The First Comes Love paperback has a new cover! How do you feel about its new packaging and design?
I love the new cover. It reminds me of Stargirl, and that’s one of my favorite covers of all time. I like it when covers avoid using characters, so that readers can imagine them for themselves. I also love the cactus heart; it’s very fitting for the male character (Gray).

What were you trying to accomplish when you started writing First Comes Love? What do you feel you’ve accomplished with the finished product?
I was trying to vent. One of my best friends had recently lost her brother, and watching her go through the grieving process was so heavy, and I felt so helpless to comfort her, that I started writing First Comes Love as a way to expel all of these emotions cramming my head. I also wanted to write a realistic relationship story. Falling in love is easy, but staying in love and making it last is work and commitment.

Which of your characters in this book can you relate to most, and why?
Both. I am 50% Gray and 50% Dylan. Even my editor told me that the reason this story works is because Gray and Dylan are me. I suppose this is true. I have two extreme sides to my personality, one upbeat and adventurous and the other closed off and cynical.

Your two series, Awaken and First Comes Love, have very different settings, but both focus on relationships. What is it that draws you to this topic?
I love relationship stories. I think it’s so strange and mysterious to see who we are attracted to and who we connect with. The people that we invest our time in say so much about who we are.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing First Comes Love? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I learned that I don’t believe in love at first sight. I learned that relationships build over time and experiences. I also learned that it’s more important to love people on their worst days than on their best.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
There are so many “firsts” when you are young. First love. First heartbreak. First road trip. First job. In my experience, “firsts” are very overwhelming. I think that’s why I love writing YA books. There is endless drama.

If there was one thing you could change about First Comes Love, what would it be?
The design on the hardcover. I know it’s “steamy” but I personally don’t like steamy covers.

What are you working on next?
Well, I wrote a sequel to First Comes Love, titled Second Chance. The Gray and Dylan saga continues…and there will be a third and final book to wrap up their story. At the moment I’m concentrating on finishing the last book in the Awaken series.

A very warm welcome to Marissa Moss! Her novel Home Sweet Rome, the second installment in her Mira's Diary series, came out earlier this month!


How was your experience of writing Home Sweet Rome different than writing its prequel, Lost in Paris?
The experience was as different as being in Paris compared to Rome. I know both cities well, having lived in each for a year, but they have very distinctive personalities and I hope those characteristics found their way into the books.

The Mira's Diary books are formatted as a sort of sketchbook. Could you tell us a little bit about the process of creating an illustrated novel?
For me, it's easier than straight writing because the illustrations can get across a lot of information, freeing me from the burden of too much heavy-handed descriptions. Whenever art will get the point across as well as words can, I prefer to use a picture. Plus I love to draw, so that part of the book is pure fun.

What made you decide to write about time travel?
I love history and I thought time travel could be a way of making particular times and places come alive for readers. I wanted to tell historical stories in a way that would seem relevant to people today. At least, that's what I hope I'm doing with these books!

What sort of research did you have to do for Home Sweet Rome?
A huge amount! I read a lot of books on subjects ranging to 17th Century daily life in Rome to the philosophy of Giordano Bruno. Plus I watched an Italian documentary on Bruno (complete with re-enactment of his death) and I explored the archive of secret documents housed in the Vatican at a special exhibit in Rome. Some of my research was simply walking the streets, sketching things that would make interesting Touchstones.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Home Sweet Rome? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I'd have to say the more I read about Giordano Bruno, the more fascinated by him I became. He was such an unusual thinker, really a lot like a modern-day physicist, except in the 17th century that kind of work was considered philosophy. It was striking that at that time, there weren't the same kind of separations as we have now between science and religion, art and philosophy. They all had to do with a search for the truth, for better understanding the world around us.

What is the most rewarding part about being a middle grade author?
The biggest compliment I get is when kids write to me that I've inspired them to write themselves—or encouraged them to read when before they thought books were boring. That kind of response is deeply rewarding!

If there was one thing you could change about Home Sweet Rome, what would it be?
I wanted to have more sketches of Rome. The city is so rich visually, I ended up with far more drawings than fit into the book. I wished they could have all gone in!

What are you working on next?
Mira goes to London next, during WWI, where she meets some interesting authors as well as suffragettes. It's another period full of juicy stories that I want to somehow fit in to the book.



(1) lucky winner will receive Mira's Diary: Home Sweet Rome by Marissa Moss



Other details:

• US/Canadian mailing addresses only.
• Contest ends 4/26/13, at 9 p.m. EST.

Remember, you must complete the form to be entered, and only one form submission per person will be counted. If you have any questions about this contest, see my contest policy, or contact me and ask away.

The first book in Gillian Philip's Firebrand series is available in the US for the first time! To celebrate, I've got a fantastic interview and a giveaway, but first, check out this great book trailer below!

Now that three books in the Firebrand series have come out in the UK, how does it feel to have the first book available for the first time in the United States?
It feels great! Especially with the new cover. I love my UK covers but the US ones are stunning too. It also feels good to have a second bite at the later books - there were scenes I wish I’d put in Bloodstone, and now I can, because Tor are kind enough to let me do a few additions and adjustments. That’s not a chance a writer often gets.

What inspired you to write Firebrand?
Seth! He was originally a minor villain in Bloodstone, and I had to rewrite the whole thing when I realised the series was first and foremost his story. Firebrand was a backstory that turned into an entire novel. I’m also really inspired by landscape - I like to walk miles, imagining scenes and characters. Bloodstone came about because of a small loch in the Highlands that I love - I imagined a couple of characters falling into it and vanishing.

Firebrand is first and foremost a fantasy, but there seems to be a strong historical element as well. What kind of research did you have to do for either or both of these aspects?
I’m the world’s laziest researcher, but once I started to read about sixteenth century Scotland I was hooked. It was a pretty terrible time to be alive, with religious wars and the Reformation and witch-hunts, but if that’s bad for your characters, it’s great for the story. I went back to loads of original sources, like King James VI & 1’s Daemonologie, the Malleus Maleficarum, and contemporary accounts of witch trials. I even found a price list for torturing and executing witches...

As for the myths and legends, I’d been familiar with some of them since I was young, but I read up about them in much more depth. I got the series title from an old Highland legend that the faeries are the rebel angels - or the ones who fell on land. The ones who fell in the sea became selkies, the seal people; the ones who got caught in the sky became the Northern Lights.

