So, now our bookclub book has graciously returned to us from the aether void of Wattpad, I can finally share the wonderful interview I did with @OctaviaLocke . Octavia is the author of 'Liars',  a skillfully written and utterly engrossing dystopian with kick-arse female characters, and an exquisitely crafted world. It was so fun learning more about your writing and your motives, thank you for opening up, Octavia....

Going to start with one of the most basic questions... What inspired you to write 'Liars'?

Actually, I started writing it back in 2016 when I first joined Wattpad. I think the Sci-fi profile had a writing prompt contest and from there the first chapter of Liars was born. It was very, very bad, and I never ended up entering it in the contest, but had a good premise. I kept with it for a whopping six chapters before shelving it and turning to something else. The story never left me though and through the years it evolved into what it is now.

I found Ten to be an intriguing character. I have to say I love female leads with skill and sass. What was your favourite part of writing about her?

I love sassy, skilled female MCs! Throw them all my way. I really enjoyed writing Ten, but one thing I had a consistent issue with was how to make her more active in her story. At first, she began as a character who was constantly being pulled by the world around her, going where the story needed her to go. It was her journey, but in a lot of ways, wasn't. So, I wanted to give her character something that would make her go from letting the world around her decide what she needed to do to being the one making those choices for herself and shaping what the world around her was. So, she became a mix of skills and stubbornness, vulnerabilities and insecurities all wrapped up in a bundle of sass because, as you pointed out, who doesn't like sass? I think my favorite scenes to write of her are when she's interacting with Nol because they highlight how innately awkward she still is (hey, she's a teenager still, despite everything) and having her blush and fumble and toss around an insult to mask all of that? I just love it.

Were there any aspects of Ten's personality that were difficult to write about or fit into the story?

The fact that she's unsure of herself every step of the way. That's something that's always in the back of her mind. What if she messes up? There's real stakes in her world, someone she cares about could wind up dead, so she's always questioning her decisions and if they were right. I wanted to make sure that came across in her character and I'm not 100% confident it did.

Who is your favourite character to write?

As much as I love writing Ten, I really enjoy writing Della and Councilman Dove. Izzer, too, was great. I enjoy writing those characters who are walking personifications of danger. They all represent a cool, controlled malevolence which I find fascinating.

If you could apologise to one of your characters for a situation/backstory you wrote them into, who would it be and why?

Nol. For reasons I don't want to say.

If you could pick only one of your characters to take to a desert island, who would it be and why?

100% Sin. He's quiet and that's one of those things I look forward to the most when I take my vacations, desert island or no.

Were there any chapters that were particularly difficult to write? One, perhaps, that you had to revise way more than others?

Yes, and it's one that's not (right now) uploaded on Wattpad. After a pivotal moment in the story, Ten gets a chance to confront Councilman Dove. And it's a powerful and telling scene. In it, Ten grapples with her hatred for Dove and for everything he's done and represents, but also, in the moment, she sees him not just as a powerful leader, but as a man who has his fair share of regrets and who owns up to all the horrible things he's done, all the blood he's shed and he unabashedly tells her he will continue to do so in service of the country he loves. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, you know? So that's a scene I've been sitting on because I want it to hit the right emotional beats and I want readers to, as much as they might (and should) hate Dove, understand that he's a multi-faceted person and not just 'Antagonist A.'

If you had to throw someone from real life into the world of 'Liars' and could only give them one piece of advice, what would it be?

Take your chances beyond the dome. There's danger everywhere, and you might as well bask in the sun for as long as you can.

Would you want to live in the world that 'Liars' takes place in? Why/why not?

Absolutely not! It's a world that magnifies the world we're currently living in - corporate greed, political corruption to the highest degree, and the devastation of inaction in the face of Climate Change. It's all of that minus most of the personal freedoms we enjoy now. So no, no way would I want to live in their world. Although, their virtual video games would be pretty awesome, but that's not enough incentive.

Are there any minor characters you've written who you wish you could have included more?

