chicklit

Kate Brian kennen we allemaal al van haar zinderende Privé-serie, waarin de simpele Reed Brennan met een beurs naar een rijke kostschool vertrekt. Deze serie loopt nog wel eventjes door, maar ondertussen heeft Kate ook een spin-off geschreven over Ariana, welke in de Privilege-serie het criminele pad op raakt..

The first thing people always say to me when we meet at signings or readings is, “You’re so nice! It’s so nice that you’re so . . . nice!” Which is, of course, an amazing thing to hear. But that comment is often followed by a confused, somewhat disturbed expression and the tentative question, “How do you write about a serial killer?”
Good question. Ariana Osgood is, without question, not a nice person. She’s completely self-centered and self-serving and she manages to kill off anyone who threatens her way of life, rationalizing each murder with increasingly flimsy excuses. She goes after guys who are with other girls, she backstabs her friends and she lies to pretty much everybody. But you know what? I LOVE her.
Ariana is so much fun to write, I look forward to starting work on new Privilege-novels the way normal people look forward to weekends. What could be better than writing a character whose reactions to everything in life are the exact opposite of what my reactions would be? Isn’t that why we become writers? To use our imaginations, to get the chance to spend our days in other people’s worlds, meddling in their minds and lives? Well, it’s definitely the thing I love most about my job. I’ve never attended a private school, but I dreamed up an incredibly beautiful one, Atherton-Pryce Hall, for Privilege, so now I get to spend hours each day in this idealistic world where the students have everything they could ever want. Sometimes, when I’m done with work for the day, I don’t want to tear myself away from the red brick buildings and the crisp fall days and the academic tradition. But even worse? I don’t want to tear myself away from Ariana.
Trust me, I’ve never considered murder as an option, but with Ariana it’s always a viable one. Through her, I get to be ruthless, I get to be angry, I get to justify things no sane person could ever justify in real life. If I have a bad day, I can channel all my negative emotion into Ariana and just see what crazy things she does with it. I also get to put my morbid imagination to good use. I’ve always loved to watch suspense films, horror movies and crime procedurals, but now I get to actually write something that’s like all three of those things rolled up into one. I love that you never know what Ariana’s going to do next, but that you’re always biting your fingernails wondering and worrying about it. And I also love that no one in the Privilege world is ever truly safe. Ariana has already killed off the boy she loved in Private, plus two random people who basically just got in her way. She’s capable of pretty much anything.
Of course, I do realize that I can’t make Ariana completely and utterly detestable, because then no  reader in their right mind would want to read about her. So she does have her positive qualities. She defends the weak, she loves and misses her family and her old friends at Easton, she feels vulnerable and scared when things don’t go her way, and she is above all, a survivor. She’s hardworking, inventive and persevering. Admirable qualities in any heroine. If only she wasn’t so darn violent and merciless.
Unfortunately, I know that Ariana’s story is not going to go on forever. A girl like her, living on the edge and on the run, only has so many lives. But thanks to her I now know that I’m capable of writing a realistic psychopath, so don’t be surprised if I come up with another one somewhere down the line. That’s one thing Ariana and I do have in common. You never know what crazy ideas we’re going to come up with next!

Kate Brian