In Firebrand, the mortal world and the Sithe realm are distinct yet connected. Can you tell us a little bit about how you developed these two settings?
The idea of a portal between dimensions is of course a pretty common one in fantasy fiction, but for a good reason - it’s such a great device :-) And there is a concept in Celtic myth of a veil between the faery world and ours. I wondered what would happen if that barrier was rotting away, and in danger of dying, and who that would threaten most - us, or the creatures on the other side. My Sithe world is identical in terms of landscape to the real Scotland, but a lot wilder - and my Sithe, because they move between the worlds, are kind of fond of our technology, and have no problem stealing it. I had fun giving them things like iPods and fridges in the later books.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Firebrand? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I think the most important thing I learned is to stay true to the story. Even in manuscript, Firebrand got a lot of wildly varying responses. Some readers loved it and some hated it. And the same applied to Seth - I was taken aback by how much some people disliked his character. I wasn’t averse to making some changes, and I did - he thinks a little more deeply in the final version, and he also has a few lighter moments - but I knew he had to be himself, right down to his bones. There are a lot of bad aspects to his character (well, he did start life as a villain), but taking away his stroppiness, his arrogance, his propensity for violence, even his prejudices - that would have made him another person. I talked about this to a lot of other writers who have the same sort of dilemma, and we all know there’s a balance, and that only the writer can try to judge where that is. You can’t crowd-source your character’s attitudes and morality... but it is agonising sometimes!

What is the most rewarding part about being an author?
The knowledge that people are reading your story, and enjoying it - sometimes even that they’re not enjoying it, but are reacting strongly to your characters. When you’re writing a 100,000 word novel, you spend a lot of time with the people in your head, and there’s nothing quite like introducing them to other people, in the real world.

If there was one thing you could change about Firebrand, what would it be?
Oh, all sorts of things... see what I said about Bloodstone in my first answer? I think all books are like that. I can’t read a passage out loud to an audience without my internal editor kicking in.

I’ve often wondered if I’d change the ending... but I wouldn’t.

What are you working on next?
I’m looking forward to writing the final draft of the fourth Rebel Angels book, provisionally titled Icefall. I have a rough idea what happens, but it needs a lot of work. I’m also writing a middle grade series, Rookery Island, under a pseudonym, for a fantastic company called Working Partners. I also write for them and Harper Collins as Erin Hunter - it’s a series called Survivors, which I love working on, about a group of dogs left alone in a post-apocalyptic world. I’m touring the US in May to promote Book 2, A Hidden Enemy, and I am so looking forward to that. Finally, there’s a contemporary YA thriller cooking away in my head, called (for now) Spitting Distance - I’m really keen to get back to that one too. The characters are calling... Oh, and at some point I have to clean my house...!



(1) lucky winner will receive Firebrand by Gillian Philip
courtesy of Tor



Other details:

• US/Canadian mailing addresses only.
• Contest ends 3/23/13, at 9 p.m. EST.

Remember, you must complete the form to be entered, and only one form submission per person will be counted. If you have any questions about this contest, see my contest policy, or contact me and ask away.

The premise for your new novel, The Girl in the Wall, is pretty different from that of your first novel, Alive and Well in Prague, New York—but both are still contemporary. How was writing The Girl in the Wall similar to and different from writing your first book?
Yes, they are really different! Alive and Well was based on my experience of having a terminally ill parent, like Matisse does in the book. My actual experience was different but I drew on the feelings of pain, fear, anger and loss that I had lived through. It was a very personal book to write.

The Girl, on the other hand, was not taking from anything in my own life—I have never been in any kind of life threatening or hostage situation (and I hope I never am! I would be one of the wimpy ones cowering off in a corner.). It was more of an adventure to write, the fun of imagining this crazy situation and what might happen in it. But of course I did still drew on authentic emotion, pulling from past experiences and emotions to inform how I thought Sera and Ariel might be feeling at different times, so in that way they were similar.

Where did your ideas for this novel come from?
I have one of those minds that never shuts off and when there isn’t anything pressing right in front of me that needs my attention, my mind wanders into what-ifs and mini stories. I come up with a lot of them but few are actually good book ideas. With The Girl I just started thinking about what might happen if a party got taken hostage and all these dressed up teens had to find a way to outsmart their captors. And also find time for some romance- that always figures into my what-ifs and mini stories.

What sort of research did you have to do for this novel?
Really random stuff, like what the air smells like after a bullet is fired and also the process for transferring over a company and liquidating its funds—don’t worry, there isn’t much of that in the story! I just needed to know it to be sure what I was writing was based in reality.

What was the most difficult scene for you to write, and why?
I don’t want to say too much about it because it happens towards the end but the death of a character I loved was a very hard scene to write. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt but when the set up is a hostage situation with guns and billions of dollars at stake, you kind of have to go there or it’s not true to the premise and promise of the story.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing The Girl in the Wall? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
Good question! I think my big takeaway was how much I like writing thrillers. I’ve always loved reading them—when I was young I was addicted to Lois Duncan’s books and I still reread them periodically (if pressed I would say my favorite is They Never Came Home). But I didn’t think I could actually write one and in fact, when I first started it and mentioned it to my agent, I was shocked when she called it a thriller. I hadn’t been thinking of it in those terms—but once she said it I saw she was right and I was pretty pleased to be working on a genre I like so much!

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
There are so many things I love about it! Hearing from readers is pretty close to the top of the list. Revisiting and reimagining my own teen emotions and experiences is up there as well—I had some good times and very good friends in high school, but there is plenty I would redo if I could!

If there was one thing you could change about The Girl in the Wall, what would it be?
Honestly I could open the book to any page and find a phrase or a word I’d like to change—the writing process is never done for me, it’s just that I hit the deadline and the book has to go. I work with an amazing editor who made the story much tighter and stronger, but even so there are always little things I wish I could tweak just because it never seems perfect.

What are you working on next?
Another thriller! I’m just at the beginning which is my favorite part because it feels filled with possibility.

What has your experience as a debut author been like so far? What has been the best part of the publishing process for you? the worst?
My experience as a debut author has been … brief. Most authors have to wait well over a year from the time their books sell to the time of publication, but my deal was announced in February of this year! I honestly have to say that my focus has remained where it was before—on writing the next thing. In fact, that’s how I cope with the worst part of the publishing process: the waiting. It’s also how I experience the best part: the feeling of actually becoming a better writer as I get feedback from my agent and editors. That’s both humbling and exciting. As is, of course, hearing from people who’ve read advance copies of Sanctum. I’m so intrigued by their reactions, whether positive or critical. It’s an honor that anyone wants to read something I’ve written.

You’re both a child psychologist and a young adult author. How does knowing child psychology affect how you write, and vice versa?
It took me eight years after college to become a psychologist, and at some point, I lost sight of what part of me was “psychologist” vs. just “the way Sarah thinks about things.” I’ve always been interested in how people construct their own “real,” how no one really has cornered the market on objective reality. We all just do the best we can, but everything we believe to be “truth” is filtered through our own biases and hopes and desires. Yet somehow, we reach each other, and we change each other. I don’t know. I’m interested in what goes on inside of people and between people, and that’s what I write about, too, even in stories where there’s intense action.

