Five Days of Famous Blog Tour: Author Interview with Alyson Noel

Five Days of Famous

by Alyson Noel

December 13, 2016

Delacorte BFYR

From "New York Times" bestselling author Alyson Noel comes a fun, adventure-filled, contemporary novel that poses the question what would you do if your dream life became reality?

A dream is a wish your heart makes . . . when your life is in desperate need of a makeover. Nick Dashaway would know. Either he makes it big this year in seventh grade or he risks being a nobody forever.

Enter the Greentree Middle School Talent Show, hosted by teen sensation Josh Frost. The show might just be Nick s ticket out of loserville. But popularity doesn t come easy, and when Nick is forcibly ejected from the stage, he feels like he s out of options. Desperate to avoid a permanent seat at the geek table and continued inattention from the love of his life, Nick chooses the only option he has left: he makes a wish.

"Be careful what you wish for, " the old saying goes and Nick s about to find out why."

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Q1.  What three words best describe your novel, Five Days of Famous?

A Fun and Funny Christmas Fantasy.

Q2. Grab a copy of Five Days of Famous and answer the following:

Favorite chapter? One of my faves is Chapter 20, #Lame-o, when Ezer reminds Nick of the responsibilities that come with fame and the possible repercussions of Nick’s wild night on the town with his friends.

Favorite page? Let’s go with page 180 (which spills over to page 181) when Nick has an insightful conversation with Plum.

Favorite setting? Nick’s mansion during his Winter Wonderland themed Christmas party. I would love to go to a party like that!

Flip to a random page and give us a 1-2 sentences teaser: Page 1: “Ever have one of those days when you just knew that, by the time it was over, you’d never be the same? Only in a good way? For me, today was that day.”

Q3. What inspired Five Days of Famous? How did the story come to be?

I’d read an article a while back about a group of middle school kids who were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up and an overwhelming number of them said they wanted to be famous. While I understand the need to be liked and to feel seen and heard by your peers, along with the more obvious perks that fame brings, I’m disturbed by the current reality TV climate that elevates people to superstar status just for being rich and pretty and little else. So, I decided to write a fun and humorous story that explored exactly what might happen when one is granted such a wish, and how they might respond when the darker side of the dream is exposed.   

Q4. Can you tell us about your main character, Nick Dashaway? What makes him unique and what do you love about him?

I love Nick because when we first meet him, he doesn’t see his real value. Also, the very things that make him wonderfully unique are the exact same things he desperately wants to rid himself of. He’s convinced that the route to happiness is a seat at the popular table and he’s determined to do whatever it takes to get there.

I’m sympathetic toward Nick because I understand his desire to not be invisible and his need to feel accepted by the crowd he admires. Nick has some very big lessons ahead of him, and in order to secure his true dream life he’ll be called to use his voice and risk revealing his true self, all the while knowing the risk could backfire in a way he’ll never recover from.

Q5. Fill in the blanks:

I’m really awesome at adding books to my TBR pile.

I’m really embarrassed to admit That there probably isn’t enough time to read all of the books in my TBR pile, but that won’t stop me from continuing to add to it.

The last great book I read was I love a good, dark, psychological mystery, so YOU WILL KNOW ME by Megan Abbott did not disappoint.

Q6. If you were to create and bake a cupcake inspired by Five Days of Famous, what would it look and taste like, and what would you call it?

I don’t think I could outdo Plum’s cupcake, so I’d go with red velvet with cream cheese frosting and add a big gold star on top for decoration. I’d also include a small birthday candle with red and green swirls, since it’s an integral component of wish making. It would look quirky and homemade because I have no kitchen skills to speak of, but it would taste like love, magic, and good intentions. I would call it Christmas Enchantment, and it would come with a warning to be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

Alyson Noël is the #1 New York Times best selling, award-winning, author of 23 novels, including: FAKING 19, ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS, LAGUNA COVE, FLY ME TO THE MOON, KISS & BLOG, SAVING ZOË, CRUEL SUMMER, FOREVER SUMMER (a LAGUNA COVE/CRUEL SUMMER 2-in-1), KEEPING SECRETS (a SAVING ZOË/FAKING 19 2-in-1), the IMMORTALS series: EVERMORE, BLUE MOON, SHADOWLAND, DARK FLAME, NIGHT STAR, EVERLASTING, the IMMORTALS spin-off, RILEY BLOOM series: RADIANCE, SHIMMER, DREAMLAND, WHISPER, THE SOUL SEEKERS series: FATED, ECHO, MYSTIC, HORIZON; with short stories appearing in the anthologies FIRST KISS (THEN TELL), KISSES FROM HELL, & DEAR BULLY. website * facebook * twitter