We are so excited to have Rachel Hartman, author of the recently-released fantasy novel, Seraphina, here at The Readventurer today. Last month, she went on a family vacation to England and rediscovered how wonderfully scenic the countryside is. She's here today to discuss how the years she spent living in England and the scenery of that area affected her world-building in Seraphina. If you've already read Seraphina, we know you'll have fun seeing if Rachel's photographs align with your imaginings of the setting. If you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? You should pick up a copy soon...or if you're in the US, you should enter our giveaway to win it! Don't forget that there is a short prequel, Audition, available to read online here. (PDF alert) 

When I was sixteen, I spent a year in England. My father took a sabbatical in Kent, and we lived in the hamlet of Godmersham, a tiny place, without a post office or a single shop. Our house had once been the coach house of a larger estate. It was surrounded on three sides by sheep pasture; across the lane were fields of blue-flowered flax and yellow rapeseed.

It was an easy walk to the Stour River, over the little bridge to Godmersham Park, where one of Jane Austen’s brothers had lived. She visited frequently, supposedly basing Rosings on the manor house and Mr. Collins’s parsonage on the parsonage next door.

If we walked up the hill beyond the river, we reached the Pilgrim’s Way – that’s right, the old footpath to Canterbury. I was surrounded by literature, as well as sheep. 

If you want to accurately envision Goredd, the world of my novel, Seraphina, south-eastern England is a good place to start. I sometimes suspect that half the reason I’m a fantasy writer is that the landscape and architecture captured my heart and wouldn’t let go. My imagination laid down roots, and still draws sustenance from the things I saw that year. I travelled back recently, after almost twenty-four years away, and felt once again that I was in the place where my imagination intersects with reality.

First of all, there's the bucolic countryside:

Some of those public right-of-ways are a thousand years old; they let you walk straight through farmers' fields. We used to hike around on weekends, or even after dinner, crossing chalky, flinty meadows, edging through hedgerows, all over the rolling weald. This land was domesticated long ago, and yet one can't help feeling that there is some still older wildness lurking just beneath the surface.

History is writ large in the buildings. I walked the streets in Canterbury, admiring Roman walls, Tudor and Georgian buildings, many eras living side by side. Country houses often have floors at many levels, where wings were added without quite enough forethought (or measurement). I am particularly fond of oast houses, and made sure Goredd had its share (as mentioned by Sir James in a story about encountering a battallion of dragons). 

Oast houses are a type of kiln for drying hops; that pointy bit on top turns when the wind blows, keeping the ventilation just right. Technically, this round-house design dates to the 19th century, a bit late for my fantasy world, but I figure Goredd has its own variation on the thing. In fact, Goredd has all kinds of wondrous buildings. Here’s another style one often sees, the brick-and-half-timber:

The most important building in Goredd, of course, apart from the castle, is the cathedral. St. Gobnait’s in Lavondaville is modelled directly upon my favourite cathedral of all time, the one and only Canterbury Cathedral.

Oh, how I love this building. I’m not even sure why. Maybe it’s the literary angle, the dramatic history, or the fact that they let you walk around in the spooky Norman crypt. Maybe it’s the fact that it can make you feel so small and so large at once, or simply that this was the first cathedral I ever saw and you never forget your first. Whatever the case may be, I could stare all day at that perpendicular nave. 

Seraphina’s Garden of Grotesques also grew out of a quintessential English place: Sissinghurst Castle Gardens. The landlord of our rented Coach House had lived at Sissinghurst, and we had visited the gardens on several occasions when they were closed to the public. As a teenager, I found it magical. It was wonderful to see it again, to rediscover every nook and cranny of the place and let myself get lost in the hedges.

The garden is divided into many little sub-gardens, almost like rooms, and I think that’s where I got the idea that each of Seraphina’s Grotesques might have a designated space. There's an orchard, a moat, some pristine stretches of lawn: 

There’s a cottage garden and a lime walk.

And last, but far from least, there was this bench:

If you’ve read Seraphina, you may remember a bench like this belonging to Pelican Man. His is planted with oregano; he finds the smell soothing when he sits there. Well, when I spotted this bench at Sissinghurst, I started pointing at it and laughing. My husband and son, who were somewhat reluctant visitors to this garden, thought I had heat stroke until I was finally able to explain to them that this was the bench I'd described in my book.