Where did your ideas for Sanctum come from?
I was interested in the idea that death doesn’t constitute an end to one’s emotional journey—I wanted to explore the idea that even the dead have to deal with their issues. But … in the Shadowlands, the afterlife in Sanctum, the “issues” are much more tangible. They—disappointments, wants, fantasies—are manifested in a very palpable, concrete way in that afterlife. They have smells and textures, and they can fit in a pocket or rise a hundred stories into the sky. It was tremendously fun to use that idea as a foundation and take it as far as I could. The dark city in Sanctum is the product of that.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Sanctum? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I learned that some books just have to be written a certain way. Believe it or not, I originally wrote this entire book in third person, all 400-or-so pages of it. And then … I realized it was too distant from Lela, who’s the heart of this story. The reader needed to be inside her head, and the voice of the story needed to be hers. So I went back and rewrote the WHOLE thing in first person. I’m so glad I did. It changed everything.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
Hands down, when teens read the book and find it genuine and real—and entertaining.

If there was one thing you could change about Sanctum, what would it be?
Honestly? I’m a better writer now that I was when I wrote Sanctum. I think that’s true for most debut authors. It’s a truly developmental process, and there’s always room for improvement.

What are you working on next?
I am editing several projects that will be coming out over the next few years, including Book Two in this series. The next project I’ll be working on is the third installment. It’s going to be INTENSE.

(1) lucky winner will receive Sanctum by Sarah Fine
courtesy of AuthorsOnTheWeb



Other details:

• US/Canadian mailing addresses only.
• Contest ends 11/01/12, at 9 p.m. EST.

Remember, you must complete the form to be entered, and only one form submission per person will be counted. If you have any questions about this contest, see my contest policy, or contact me and ask away.

All of your previous books, both young adult and middle grade, contain fantasy elements. Why do you choose to write in this genre?
I am a firm believer that "write what you know" should really be "write what you love." And I love fantasy! I am a sucker for any story about a kick-butt girl and her talking horse/dragon/wolf/sword/potato sidekick. I love the feeling of empowerment and hope that I get from reading a fantasy novel. I love that fantasy has the power to take me on an impossible journey and to restore my sense of wonder.

How was writing Vessel similar or different to the process of writing any of your previous young adult books?
Vessel is my sixth young adult novel, and I have honed my process down to the following steps:

1. Carefully craft an outline.
2. Print out my outline and proudly display it next to my laptop.
3. Ignore the outline and write the first draft as quickly as possible with minimal regard to characters, plot, setting, or verbs.
4. Buy some chocolate.
5. Create a new outline that fixes all the stuff that was wrong with the first one, loosely inspired by whatever poured out of my fingers in step three.
6. Open a brand new file and write the second draft from scratch using the new outline.
7. Eat the chocolate.
8. Repeat as needed until done.

What sort of research did you have to do while writing Vessel?
I love to mix reality and fantasy, so I did a lot of research on the Sahara Desert, the Gobi Desert, and several deserts in the southwestern part of the United States. I then wove them together, layered in my own mythology, and added wolves made of sand, sky serpents of unbreakable glass, monstrous worms, and gods and goddesses that walk in human bodies.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Vessel? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I learned that snakes can remain venomous for twenty-four hours after death. Also, I learned that there is something immensely freeing about writing about a world that doesn't exist. There's a wonderful feeling of utter immersion when you take yourself into a purely imaginary place. It made for a fantastic writing experience.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
The most rewarding part of being an author is being able to write the next book!

If there was one thing you could change about Vessel, what would it be?
Honestly, I did the best I could with this book and poured everything I have. So I'm happy with it as it is. I hope everyone else is too!

You’ve written both young adult and middle grade before, but you have a forthcoming adult trilogy. How, if at all, do you think writing for this audience will be different than writing for children and young adults?
I try very hard not to think about audience as I write. It's too paralyzing to worry about what will be right for a particular kind of reader. Instead, I try to focus on what's right for a particular set of characters and what the story itself needs. I actually think the difference between writing Drink, Slay, Love (my snarky vampire and were-unicorn novel) and writing Vessel (my sweeping epic adventure) will be greater than the difference between writing a young adult novel and a novel for adults.

What are you working on next, aside from your adult books?
I am working on my next young adult novel, Sweet Nothings, which is coming from Bloomsbury/Walker in fall 2013. It's about a girl in the paranormal witness protection program, who, haunted by dreams of carnival tents and tarot cards, must remember her past and why she has strange abilities before a magic-wielding serial killer hunts her down.

What has your experience as a debut author been like so far?
It's been fantastic! I've wanted to have a book published since I was in high school, so although it sounds kind of cheesy, this is definitely a dream come true. And it's been a lot of fun getting to meet so many other authors and bloggers and readers (both online and in person)!

What has been the best part of the publishing process for you? the worst?
The best part is seeing the book on display in stores (both indies and B&Ns), and also interfacing with all the readers and bloggers online and at different events. The worst part is probably that promoting the book takes so much time and traveling, it's sometimes hard to do as much writing as I want to do! :) But I guess that's a good problem to have.

There are a lot of other dystopian books out there. What makes The Forsaken stand out from the rest?
The Forsaken is darker and grittier. It also has some twists that aren't in any of the other dystopians (including a huge one near the end). And my heroine, Alenna Shawcross, is a regular girl. She doesn't have crazy super powers or anything. She's just like you or me. The book is about what happens to her when she fails a mandatory government personality test and gets banished to a prison island called "the wheel." She has to learn how to fight back, and how to make friends, and ultimately she has to try to figure out how to escape from the wheel. The Forsaken probably has a higher thriller/mystery element than some of the other dystopians. Also, while there is a romance in The Forsaken, it's not the sole focus of the book. The Forsaken is about friendship and loyalties (and betrayals) as much as romance. It's also very action-oriented. I love The Hunger Games, Battle Royale, and Divergent, so it has some of those elements, but it also combines them with other things I love, like Lord of the Flies, the TV show Lost, and even The Wizard of Oz.

What sort of research did you have to do to write this book?
I mostly researched different prison systems (both in the US and in other countries), and tropical islands (because a lot of the book takes place on the prison island known as "the wheel"). It's amazing how crazy and scary prisons are around the world. It's also scary how many innocent people get imprisoned by corrupt governments each year.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing The Forsaken? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I learned that I could finish writing a book. Although I tried writing a couple of novels before The Forsaken, I never finished them. I got about 100 pages in, and then quit. But this time, something felt different. It was like the book was writing itself, and the characters came to life on the page. It was very exciting.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
In addition to meeting tons of cool people, and seeing the book in stores, it's probably getting emails from readers who really love the book and who say that it made them see the world differently. My goal with The Forsaken is to entertain people, and also make them think about their own lives. I read a lot of YA books myself, so it's also a thrill to finally get my own YA novel out there into the world.

If there was one thing you could change about The Forsaken, what would it be?
This is a great question. I don't know if I would change anything at this point. I guess there are probably certain things I would tweak a bit. I did cut a lot of pages at the very beginning (about Alenna's life in the fascistic United Northern Alliance before she gets sent to the island) and I also cut some of the romance scenes between her and Liam. In both cases it was just to keep the pace up, and to keep the book at a reasonable length. But maybe if I ever did a "director's cut" of the book, I would reinstate some of those scenes. Who knows! Maybe one day I'll post those deleted sections online. That might be fun.

