Feature and Follow Friday/Dark Days Tour Round Up

This week I went to a book signing that featured the following authors; Brodi Ashton author of Everneath/Everbound, Cynthia Hand author of Boundless, Tharereh Mafi author of  Shatter Me/Unravel me, and Veronica Rossi author of  Under the Never Sky/Through The Ever Night. They did a Q& A and afterwards they did a book signing. I was really excited to go because I read Everneath recently and loved it, so I was excited to get an autograph from the author.  I wasn’t able to record their conversations but I did write down some interesting answers to the questions they were asked.

Tharereh Mafi said when she was younger she had never viewed herself as someone who could write, but after college she started to read a lot of books and in particular YA books which inspired her to write. She views it as a really open genre with lots of different avenues for writers. She then talked a bit about the love interest in her book and said that it disturbs her based on what she knows about the character that fans have told her they knew Warner was going to be a love interest. However she doesn’t think of it as a love triangle as she knows who the main character will end up with. She mentioned as well that the first pages of her book are exactly the same as they were in her original manuscript. When asked to tell a bit about her newest book she replied that she actually has created spoiler videos, as in more than one, that you can view online and made jokey references to Chapter 62.

Cynthia Hand said she fell in love with YA and the wide range of stories they tell. After first discovering the genre she read at least 70 YA books in the first year. When talking about her favorite YA’s she picked Wicked Lovely and The Forest of Hands and Teeth. She was then asked about her process of writing the ‘visions’ for her main character. She replied that she knew in the first book there was going to be a fire but in terms of the visions themselves she writes as she goes and referred to herself as a ‘pantser’ meaning she ‘flys by the seat of her pants’ as she writes.  When asked about how she chose to write heaven and hell in her books she said she was inspired by C.S. Lewis and liked the idea of heaven being very substantial whereas hell would be very insubstantial. She also liked the idea of heaven not necessarily being above and hell not being below.

Ashton said when talking about YA that there is no time where you feel things so much. She then related an anecdote about when she was younger her Grandmother buying her ‘clown pants’ and being forced to wear them to school and at the time feeling as though she wanted to die she was so embarassed. Ashton talked a little bit about how she wrote her sequel how it was very different structure than her first book which she wrote in chapter by chapter including the flashbacks, whereas in the sequel it is much more focused on a quest and that she was very excited to write that. She also said that Cole was both her favorite and least favorite character to write as he would often appall her with the things he would do but that he has lots of layers she likes to dress/undress (her joke, not mine!).

They were then asked about the use of love triangles in Ya and their popularity. She also mentioned that Rossi’s book are the only ones that don’t really feature one. Rossi replied that the book series wasn’t over yet! She talked a lot about how important she feels the friendship between Aria and Perry in UTNS. That when writing the book she was inspired by ‘Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid’ in which two guy friends are both enamored of the same girl. Rossi said that she feels she is perpetually 13 and views this age group as a treasure trove of content, first love etc. In terms of YA books she said she had recently read and loved ‘Warm Bodies.’ When talking about how well she writes male characters and also the friendship between Roar and Perri, she told us that she was inspired by her two brothers. She talked a lot about growing up around her brothers playing D&D, watching LOTR and how she was always more of a tomboy. She also mentioned that she is now the mother of two boys and that helps her when writing male characters and that her husband would read and give her suggestions on accurately depicting a guy’s mindset.

Afterward there was a signing and I went over to Brodi Ashton to get my copy of Everbound signed. She was really friendly and was giving out small pink guitar picks to each person who came up to get their book signed. I got a kick out of that even though I don’t own a guitar because Cole always fiddles with his guitar pick flipping it over and under his knuckles as he is talking to Nikki. I featured a scan of it above if you are interested to see what it looks like.

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Allison Can Read and give bloggers a topic to discuss each week while discovering new blogs.

Q: Happy Mardi Gras! If they were throwing the HOTTEST books off of a Mardi Gras float — what would you do to have them throw to you…?

Umm I think my answer is going to be boring but I wouldn’t do anything over the top, I might jump up and down ‘squeeing’  but that is about it LOL There is a reason I have never been to Mardi Gras in real life LOL If they were throwing books I would hope it would be ‘Scarlet’ by Marissa Meyer or ‘Madman’s Daughter’ because I want both of those and I can’t afford them ATM.

Thank you for coming to visit! I love meeting new book bloggers and getting great new book recommendations! If you follow me I promise to visit your blog and follow back!

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This entry was posted by picturemereading.

• February 8, 2013
• Feature and Follow Friday
• 22 comments