And that I'd forgotten it existed in the real world.

England is still trickling into my work, even when I'm not aware of it. Who knows what new detritus accumulated during this vacation? I can't wait to write some more and see what unexpected footpaths my imagination takes next. 

Thanks for sharing some of your inspirations with us, Rachel! You made us a bit jealous with all of your beautiful vacation photos. 

Hartman will be on tour in September to promote her new release. Is she coming anywhere near you?

9/18 – 7pm – Children’s Book World, Haverford, PA
9/19 – 5pm – Warren-Newport Public Library, Gurnee, IL
9/21 – 7pm – Barnes & Noble, Skokie, IL
9/23 – 2pm – Barnes & Noble, Lynnwood, WA
9/25 – 7pm – Copperfield’s Books, Petaluma, CA 
9/26 – 6pm – Barnes & Noble, El Cerrito, CA
9/28 – 7pm – Barnes & Noble, Santa Monica, CA
9/30 – 2pm – Authors Tent, The Word on the Street, Vancouver, BC

Rachel's publisher, Random House, has provided a finished copy of the book for one lucky winner in the US. The giveaway will be open until 12:01 am EST on 9/5/12. Good luck!

As you all well know, the three of us are massive fans of Melina Marchetta.  We've talked about her books and her talents extensively in the past.  We were all excited when she recently released a new short story featuring Lady Celie of the Flatlands in the Review of Australian Fiction.  And we simply can't wait for the release of Quintana of Charyn this fall.  (Well, the Australian release is this fall but I doubt any of us will be able to wait.)  

So you can imagine how happy and flattered we were when Melina agreed to answer some of our questions.  We hope you will enjoy her answers and her insight as much as we did!

We loved what you said in your recent talk at Books of Wonder, about your writing process -  that you wait for a character/voice to arrive first, then see who he/she brings along, and then listen to the dialogue for a long time before committing anything to paper. So, we have to ask: who are you listening to now?

Believe it or not, I’m still listening to Taylor Markham and the Jellicoe gang after all these years, but that’s because talk of a film in the near future has cranked up and those characters need to feel fresh in my head. Mostly I’m thinking of a bunch of new characters (and old) for a TV series I’m co-writing with Cathy Randall, which include Jessa McKenzie and Tilly Santangelo, but also Akbar, Sebastian, Florence, Hughie and Claudine. [Melina is talking about this 10-part TV project.]

And speaking of TV projects, (from Flannery) many of my friends and I are severely addicted to Dance Academy so it was extremely exciting to me to recently find out you were writing an episode for the upcoming season and that you’ve written one or more episodes in the past. Can you talk a little bit about how much freedom you have in terms of plot and dialogue when writing for the show? 

That’s so funny. I went to dinner with Jo Werner and Sam Strauss the producer and creators of the show the other night and told them about your DA love. They were thrilled. I’ve written for them in both Season 2 and 3. They’re great people to work with and Jo Werner will be producing my next two projects and after years and years of being asked by others, I’ve trusted her with the film rights to Francesca.

The hardest part about writing for someone else’s show is getting the characterisation right.  I know my own characters inside out, but that’s not the case with Dance Academy, and no matter how much preparation I’ve done, I still get things wrong in first and second draft. Sometimes the mistakes are about sense of humour or colloquialisms. Also, DA is very controlled by the children’s television classification so there’s not a swear word or sex scene or sexual reference in sight which is very difficult when you’re writing the “will-they/won’t-they-go-all-the-way” episode.  I’ve never had to write with restrictions so it’s been very good discipline.

When we heard that you were planning to concentrate on writing for TV after the publication of Quintana of Charyn, we were heartbroken. How can we go on without having another book of yours to look forward to? Do you expect this hiatus from writing fiction to be long? 