What are you working on next?
I just finished Book 2 of The Forsaken trilogy a few weeks ago (titled The Uprising) and now I'm working on Book 3! I've also started work on a thriller about identity theft. I love writing, so I hope I can just keep doing it, and get a book out every year, if not more!

Find out more about Lisa M. Stasse and her novel The Forsaken online!
Website: www.lisamstasse.com
Official Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtIwks26SZU
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12987192-the-forsaken
Twitter: www.twitter.com/lisamstasse

In both Eve and Once, Eve must face a myriad of tough obstacles. How did you go about making sure that the action and plot felt as fresh in the sequel as it did in the first book?
I’d decided early on that I wouldn’t reveal the City of Sand until the second book. In some ways this made the sequel easier to write—the world Eve experiences in Once is so different from the world of the wild. The way the survivors of the plague have been living is in stark contrast to how the boys in the dugout (or even Marjorie and Otis) lived. Plot-wise, there are echoes of the first book in the third, but Eve has changed so much by that point that the wild is seen through this new lens. Everything is portrayed differently because she is different.

To follow up on that, how does Eve’s voice change and grow in response to many obstacles that she has to face in both books?
I love this question—I’ve thought about this so much as the series ended. In the opening chapters of the first book Eve is well read, has committed the Teachers lessons to heart, and has a firm understanding of the world inside the School’s walls. When she discovers the School’s secret, all of that changes. In much of the first novel she’s trying to reconcile what she’s been taught with what she’s learning every day. She often refers to books she’s read and beliefs she’s held as a way to hold onto her old self. Those references disappear as the series moves forward. Eve becomes more rooted in herself and her present situation. She doesn’t waver or question herself as much. She assesses what’s happening and acts without hesitation.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
The readers. It’s extraordinary how the YA audience has grown in the past decade (thank you J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyers, and Suzanne Collins). When I was writing the first Eve novel I thought about who would be reading these books. I realized I could be writing for a girl who hasn’t had her first kiss, and a woman going through her second divorce. That feels extraordinary to me. Sometimes I even get emails from two generations of women—mothers and daughters who’ve read the book together.

Can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect from the final book in the Eve trilogy?
There’s a huge twist in the third book that sends the story in an unexpected direction. I don’t think anyone will see this one coming.

What will you be working on next, once you’ve wrapped up the Eve trilogy?
I just finished the final book, Rise. Now I’m reading, writing, and developing my next project. It’s still ‘incubating’ as I like to say, so I’m not ready to share details yet. Stay tuned!

How was beginning the Soul Seekers series different than writing The Immortals or Riley Bloom series? Specifically, was it any easier or harder to start a new series after working with two others?
It was easier in that with two prior series under my belt, I’d learned a few tricks along the way. One of which is to keep detailed notes on character traits, as well as little plot details that are easy to forget in subsequent books.

I always say that my favorite book (of my own) is the one I’m planning to write next. The shiny new idea is always the most exciting to explore, and as research is one of my favorite parts of the creative process, writing FATED was an absolute blast! I took a three-day “Introduction to Shamanism” class, traveled to New Mexico to interview local teen and Native Americans about their lives, I had a private session with a shaman—all of which was fascinating and fun and went a long way in informing the world of the series.

As with your last two series, the Soul Seekers series is paranormal, as opposed to some of your earlier standalone books which are contemporary. What do you like most and least about writing in each of these genres?
There’s really nothing I like least—each genre has unique things to offer. At the moment, I’m having a lot of fun with paranormal as it allows me to explore themes that interest me, while still keeping one foot firmly planted in the material world.

Life and death play a large role in your last two and newest series. Why do you choose to write about this topic?
In 2005 I lost three people I loved in five months. Six months after that, my husband was diagnosed with leukemia and I almost lost him as well (he’s in full remission now). Prior to those events, death and mortality was a subject I studiously avoided. But once I’d experienced that sort of loss, it got me thinking a lot about the bigger life questions: Why are we here—where do we go when our bodies give out—how is it that I still feel a connection with my loved ones when they’re no longer physically available to me? It was these sorts of thoughts that fueled my drive to write EVERMORE, and I’ve been exploring those themes ever since.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Fated? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
My research revealed so many interesting things that it’s impossible to choose only one . . .though some of my personal experiences in the “Introduction to Shamanism” course were so amazing , I couldn’t resist including them in the book!

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
The readers. Writing for teens (and the adults who read YA) is a truly rewarding experience. I had a rough adolescence and often looked to books as a place of refuge—so I find it a great privilege to be able to do this for a living.

If there was one thing you could change about Fated, what would it be?
There are always a jillion little nit-picky things I always want to change once the book is printed and shelved and it’s too late to turn back—but I’ve come to accept that as part of the creative neurosis! Ultimately, the story unfolded in the way that I hoped, Daire’s journey has begun, and now I look forward to writing the subsequent books ECHO, MYSTIC, and HORIZON!

What are you working on next?
I just finished book 2 in THE SOUL SEEKERS series, ECHO (Nov 12), and am currently working on book 3, MYSTIC (Spring 2013). The series will end with HORIZON in Fall 2013 . . . and then I’ll dig into the “idea file” and see what’s next!

What has your experience as a debut author been like so far?
That’s a hard question because the experience is just beginning. But I’ve been amazed by all the support I’ve gotten from my family and friends. Since I wrote Wuftoom, I quit my job as an attorney and went through the New School Writing for Children program. Not one of my family members or friends told me that I was crazy for doing this. Maybe they knew what was best for me before I did. People I haven’t heard from in years have gone out of their way to congratulate me and support me through this process. My New School classmates especially have been there with me every step of the way, even though they haven’t known me for all that long. Basically, all the support I’ve gotten has restored my faith in humanity. People are really pretty good!


What has been the best part of the publishing process for you? the worst?
The Best: It’s been fantastic working with my editor, Daniel Nayeri, at Clarion and my agent, Kate McKean. Both have been behind me and the book 100% and have really taken care of the project at every step.

The Worst: Waiting! I wrote the book in 2007, so it took five years to get it to print. The next one won’t take as long, but the process will never be fast enough.

What were you trying to accomplish when you started writing Wuftoom? What do you feel you’ve accomplished with the finished product?
When I started Wuftoom, I thought it would be a novella, maybe 100 pages. I thought I would get it out of my system and then begin work on a novel. The way I originally conceived it, it would have been more straight “horror” and probably not a middle grade or YA story. As the story came along, Evan became a real, sympathetic person to me, and his story became less about the situation of turning into a monster and more about the emotional transformation from helpless invalid to active decision-maker, for better or for worse for him. So something that was just going to be a quick scare turned into a fully formed character and world.

