We were so excited when we were invited to participate in the blog tour for Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema. We got to sit down and chat with Nat, and we think you’ll love what she had to say. Let’s get right to it!
***INTERVIEW***
Goldfish is the story of Lou Brown – 5’11”, badly dressed, failed swimmer and name like an unflushed toilet. She dreamed of being an Olympic swimmer but failed to qualify for the training camp (though her best friend, Hannah got in). Instead, Lou finds herself training a team of boys in underwater synchronised swimming for a TV show.
I loved it when events started spiraling out of Lou’s control in the last third of the book and I really enjoyed any scenes with her dad – he’s a bit like my dad.
My friend Andy Bull is a sports journalist and I’d never shown any interest in it as I’m not into sports and I’m a very rude friend. But on this occasion I got to text him “I need an Olympic swimmer!” and he put me in touch with Jessica Fullalove, who is a British backstroke swimmer and very patient with all the questions I asked her.
I write a lot of different things, films, books and occasionally plays, so I always have a few characters brewing in my mind. I live with them for a while, I imagine what their home looks like and when I’m pretty certain I could buy them a Christmas present they’d love, they go on the page!
Lou is a lovely mix of good and bad qualities. She’s very competitive, she can be a bit self-pitying and grumpy, but she knows her faults and does try to be a better person, which I think is all you can ask for from a friend. She’s not vain about many things, she knows she’s funny-looking and she dresses badly, but she’s funny and kind and wants people to be happy.
I think Lou and Hermione Granger would get on. Lou is used to bossy women and she could use some help with her schoolwork.
Funny, annoying, tall.
I was a stand-up comedian for 7 years and on 2 separate occasions audience members have thrown a punch at me. To this day, I don’t know exactly why.
Don’t think about writing, don’t talk about writing, just sit and write. Accept that the first draft of everything you write will be rubbish – everyone’s is – but going back through it, improving it and editing it, is where the real craft comes in. I write all the time, all day every day. I cannot be persuaded on holiday without a notebook or laptop because I get irritable if I don’t write. And it didn’t used to be like that, I used to find writing a hard slog, I’d stare at a blank page for ages. But after so many hours, days and years of writing, it’s like I’ve made all the muscles in my imagination strong and fit and now writing a story is as easy as a runner going for a jog.
Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy! SHWOON.
I write an direct films and I have two short films out at festivals right now – Three Women Wait For Death and WYRDOES. You might catch them at a film festival or online. And I am writing four feature films that I hope will be in cinemas one day.
Are you worried about whether or not your kitten is happy? YES. I WORRY ALL THE TIME because she has such a miserable face and I knock myself out to make her world magical. It’s exhausting.
***About Nat Luurtsema***
Nat Luurtsema is a BAFTA-nominated screenwriter, a BAFTA Rocliffe alumni, stand-up comic, author, actor and a third of sketch group Jigsaw.
She has just finished directing WYRDOES, a comedy feminist ‘Macbeth’, with backing from Film London, Film4 and the British Arts Council. It will be a part of the Shakespeare Lives worldwide tour, which will play to an audience of 500 million.
Nat plays Tallulah Bankhead in FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS, directed by Stephen Frears.
Nat is developing two feature films and adapting the novel Spilt Milk Black Coffee by Helen Cross, for Mighty Atom Entertainment.
Nat’s latest book is a Young Adult novel – GIRL OUT OF WATER – to be published June 2016 in the UK, Germany, France and Italy. It will simultaneously publish as GOLDFISH in USA.
***About the Book***
Goldfish by Nat Luurtsema Published by Feiwel & Friends on June 7, 2016
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 240
Goodreads Buy the Book
Lou Brown is one of the fastest swimmers in the county. She’s not boasting, she really is. So things are looking pretty rosy the day of the Olympic time-trials. With her best mate Hannah by her side, Lou lines up by the edge of the pool, snaps her goggles on and bends into her dive…
Everything rests on this race. It’s Lou’s thing.
… or it was. She comes dead last and to top it all off Hannah sails through leaving a totally broken Lou behind.
Starting again is never easy, particularly when you’re the odd-one out in a family of insanely beautiful people and a school full of social groups way too intimidating to join. Where do you go from here? Finding a new thing turns out to be the biggest challenge Lou’s ever faced and opens up a whole new world of underwater somersaults, crazy talent shows, bitchy girls and a great big load of awkward boy chat.
Lou Brown guides us through the utter humiliation of failure with honesty, sass and a keen sense of the ridiculous. This girl will not be beaten.
Don’t miss the other stops on the Goldfish tour:
- 6/7: Gone with the Words – Guest Post: Favorite Olympic Swimmers
- 6/10: Swoony Boys Podcast – Interview
- 6/14: Love Is Not a Triangle – “Would You Rather” Interview
- 6/17: The Fox’s Hideaway – Guest Post
- 6/20: Book Briefs – Guest Post: Would or wouldn’t make a great Olympic contestant
- 6/24: Fierce Reads – Deleted Scene
- 6/27: That Artsy Reader Girl – Tour Stop
- 7/1: Gone Pecan – Guest Post
- 7/5: Forever Young Adult – Guest Post: Favorite Olympic Sports
- 7/8: The Reading Nook Reviews – Pendant Post + Illustration
- 7/12: Undeniably {Book} Nerdy – Hottest/ Sexiest Competitive Swimmers
- 7/15: Xpresso Reads – 5 Favorite Places to Swim
- 7/19: Mary Had a Little Book Blog – Tour Stop
- 7/22: Paperback Princess – Top Tips for Finding Humor in Writing
- 7/26: Ex Libris – Soundtrack Playlist
- 7/29: Novel Novice – Tour Stop
- 8/2: Page Turners – Guest Post
- 8/5: Book Nerds Across America – Review
What do you think, Pretties? What’s your favorite Olympic sport?
