USH, HUSH 
series might give that away) So when we found out THE DEMON'S LEXICON and THE DEMON'S COVENANT were two of the titles S&S asked us to feature for July, we were ecstatic. LOVE these books. And as you will see from the Q&A below, the author, Sarah Rees Brennan, is just as amazing as her writing. *Fangirl warning* Sarah even gave us a cookie (teaser) from the third book. With Nick! Swoon.
After you've read all of Sarah's fabulous answers please be sure to leave any comments/questions you have for her in regards to writing (writing process, querying agents, life after publishing etc.) or about the demon trilogy. Sarah will be back on Wednesday to answer the questions with the added bonus of a giveaway of 5 sets of the first 2 books, courtesy of Simon & Schuster! Unfortunately, this is only open to U.S. residents. But please feel free to leave questions/comments even if you aren't eligible to win.
A huge thank you to Sarah for taking the time to do this!
Now, on to the good stuff...
FA: Was writing always a passion of yours? At what age did you start writing?
SRB: Yes, always. Well, you know, pretty much always. At five, I was torn between writing and the ambition of many five year old girls - to be a ballerina! But I dance like a hippo on speed, so that dream died pretty quickly, and when I was five, I told my grandfather (who was this giant tattooed ex-soldier dockworker dude) that I had penned a GREAT WORK. He said 'Okay, honey.' I showed him a page full of writing and a picture of a house. He said, 'Amazing, honey.' When I was seven, I finished my first book, which was about pony-loving schoolgirls and ninjas who teamed up to fight crime. This experience taught me that you should always lie to your elderly relatives. Uh, I mean, so was born my great love for crime. Er, I mean, writing. (And crime.)
So I was pretty young when I started writing, but I know a bunch of writers who didn't write at all until their 20s, 30s, 40s. It's not like ballet in many ways - you can always start to write. (A favourite quote of mine: 'Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.')
FA: Was THE DEMON'S LEXICON the first book you wrote?
SRB: Oh my gosh, no. It was I think the twenty-fourth book I ever wrote, which is a much less impressive number! And that's just the novels I finished. I have started literally thousands of novels. It's an argument for perseverance! Don't get downhearted, fellow writers. If it's not this novel, it may be the next one. Or the next one. I truly believe that the writers who don't give up are the ones who get published.
FA: You’ve got a lot of demon mythology in TDL and TDC (love the dancing!) Did you do a lot of research or come up with it on your own?
SRB: I did a lot of research and came up with it on my own: that's part of the joy of research. Cherry-picking your favourite things, and then filling in the blanks with what you want. Sumerians say 'Demons are made of fire and humans of earth' - which I stole!
The Germans in the fifteenth century had lots of tracts saying 'Magic users call up demons! And the demons give them power over the hearts and minds of men, and soul-stealing beauty, and control over the elements, and good fortune, and riches beyond the dreams of avarice, and also the demons visit the magic users for nights full of unbridled, amazing carnal passion that go on and on and on and - AHEM. The important thing to remember is, whatever you do, don't summon demons. Okay? Okay!' Which I stole!
Christina Rossetti wrote a poem about the Goblin Market, in which otherworldly creatures sold dangerously addictive fruit. Which I stole, plus I made them the good guys (more or less), and added to their stock of goods. Not just fruit anymore, but magic swords and lights to show you your true love or call your wanderer home. (It's like Magical Ebay in there now...)
And then in Elizabethan times, people believed demons were made of air. So a contemporary audience would have understood that the air spirit Ariel, who the magician Prospero controls in Shakespeare's play The Tempest, was a demon. Which is weird, because Ariel is a really likable character. Powerful, yes, and causes a lot of trouble (and raises a storm) on Prospero's say-so, but when talking about shipwrecked men, he argues that Prospero should feel sorry for them. He says that he would - 'were I human.'
Which raises the question of what demons feel - and if they know they could feel pity, how close is that to actually feeling pity? How different are their emotions from human emotions and, of course, what about love? (Stole it.)
So it's a case of putting in a million ingredients, and trying to make the best, most interesting thing you can think of. Lots of things - like the dancing, for instance - pure wish-fulfillment. I could never dance up even the tiniest demon. (Hippo. On. Speed.)
FA: Without giving away any spoilers, we have to say Nick is probably the baddest bad boy out there. Did you plan for Nick’s character to be this way or did he take over? (Because I can so see him taking over!)
SRB: Actually (evil laugh) it was all part of my eeeeeevil plan.
I feel the fallen angel fans around here are at one with me in my appreciation for bad boys. ;) Having read tons of bad boys (and thoroughly enjoying them) it occurred to me that we're always seeing them from the outside. Tall, muscular, wisecracking, more morally ambiguous wisecracking, armed and dangerous, easy on the eyes, hard on the heart. You see where I'm going with this!