What inspired you to write about metamorphosis?
Well, that is a mystery. Most of my ideas come to me out of thin air. With Wuftoom, I suddenly pictured the boy, Evan, sitting in his bed in a dark room, covered with membranes, with the creature sliding toward him across the floor. And it became immediately apparent that Evan was turning into one of the creatures. Someone in a critique group once theorized that the book was an elaborate metaphor for puberty. I guess you can take it that way if you want, but that’s certainly not what I intended! I just thought it was an interesting situation. How would you react if it happened to you?

The Wuftoom and Vitflys are certainly very interesting and unique creatures. Where did your ideas for them come from?
When I first pictured the Wuftoom, I was really going for something gross. This creature was supposed to be terrifying for Evan, something he wouldn’t want to be turning into! So they are this sallow pinkish color and covered in membranes that I picture as being like flaps of skin, and they have fangs and pale little glowing eyes, and they are wormlike in that they are bendy and can fold their limbs into their bodies. Of course, there’s more to the Wuftoom than appearances. They don’t seem quite as gross anymore if you are one.

The Vitflys came about because, well, giant bugs are gross too! And they are suitable for pure evil, in my opinion, with their claws and their hairiness and their screeching. Basically, I was going for ugly and otherness and a creature that you would probably realize you shouldn’t trust. They had to match the Wuftoom for grossness but lack the redeeming qualities of the Wuftoom.

What sort of research did you have to do for this novel?
Heh. Well, “research” for something as (hopefully) unlikely as a world full of monsters is really just world building. I tried to make everything as plausible as possible if you accept that there’s really a disease that can turn you into a wormlike creature … and there are a bunch of weird gross talking things living beneath us. I didn’t actually look into whether there is such a disease, though, so for all I know, there really is!

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Wuftoom? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
If you have something you really want to do, and you work hard at it, you can succeed. That’s something most kids hear from adults, but by the time we grow up, we often stop believing it. We feel stuck with choices we made or failed to make when we were younger and start thinking that change is just too difficult. When I was writing Wuftoom, I didn’t have any friends in the publishing industry, or an agent, or any support at all. I didn’t even know any other writers. But I decided to write the book and try to get it published. Five years later, it’s coming out, and now I’ve created a support system that will help me keep my career going. It took longer than I wanted it to take, but it happened.

What is the most rewarding part about being a middle grade author?
Imagination! Boy can real life be a drag sometimes. Being an author is like skipping the unpleasant parts. Yes, there’s lots of real life stuff you have to do, like selling the book and promoting it and paying bills, but there’s no feeling like really letting your imagination go and seeing where it can take you. Hopefully there will be some readers who get to enjoy that part of the job with me. I imagine that actually reaching readers will turn out to be the real best part. We’ll find out soon!

If there was one thing you could change about Wuftoom, what would it be?
Ask me in twenty years! Right now, it’s difficult to have perspective. It’s almost like Evan is a real person to me and this book is his life. Okay, not quite. But still, the way it turned out feels like what “really happened.”

What are you working on next?
My next book is a lighter-toned middle grade sci-fi called Escape From the Pipe Men! It’s about a couple of kids who have grown up in an alien zoo and go on an adventure across the universe. There will be many eyes, legs, and antennae. Watch for it in Spring 2013!

How was writing the last book in The Dark Divine trilogy different than writing the first?
In some ways it was easier. In the first book I had to figure out who my characters were along the way, and had to struggle to find their voices, but by the third book I felt like I knew them so well that their voices and how they would react to certain situations came relatively easily to me. However, in other ways, writing the last book was a lot harder. There's a lot more action in the last book (which is one of the hardest things for me to write) and just a lot more conflict and climax all around. The third book felt like I was undertaking something quite EPIC, and it was very important to me to not disappoint my readers with the ending. I think saying goodbye to the characters was the hardest part about writing this book.

What was the most interesting thing you’ve learned over the course of writing the three books in The Dark Divine trilogy?
That it is possible to write for three days straight on no sleep with only 5 Hour Energy shots and chocolate covered cinnamon bears for fuel.

What was your experience of wrapping up a trilogy?
Like I said, saying goodbye to the characters was the hardest part. I kept refusing to write the last couple of chapters, and frustrated my editor because I kept sending him the book without the ending. I wanted the ending to be "perfect," but I mostly kept putting off finishing the book because it was so hard to say goodbye to these almost-people who had been living in my head for 7 years.

Is there any character or aspect of the world of The Dark Divine that you’re sad to part with now that The Dark Divine trilogy has been completed?
I think I'm sad to part with all of it. This world and these characters were a part of almost every waking thought in my head for so many years. It is weird for them to be quiet now. It felt like some of my best friends were moving across the country and I was never going to see them again. But at the same time, it feels really good to be working on new ideas and getting a chance to get to know some new characters now.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
Getting to meet readers and spend so much time with people who are just as passionate about books as I am.

If there was one thing you could change about The Savage Grace, what would it be?
Deadlines and deadlines and they need to be met, but if I'd had one more month to work on this book, I would have spent some time tightening the writing some more. I wouldn't change anything about the characters or the story, though.


What are you working on next?
I am working on a new novel that is slated for publication in Fall 2013. It's a book that I started many years ago, and I am excited to get to work on it again.

How was the process of writing your second YA novel different from that of your debut novel?
The biggest difference was that, with What Can’t Wait, I saw my audience every day since I was still teaching high-school English when I was writing it. While I was writing The Knife and the Butterfly, I still thought about my former students all the time (and even emailed them), but they weren’t conveniently seated in my classroom.

The plotting of The Knife and the Butterfly is also more complex, since it moves back and forth between Azael’s present and his past. Then there’s Lexi’s part of the story... I had to learn how to handle all that gracefully. I hope I succeeded.

What sort of research did you have to do for The Knife and the Butterfly?
I read tons and tons on gang culture in general and MS-13 in particular. I also learned about canning culture (street art and tagging), especially in Houston. I researched other things as I was writing, like the differences between Mexican Spanish (what I’m most familiar with) and the Salvadoran Spanish that Azael’s older family members speak. Maybe my weirdest form of research was going out to the garage while my son was napping and shaking empty paint cans for an hour while trying to figure out how to describe the sound.

What was the most difficult scene for you to write, and why?
My biggest challenge was not a scene but a person: Lexi. At first, I really, really, really couldn’t stand her. But I had to find the place inside Lexi that was wounded—and the place inside her that was still willing to change.

One thing I did to get closer to Lexi was to give her some of my own flaws, like my sweet tooth and lack of self-control. And I started writing a journal in her voice (parts of which end up in the novel) to figure out what experiences shaped her into the person she had become.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing The Knife and the Butterfly? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I got very wrapped up in the different styles of street art. There’s a great gallery of Houston street art on Flickr, for example, that I studied for hours. Of course I had noticed graffiti and spray-painted stuff in my environment while living in Houston, but I could never have told you the difference between a tag, a throw-up, and a piece. Nor would I have labeled myself a serious appreciator of street art. I’m still firmly in the camp of “Don’t Mess Up Other People’s Stuff,” but as I learned about canning, I came to understand what making a mark on the city’s face might mean to a teen like Azael.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
Readers, readers, and readers! The truth is that I never even thought about writing YA until my high-school students rocked my world and made me want to give them a book. I still adore school visits because they give me a chance to talk to the people that my novels are for.

