About the Book:
University was meant to be Crystal’s way out. Growing up, there was nothing in her life that couldn’t be turned into content for her mother’s popular (and profitable) family vlog channel, At Home with the Shaws—including the tragic death of her older sister when they were kids. When she arrives on campus, her mother demands she keep filming her every experience for her subscribers—but Crystal has just one story in mind, one that will blow them all away.
At Home with the Shaws is Crystal’s prison, but it is Alyssa’s escape. An aspiring journalist from a deeply troubled family, she jumps at the chance to help Crystal with an exciting project. When she realizes her new friend’s goal is to expose her family and put an end to the channel, Alyssa becomes desperate to find a way to stop the Shaws’ carefully curated image from shattering.
As the two girls discover unsettling truths about themselves and each other, and shocking new information about the Shaws comes to light, Crystal realizes what’s really at stake. If she doesn’t figure out whom she can trust, her freedom will cost her much more than just her fame.
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org UK (affiliate link).
About the Author:
LAUREN WILSON is originally from County Durham, and now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne. She has a BA (Hons) degree in Journalism, and an MA in Creative Writing, both from Northumbria University. She has previously been a freelance radio reporter, set up her own content writing and social media management business, and worked for Mslexia, a magazine committed to championing women’s writing.
Interview:
Pitch your book in 10 words!
Oooh…what about: “Influencer wants to expose toxic family – but faces unexpected challenger.’
TELL YOUR FRIENDS is a dual POV narrative. Why did you decide you needed two narrators to tell this story?
I decided two narrators would be the best way to tell this story as I wanted to explore two key perspectives of family vlogging: the kid influencers themselves, and their audience.
Crystal is our “insider”, through who we see the real, unfiltered Shaw family – how strict and controlling her parents can be, plus how the ‘good’ parts are hammed up for social media. Through Alyssa, we get a contrasting outsider’s perspective – through her POV, we see the perfect family image that the Shaws present to the world, and which Alyssa is so obsessed with!
Alyssa is a brilliant and terrifying creation; she’s an unreliable narrator and the depths of her obsession are slowly revealed – niggles at first that quickly escalate. What was your starting point with her development?
I think with Alyssa, I wanted her starting point to be one that isn’t totally unreasonable. She doesn’t have a great relationship with her parents, she’s lonely and wants to be somebody else – obviously, none of these things make her a bad person. I wanted readers to be able to feel a little sympathetic towards her, to try to understand where she’s coming from – before her behaviour ramps up and it can no longer be justified.
Crystal has lived her entire life in the public eye due to her family’s social media channel – including having to publicly grieve her sister. This has left her so isolated and lonely and determined to bring down the family content machine. What inspired you to look at the impact of family vlogging?
When I was researching influencers for my debut novel, THE GOLDENS*, I read articles written by and about former child influencers – kids who’d grown up with their lives showcased online. Several of them had recently turned eighteen, and were able to speak out for the first time about the impact this upbringing had had on them.
I was really shocked by what I read, particularly some of their anecdotes, and it made me wonder what it must be like to have had key moments of your life posted online for hundreds of thousands (or more) of people to watch, all without your consent.
It also made me wonder how it might feel to turn eighteen and finally feel like you have some control over your life – but be unable to turn back the clock. What would you do next?
If you were to go viral on social media, what would you like to go viral for?
If I ever went viral, I’d hope it would be because readers really loved one of my books!
Crystal and Alyssa have different but tricky relationships with their parents. Crystal’s use love as a tool to get her to comply with their content making while Alyssa’s are emotionally distant. Why did you want to explore two forms of difficult parental relationships?
They do! I wanted to create a contrast between both sets of parents, to show that although Crystal’s family might seem more involved and loving, while Alyssa’s parents are more emotionally distant, it’s all it’s all actually very self-serving.
I felt it was important for Alyssa’s character in particular that she sees how perfect the Shaws appear to be as parents in comparison to her own – pushing her to cling desperately to what is essentially a lie.
What advice would you have for writers trying to balance unreliable narrators and ensuring the reader doesn’t feel like they’re being lied to create drama?
This is tricky! I think the only advice I’d have is to try to make sure your unreliable narrator’s behaviour escalates gradually – that it’s not zero to a hundred. Like any good plot twist, you don’t want it to appear from thin air – you want to have left a little, subtle trail of breadcrumbs so that instead of being completely blindsided, your readers have a real ‘oh’ moment of realisation that actually makes sense!
TELL YOUR FRIENDS is your second book. How was the experience of writing and publishing this tale different to your debut?
I was very lucky to have signed a two-book deal for my debut, so I think one of the biggest differences was knowing that for the first time I was writing because it was my job, not solely because I loved it. Because of that, I put a lot of pressure on myself to “live up to” my first novel.
I also had writing deadlines that weren’t self-imposed for pretty much the first time since university, so that was a bit of a learning curve – I’d forgotten what it was like!
It was amazing having the feedback and support of my publishing teams for my second novel, though – which is something that you don’t have when you’re drafting your debut!
Please recommend a UKYA book you think readers will love.
BURY YOUR FRIENDS* by Benjamin Dean – The Nepo Baby thriller you didn’t know you needed, with spoilt rich kids, decadence, and murder.
Thank you!
*Affiliate link
#UKYASpotlight 
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