I Was Here Seattle Tour Stop and Interview with Gayle Forman

 Gayle Forman's new book I Was Here is set partially in nearby Tacoma. To celebrate the launch, she has been having friends and fellow authors meet up with her. Tonight Nina LaCour and Deb Caletti joined her for a conversation at University Bookstore in a very rainy Seattle, WA. They talked about their writing process and how do they revise. They also talked about how they name their characters and how they feel about setting. A general theme of the night was friendship as they reflected on their writing experience and lives in general. The night felt like overhearing a conversation of friends and was very much enjoyed by me.
Earlier that night, I had the opportunity to briefly talk with Gayle and ask her a few questions.
S: Why did you decide to write contemporary with many other genres in YA?
Gayle said that it is the world that she lives in and it is where she can explore many of the questions that she is drawn to.
S: What are some of your recommended reads? 
She recommended Deb Caletti's The Last Forever, Nina LaCour's The Disenchantment,
Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun, Jacqueline Woodsen's Brown Girl Dreaming, and Coe Booth's Tyrell Series.
S: What is the best writing advice that you have received?
"Hard Writing makes easy reading."
S:What inspired or influenced you to grapple with suicide?
Gayle said that she was inspired by an article that she wrote about suicide; which, introduced her to Suzy Gonzales, who didn't seem like someone that would commit suicide from many of the people surrounding her. Gayle wanted to deal with being on the receiving end of a timed suicide note from someone that you love and that you find incredibly gifted and amazing. Over the writing process, she found that it was more about survival and loving life as she explored Cody's character and revised the book..
S: What are your upcoming books?
 Gayle said she is currently working on three books, which has recently become more so between two books. She likes switching, because it makes the writing seem more fresh and exciting.  

Thank you to University Bookstore for hosting; Penguin Randomhouse for organizing the interview and the tour;  Gayle Forman, Nina LaCour, Deb Caletti; and you for reading this.

YALLFest Interview: Sean Williams

For the next week, this is the second interviews for authors that are going to YALLFest this year. Sadly I will not be going, but it has an amazing line-up. I highly suggest that you check it out, if you have the chance and live in the south. Sean Williams wrote Twinmaker and here is the interview with him.

What one thing do you need to have when you write?

The right music. And chocolate as a reward when I finish.

Describe your book in 5 words

Jump meets Uglies. But different.

What is the hardest line to write- the first or the last?

The first line is often the hardest to write, but I like a good challenge. The line I like writing the least is the last because it means I have a whole load of rewriting ahead of me.

Best writing tip you ever received?

Give up. If you can do that, you’ll be happier and probably better off as a result. If you can’t, then you know writing is exactly the right thing for you!

Tell us 5 random facts about yourself.

1) I live in Adelaide, South Australia, a place that’s home to about a million other people but somehow feels like a small town, which is why I love it.

2) I still think music from the 1980s is cool.

3) My stepson has situs invertus, which means his heart is on the wrong side of his body. That’s not really about me, but it is pretty random.

4) I’m a huge fan of Doctor Who.

5) I’m minding a pair of green tree frogs, Skipper and Jumpy, for a young friend while she’s overseas with her family. You can see pictures of them on my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/seanwilliamsauthor/.

Where's your favorite place to write?

In my study, a lovely upstairs nook containing all my favorite book-related things, but I’ve trained myself to write anywhere as long as I have my headphones and some music. I quite like writing in hotels, probably because someone else does all the household chores.

What are you working on now?

Crashland, the sequel to Twinmaker.

YALLFest Interview: CJ Lyons

For the next week, I will have two authors that are going to YALLFest this year. Sadly I will not be going, but it has an amazing line-up. I highly suggest that you check it out, if you have the chance and live in the south. 
Today, I have CJ Lyon as a promotion for YALLFest, . She is the author of Broken, which is a YA Thriller. Before writing YA, she was a pediatric emergency room doctor and wrote thrillers. Anyways, without further instructions, here is the interview.

Describe your book in 5 words:

CJ: Girl dying of broken heart (literally)

What is the hardest line to write- the first or the last?

CJ: The first. I’ll often return to it over and over again until I’ve sliced and diced and fine-honed it to that perfect combination of intrigue, visceral reaction, and emotional connection with the reader.