I’m just so tired, you know. It’s a different sort of tired than when I was teaching and of course, I’m no less tired than anyone else, but I need a break from the solitary nature of this work.  I’ve never fallen out of love of novel writing and I know I’m going to be yearning for it. I’ll definitely be writing shorter pieces.  I recently had to write a short story for an online magazine about Lady Celie of the Lumateran Flatlands and I enjoyed it so much. But I also have to work out where I’m going with my writing career.  I have the most amazing loyal readership, but it’s small and I have to find a way of making it bigger without selling my soul.  

(from Tatiana) It took you years to conceive and write your first novels and now you have a new book release practically every year. How were you able to change your writing pace so drastically? Was it only a matter of having more time to write now that you are full-time writer?

No, it certainly wasn’t about having more time. I wrote Francesca and Jellicoe at the busiest time of my teaching career. I think the second wave of my writing career was about confidence and timing. I wrote Alibrandi from the heart and had no idea about process or my craft.  Which made it so hard when people would say to me, ‘Do it again.’  How can you do something again when you weren’t quite aware of what you did right in the first place?  Of course I couldn’t admit that to anyone. It took eleven years and I think writing the film script of Alibrandi helped. Screenwriting is all about craft and structure and so many rules and I learnt quite a lot about process during that time working with the director Kate Woods who is now on board to direct Jellicoe. So it’s no coincidence that I started writing Saving Francesca a year after the release of my first film.

Are you involved in a writing group?  Do you converse with other writers or seek advice and support from other people while writing?

I don’t belong to a writers’ group except for when I’m plotting for TV with my co writer and producers. I tend to disappear in groups of more than four, but I have a strong connection with writers, both here and in the US at a one-on-one level. We rarely speak about the actual content of our work, but we’re a great support to each other. There are very few people you can have a whinge to about the down side of writing such as the daily isolation, or the lack of publicity or bad reviews or wondering what the next royalty statement will look like or whether it’s worth pursuing the career. It’s the same sort of workplace chatter and support you’d get in a staff room or office.

(from Catie) I am a huge Anne of Green Gables fan, and I’ve read several interviews where you mention being inspired by the scene where Anne hits Gilbert over the head with her slate (after he calls her “carrots.”) I just love that. And I know that you’ve also said that you often include scenes in your books that were inspired by that moment. What are some of your favorite “slate over the head” scenes from your own books?

I use those moments to convey that one character (usually the male) thinks he has all the power. And then the other character (usually the female) shows, rather than tells, that it may not be the case.

My favourite to write was when Francesca has the Trotsky/Tolstoy exchange with Will Trombal in Saving Francesca. It’s an important moment for the reader as well, because Francesca could easily be seen as a pushover when the story begins, and I had to hint that there’s more to this girl.

There are a few of those moments in Jellicoe (the scene in the prison cell when Taylor threatens to burn down the Club house as well as the cow manure scene) but the earliest one in Jellicoe is when Taylor and Jonah are younger and she approaches him on the railway platform, and he tells her to go to hell and she tells him she’s been there and hell’s overrated.

In Finnikin, of course, it’s after Evanjalin speaks for the first time and then Finnikin realizes she’s understood every word between him and Sir Topher because she speaks as many languages as he does.

(from Tatiana) You’ve talked often about how characters in your contemporary novels have “twins” in your fantasy novels. Whenever I read Saving Francesca, I imagine Francesca’s parents as grown-up Josephine Alibrandi and Jacob Coote. For some reason I feel like they have the same dynamic. Am I crazy?

Half crazy anyway.  Whenever I’m asked whether Alibrandi will ever have a sequel (absolutely not) my response is that Mia Spinelli is a grown up version of Josie Alibrandi. Josie and Mia are fiery, passionate and driven. But I don’t think that Jacob Coote is Bobby Spinelli.

My most obvious twins are:

Will Trombal and Finnikin of Lumatere (pragmatic, a bit dry, and don’t cope well with women).

Tom Mackee/Lucian of the Monts  – My editor and I call Lucian, ‘Medieval Tom’. Everything that comes out of their mouths is so so wrong, but they mean well and I love their relationship with women of any age. Tom has a great place in the lives of Frankie and the gang, as well as with Georgie’s world and his little sister and mum and both nans. Lucian is the same. I loved every one of his scenes in Quintana of Charyn. Apart from Froi, he goes on the biggest emotional journey and it’s the women who take him there. I also think both those lads come from the same gene pool as Santangelo in Jellicoe. All of them live under the shadow of charismatic fathers, and all of them have leadership of some sort thrust upon them.