But we never get to see this guy from inside his own head, so we can see what really makes him tick, and what makes someone act like this. I didn't want to make apologies or excuses for that guy, and I wanted readers to see him from his own point of view, without the distraction of good looks. (Which is to say, Nick's very good-looking and very aware of it, but he doesn't spend his time in front of his mirror admirin' the gunshow.)
The next two books in the trilogy are from the point of view of two very different girls with two very different relationships with Nick, so we all see plenty of the outside as well. ;) But I did want to take the idea of a bad boy character to the very edge, examining all that the idea means, and still create a character who people found compelling.
FA: We’re dying to know what happens next with Nick, Alan, Mae and Jamie. Any little hints or cookies you can share with us on the third book?
SRB: Absolutely. Well, an unexpected character gets in touch with their dark side. (So, not Nick then, as I feel Nick is in constant touch with his dark side. I picture them always on the phone together. 'Dude, what are you wearing tonight? I thought I should call you. Goddamn, I was going to wear my fancy knives with those pants too.') And romantic developments continue to develop - Alan, Nick's older brother, gets a girlfriend.
And here is a little cookie:
'Sin walked along the water’s edge, the lights of the Market behind her, sea and sand stretching to either side, and waited until the moon-iced surface of the ocean broke.
Nick pushed back black hair, drenched and sleek as seal fur, and smiled at her. He might as well have beckoned. The angles of his face looked more sharply cut than ever, his shoulders white and wet, all the planes of his body given gleaming definition by moonlight.
She walked into the surf and he walked out of it towards her: the water of the English Channel was cold even in August, rushing up to meet Sin mid-thigh almost at once and hitting her at waist-height as she waded in deeper, washing the sweat off her skin and all the tiredness out of her muscles, leaving her with nothing but a sweet ache along her body.
She reached out and trailed her fingertips down the ridges of Nick’s stomach, curious, until her hand met the cool shock of water and the leather of his belt.
“I’m a little disappointed,” Sin said.
Nick smirked. “I’m a little shy.”'
FA: You write incredibly realistic, diverse, and likeable characters. Do you do any prep work to get to know them before you start the story? Character sheets? Journaling?
SRB: Why thank you! Characters usually form in my head pretty vividly, because characters are the most important thing to me in a story. We won't care about the twists and turns of the plot, or about the changing relationships, or the prose or about anything at all in the book if we don't care about the characters. So a writer has to know her characters really well, love them really stupidly, and try to get her readers well acquainted with them too.
So I don't write character sheets or journals, I just think about them a lot - I take them out on the stage that is my brain, and make them act out hundreds of scenes that never make it to the books, to see how they'll act, and to get to know them better, and also just because I love them, and I love thinking about them.
FA: Since you’re one of our favorite authors and we love knowing what the people who write the books we love are reading, can you share some of your favorite books?
SRB: Absolutely! The Changeover by Margaret Mahy is, I think, one of the best YA romances of all time - of all time! Laura is this fierce, sensible young lady on a quest to save her brother, and Sorry Carlisle is the only boy witch in the world, a blond, outwardly perfect older guy who secretly has more issues than Vogue.
Recent books I've been adoring are Kelley Armstrong's just-completed Darkest Powers series, starring a very nice necromancer girl and a very surly werewolf boy, and Cassandra Clare's just-started Infernal Devices series, historical, magical and romantical, with a heroine who is both dreamily wrapped up in books and very smart and sensible, a boy who is terminally gentlemanly and a beautiful violin player, and the boy they both despair of, who is terminally crazy and not gentlemanly at all.
FA: Are you currently working on any other projects or have any planned for the future that you can share some details about? We hope so!
SRB: Oh yes. Now I've finished the third book of the Demon's Lexicon trilogy (and how weird it is to be finished, plus how nervous am I hoping people will like the ending!) I'm writing a few new things, but the project I am most wrapped up in right now is a big romance - there is quite a bit of romance in the Demon's Lexicon series, but at its heart the focus is family, how you find and choose and love family, so I thought it would be fun to switch it up and write a very intense romance. And of course, the story contains the most romantic of all activities - fighting crime.
FA: THE DEMON'S LEXICON has one of the biggest shocks in a book that I’ve ever read. Did you see that happening before you started? Which leads into the question of how you write? Do you outline and plan before you begin or let the story take over?
SRB: I love to hear I have shocked people! I did know the big secret of Demon's Lexicon before I ever started the book - it was one of the first things I ever knew about the book. Because it's a secret deeply rooted in the past, and in family.