Best writing tip you ever received?

What one young adult novel do you wish you had when you were a teen? Why?

CJ: Code Name Verity because it is so emotionally honest and inspiring, empowering, not to mention gut-wrenching. Really brings the era to life as well as the sacrifices made in the name of freedom.

Tell us 5 random facts about yourself.

CJ: When I was a kid I worked summer stock theatre and was actually a theatre major undergrad before switching to pre-med. I’ve had two hard landings in helicopters while working as a flight doc. I survived rampaging Cape Horn Buffalo and a pack of wild baboons, not to mention a leopard (he’s already eaten) while hiking in Hells Gate Park in Kenya. I’m a Capricorn. I diagnosed my niece with the heart condition that’s at the center of my YA thriller, BROKEN.

What are you working on now?

CJ: DAMAGED, my next YA thriller, due out in 2014. It deals with the really tough topic of abuse and coercion and is the most difficult book I’ve ever tackled—there have been times while writing when I was literally in tears as I typed.

What is your favorite genre to write in? To Read?

CJ: I created my own genre of Thrillers with Heart—I love writing fast paced stories with raising stakes but centered on the emotional heart of an evolving relationship. As for reading, I read almost every genre but especially love YA, magical realism, and thrillers. As long as a story grabs me by the throat and won’t let me go because I’m too worried about what the characters are going through, I’ll read it and love it.

If you are interested in YALLFest, visit their website or Twitter for more information.

Interview with Victoria Schwab

I have Victoria Schwab here. She is talking about the cover of her debut, The Near Witch.

1. Your cover is absolutely gorgeous. What are your favorite part about it? What is your least favorite part, if anything?

I love it. It's so different from the majority of fantasy/paranormal out there. For me, the light quality of the cover is deceptive, the story itself at times quite dark. The whole cover is whimsical and eerie, and I love it for managing to be both. My favorite part is probably the glossy filigree, which adds that element of magic.

2. How well do you think the cover portrays Near Witch?

This is a hard question, because covers are meant to draw people in, to pique curiosity. They don't need to accurately portray anything, only convey a vibe, and in that sense, I think the cover is successful. I hope it's enough for people to pick the book up and investigate further.

3. What are some of your favorite book covers of other books?

Ohhhh, I LOVE covers. I actually have a degree in book design, so I spend the majority of my time in bookstores just looking at art. UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER is probably my favorite cover of the year so far, along with IMAGINARY GIRLS. Apparently, I'm in the mood for floating people.

4. Is there anything that you would like to add?

Just a thank you!! A thank you to you for interviewing, and to the readers/bloggers/online people of awesome who have already shown so much love and support. You all make this a joy.

Interview with Ruta Sepetys and Giveaway!

Ruta Sepetys was raised in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers. She wrote creepy stories as a child and told anyone who would listen that she was going to marry Roald Dahl. In addition to music and writing, Ruta enjoys teaching at the university, collecting eccentric art, and traveling with her dreamy husband. Ruta’s work has taken her to 41 countries on six continents. Her adventures have inspired dozens of stories and since she has intimate knowledge of heartbreak and teen angst, she decided to write books for young adults. Ruta’s degrees have nothing to do with literature, but do involve failed attempts at becoming an opera singer, an investment banker, and Roald Dahl’s wife.
1.Between Shades of Gray is the only young adult novel about what happened in USSR. These people had daily struggles and had to adapt. Knowing that this happened people, did it make Between Shades of Gray harder to write? Was there ever a time that you wanted to quit?
Emotionally, it pulled me through the wringer. Every day I was left pondering questions like “What does it take to bear the unbearable? And “Who survives this kind of thing?” I was left in awe of the people who managed to use suffering as a great teacher and somehow, while everyone around them was dying, their will to live burned like fire. Once I conducted the interviews I knew that quitting was not an option.
2. As someone with Lithuanian heritage, do you feel that your culture has changed from this event?
I have so much love for Lithuania and the people of the Baltics. Growing up with a name like Ruta Sepetys certainly emphasized my heritage. But although I wrote the book, it’s not really my story. The story belongs to the people of the Baltics. Much of Stalin’s terror has been dormant and I hope that we can bring the stories out of the dark in order to celebrate the heroes who have been nameless and faceless for over fifty years.
3. Since you books is a historical novel, what other points in history interest you?
Yes, I enjoy reading about the Westward Migration and The Great Depression.
4. What are some of your favorite young adult novels?
Oh, there’s so many! Here are a few:
“How I Live Now” by Meg Rosoff
“Dead Rules” by Randy Russell
“A Northern Light” by Jennifer Donnelly
“Charles and Emma” by Deborah Heiligman
“Wintergirls” by Laurie Halse Anderson
5. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Just to say thank you for your fantastic blog and for all that you do to support writers and readers!
Thanks for having me, Sarah!
Below are my links:
www.rutasepetys.com
www.betweenshadesofgray.com
www.facebook.com/rutasepetys