We’ve noticed (and appreciated) that you write some of the most honest sex scenes in young adult literature. Is it important to you to represent sex and intimacy in an honest way to teens?

I’m not saying it isn’t important for me to represent it honestly, but it’s not the number one intention. It’s a personal thing. I appreciate many things about religion, and people’s faith amazes me, but I resent the guilt I felt growing up when it came to sex or sexual thoughts or whatnot. I grew up thinking I was going to go to hell. But in saying that, I will not throw in a sex scene for the sake of it.  It must belong to the story being told. The sex scenes in Jellicoe, for example, were part of the story, but they have not found a place in the film script. To use an awful pun (but there’s no other way of saying this) sex between Taylor and Jonah in the film would climax their story too early.  The tension between them has to be there until the very last frame.

It’ll be interesting to see where I go with Lady Celie if I continue writing novellas or short stories featuring her and Banyon, because she’s 22 and he’s about 30, so certainly not the YA age.  That doesn’t mean it has to be 50 Shades of Lumatere. For me, nothing works better than sexual tension and less is more when it comes to writing it.  It’s where romantic comedies today are dismal and excruciatingly boring and it’s why more adults are reading YA.

What do you think of this new genre - “new adult”?  (Which is basically a genre that targets readers in their early twenties.) Did you think about writing for slightly older young adults when you wrote The Piper’s Son? Do you think you’ll ever write a purely adult novel?

I don’t’ think of audience when I write.  In my mind how can The Piper’s Son not be a novel for teenagers and how can it not be a novel for adults? Genre labels are so tricky.  My greatest commercial failure is going to be what I consider my best book, which is The Piper’s Son. And it will be a failure, not because of the writing or characters or sense of place, but because people don’t know where to place it.  My greatest commercial and critical successes overall are Alibrandi and Francesca, because they fit into a genre (and because the girls don’t have sex).  

Personally, I don’t think there should be a new adult genre. I think novels like The Piper’s Son belong in both the adult and YA section of a bookstore and library. Sadly, there seems to be a whole lot of politics involved into why they can’t be part of both.

(from Flannery) The only one of your books I’ve listened to on audio is Looking for Alibrandi and I honestly sat in a parking lot and sobbed during “that section” of the book. I want to go back and listen to The Piper’s Son on audio because the Australian narrators for your books make it feel even more authentic to me. Do you have any input in the audiobook production or narrators? Have you listened to the voice performances of any of your books? (*Actually, I listened to half of On The Jellicoe Road but I got too excited and wanted to read faster so I finished it in book form:))

I listen to all of my books as a point of closure because I’m always interested in someone else’s interpretation and because I like audio books. Once or twice I will re-listen, especially when I was writing Quintana and I had to check Finnikin and Froi for continuity. Listening to my work the first time is very confronting and I’m the worst judge because I’ve lived with those voices in my head for years and then to hear another’s reality is strange. I’ve had a bit of a say with The Piper’s Son and Froi here in Australia. They’ve sent me a couple of audio voices to choose from. I also got to speak to the actors about pronunciation.

I agree with you about the authenticity of the Australian voice. At the moment I’m being asked whether I’m okay about a big international name for either Taylor or Jonah in Jellicoe. The producers both here and in the US agree that it will ensure Jellicoe becomes an international film if one of the two leads is a big name. I’m pushing for Taylor. I think she’s more a citizen of the world. Jonah has such a distinct Australianess to him.  I could be wrong, but I think he would change considerably as a character if an American or English actor played him. 

(from Catie) The world of Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles is immaculately drawn and feels very fresh but at the same time, I can see a lot of parallels between it and some of my other favorite fantasy novels: The Queen’s Thief series, Tigana. Did you draw inspiration from either of these when you were starting The Chronicles of Lumatere? Was there anything that you did draw inspiration from?

that coming-down-from-a-high period that happens after a novel goes to print and I know I’ll feel bereft reading it because it will be everything I love in a fantasy novel. So I think Tigana will be my Christmas read.