I love mystery novels, and I hate it when I think they cheat, producing an answer out of thin air (Well of course you never knew it, Aunt Agatha, but secretly you were married all along to his EVIL TWIN!) so I wanted to write a book that developed outwards from a big secret - and the biggest, darkest secrets are family secrets - so that when you found out the secret, you're surprised but you also go 'Oh, of course.' It couldn't be any other way.
I do write chapter plans - I write five bullet points of events I want to happen per chapter - both to get the plot completely clear in my head, and to make sure I don't end up floundering. It's easy to get into the middle of the story doldrums, with the beginning you'd thought out carefully accomplished and the end not in sight, and other shiny new ideas beckoning to you - that's when you consult the chapter plan!
But don't stick to the chapter plan too closely. My books always end up very different from the chapter plans in the end.
FA: Before we leave the blog open to questions and comments, would you mind giving aspiring authors a few tips on writing/finding an agent/publishing?
SRB: I would be delighted! Finding an agent is, I think, maybe the most important part of the whole journey of publication. It's like getting a really excellent tour guide on holiday. Your agent will sort out what you want and try to get it for you: they will smooth your path, and publishing is a bumpy ride, so you're going to need someone to do that.
So it's important to give a lot of thought to what you want from an agent. There are all different kinds of agents: agents who hand-hold, agents who are all business, agents who will push you to be commercial, agents who will fight for you to get to do your own thing. It's a great first step to check out the agents who represent the authors you love, the authors who write the kind of books you write. But then try to find out more about those agents (go to their websites, and their blogs, google them and get all the gossip). Make a list of your top ten agents, and know why every agent on the list is there.
My biggest writing advice is the already-given advice the chapter plan, and what I mentioned in my first answer about perseverance. Sometimes you have to ignore the phone, ignore the television, ignore the children screaming about unimportant things like fire, aliens, the apocalypse. Writers write!
And my advice on publishing may boil down to: don't go crazy. For instance - the most important thing for a first-time author is their cover. Readers don't know how a first-time author writes, and they won't ever know unless the cover makes them pick up the book. And the cover is the one thing about their book the author has nothing to do with. It may turn out like showing up for your own wedding, and being given your wedding dress - and having your wedding dress be a purple corset and go-go boots.
See? Just reading those words may make you feel a little bit insane. Keep going forward, with publishing. Do not dwell on what you cannot change! Do not think about the edits until they arrive! And do not worry too much - in direct opposition to one's hopes about weddings, the hope is that there will be lots and lots of books.
You angels have been so kind as to have me both here (Tuesday) and tomorrow. So on Wednesday I am going to return and answer all the questions you might possibly have. (Okay, not 'What is the meaning of life?' ... Okay, I'd still try to answer that one, but I'd probably get it wrong.) So just comment, and leave a question, and I will return to answer it!
Looking forward to talking with you all...
FA: Was writing always a passion of yours? At what age did you start writing?
SRB: Yes, always. Well, you know, pretty much always. At five, I was torn between writing and the ambition of many five year old girls - to be a ballerina! But I dance like a hippo on speed, so that dream died pretty quickly, and when I was five, I told my grandfather (who was this giant tattooed ex-soldier dockworker dude) that I had penned a GREAT WORK. He said 'Okay, honey.' I showed him a page full of writing and a picture of a house. He said, 'Amazing, honey.' When I was seven, I finished my first book, which was about pony-loving schoolgirls and ninjas who teamed up to fight crime. This experience taught me that you should always lie to your elderly relatives. Uh, I mean, so was born my great love for crime. Er, I mean, writing. (And crime.)
So I was pretty young when I started writing, but I know a bunch of writers who didn't write at all until their 20s, 30s, 40s. It's not like ballet in many ways - you can always start to write. (A favourite quote of mine: 'Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.')
FA: Was THE DEMON'S LEXICON the first book you wrote?
SRB: Oh my gosh, no. It was I think the twenty-fourth book I ever wrote, which is a much less impressive number! And that's just the novels I finished. I have started literally thousands of novels. It's an argument for perseverance! Don't get downhearted, fellow writers. If it's not this novel, it may be the next one. Or the next one. I truly believe that the writers who don't give up are the ones who get published.
FA: You’ve got a lot of demon mythology in TDL and TDC (love the dancing!) Did you do a lot of research or come up with it on your own?
SRB: I did a lot of research and came up with it on my own: that's part of the joy of research. Cherry-picking your favourite things, and then filling in the blanks with what you want. Sumerians say 'Demons are made of fire and humans of earth' - which I stole!
The Germans in the fifteenth century had lots of tracts saying 'Magic users call up demons! And the demons give them power over the hearts and minds of men, and soul-stealing beauty, and control over the elements, and good fortune, and riches beyond the dreams of avarice, and also the demons visit the magic users for nights full of unbridled, amazing carnal passion that go on and on and on and - AHEM. The important thing to remember is, whatever you do, don't summon demons. Okay? Okay!' Which I stole!