Don’t get me wrong: I love librarians, teachers, my mother-in-law, and my son’s godfathers. I hope that they’ll love the book and buy it for everyone they know. But if they don’t, that’s okay. Because my number-one concern is writing novels that ring true to teens, challenge them think hard about the world around them, and make them want to turn the pages.

You can meet some of my former students (who I still think about when I write) here: http://www.ashleyperez.com/blog/item/81-coming-home-to-my-first-readers

Ashley with one of her groups of seniors back in Houston in 2007. Some of her former students are now teaching in the same district

If there was one thing you could change about The Knife and the Butterfly, what would it be?
I’m thrilled with the novel as it is, but there are tantalizing loose threads for me as a writer that I wouldn’t mind following (and maybe weaving into something new) someday. Whatever happened to Becca, for example? What stories does Eddie have to tell? What does the future hold for Lexi? Is there more to Azael’s story? I may be the author, but there are some things I don’t know (yet).

What are you working on next?
I’m knee-deep in a new novel. It’s set near where I grew up in East Texas, and it involves twins, a school explosion, and an interracial romance. That’s all I can say because I am really superstitious about discussing work in progress.

Speaking of: I agree with my fellow Carolrhoda Lab author that baby-book comparisons mostly fail, but… to me, the first draft is like that first week or two before a baby finds his or her true face. Nobody needs to be commenting (honestly) on appearances, right?

But you can comment all you want on The Knife and the Butterfly. And I hope you will! My family and I are in Paris until May, but there are lots of ways to shout across the pond. Talk to me here, find me (and my blog) at www.ashleyperez.com, follow me on twitter (@ashleyhopeperez), or hunt down my author page on facebook.

And thanks so much for inviting me to be munched, Rachael!

And now for a quick interview with Megan Miranda, whose debut novel Fracture, comes out next week!

What has your experience as a debut author been like so far?
I feel incredibly fortunate. My experience as a debut author has been nothing short of wonderful. That’s not to say it also hasn’t been hard work (it has), but it’s been a very rewarding experience. I think the thing that makes the debut experience so different is that you’re learning so much of the process as you go. Pretty much everything is…surprising. At least it has been for me. With that said, it’s been surprising in a pretty exciting way.

What has been the best part of the publishing process for you? the worst?
I think, like any job, there are aspects of it that are more difficult than others, but I definitely wouldn’t call them bad. Some of the hardest parts (like revisions) turned out to be the best part of the process, as it made my book that much stronger. Right now, I’d say this is my favorite part, though. Getting ready to launch the book that we’ve all spent the last few years working on. It’s a really exciting time.

What sort of research did you have to do for this novel?
I did a lot of fact checking for a lot of the science aspects, and I did a lot of research about ice safety J I feel pretty confident that I now know how to rescue someone who has fallen through the ice…

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Fracture? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I learned a lot about my writing process. I start with characters instead of plot, so my early drafts tend to have my characters wandering around without a story. I usually have to throw out the first draft completely, but I typically have a pretty good feel for my characters by then.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
I think the young adult community is so incredibly supportive and very approachable. Writers, people in publishing, bloggers, readers—everyone seems to be online and connected. This also extends in person. People are always willing to meet up and support each other, and I think this is such a rare thing in most industries.

If there was one thing you could change about Fracture, what would it be?
It’s not something I’d really choose to change, because I like that the book is told solely through Delaney’s point of view, but I would’ve liked to explore the back-story of one of the side characters even further, from his perspective. But it doesn't really have a place in Delaney’s story.

What are you working on next?
I have another standalone, set to come out early 2013. It’s a psychological thriller about memories, the thin line between the real and the imagined, and friendship.

What has your experience as a debut author been like so far?
Hi Bookmuncher! Thanks for asking such interesting questions! My experience as a debut author has been exciting and scary. I've actually been 'authoring' for a long time, but to know that more folks will now be Reading what I wrote, while exhilarating, is also a bit intimidating. I want people to like me. Which is not the best personality for a writer to have. :) I don't recommend having that kind of personality if you can help it.

What has been the best part of the publishing process for you? The worst?
The best is just the process of writing. I love it. I have to do it. It's who I am. And with a publishing contract, I finally get to Be who I am, rather than the waitress who writes or the librarian who writes or the receptionist who writes. I can just be me. The worst is the waiting. There's a lot of waiting around to get notes and then between the different steps of the publishing process. Now that I finally have made a little inroad I want to keep things moving a little more quickly. But I'm trying to be more patient. I breathe in. I breathe out.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing The Probability of Miracles? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I guess what I learned about myself as a writer/artist is that I'm not as 'visual' as I thought I was. My first drafts of the novel looked like movie scripts. I could easily hear what the characters were saying (the dialogue came easily to me) and I could SEE where they were, but I had a hard time describing the things that I saw in my mind. I could do it, but it took a lot of effort. I need to work on description. I also thought I was terrible at plotting, but that came more easily than it had in the past in the writing of The Probability of Miracles.

What was the most difficult part of writing The Probability of Miracles? the most enjoyable?
Whoops, I think I answered that in question 3. The most difficult was the description. The most enjoyable was the dialogue and letting the characters use their humor to get them through some intense moments.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
Well... more than any other cohort, Young Adults need books, I think. It's important not to feel alone at that age and books are the perfect remedy for that. Also it's fun to write for folks who are just beginning their lives. You get to write with hope and joy instead of accurately depicting how dreary life can be, which is what some great literary fiction does. Don't get me wrong. I Loves me the literary fiction. I'm a strong devotee of contemporary adult fiction. It's just refreshing to be able to take a different, slightly more hopeful tone. Aside from teaching young adults (and raising my daughter) writing for young adults has been the most gratifying thing I've done.

If there was one thing you could change about The Probability of Miracles, what would it be?
Honestly, the first chapter... I worked for a while on composing a prologue. But the prologue never got powerful enough to work as a prologue by itself, so I incorporated it into the first chapter, and I think the blending of the two pieces might still be a little clunky. But, so far, I've been my worst critic, so I hope other people won't notice it as much as I do.

What are you working on next?
Oooo. I'm juggling a couple things. One of them is a magical Thelma and Louise story about the power of friendship, filled with action, romance, and the mysteries of the universe. Stay tuned...