But Attolia, oh my goodness, a big yes. Unashamedly.  When I was planning Finnikin in my head, I wanted Evanjalin to do something pretty awful for plot and characterization reasons, but didn’t want to go there because I thought no one would like her. I didn’t want to alienate the reader.  And then I read The Queen of Attolia and everyone who’s read that book knows exactly what scene I’m talking about and it unleashed something brave in me.  Also, MWT has this ability to create intricate passionate and tension -filled relationships between the younger characters and their elders, for example Gen and Relius and even the Magus. So the relationship between Finnikin and Sir Topher or Froi and the Priestking and Gargarin and Arjuro are very much inspired by The Queen’s Thief series.

Compared to Finnikin of the Rock, Froi of the Exiles is much more intricate story, with many twists and turns and mysteries and characters. How did you manage to keep track of this very difficult plot while maintaining a good level of suspense? Did you use flow-charts or white boards to keep the pieces of the puzzle together? And is Quintana of Charyn going to be as twisty?

No, I use none of those things.  I want to because they look fantastic and they’d make my life easier, but logic is not a bedfellow of mine. I’m one of the untidiest people in the world. I usually start off with good intentions, lose everything and find my notes and scene cards the week after I go to print.  So I have to trust my head and it doesn’t let me down.  It’s about re-writes for me.  I think that if I planned things more I wouldn’t have to re-write so often, but I find pieces of gold in all the mess of not planning. “That Scene” Flannery was referring to in Looking For Alibrandi was one of them. Totally unplanned.  The scene in Jellicoe where Jonah reveals what he was doing on the platform is another one.  Dom’s confession at the AA meeting in The Piper’s Son was another. And Quintana’s personalities were totally unplanned. So I stick to the mayhem in my head.

There are a few big reveals in Quintana, especially about who or what cursed Charyn (which was still a mystery to me when I finished writing Froi). Quintana is twisty emotionally. It’s very much a relationships based novel.

(from Tatiana) One of my most favorite couples in Froi of the Exiles (and there are many, believe me) is Lucian and Phaedra. I won’t lie, for a huge part of the novel I was infuriated by Lucian’s actions towards his wife, but because of that his redemption in the end was so much sweeter. What inspired you to put Lucian through this journey?

Lucian is one of my favourite characters too. If he were real, he’d be the type of young man I’d be proud of.  It’s hard as a writer to re-introduce a beloved character in such a negative way. I did that with both Lucian and Tom Mackee. I knew that Lucian’s humanity would come through his interaction with the enemy and I was really hoping the reader would stay with me because Lucian (and Froi and Quintana and the rest) aren’t the easiest people to like at the beginning.

I can’t really discuss his relationship with Phaedra because it gives too much away for those who haven’t read Froi, but I’ll give you an idea of the genesis of that relationship. When I first started writing Froi, I thought Lady Celie was Froi’s love interest because he lives with her family. That didn’t work and it taught me you couldn’t force your characters to be somewhere they don’t want to be.  So next I decided Celie would be Lucian’s love interest. Celie’s goodness would take him to the valley where the homeless Charynite’s were camping.  Obviously that didn’t work.  So it made total sense that Lucian’s love interest would be one of those refugees in the valley and not a particularly strong girl on first appearance (much like Celie). But I love those types of characters.

Of course now Celie has her own little novella and I don’t think I’ve heard the last of her. Phaedra and Celie are more than just love interests.  I had a Patrick Swayze dirty dancing moment with both of them when I realized that no one puts Celie or Phaedra in a corner.

In our reading circle, mostly comprised of American readers, you are a superstar. Do you feel like you are better known now in Australia or in the US?

Thank you. If the average person on the street asks me what I’ve written here, it’s all about Alibrandi. People in their 20’s and 30’s either studied it at school or watched the film. But I have a bigger fantasy audience in the US than here in Australia.  I think those who have read The Lumatere Chronicles in Australia are those who have followed my writing from the beginning, whereas in the US people discovered my work through the fantasy series or Jellicoe. Every time I’m introduced here in a literary capacity, Alibrandi is mentioned.  It was a very important novel in my life but I’d love to be referred to as the writer of On the Jellicoe Road or the Lumatere Chronicles. Regardless of everything, they are better novels. Now when someone approaches me and tells me how much they love my book. I’m very polite in my response and ask them which one, although I know exactly what they’re referring to.