Christina Rossetti wrote a poem about the Goblin Market, in which otherworldly creatures sold dangerously addictive fruit. Which I stole, plus I made them the good guys (more or less), and added to their stock of goods. Not just fruit anymore, but magic swords and lights to show you your true love or call your wanderer home. (It's like Magical Ebay in there now...)
And then in Elizabethan times, people believed demons were made of air. So a contemporary audience would have understood that the air spirit Ariel, who the magician Prospero controls in Shakespeare's play The Tempest, was a demon. Which is weird, because Ariel is a really likable character. Powerful, yes, and causes a lot of trouble (and raises a storm) on Prospero's say-so, but when talking about shipwrecked men, he argues that Prospero should feel sorry for them. He says that he would - 'were I human.'
Which raises the question of what demons feel - and if they know they could feel pity, how close is that to actually feeling pity? How different are their emotions from human emotions and, of course, what about love? (Stole it.)
So it's a case of putting in a million ingredients, and trying to make the best, most interesting thing you can think of. Lots of things - like the dancing, for instance - pure wish-fulfillment. I could never dance up even the tiniest demon. (Hippo. On. Speed.)
FA: Without giving away any spoilers, we have to say Nick is probably the baddest bad boy out there. Did you plan for Nick’s character to be this way or did he take over? (Because I can so see him taking over!)
SRB: Actually (evil laugh) it was all part of my eeeeeevil plan.
I feel the fallen angel fans around here are at one with me in my appreciation for bad boys. ;) Having read tons of bad boys (and thoroughly enjoying them) it occurred to me that we're always seeing them from the outside. Tall, muscular, wisecracking, more morally ambiguous wisecracking, armed and dangerous, easy on the eyes, hard on the heart. You see where I'm going with this!
But we never get to see this guy from inside his own head, so we can see what really makes him tick, and what makes someone act like this. I didn't want to make apologies or excuses for that guy, and I wanted readers to see him from his own point of view, without the distraction of good looks. (Which is to say, Nick's very good-looking and very aware of it, but he doesn't spend his time in front of his mirror admirin' the gunshow.)
The next two books in the trilogy are from the point of view of two very different girls with two very different relationships with Nick, so we all see plenty of the outside as well. ;) But I did want to take the idea of a bad boy character to the very edge, examining all that the idea means, and still create a character who people found compelling.
FA: We’re dying to know what happens next with Nick, Alan, Mae and Jamie. Any little hints or cookies you can share with us on the third book?
SRB: Absolutely. Well, an unexpected character gets in touch with their dark side. (So, not Nick then, as I feel Nick is in constant touch with his dark side. I picture them always on the phone together. 'Dude, what are you wearing tonight? I thought I should call you. Goddamn, I was going to wear my fancy knives with those pants too.') And romantic developments continue to develop - Alan, Nick's older brother, gets a girlfriend.
And here is a little cookie:
'Sin walked along the water’s edge, the lights of the Market behind her, sea and sand stretching to either side, and waited until the moon-iced surface of the ocean broke.
Nick pushed back black hair, drenched and sleek as seal fur, and smiled at her. He might as well have beckoned. The angles of his face looked more sharply cut than ever, his shoulders white and wet, all the planes of his body given gleaming definition by moonlight.
She walked into the surf and he walked out of it towards her: the water of the English Channel was cold even in August, rushing up to meet Sin mid-thigh almost at once and hitting her at waist-height as she waded in deeper, washing the sweat off her skin and all the tiredness out of her muscles, leaving her with nothing but a sweet ache along her body.
She reached out and trailed her fingertips down the ridges of Nick’s stomach, curious, until her hand met the cool shock of water and the leather of his belt.
“I’m a little disappointed,” Sin said.
Nick smirked. “I’m a little shy.”'
FA: You write incredibly realistic, diverse, and likeable characters. Do you do any prep work to get to know them before you start the story? Character sheets? Journaling?
SRB: Why thank you! Characters usually form in my head pretty vividly, because characters are the most important thing to me in a story. We won't care about the twists and turns of the plot, or about the changing relationships, or the prose or about anything at all in the book if we don't care about the characters. So a writer has to know her characters really well, love them really stupidly, and try to get her readers well acquainted with them too.
So I don't write character sheets or journals, I just think about them a lot - I take them out on the stage that is my brain, and make them act out hundreds of scenes that never make it to the books, to see how they'll act, and to get to know them better, and also just because I love them, and I love thinking about them.
FA: Since you’re one of our favorite authors and we love knowing what the people who write the books we love are reading, can you share some of your favorite books?
SRB: Absolutely! The Changeover by Margaret Mahy is, I think, one of the best YA romances of all time - of all time! Laura is this fierce, sensible young lady on a quest to save her brother, and Sorry Carlisle is the only boy witch in the world, a blond, outwardly perfect older guy who secretly has more issues than Vogue.
