Firstly, welcome E.M Carter and many congratulations on the outstanding first book in what promises to be a gripping series for Young Adults. I confess that even as an adult, I devoured Repression Ground and eagerly await the second book in the Newland Trilogy.

Q What and whom would you say have given you inspiration as a writer of Young Adult fiction?

When I was a teenager Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell had a deep effect on me – I found the way he wove together both imagined, terrifying futures and some realities in the present fascinating, and I knew from then I wanted to write something in that genre one day. As I read more dystopian fiction – both the literary classics like The Handmaid’s Tale and Brave New World, and newer popular fiction like The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Giver, I was more and more drawn into the genre and found myself imagining scenarios and then great big storylines – I got to the stage where I couldn’t not write it.

Q When the world is already dark enough, why write a dystopian novel? 

I think dystopian fiction can be both powerful and speak truth to power at the same time. Dystopian fiction basically takes something we can observe around us and then throws it into a world where it is taken to extremes, and so it can shine a light on the oppression and hatred we see in the world now – in other words, it’s not just about an imagined world, but about the world now and what it could look like. I think the best dystopian fiction gives both a sense of darkness and of moments of light and hope shining through, but often the darkness must seem as though it is winning in order to build up a sense of both suspense and authenticity. In our world, it does often seem as though evil wins out, and hope is patchy, and dystopian fiction can echo this in a way that amplifies the power of hope through courage and friendship, through normal people finding the tenacity to break down walls – both small walls in their lives, of false narratives and lies they have lived under, and of big oppressive narratives in government and societal systems. 

Q In Repression Ground, Girl C doesn’t think that she fits in, and it is clear from your insightful book that you have a special interest in people who feel out of the loop in some way. Can you tell me why that is and why you choose to write about them?

All my life I’ve lived with a debilitating chronic illness and so often felt I haven’t fit in – at school but also through life in general, because of my weakness. I’ve seen this reflected in so many stories around me and also in my children’s lives where neurodiversity has caused others to look down on them and others like them. Girl C is a character close to my heart: she is completely indoctrinated, having been brought up by the state, and yet fights within herself to understand what it means for her to live in a world where worth is measured by productivity when she is told she is worthless and useless because of her own neurodiversities. In Newland, conditions like dyslexia and dyspraxia are not even named, let alone supported, because all that matters is a pushing through work ethic, and so Girl C thinks she must be ‘defective’ as that is what she is told. 

Again, I see this as a reflection on our society and how we sometimes don’t support those who struggle with these things or who are too ill to work, and how in fact we can see them as weak and useless. The Covid pandemic really brought this home for me, with the ‘survival of the fittest’ narrative so strong on social media: those people getting sick are the weaker, the older; do they really matter? So in my writing, I’ve taken some of these narratives and carried them into a nation under a fascist dictatorship to see how they play out to the extreme and how a handful of flawed, wounded kids change the world. 

Q You are not only a multi-published author, but have recently joined Resolute Books as an editor and designer. How do you juggle writing with editing?

It’s not easy! I adore editing and designing – bringing fellow authors’ books to life is a great privilege for me – but within that I do need to try and establish my own boundaries in terms of writing time. I haven’t always been great at that, but I try to do things like take one day a week for my own writing, and sometimes block out whole weeks or even months where I don’t do outside work in order to really get stuck in. It’s so important to balance time, but as a disabled writer and editor it isn’t always simple.

Q Repression Ground is the first book in the Newland Trilogy. What do readers have to look forward to in forthcoming books?

The second and third books, Rebellion Ground and Redemption Ground, will be out in 2024 and will continue the story through to a high-stakes conclusion. Some readers aren’t too keen on trilogies or series that don’t allow the books to stand alone, but this genre often features stories that extend across multiple books because people love to continue a story and wait to find out more. For my books readers will see character development and unexpected character arcs through each book as well as a big story of courage and hope in a world that would squash it. 

Q Beyond the Newland Trilogy, do you have any thoughts for future books or series?

I’ve actually written another novel, but in a completely different genre – women’s UpLit fiction! I’d love to get this published, so watch this space. Beyond that, I’d love to write more dystopian stuff – I have the bug!

Liz, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy writing and editing schedule to join me here. All the best for Repression Ground and I eagerly await book two – Rebellion Ground – due for release in 2024!

E.M. Carter (Liz) is an award-winning author, poet and editor who loves writing in all genres as she can’t get enough of words. She is the author of the dystopian Newland Trilogy: Repression Ground, Rebellion Ground and Redemption Ground. Liz was the poet in residence for Wellington in Shropshire for 2022/23. For other writers, she offers a freelance service editing, formatting and designing books. She likes to spend her days clad in vintage turquoise dresses trying not to eat chocolate and is proud to be a grammar pedant.

Liz’s Repression Ground is available through Resolute Books HERE. Book two, Rebellion Ground, is available for pre-order HERE.

Links to your other books/website/social media etc.

Find Liz here: https://emcarter.carterclan.me.uk/

X, Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok: @LizCarterWriter

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