Q&A: Lisa Williamson, Author of 'The Summer After the Night Before'

We chat with author Lisa Williamson about The Summer After the Night Before, which is a contemporary YA novel exploring consent, friendship and influence with real sensitivity. PLUS you can read an excerpt at the end of the interview!

Hi, Lisa! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Sure! I’m a bookworm, dog-lover, sugar-addict and award-winning author for children and young adults. Before I was a writer, I was an actor. Fun fact: I played the mum in the 2014 John Lewis Christmas advert. I’ve also been in more pantomimes than I can count.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love stories. As a little kid, my favourite game to play was ‘let’s pretend’. I could happily role-play for hours, completely disappearing into the worlds I’d created, either alone or with friends. I also loved coming up with storylines for my Barbie dolls and Sylvanian Families. I don’t come from a bookish family (my dad has never actually read a book) but I was always taken to the library, and the books that I did own, I read over and over again.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

The first book you ever remember reading: The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton.
The one that made you want to become an author: Topsy and Tim by Jean and Gareth Adamson (I used to write my own Topsy and Tim fan fiction).
The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume. I’m a massive Judy Blume fan. This is my absolute favourite of hers and one I revisit regularly as an adult because it’s so funny and charming.

**Your latest novel, The Summer After the Night Before, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?**

Gripping, timely, thought-provoking, addictive and real

What can readers expect?

The fallout from a drunken party, told from the point of view of three different characters – Molly, her best friend Rhiannon and Rhiannon’s twin brother Ben. Molly wakes up half-naked in Ben’s bed with no memory of how she got there, throwing what was supposed to be the perfect post-GCSE summer into chaos.

**Where did the inspiration for The Summer After the Night Before come from?**

A conversation with a friend about an experience they had decades earlier. Although what happens in the book now bears very little resemblance to this real-life event, it proved a powerful jumping-off point from which to explore consent.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

As a writer, I always get a kick out of writing the scenes where my characters are really up against it. I love putting them under pressure and discovering how they’ll react. I especially love it when they surprise me by saying or doing something I’m not expecting. I’m a very loose planner, so this happens more often than you might think! Having said all that, I really enjoyed writing the Newquay sequences (the calm before the storm). I liked exploring Rhiannon’s softer side and the slow build-up to the showdown outside the nightclub.

Q&A: Tiffany Wang, Author of ‘Inferno’s Heir’

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

The process of writing this book was actually one of the smoothest I’ve ever had. Prior to starting this book, I’d spent several years working on a book that just wasn’t working. It had a great hook but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make it work on the page. I finally admitted defeat and almost the moment I did, the idea for TSAtNB popped into my head. I wrote it very instinctively and although it did go through a couple of drafts, structurally it remained pretty much the same, which is VERY unusual for me.

What’s next for you?

I write a series called Bigg School for 9-12 year olds. The seventh book in that series will be out in September, with more titles to follow in 2027. I’m also working on a brand-new series for teens. More to come on that!

Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up? Any you’ve read so far this year that you’ve enjoyed?

I’ve just started Survival Show by Juno Dawson and it’s great so far, very moreish! Other recent reads I’ve enjoyed include Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth, The Husbands by Holly Gramazio and Heart the Lover by Lily King. I also adore a celebrity memoir. I’ve recently read Kathy Burke and Liza Minnelli’s and loved them both.