Read the first 5 chapters of The Probability of Miracles below!
The Probability of Miracles - Chapters 1 - 5


Find out more about The Probability of Miracles and Wendy Wunder:
Official website: www.probabilityofmiracles.com
Facebook fan page: www.Facebook.com/ProbabilityofMiracles
Author website: www.wendywunderbooks.com
Author Facebook fan page: www.Facebook.com/wendywunderauthor
Author Twitter: www.Twitter.com/WendyWunder

What has been the best part of the publishing process for you? the worst?
My favorite moment is always when I see my book for the first time. It's the moment when everything becomes real. These people I've been talking to for months, stories I've been thinking about and places I've been visiting--they all are right there. Sometimes I have to stop myself from bringing it everywhere and shouting "See?!?! I really have been writing a book!"

Patience is not one of my strong suits, and there's so much waiting involved in the publishing process. The book was sold almost a year and a half before it came out, so I've been counting down the days to the release.

How has your experience of working in children’s publishing affected how you write?
When I began writing full-time I still had my "editor's cap" on. As an editor, your job is to look at manuscripts with a critical eye, to see their strengths and weaknesses, to rework sentences and dialogue that's problematic. While writing my first book it was difficult to just let go and enjoy the process. Revision is everything, but when you're writing a first draft, being overly critical can really drain the life out of a manuscript. Now I save most of the editing and revising for second (and third...and fourth...and fifth) drafts, and try to just enjoy the initial process of getting a story down on paper.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Eve? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
Eve's adventure spans three states and over hundreds of miles, and has her facing starvation, the elements, and wild animals, all while being chased by the King's troops. At one point she's goes over the Sierra Nevada mountains. I was researching snowfall in the mountain range and found the story of the Donner Party—a wagon party that was trapped there during the winter of 1846, and eventually died. I must've read about it at some point during high school, but it didn't have the same impact then. It's the stuff horror stories are made out of, but it also shows how much pioneers were willing to risk for the chance of a better life.

If there was one thing you could change about Eve, what would it be?
That's an impossible question—it’s like asking me what I would change about a close friend. Jennie Mc'Bestie might be into guys that are egomaniacs, maybe she always interrupts me while I'm talking and insists pointy toe shoes are still IN, but she's my friend. And those foibles are what make her who she is. I couldn't imagine changing anything about Eve, not because she's perfect, but because she exists as a separate entity to me. She's less of a project that can be improved upon and more of a real person—a friend. She's always had her own voice, and she's growing and changing like many of us are. I appreciate her for that.

What are you working on next?
Eve is the first book in a trilogy (Once, the sequel, comes out July 2012). I've just started the final book. I'll be sad to say goodbye to these characters.


Find out more about Eve and Anna Carey:
Official Eve website: www.theevetrilogy.com
Like Eve on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheEveTrilogy
Follow @AnnaCareyBooks on Twitter: http://twitter.com/annacareybooks
Visit Anna Carey's blog: www.annacareybooks.com

check out the full tour schedule at Books Complete Me

I know what you're all thinking. The Book Muncher, participating in a blog tour? Interviewing a character? What has the world COME to?! Because, I do tend to be too busy to do all of this most of the time. But I guess, when it comes to Michelle Hodkin and Mara Dyer, I make special arrangements.

So, check out my interview with Jamie from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer below!


Firstly, tell us a little bit about yourself for those of us who aren’t familiar with you.
Jamie (short for my real name which I’m not telling you because I was made fun of because of it in third grade which was actually very traumatic) Roth. At the time of this message, junior at Croyden, South Florida’s most elite toilet of private education. Son of Dr. Aaron Roth and Mrs. Meredith Roth, younger brother to Stephanie Roth and sole male heir to the Roth throne.

How do you know Mara Dyer?
She started at said toilet of private education in a random month in the middle of a school year, which was weird.

What made you approach Mara on her first day at Croyden?
She seemed weird. I like weird. I also like my “I am a cliché” T-shirt, but that is neither here nor there.

Mara has a lot of secrets. Do you have any that you’ve kept from her?
I have no secrets. Just kidding! I’m a pathological liar. Just kidding!

Do you ever regret getting involved with the drama of Mara’s life?
Drama is my middle name. Actually Feldstein is, but if my parents had been more prescient, it would have been drama. Jamie Drama Feldstein Roth. I like the sound of that, actually. I’m going to make that happen. Watch.


I know what you're thinking again. But, Rachael, that was so short! It gives me only a little taste of what's to come! And that's my cue to say, Ah, but the best is yet to come! Because here's where I get to tell you about this blog tour's neat little scavenger hunt!

Each blog participating in the Mara Madness Blog Tour will be posting a letter, or clue, if you will. All together, they spell out an important line from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Here's my clue:


And now you're probably thinking, Well, what's the point? To win things of course! If you're clever and/or dedicated enough to piece together the puzzle by midnight, 9/30 and submit your answer in this form, then you could be one of (2) people to win signed, finished copies of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.

So, if you haven't been following the Mara Madness Blog Tour already, then do yourself a favor and check out all the previous stops! You'll be able to find a complete list of them at Books Complete Me, the wonderful site who organized this tour.

Why did you choose to set The Dead, the second novel in the Enemy series, a year before the story in The Enemy, its first installment? Did you initially plan to have two separate stories from the first two books in the series come together in the third book? If not, how did that come about?
The series was originally going to be a trilogy and book 2 was going to carry straight on from book 1 – five minutes later - as the kids turned up at the Natural History Museum. But I realized I had a bit of a problem. First of all I had too many ideas to fit into three books, and secondly there was a problem with pacing. At the end of The Enemy Small Sam has arrived at the Tower of London, and, as I’ve said, the other Holloway kids, are about to arrive at the museum. It struck me that the whole of the beginning of book 2 was in danger of being taken up with introducing a whole load of new characters at these two new locations. And this was on the back of meeting a lot of new kids towards the end of book 1 – at the palace and in the park… It would be hard to push the plot forward and might become confusing and overwhelming. So I started thinking about using the 2nd book to introduce all these new characters separately, so that when they all eventually came together we would know who they were and could get on with the story. I asked my publisher if they were interested in more than 3 books and they said they’d love 6! So I had the green light from them to expand and deepen the story. But would the readers object? As I write my books I read them out to my own kids, as guinea pigs. So I asked them what they’d like to see in book 2. And they said, completely out of the blue, that they thought it would be cool if book 2 was about a whole new set of kids, also trying to survive in London. I figured great minds think alike and set about changing my plans. I think we underestimate kids and think they won’t take on board anything too complex, but I think they also don’t like things to get too predictable. I reckoned my readers would enjoy seeing the kids from the first two books gradually coming together in some unexpected ways. This process continues in Book 3, so that what was originally going to be book 2 will now be book 4.

Does that make sense?

Where did your ideas for the Enemy series come from?
It started when I was a teenager in the 1970s and I first saw Night Of The Living Dead. It was the first, and I think still the best, of the cannibal zombie apocalypse films. I fell in love with zombies. They terrify me. When I realized my own kids were also big zombie fans, and were equally fascinated and terrified of them, I figured it’d be a lot of fun to write some zombie books. I put the zombies together with a fantasy I’d had when I was a kid – what fun it would be if all the adults in the world simply disappeared! A world of kids, trying to get by and to make sense of things, using all the cool stuff that us adults have left lying around.

