EMMA: Welcome back to Book Break!
Today I am here with a very special guest: this is Zoe from readbyzoe.
ZOE: Hi!
EMMA: And we are going to be talking about the fabulous new YA release Floored, which
is written by seven UK YA authors.
They wrote this book all together, and they are all friends, which is really lovely. And
the book itself is all about friendship!
So the premise of this book starts with six teenagers stuck in a lift together, when something
very dramatic happens.
A seventh person gets into the lift - and very sadly dies.
Not a great start to a friendship!
ZOE: No
EMMA: But somehow it does bond them all together. They all become friends. And for the rest
of the book, we meet these characters once every year, and see where they're up to with
their lives, and how their friendship is going.
ZOE: I really want to know which authors wrote which characters, and how they all came together.
Seven people! I can't even manage a group chat trying to get people all in one place
for dinner or something! But writing a book together?
EMMA: Writing a whole book!
ZOE: Does one person write theirs and the other people try to fit it in like a puzzle
piece?
EMMA: Yeah, or like that game where you write a sentence and then fold it over. Was it kind
of like that?
The authors have written a blog post about their writing experience. And it just sounds
like it was so much fun! They all talk about supporting each other so much. Melinda Salisbury
even said that it was like Ocean's 8. That they were like a team pulling off a heist,
but writing a book instead.
ZOE: How do you figure out if you're able to write a book with someone else?
EMMA: How do you know you're going to be compatible? You might have totally different ideas. Because
all writers are different, and that's a good thing! You all have different methods. Some
people plan a lot more. But in this you all have to plan the exact same amount. Because
you can't have one person who knows what's going on, and someone else who's like, 'Ah,
I'll see.'
ZOE: I wonder if they wrote in a Google Doc?
EMMA: Yeah, so they could go and change each other's, and be like 'No, I don't want that.'
ZOE: Uh-uh.
EMMA: My character would never do that.
ZOE: Put those snarky comments on the side. Oh yeah! That's another thing! They're from
the different perspectives but they also include the characters of the other people. So they
decide what the other characters are going to do.
EMMA: It would be weird reading someone else's character, and you'd be like 'I write Hugo,
and I know he's not like that.'
ZOE: 'Hugo's a jerk, how dare you make him do something nice!'
EMMA: I just love it as a concept, I think it's really cool. Who was your favourite character?
ZOE: Oooooh...... Joe?
EMMA: He's sweet.
ZOE: I always like the sweet ones. But I enjoyed reading Hugo's chapters. The early Hugo chapters.
EMMA: It's fun to hate him.
ZOE: Where he's like 'Uh, this girl's a seven.' And you're like 'Oh no!'
EMMA: Yeah, when you first meet him he's terrible.
I think my favourite was maybe Dawson. Whichever writer wrote him was really funny. So Dawson
is a child actor. He was previously famous, but he's now 'anti-Longbottomed'.
ZOE: That was the worst phrase I read!
EMMA: So funny. He's described as having 'Nevilled down', which I thought was so funny and so
brutal.
ZOE: So brutal!
EMMA: So I think that's why I liked reading it because I was like, this is so mean.
So the central thing about this book that I liked so much was the portrayal of the friendship.
I thought it was really realistic.
Hippo agrees, she thinks they were really good friends.
They had friendships within it, mini friendships as well as their overall group together. Which
I really liked. Because that's realistic.
ZOE: I feel like that's with any group. You have deeper connections with– you can't
have the same deep connection with everybody.
EMMA: Yeah, I thought this did such a good job of actually being like a real friendship
group. And it had its ups and downs.
ZOE: It even mentions that several of them have been texting more throughout the year.
EMMA: What are their secret texts about? I felt left out! I thought I was in the group.
ZOE: So rude!
EMMA: Why are you sending texts without me?
ZOE: It kind of reminded me of online friendships in a way. Because they do talk through WhatsApp,
I think, which I just learned what that is. And this is like how it is with my online
friendships on BookTube. Like I'm bonded with you through books. And you understand a different
part of my life that my 'in real life' friends don't really understand.
EMMA: Yeah, definitely. I like that. Because it's such a new thing, people having online
friends in the same way. And it being considered kind of normal. Because a few years ago it
was quite scary having friends online.
ZOE: Stranger danger.
EMMA: Exactly, don't trust the internet. And now it's such a normal thing.
So I was reading that the authors themselves have a WhatsApp group. And to write the WhatsApp
messages in this, they would all be online at the same time to write the messages in
real time. Which I love, because it did feel really authentic. And obviously the fact that
they were actually forming those friendships helped make it feel authentic.
ZOE: And they each have such distinct texting styles. I feel like a lot of times when people
write text messages or online conversations, they all pretty much sound the same. Especially
they use abbreviations.
EMMA: That young people don't do!
ZOE: Yeah! It felt like people actually having a conversation. It wasn't like 'oh, I will
C U l8r' with the 8 and all that.
EMMA: What do you think brings them together as a group?
ZOE: I think the fact that they want a deeper connection. That the people in their lives
haven't really seen a special something in them that the other people have seen. So like,
all of them are misunderstood.
They're fifteen at the beginning?
EMMA: Yeah, fifteen sixteen.
ZOE: And that's a time when you're very insecure. You're trying on a different persona. You're
not sure what you want to do with your life. And so this is the perfect time for them to
meet, and then see more of the world than just their little communities. So I think
that's what brings them together.
EMMA: Yeah, they kind of help each other grow into the person they actually want to be,
instead of who their background has kind of shaped them into thinking they want to be,
or trying to be.
ZOE: Some people it's good to grow up with, and see how you all change, but it's great
to meet new people from different backgrounds. Like different socio-economic classes, and
different family dynamics. This shows that you need different mindsets, different backgrounds,
to become a fully realised person.
EMMA: They all have very different life experiences which I like. There's a queer character, there's
a character who's losing her sight.
ZOE: That's part of why they stay friends for so long, based off a different part of
themselves.
EMMA: Do you think they will stay friends forever?
ZOE: I think so. Especially with it being an online friendship. Online friendships can
survive through moves and all of that. Because you can always come back to the internet.
You don't move away from the internet.
EMMA: Exactly. We never leave.
I like to imagine what they're going to do. Some of them, their friendships have transferred
to real life, and they'll all become stronger and stay.
But as a six, they'll continue to have this checking in with each other, support system.
ZOE: Exactly.
EMMA: Friendship! It's lovely.
So do give this video a thumbs up. If you like books about friendship, I really recommend
Floored. It's a lot of fun. And thank you so much to Zoe for being on this channel.
ZOE: Thank you. I had a lot of fun.
EMMA: Good. And do subscribe to Book Break for new videos every Thursday. Next week on
Book Break, we're going to be hearing from Holly Ringland, the Australian author, all
about the language of flowers. So do subscribe so you don't miss that one. See you next time!