You transitioned so smoothly from contemporary realistic fiction to fantasy. Are there any other genres you would be interested in trying out? Science fiction maybe? Or mystery?

Unfortunately I don’t have science fiction cleverness.  But the fun about writing the Lady Celie novella was being able to write a mystery crime story. Jellicoe was a mystery as well. I’d also love to write a historical novel because I loved the research involved in writing The Lumatere Chronicles. It makes me very sad to think that my next trip to Europe won’t revolve around castles and underground cities and cobblestone streets and medieval seaports. Which goes back to your earlier questions about the writing hiatus. Perhaps it won’t be so long after all.

Well, there is some hope for us in the end!  Thank you Melina, for taking time to talk to us.  Melina Marchetta can be found at her blog, goodreads, and on twitter.

Tuesday was a complete whirlwind and I am still recovering!  I got up at the crack of dawn and headed out to the glamorous bus depot near Union Station in Washington, D.C. to meet my chariot to NYC.  Unfortunately, there was construction all around the station and D.C. already has notoriously tiny street signs, so I got pretty lost, had a panic attack on the phone to my husband, cried, and then stumbled upon the parking garage completely by accident.  I sprinted down two non-functioning escalators to meet the bus, got in the wrong line, and finally, finally made it into my bus only two minutes before it was supposed to depart.  And then I waited there for forty five minutes because the driver was late.

It was a horrible start to the day, ameliorated somewhat by a cheeky Brit up front who called out loudly for some “common courtesy” and then called the driver a “twatter.”  I’m pretty sure everyone on the bus appreciated it.

The drive up was largely uneventful, except that I had completely forgotten how quickly I can read when I’m not constantly being interrupted.  It’s a good thing I came prepared, book-wise.  Everything else…eh, not so much.  This was my first time in NYC and it was hot.  And loud.  And crowded and dirty and most of all, draining.  It was also fun and exciting in a frenetic way.  Granted, I only saw a tiny part of it, and what I saw was most likely the touristy-est part.  But still…I think I could have been more prepared.

Here is what I wish I had brought to New York with me:
-   Sunscreen
-   Personal shower
-   Change of clothes
-   Make up
-   Comfortable walking shoes
-   Cattle prod

Here is what I actually brought to New York with me:
-   Seven books

Luckily, the very lovely Heidi from Bunbury in the Stacks agreed to meet up with me right off the bus, so I at least had someone awesome to walk around with in the hot, evil sunshine.  Heidi was really fun to hang out with and was a great guide to NYC – we never got lost and we made it to the event an hour and a half early.  Books of Wonder is a beautiful store with titles for children, middle-grade, and young adults.  I found a really nice hardcover copy of Antonia Michaelis’ Dragons of Darkness in their sale section for only $4.00!  I also bought Finnikin of the Rock, because I didn't own it yet and Heidi brought me Being Friends With Boys!

Their meeting room was quite tiny, however, so Heidi and I ended up standing behind the measly 15-20 seats they provided.  (Yes, in answer to your unspoken question – we were there an hour and a half early and still somehow managed to not get a seat.  I blame the heat exhaustion.)  The event itself was amazing.  It was clear from the beginning that these three women are all fans of each other’s work and friends as well.  Instead of each giving a talk/reading, they decided to interview each other.

Kristin Cashore started things off by bringing up the interesting fact that all three of them wrote companion novels and not necessarily sequels.  Even more interesting is that all three of them wrote the first novel in their respective series intending it to be a standalone.  This actually happened twice for Melina Marchetta, both with Saving Francesca and Finnikin of the Rock.  Melina said, “I didn’t like Froi; I used him as a tool.”  It wasn’t until later that she realized he had a story of his own.  However, Quintana of Charyn was always intended as a sequel.  As Melina put it, she realized that there was a problem when she was five hundred pages into the book and the pregnancy (no spoilers!) was only five months along.  She contacted her publisher, feeling very stressed but as soon as her publisher heard the word “trilogy” all was well.