Recent books I've been adoring are Kelley Armstrong's just-completed Darkest Powers series, starring a very nice necromancer girl and a very surly werewolf boy, and Cassandra Clare's just-started Infernal Devices series, historical, magical and romantical, with a heroine who is both dreamily wrapped up in books and very smart and sensible, a boy who is terminally gentlemanly and a beautiful violin player, and the boy they both despair of, who is terminally crazy and not gentlemanly at all.
FA: Are you currently working on any other projects or have any planned for the future that you can share some details about? We hope so!
SRB: Oh yes. Now I've finished the third book of the Demon's Lexicon trilogy (and how weird it is to be finished, plus how nervous am I hoping people will like the ending!) I'm writing a few new things, but the project I am most wrapped up in right now is a big romance - there is quite a bit of romance in the Demon's Lexicon series, but at its heart the focus is family, how you find and choose and love family, so I thought it would be fun to switch it up and write a very intense romance. And of course, the story contains the most romantic of all activities - fighting crime.
FA: THE DEMON'S LEXICON has one of the biggest shocks in a book that I’ve ever read. Did you see that happening before you started? Which leads into the question of how you write? Do you outline and plan before you begin or let the story take over?
SRB: I love to hear I have shocked people! I did know the big secret of Demon's Lexicon before I ever started the book - it was one of the first things I ever knew about the book. Because it's a secret deeply rooted in the past, and in family.
I love mystery novels, and I hate it when I think they cheat, producing an answer out of thin air (Well of course you never knew it, Aunt Agatha, but secretly you were married all along to his EVIL TWIN!) so I wanted to write a book that developed outwards from a big secret - and the biggest, darkest secrets are family secrets - so that when you found out the secret, you're surprised but you also go 'Oh, of course.' It couldn't be any other way.
I do write chapter plans - I write five bullet points of events I want to happen per chapter - both to get the plot completely clear in my head, and to make sure I don't end up floundering. It's easy to get into the middle of the story doldrums, with the beginning you'd thought out carefully accomplished and the end not in sight, and other shiny new ideas beckoning to you - that's when you consult the chapter plan!
But don't stick to the chapter plan too closely. My books always end up very different from the chapter plans in the end.
FA: Before we leave the blog open to questions and comments, would you mind giving aspiring authors a few tips on writing/finding an agent/publishing?
SRB: I would be delighted! Finding an agent is, I think, maybe the most important part of the whole journey of publication. It's like getting a really excellent tour guide on holiday. Your agent will sort out what you want and try to get it for you: they will smooth your path, and publishing is a bumpy ride, so you're going to need someone to do that.
So it's important to give a lot of thought to what you want from an agent. There are all different kinds of agents: agents who hand-hold, agents who are all business, agents who will push you to be commercial, agents who will fight for you to get to do your own thing. It's a great first step to check out the agents who represent the authors you love, the authors who write the kind of books you write. But then try to find out more about those agents (go to their websites, and their blogs, google them and get all the gossip). Make a list of your top ten agents, and know why every agent on the list is there.
My biggest writing advice is the already-given advice the chapter plan, and what I mentioned in my first answer about perseverance. Sometimes you have to ignore the phone, ignore the television, ignore the children screaming about unimportant things like fire, aliens, the apocalypse. Writers write!
And my advice on publishing may boil down to: don't go crazy. For instance - the most important thing for a first-time author is their cover. Readers don't know how a first-time author writes, and they won't ever know unless the cover makes them pick up the book. And the cover is the one thing about their book the author has nothing to do with. It may turn out like showing up for your own wedding, and being given your wedding dress - and having your wedding dress be a purple corset and go-go boots.
See? Just reading those words may make you feel a little bit insane. Keep going forward, with publishing. Do not dwell on what you cannot change! Do not think about the edits until they arrive! And do not worry too much - in direct opposition to one's hopes about weddings, the hope is that there will be lots and lots of books.
You angels have been so kind as to have me both here (Tuesday) and tomorrow. So on Wednesday I am going to return and answer all the questions you might possibly have. (Okay, not 'What is the meaning of life?' ... Okay, I'd still try to answer that one, but I'd probably get it wrong.) So just comment, and leave a question, and I will return to answer it!
Looking forward to talking with you all...
*Rebecca here again to remind you that any US residents who leave a question will automatically be entered to win both THE DEMON'S LEXICON and THE DEMON'S COVENANT. Thanks again Sarah!
58 comments:
Go Sarah!
I'm so happy to see an Irish author! I really want to read your books!
Sarah is just amazing:D From the chat we just had to now this Q&A she is just a ray of sunshine:D Her personality is just so great!!