Interview with Marina Budhos

Marina Budhos is an author of several books, some fiction and some that isn't. She likes writing a lot about different cultures in a new way. I hope you enjoy this interview.

1. The view on immigrants has been rather negative for the past few years and your young adult books focus on that. What are some posistive changes that you would like to see for immigrants?
It’s interesting—last night President Obama mentioned the most important thing that affects some young immigrants—and that is allowing undocumented youth to have a path to American citizenship, which is called the Dream Act. They are in a twilight limbo, having grown up here, been educated, and yet they have no future, no way to contribute as Americans. I’d like to see us do something about that.
As well, I’d like us, as a country to remember and make use of the extraordinary energy and spirit that immigrants bring to our culture. We lose sight of that, especially as many of our towns and cities have experienced frictions with our changing demographics. A small example: for the past two weeks I have been interviewing women to take care of my elderly mother-in-law. Nearly all have been immigrant women and I have been so impressed with their willingness to work hard, to offer compassion and steadiness, for this most vital of jobs. What I’d like us to remember is the humanity of our immigrants—how much they have risked, how much they are willing to do to be here.
2. Tell Us We're Home Focuses on finding the American Dream. What are some things that many citizens take for granted that immigrants find?
The most basic is simply a sense of home, of place, and belonging. I think from a teenage perspective, it’s an ease in the culture, and very often a more easy-going attitude on the parts of their parents—they’re allowed to do a lot more, even simply hang out after school. They may be experiencing their own teenage angst, but they basically know what the rules are, even what their future might look like. All of this is being invented by an immigrant family, and sometimes an immigrant teenager is the one who is paving the way for their parents. So they can’t take for granted that their parents even know how to do simple things, such as deal with a government bureaucracy, or a school, or give them advice on what’s ahead or even how to get the American Dream. Sometimes, for some immigrants, it’s that they are working so hard just to survive, to get their toehold, it’s difficult to really see where the American Dream lies.
More recently there are some immigrant groups that have experienced real pain and stigmatizing. Obviously Muslims after 9/11, where they often made to feel as if they are not a part of America, are somehow outside, different, perhaps dangerous—or they are deemed to have ‘divided loyalties.’ In some parts of the country, where the demographics have tilted, Latinos have become the targets of tremendous harassment. All of this, of course, contributes to a general sense that they are not quite ‘American’ and thus not part of the American Dream.
3. On your website, it says that you have traveled a lot. Where are some of your favorite places to travel to?
I have just returned from a long trip with my family to India, where I have been many times, and also, where I have lived. It is one of my absolute favorite places, and for me, besides my personal connection, it is like watching a photograph develop in astonishing ways, since the country is going through so much fascinating change. I also love the cities of London and Paris, which I have been fortunate to visit in the past year as well. Next up, I wish to see more of Asia, especially given all the breathtaking transformations going on there.
What are some of your favorite books?
Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston; Ragtime, by E.R. Doctorow, God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy, Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy, Holes, by Louis Sachar (a perfect book, in my opinion) Varied enough?
5. Is there anything that you would like to add?
I guess what I’d like to add is that I hope all readers are willing to open their eyes to experiences and stories that may be a little different than theirs. Or that in reading about those who are ‘on the outside,’ they also learn a little bit about themselves and what they take for granted. Or even, that those characters who seem to be coming from such a wildly different perspective—in fact, perhaps they have a bit more in common than they realize.

I also have a copy of Tell Us We're Home for giveaway. Fill out the form below.