Why does the zombie disease only affect the adults in your dystopian setting?
Because that’s what I needed to set my story up! If you look at all zombie films there’s never really any explanation as to how it all works, and why it’s happened. Probably because it never could happen. Exactly how the disease works is something I’m still working on. In the end it’s really not that important, it’s just a device to get the story running, we just want to get on with it. As we only ever see events through the eyes of the kids, they haven’t figured it all out yet. I’m working on some interesting ideas, though, that will feed later plots.

What was the most enjoyable part about writing The Dead?
Inventing some new characters and then killing half of them off.

Which of your characters can you relate to most and why?
I am most like the studious, responsible ones, struggling with ideas of what it means to be a leader – like Arran, Ollie and Ed. As a father (and TV producer, which is my job when I’m not writing) you have to deal all the time with problems of responsibility, leadership, guidance etc. I am not a warrior like Jack or Achilleus. I would hope my brains might help me survive an apocalypse, rather than my fighting skills.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing The Dead? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
One of the fun things about wring books is doing research, visiting places and getting unique access. I had some great personal tours of the places I wrote about, like the Imperial War Museum and the Tower Of London.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
Doing events with kids. I love talking about writing and horror and books, and the kids I meet are very responsive, they ask much more interesting questions than adults. Like ‘how would you like to die?’ and ‘How much money do you earn?’ It’s also very rewarding getting reluctant readers into books, not because books are good for you, but because I’ve derived so much pleasure from reading over the years, so to be able to pass that on is very rewarding.

If there were one thing you could change about either The Enemy or The Dead, what would it be?
The great thing about writing a series is you can keep adding to your initial ideas, and making them better, so anything I didn’t get right, or wish I’d put in earlier books I can put in later books. I was really pleased when I decided on the new route I was going to take through the series, to discover that everything had been nicely set in place for me in The Enemy – almost as if I’d planned it from the start.

What are you working on next?
I have a deal for 6 books in this series here in the UK. (Not sure if Hyperion are going to take all six in the US yet, but fingers crossed). So I’m working on book 4 at the moment. I also have a couple of TV comedy projects in the pipeline, and some script writing I have to get on with.

For more information on Charlie Higson and his work, check out his website at www.charliehigson.co.uk

I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to interview the lovely and phenomenal Hannah Moskowitz recently! Here's what she had to say.

How do you balance your life as a college student and author, among other things?
I fully admit that I am not good at it. I like when interviews ask me stuff like, “How do you write all these books and keep your grades up?” and I have to be like “Um...what makes you think I keep my grades up?”

So it’s hard. And I’m not always that great at it. I’m a full-time student this semester, which I think was a mistake. I’m probably going to go back to part-time, but then I probably won’t graduate in four years....it’s a time-suck and it’s hard.

I try to get out some, though. I’m in a theater group on campus that puts on The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is amazing.

Where did your ideas for Invincible Summer come from?
This is kind of a stupid story, but the day I started Invincible Summer, I very badly wanted to start a new book. And I didn’t know what it should be about. Some writers talk about having too many ideas and not knowing which to choose from, or not having time to write them all. I always feel like I’m scraping ideas out of my head with an ice cream scoop. It’s one of the hardest parts for me.

So I read through all my Postsecret books. And I thought for sure that would give me an idea. But it didn’t.

The album Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for Cutie, one of my favorite bands, had come out just a few days before. So I listened to that on repeat over and over. And then I started to get something.

And then my mom made me come with her to the store or something, and I was sitting in the car and looking out at the rain and somehow it all came together. All the Camus I’d been reading, all the bits of my summers at the beach that I’d wanted to work into a book for as long as I could remember, the song “Not Just Sometimes But Always,” by Idlewild that I’d also been trying to work into the last few books I’d attempted, the songs “No Sunlight, “Long Division,” and “Bixby Canyon Bridge,” from Narrow Stairs, and The Hotel New Hampshire, which I’d read a few months ago and hadn’t been able to shake.

I had the title, I had the characters, I had the entire plot.

I just needed a ton of little bits from a ton of different places to get there.

I told you it was kind of a stupid story.

What’s it like writing from the male perspective?
It was easier at first, because for a while, all my favorite books were from male perspectives. So I started doing it almost reflexively. It wasn’t something I thought about. Now, I love so many books from female POVs, and I’ve written a few, too.

So the narrator of my first book, Break, is much more stereotypically masculine than Chase, meaning that Chase is more dreamy and thoughtful and sensitive. So Chase was more of a challenge. As a female writer, there’s this idea that I’m supposed to be writing super-masculine males, to prove that I can, or something. Chase isn’t like that. So it’s sort of me asking the reader to trust me, in a way. Trust me that he’s a boy. That he’s *my* boy.

What were you trying to accomplish when you started writing Invincible Summer? What do you feel you’ve accomplished with the finished product?
I don’t know that I was trying to accomplish anything especially...I wanted a YA story that was so strongly about a family. Of all my family-oriented books, IS is the most dedicated to the task, I think. It’s not about anything in the whole world but this family.

What was great about Invincible Summer was that I got to use so many things that I love. I used the summer, I used Camus, I used sign language. I got to play with things I’m really passionate about, and that made it a very important book for me. At the time, it was the most personal thing I’ve written. It might still be.

I’m proud of it.

What is the most interesting thing you learned while writing Invincible Summer? (This can be about yourself, about writing, or anything at all).
I learned a huge amount about structure. It was the first thing I finished that wasn’t written simply chronologically. Invincible Summer takes place over 4 summers, without any of the years in-between, so I had to fill in the blanks myself and figure out how much I needed to tell the reader.

It turned out, not very much. Chase has a line about how their whole lives were determined by those summers. And I realized that’s how I felt about my life, in a way, too. Summers at the beach did take place in a bubble. They had so very little to do with anything that happened during the year. And for Chase and his family, that ends up being pretty crucial.

What is the most rewarding part about being a young adult author?
The people I’ve met, absolutely. The chance to work with people who are so dedicated to YA. We have such enthusiastic people. It’s amazing.

If there was one thing you could change about Invincible Summer, what would it be?
I know a ton of writers say not to read reviews. And a ton more say to read them but not let them affect you. I say read them and learn from them.

So when I see the same thing mentioned in a bunch of negative reviews, I store it and remember it for later. The fact that people mentioned Break’s ending made me spend more time on my endings. I actually added a ton to IS’s ending and made it so much better thanks to those reviews.

So if I ever have a book with Camus quotes in it in the future, I will keep in mind to use fewer. ;)

What are you working on next?
Right now I’m working on a YA fantasy about cannibals and fairy prostitutes and what it’s like to live around a war that isn’t about you. But really it’s about history and it’s about love stories.

I’m also working on my 2012 MG, which is about two boy detectives on a mission to tell the guy and girl that they love that they love them. That’s due soon, so I’m working hard!