I'll defiantly be picking up her books when i hit indigo to buy KMD on the 3rd:D
Great interview. I have been wanting to read her books since I first heard of them. Really looking forward to picking them up even more now.
I love Kelley Armstong and Cassie Clares books too.
Thanks!
bacchus76 at myself dot com
great interview! You have some of the BEST characters!
How do you keep them vulnerable and still make them tough?
I'm sorry, I'm still rereading and rereading that amazing cookie..it definitely left me wishing book 3 was out sooner than next year!! I mean..come on!
"Nick pushed back black hair,drenched and sleek as seal fur, and smiled at her. He might as well have beckoned."
Nick is the bad boy we don't want to fall for but inevitably do. Le sigh.
Awesome interview! You're really funny, Sarah. I can't wait for the third book. :)
Alan gets a girlfriend?? I hope it's me. LOL.
What do you usually find challenging in writing and how do you usually deal with it?
Hi Sarah!
I loved your first book and hope to get my hands on the second one soon!!
I have a question I like to ask of the authors I get to speak to and that's:
What's the hardest part for you to write in your books? Beginning, Middle, End?
Thanks! And great interview!
Loved the interview!!! Sarah you rock!!
Question: What is one book you wish had been published when you were growing up?
Thank you for the interview. Jenn and Becky have raved about your books so I am looking forward to reading them.
Question: I always wondered where some of the names come from. Reading your interview I see that you use "normal" names...do they have a meaning to you? Do they represent anyone in your life?
Excellent interview but w/the excerpt I'm wondering about Nick and Sin. Is this clip from the past before she knew he was a demon?
How did you decide to kill off Mae's mom? I love how you brought her into the story but was wishing she stayed around - sometimes they need a guiding hand.
Thank you.
If you could be any fictional character for a day, which would you choose?
cegluna(at)hotmail(dot)com
gah! I loved the first one... read it on pulse it but desperately want my own copy. alas, I am a broke college student. :\
my question is, did certain books influence your writing, and was it a negative influence or a positive influence? i guess it's one of my favorite questions, since writers love to read, and sometimes certain books change and influence what we write.
haleymathiot@yahoo.com
That was so much fun chatting with all of the authors last night! I'm Canadian so sadly I can't enter the contest but I just wanted to emphasize how much I've been enjoying this series. Finished the Demon's Covenant last week and LOVED IT!!
I've got a couple questions.
1.) How do you build your characters? I know certain parts probably come to you from the start, but are there any elements you really have to work at?
2.) What word count do you think a paranormal romance should be? (just a ballpark is fine)
3.) Do you read MS's, query letters, or help other struggling and miserable writers (like me) in any way? Besides your wonderful blog, of course =)
4.) Are you doing any book giveaways soon? (your books, that is)
I have absolutely LOVED both books in this series and I'm anxious for the third one. :o)
My question:
Is there a certain food you always crave when you're writing or do you not even notice hunger when you're in the zone?
Do you ever want to write more fanfics?
Are you planning to write a stand alone book next or another series?
First of all Sarah, you are awesome. It makes me cry that the library doesn't have your books. :( Here I am in SUmmer School and your comments ect are making me smile. Alot. My friends are looking at me like I am crazy (crazier.)
SO here's my first question: DO you not add fans on Facebook???? (just curious)
Second, did it originally feel weird to have people be like "Sarah we love you!"
Third, and most important, do you like the Jennifer Ehle (BBC)or the Keira Knightley version better? By the avatar you usedc to use I'm guessing the Jennifer Ehle one, but I was not sure
PS Have you read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies? Is so did you like it???
-Em :)
Hi Sarah! Just a few questions, I hope you don't mind!
- How did you know that the TDL series was the one you wanted to push for publication? How did you know your other stories weren't right?
- Do you think you'll come back to your older stories and try to rework them for publication? Or are you happy with them where they are?
- What about your characters from your previous stories; do you try to recycle them into new things or do you tend to keep them in their original places? Do you ever think about them?
- Do you like to think about "what-ifs" for your stories? Like, "what if TDL was a high fantasy story, where Alan was locked in a tower" or "what if Anzu was in Hnikarr's place"?
- How great is YA? (answer: the best!)
Thanks so much! Hope these are good questions!
I love your books, they're amazing!
My question is how do you come up with the titles for your books?
Personally, I think that's the hardest part, because after writing this story and getting to know your characters you have to summarise the whole thing into a short phrase, that will hopefully interest people.
Did you know the titles for your books at the start of the process, at some time in the middle, or when you were done and were able to look back over them?
Again, I love your books and think you're an amazing author!!
That made me want to read your books, Sarah! Now I'm hoping I win them!
My question is: When you get writers block (or plotters block), how do you deal with it?
