I'm thrilled to be talking to YA author Julia Tuffs this month about her fabulous debut novel Hexed.
Thank you for joining me Julia and congratulations on your imminent publication! Can you give us an introduction to Jessie and Hexed?
Thanks so much for having me!
Hexed is about Jessie Jones; new girl, witch and accidental activist. Jessie’s life is turned upside down when her mum suddenly moves the family back to her home town on the Isle of Wight. All Jessie wants to do is fade into the background, coast and avoid the attention of school douchebag Callum Henderson and his toxic cronies, but when strange and uncontrollable magical powers start to manifest during her period, flying under the radar becomes impossible. Hexed is about finding your place and your power and learning to love your differences.
You address some quite dark moments of sexism and bullying in the book, but the overall tone is energetic and witty - do you think it’s important to have this balance between subject matter and tone in stories of this nature? Do you have any tips on how to achieve that balance without undermining the serious message of the novel?
I don’t think it’s necessary to have that balance of subject matter and tone – I think there are lots of books that address issues like this in a much more solemn way, and it’s really important that those books exist – but it was definitely a conscious choice for me. I wanted to tackle the everyday sexism and toxic masculinity that we all have to live with in a way that was relatable and enjoyable and to have a bit of fun with it. And the starting point for the book – a girl who gets magical powers while on her period – is so ridiculous that you have to have fun with it really! The boys’ noses growing when they lie and nipples lactating when they commented on girls’ boobs – that was all a LOT of fun to write! In terms of tips on how to achieve a good balance… it’s hard. Quite often I found I’d leaned too far into the serious and had to go back in and lighten it up a bit – often by just adding small one-liners, or Dave – she’s always good for some comic relief. I think the key for me was also to make sure Jessie never took herself too seriously. And again, often other characters are good for this if something is written in first person – so Nonna will often put Jessie in her place (lovingly) or come out with a mild swear. Little additions like that help to lighten the overall tone.
I loved the tone, you struck the balance so brilliantly. Hexed joins a luminous tradition of stories about teenage women coming into magical powers - many of which are referenced in the story! These shows are brilliant metaphors for the teenage experience, and Hexed keys into that in the same way. How much did you draw from shows like Buffy and Sabrina, and how did you engineer your magic system to be familiar yet distinctive?
I grew up watching Sabrina and Buffy and absolutely adore them but I actually avoided re-watching them when I was writing Hexed. I wanted the magic to be specific to Jessie’s world and I was worried that if I re-watched shows, I’d end up accidentally including ideas and aspects of magic from other places. Deciding what I wanted the magic system to be was actually one of the hardest parts of the book – there was lots of internal conflict over how her powers would manifest and asking myself questions like ‘do I want Jessie to be able to turn people into frogs?’ and ‘if she can magic her homework to be done, why wouldn’t she?’ I tried to mostly centre the magic in nature and the natural world and lean towards that aspect of it.
There are some incredible moments in the book where Jessie and others note how far we still have to go to achieve gender equality - do you think that the pressures on young women are greater than they were when you and I were teenagers?
Oh God, YES! I think social media has been a game changer and I honestly feel so sorry for all the added pressure that’s heaped on young women now. You have to look for the positives though, and I do think that young women are a lot more savvy about things now and there’s definitely a momentum towards not putting up with as much – it’s great seeing some of the good that social media can do too and that at its best it does bring people together. We really have to lean into that to alleviate the bad I think.
Without wanting to give too much away, there’s one male character who faces some difficulties too. Do you think that young men face similar pressures?
Absolutely, but in different ways. I see it with my own boys, who are still young – they’re made to feel like they shouldn’t express emotion, like they always have to be tough, like they shouldn’t wear certain colours – the list goes on! The patriarchy doesn’t do anyone any favours – let’s take it down!
Hear hear!
The story is set on the Isle of Wight, which has a link to Jessie’s magic, and Jessie seems to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the island. Can you tell us why you decided to set Hexed there?
My husband is from the Isle of Wight – I’ve been visiting the Island for twenty-five years now and we lived there for a few years too and over that time I’ve come to really appreciate what an interesting and unique place it is. There’s something very particular about being surrounded by water and not being able to just jump in your car and drive for as far or as long as you want. I think growing up on the Island is a really different experience from growing up on the ‘mainland’ – the pace of life, the mentality, the sea, the fact that the population doubles over summer - I really wanted to capture some of that and I wanted to show Jessie gradually falling in love with it, as I did - though for me it was more instant!
It's a wonderful setting - almost a character in and of itself! I also particularly loved the difficult dynamic between Jessie and her older sister Bella. That sibling dynamic is a foundation of my own books too. Do you have any tips on how to make sure that the reader is emotionally invested in those tricky relationships, despite the arguments and misunderstandings?
Ah, sibling relationships! I think the thing that’s fascinating about sibling relationships is that, at their heart, siblings do love each other, no matter how much that’s shrouded in temporary hatred and annoyance. That’s possibly me being very naïve, but even if it’s very low key and mainly from having some form of shared experience, I think there’s always some kind of love and connection there, deep down. The other important thing that makes those relationships different from friendships is that you can’t walk away from them and I think that fact alone instantly makes readers invest in them. They’re also very relatable as a lot of people have siblings and as such will understand the push and pull and love and hate of a sibling relationship. Ultimately, I think it’s about making sure the interactions between the siblings are peppered with strong emotions – whether that’s love, like, sadness, regret or just plain familiarity.
You worked as a primary school teacher - were you ever tempted to write for Middle Grade, or was it always going to be Young Adult?
Sometimes I’ve wished I could write Middle Grade – it can be easier to market and sell and get into readers’ hands than Young Adult, but my heart has always been with YA. That time in life is everything to me – it’s when your whole world view is shifting, when you’re working out who you are and when everything – music, friendships, love – are all so intense and passionate. I love it! Also, I find it hard not to swear so that kind of rules out Middle Grade for me!
True! Your biography says that you aim to write the kind of books that shaped and inspired you as a teenager - can you give us some recommendations for those books?
Well, as a lot of teenagers did before YA became an acknowledged category, I went straight from books like Judy Blume (the whole back catalogue) to much more adult things like Jilly Cooper, Danielle Steel and the Flowers In The Attic series by Virginia Andrews. I was OBSESSED with that series – I re-read the first one recently, worried that it may not have stood the test of time and I loved it all over again.
It felt as though the ending left us open for a potential sequel - are there plans to revisit Jessie?
Oh yes. The next Hexed installment is coming next year and all I’ll say about it is that it gets darker…
Oh my goodness I cannot wait! That sounds fantastic! Finally, if Hexed were adapted for screen, who would be your dream casting for Jessie and Nonna?
Oooh this is a hard one. I think I’d go with Billie Eilish for Jessie and Miriam Margolyes for Nonna – she’s got some serious Nonna energy – and a potty mouth like Nonna!
Most excellent choices! Thank you so much for joining us, Julia. If this has piqued your interest in Hexed, do look out for it in bookshops when it is published on 8th July!
Holly Race worked for many years as a script editor in film and television, before becoming a writer.
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