. What made you want to write a book together? Was it fun?
We've both written separately since we were children, but neither of us ever did anything with it (or really finished anything, which is obviously a major stumbling block). Then in 2012 we decided to try working on something together, and it turned out to be a LOT of fun - so much fun that we finished our first novel (yay!). Although we didn't get representation with that novel, it inspired us to keep going, and we signed with an agent (the lovely Claire Wilson at RCW) at the start of 2014. The great thing about working together is that we force each other to carry on when things get difficult. We edit each others work and bounce ideas around and because we're sisters even the big disagreements (Kate: "But I want to kill that character really horribly? Please?" Liz: "This? Again??") never turn into anything too serious. Writing can be a lonely occupation, especially for anyone prone to self-doubt; writing together just makes everything easier. 


3. What are some of your favourite books and have they inspired you two?
Liz: I love Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series; it's my most re-read set of books and they are now falling apart as I've dipped into them so often. Susan Cooper is an absolutely brilliant writer and creates a wonderfully rich world based in part around Arthurian legend. I also love anything by Terry Pratchett as he is not only incredibly funny but also an expert on human behaviour. He's sort of the Dickens of fantasy.


Kate: I love Lord of the Rings because of its epic sweep and staggeringly awesome world building. Neverwhere (Neill Gaiman) is a favourite because of the way it subverts the ordinary: the whole concept of London Below is brilliant. I'm also a big Austen fan; I think Austen's ability to capture character is unrivaled. 


4. Are you working on anything at the moment? Together or separately?
We just got the first lot of edits back on The Witch's Tears, which is the sequel to The Witch's Kiss. It's due out in January so we're going to be pretty busy over the next few months! We've also got some other joint books in the pipeline: a ghost story, a fairy tale-based fantasy and something that re-works a dark English classic, among others. 


5. If you could live in any fantasy world which would you choose and why?
Liz: Terry Pratchett's Disc World. There are just so many fabulous characters! I love Granny Weatherwax and would love to have dinner with her and Susan Sto Helit (Death's granddaughter).

Kate: Middle Earth. But in the peaceful period after Sauron was disembodied and before the Ring showed up again. I'd love to hang out with elves and visit Rohan and Gondor (especially if Sean Bean was there. :))

The Witch's Kiss

Can true love's kiss save the day...? Sixteeen-year-old Meredith is fed-up with her feuding family and feeling invisible at school - not to mention the witch magic that shoots out of her fingernails when she's stressed. Then sweet, sensitive Jack comes into her life and she falls for him hard. The only problem is that he is periodically possessed by a destructive centuries-old curse. Meredith has lost her heart, but will she also lose her life? Or in true fairytale tradition, can true love's kiss save the day?

WORDERY
AMAZON
​WATERSTONES
GOODREADS

---