I'm not sure if that question was asked in the chat last night, so I'm sorry if it was.
Great interview! And thanks for the cookie. I just finished TDC over the weekend and have been despairing over how long it will be before the third book. I feel a little better now. Thanks!
Ooh awesome interview ! Haha this really made me want to read your books XD Questions:
Would you live in your book if you could?
Do you take personalities from people you know and turn them into your characters?
~Alison
lostinbelieving(at)yahoo(dot)com
Such a great interview! And that cookie - just wow!
My question is: Do you listen to music while you write? If so, are there specific songs or artists that you listened to repeatedly while writing the Demon's Trilogy?
Why haven't I read these?? LOL. I love stumbling on new books to check out. They sound like something I would love!
Thanks for the writing advice. I'm currently working on my third YA. Just started querying on my second. I love reading advice from authors!
I'm in the midst of reading TDL. I borrowed it from my sister, which is high praise. She basically turned me onto YA (writing and reading) about a year ago, and I plunder her shelves for titles.
Romance in YA is good, and mostly inevitable. But Sarah, I love that TDL is so much about family relationships. And, you write them so beautifully complex.
Congrats for being able to do that without character sheets. I'm more in awe of your writing after reading that!
PolarisGreen[at]gmail[dot]com
I've said it before and I will say it again... I am such a Sarah Rees Brennan fangirl!!! *bows down to Sarah's literary genius and all around greatness*
I've only read TDL recently, but I loved both of them and I am very excited for the third one! My question is, Who is your favorite character? If you don't have one, which is the most fun to write?
HI- I was wondering if you have ever wanted to write in a different genre and why/why not.
thanks-teacher6th
what do you find is harder to write, the beginning or the end of a book? Is it harder to get started or wrap it all up?
sportsDOTerikalynnATgmailDOTcom
Lovely site & interview!
I love the story of J.K. Rowling thinking up Harry Potter on a napkin; what was the initial thought or idea that led to TDL?
Was it the Goblin Market poem, or did you start with a plot point, or a character?
Also, was there a character you thought up before the others?
AND. Were the titles always 'TDL' and 'TDC', or did the books have different working titles?
Hm. I may not have managed to cleverly disguise my many questions as one bulkier question. Ah well.
P.S. Fellow member of the speed-hippo-dancers club. Solidarity.
Lily
lilibug818@yahoo.com
http://www.afterthefallyalit.blogspot.com/
Great interview!
If you could spend a day with any of your main characters (let's say Nick, Alan, Mae, Jamie, or Sin to keep things simple), whom would you choose and what would you spend the day doing?
Trying for the SEVENTH time! Two quick questions, since I've been trying so hard-
As far as bad guys go, does it make sense that I am more scared of Alan (in a real-life relationship) than of Nick? After all, Nick's problems are glaringly obvious, and, in real life, I doubt I'd ever get involved with someone like him. But Alan is attractive, plausible, kind - and also profoundly damaged, ruthless, and a skilled liar. Am I right to be worried for whomever he hooks up with?
Second - I think Annabelle is awesome, and I love the scene where she fences with Nick. But, when they all go haring off to fight the bad guys, why doesn't she, or Nick, or someone, take the buttons off her swords? As it is, everyone else is fighting with sharps, and she isn't. And that puts her at a huge disadvantage, doesn't it?
Oh - I must explain! I don't mean Nick and Alan are bad guys! I am talking about "bad boy syndrome".
Holy Belt Buckle!!! Love the cookie. And the books. Sarah, you are one-of-a-kind. I just had to pop in and fangirl a little.
So a question...one of my favorite lines in DC is Alan's...(paraphrased) "Nerdy boys try harder..." Will we #TeamAlan types get to see a little more of his, er, "romantic abilities" in the last book??
Thank you for such a great interview! You are a phenomenal author, and this latest cookie is TANTALIZING!!! I can't get enough!!
I have three questions:
1. Do you do classroom skype interviews? I am a high school creative writing teacher in Orlando, Fl and I am trying to line up some FAB authors for this coming year. (You are on my "dream" list!- But... if you are doing signings in sunny Florida anytime this year, I'm sure we could work something out where you could actually visit. . . ) *puts on stellar shades, assumes stylish 'my agent will call your agent' look*
2. From the time you put pen to paper (or started typing) the first draft of DL, how long did it take you to finish it before you queried for agents? (or did you have an agent by then?) (You can count pre-writing/conceptualization if you want to) I'm just curious. I'm working on my first "gosh-I-think-this-is-the-one" story that will actually turn into something. (like you- there have been tons before it, but this is the BIG MOMMA)
3. I am now assuming, and could be completely wrong- if so, I apologize- but once you got your agent, how long did it take before DL got an offer for publication? I know that every situation is different, I am just curious.