All the Liars really. Sin, Mars and Quint, the twins. They each have really interesting back stories and why they choose what they choose, but the manuscript was nearing 500 pages and I needed to cut back on their development and focus on Ten because ultimately, it is her journey. But hey, side stories are a thing, so who knows? Maybe I'll get to telling more of their stories eventually. :)

Did 'Liars' change a lot as you wrote it? For example, were you planning to take the story one place, but it would up taking you somewhere else?

Yes! My stories are always evolving and morphing into something else. I had the characters figured out, for the most part, and what their roles would be in this world, but I didn't know how everything would end. I wanted to have a dystopian rebellion story surrounding a group of teens, but I wanted it to be more realistic. How could these kids rise up against an oppressive government? What were their skill sets? Did they have guns or weaponry? If so, where did it come from? And then, I had to figure out the road they could take to potentially achieving this goal that made sense for them. So I thought about making them the future leaders of this world they all hated so much and then having them choose between helping secure that world's future or use their knowledge to burn it down and start anew. Before this, the Liars were a bunch of kids who didn't know why they were locked up but found out they had mind-control abilities that the government wanted to use. None of that is present in the draft I have now, so things have definitely changed.

If you could give your novel to any author to read and get feedback from, who would it be?

I would not let any of the authors I love or admire anywhere near my work because it's not good enough to come across their desks.

Liars' covers some rather deep and thought provoking themes; truth, loyaltly, trust, facing the unknown... What did you learn about yourself and your own beliefs as you wrote 'Liars'?

Ah. This is a tough one. For me, the two core themes of Liars were about found family and the consequences of choice. We are the choices we make. We decide how we're going to live our lives and whatever choice we make, the consequences of that choice, whatever they may end up being, are our own. There's no greater power living our lives for us, our action or inaction, is up to us. And that's something Ten is constantly battling - action or inaction, and the consequence of both. Along those lines, Ten also grapples with her relationships, in particular with the other Liars. Through their shared experiences, they begrudgingly at first, become her family and by the end of the story, she's willing to lay down her own life to ensure their safety. For me, I come from a pretty dysfunctional family, and was always told blood was everything. But I wasn't as close to them as I thought blood should be. I always felt a little different from my cousins, more awkward and quiet and they never really understood me. It wasn't until I started forging my own relationships with people beyond my family, that I finally felt understood. And for me, that's what family is. It's not about blood, it's about the bonds forged between two people, and that willingness to understand each other, for better or worse, that really solidifies someone in that role.

Did you do any research when writing 'Liars'? If so, what was it for and did it help?

I did a little research about oligarchies (since that is what the Council represents) and the repercussions of climate change, though I tend to lean more into fantasy and sci-fantasy when writing because I don't want to do the research - I just want to dive right in and not worry about the geopolitics of agricultural realism of the world I'm creating. Though, I always appreciate when another writer takes on such a task - some of the research people do for creating a more realistic world in their story is just jaw-dropping.

If you had to pick a single song to sum up the entirety of 'Liars', what would it be?

I did a little research about oligarchies (since that is what the Council represents) and the repercussions of climate change, though I tend to lean more into fantasy and sci-fantasy when writing because I don't want to do the research - I just want to dive right in and not worry about the geopolitics of agricultural realism of the world I'm creating. Though, I always appreciate when another writer takes on such a task - some of the research people do for creating a more realistic world in their story is just jaw-dropping.

And last but not least... Leave us with one of your favourite lines from 'Liars' (I know it can be hard to pick :) )

I think my personal favorite quote comes from the chapter I mentioned earlier (not on Wattpad) that contains a really intense face-off between Ten and Councilman Dove. In it, he tells her, "That's the real legacy I've left for you. We can lie to everyone else, but we can't lie to ourselves. We can't take a pill and have someone else write away our pain, our loss." And I'll leave you to conjecture about what has prompted Dove to speak this way and what he could possibly be referring to, but I think this is a powerful sentiment that speaks of a raw, ugly truth. It's not pleasant, but truth often isn't. And because I don't want to end on such a downer, I still really love Ten's "To pass or not to pass." She's just great. :)