Thank you so much for your time. You are awesome!
Amanda
http://thenewbienovelist.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/AmandaLBurford
I am adding to my last comment, it seems I have just missed you in Florida- ORLANDO EVEN! which only means you will just have to plan for one more trip- because even I have not yet been to see Hogwarts, and I am a native!
Just found this blog today and am so glad I did! This is a fantastic interview and I can't wait to see the rest of Sarah's answers!
My questions are:
Are there any writers whose style (not their fashion sense :P) you really envy?
How many rejections did you get before being agented? Sorry to be negative, lol.
"Sometimes you have to ignore the phone, ignore the television, ignore the children screaming about unimportant things like fire, aliens, the apocalypse."
Writing this on a sticky note and slapping it on my monitor now!
Awesome interview!
How long do you write in a day?
Great interview! Wishing you the best.
LOVED THAT TEASER!!! I just wanted to say that The Demon's Lexicon books are MY FAVORITE OF ALL BOOKS!! Can't wait for book 3!!
I am incredibly excited about the cookie and spoilers dropped in today's link list!
I have been wondering, though (and forgive me if the answer is somewhere else, I just don't remember it)--how much schooling did Alan finish? He seems quite keen on Nick getting educated, but I have trouble imagining him choosing university over working to support Nick and Olivia.
If I can sneak this question in here before they close - Do you think that earning a MFA is useful or not? Authors seem to have differing opinions on this, and I was wondering what you though, since I know you have one.
Also, which voice for Lexicon/Covenant/Talisman was hardest to write in? The voices are very different for each character. I also wanted to know if you chose to use third person for any particular reason, because I'm interested in things like that.
I should add that I love your books and characters like a crazy thing. :) Thank you.
I love the blog and the TDL series so far. I was a blubbering mess at the end of TDC -- I swear, that's a compliment!
I particularly enjoyed your blog on transformative romance. So, keeping that in mind, I have to ask: Gale or Peeta?
Awesome interview! 24 books huh?:) Enjoyed getting to know you!
I still haven't read TDC, my friend has a copy and I'm going to borrow it from her.
What do you to do combat the inner editor/inner critic?
Oh what a fabulous COOKIE (and interview)! And naughty. I have a good feeling I'm going to love Sin even more after Book 3. She's really just a no-holds bar type of girl, isn't she? These books really are some of my favs out there now.
You mentioned that you knew where the story was going for TDL right from the start. Is this true for the entire trilogy or have you tweaked your plot arc as you went along?
Thanks!
mmillet at gmail dot com
Sarah,
How do you find the time to balance writing such awesome books and being so fabulous yourself? It seems like too much for one person. Do you have an evil twin? OR A FABULOUS TWIN?
We simply must know.
Oh how I love SRB's teaser and HOLY NICK! I love it! *don't enter me in the giveaway, as I've got both books* :)
What a great post today!!!
Sarah- I adore you! I can't wait to meet you again.
Oh how I love SRB's teaser and HOLY NICK! I love it! *don't enter me in the giveaway, as I've got both books* :)
What a great post today!!!
Sarah- I adore you! I can't wait to meet you again.
Intense romance involving crime fighting? I think you READ MY BRAIN and decided to write the thing that would make me happiest in the entire world. *is still not done gleeing*
Also I have a couple of questions-
1)which fan reaction have you found most surprising? For example, was there a character you thought people would love that everyone hated (or vice versa)?
2) Any more spoilers about your next exciting project that you can share, or are you keeping quiet about that one for now? Is it going to be urban fantasy again, or will the setting be completely non-magical? (or is it high fantasy? High fantasy crime fighting romance sounds AWESOME XD)
What inspires you to be creative?
Emily
Wonderful interview!
Only question is in regards to Alan, who does not get the attention his amazing character so clearly deserves. In book the third, does Alan have another one of his sneaky, brilliant plans?
Hi Sara,
Is it easier to write a trilogy or did you find it difficult to complete your story in three books?
Answering a last few questions that appeared in between me sending my answers to the lovely Jenn and Rebecca.
@The Buccinator
1) Fan reactions, hmmm. I admit to being upset whenever anyone calls Mae a ho. So silly - it's Nick who's the ho. I have to say, I am also surprised but in a pleasant way by how popular Jamie is! He's the quirky comic relief, so I was expecting people to like him, but him being so many people's favourite is unexpected and nice.
2) I was thinking a sort of rural urban fantasy - modern times, but all the fun of Gothic manors and something out there in the woods. ;)
@Ariadne ... I'm afraid that is a spoiler. But I am very happy you like Alan!
@jessie1023 I always knew I wanted it to be a trilogy, so it fitted just right! Which isn't to say that the wrap-up didn't give me a headache or twenty...
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