They then spoke about some of the decisions they made in their first books that impacted their second books in frustrating ways.  For example, Kristin Cashore mentioned that in Graceling, she wanted to slow down the pacing a bit and so decided to add in the impenetrable forest and impassable mountain.  However, when she was writing Bitterblue, she wanted the pacing to move more quickly but found it difficult because of the forest/mountain sitting there, in the way.  Melina Marchetta brought up that in Saving Francesca there’s a part where Tom and Justine are said to have similar musical taste and both enjoy musicals.  However, in The Piper’s Son, there’s a scene where Tom thinks “it can’t get worse” than Jesus Christ Superstar.  Melina Marchetta laughed, saying that she was all prepared to explain that inconsistency by saying that Tom had grown out of his love for musicals over the years, but that the question has never come up!  She also said that she never expected Froi to lead the companion novel for Finnikin of the Rock, based on his actions in that book, but also because he has a “dumb name.”  Then Gayle Forman piped in, saying that if there were one thing she could change about Where She Went, it would be Adam’s band name!  (Ha!) Kristin Cashore then mentioned that “Po” actually means “butt” in German so the name had to be changed in the translation.  And apparently Katsa is somewhat similar to a word for the male anatomy in Italian.

The topic then changed over to (dun dun dun!) reviews.  Kristin Cashore was frustrated by some reviews that made assumptions about her beliefs about marriage, saying, “I’m apparently anti-marriage and I hate children” – all based on her decision to write one character who doesn’t want to get married or have kids.  She then said that if we could all see her phone, we’d know how wrong that assumption is, saying “my phone is full of babies!”  She eventually decided that she couldn’t just brush off the bad reviews or negative emails anymore.  She doesn’t ever visit her goodreads page and she doesn’t allow comments or emails through her blog.

Melina Marchetta said that she doesn’t often read reviews and that she’s come across some good ones and some bad ones.  She said that she tries to keep in mind that she’s “not the audience of the review” and that mostly, she stays away.  Gayle Forman then interjected, saying, “the opposite of love is indifference, right?”  She said that a lot of readers got upset about Adam’s swearing in Where She Went, but for her, his swearing didn't feel like a big deal.  She said that swearing doesn’t connect to morality.  They all agreed that they write for themselves as readers and for readers like themselves.  Not everyone will like their work, but that’s okay.

Gayle Forman led the next question, saying that in her opinion both Kristin Cashore and Melina Marchetta write some of the “most delicious sexual tension.”  Melina Marchetta, using the example of Taylor and Jonah (from Jellicoe Road), said that for her it’s about letting the insecurities and damaged places come through.  She said it’s about “the belief that they [the characters] are the only two people who could put each other back together again.”  Kristin Cashore then expanded on that, saying that for her it’s also about equality in power – “the only two people who could take each other on” – an even match.  They both agreed that what you don’t say is often more evocative than what you do say.  Gayle Forman said that she also loves that in both Melina Marchetta’s and Kristin Cashore’s novels, the love interests often start out as adversaries which creates immediate tension between them.

Then they were each urged (by each other) to read scenes laden with sexual tension, which I thought was hilarious.  Gayle Forman wasn’t going to read, but after Kristin Cashore went, they convinced her to.  Here are the videos:

They went on to speak about why they felt the need to continue their one-novel-standalone-stories.  Melina told a very funny anecdote about two of her students who would sort of tease her by blaring out “You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban whenever she would ride with them in a car, simply because they knew she disliked it.  They would also call her on the phone and hold up the receiver whenever that particular song was played at their Catholic school assemblies.  One day she was listening to that song and reading the scene where Froi gets hoisted up on someone’s shoulders in Finnikin of the Rock.  “That dumb song” (“it’s not really dumb” – she later corrected) made her realize that Froi was a major player in the story.  Also, after writing Tom Mackee, she looked forward to tackling another unlikable, antagonistic character – someone who was difficult to like at first. 

Kristin Cashore said that it was fun to see Katsa, a character who is very much not in tune with herself, through the eyes of Bitterblue, someone who is.  She then struggled a bit to describe exactly why that was interesting for her, and Melina Marchetta suggested it might just be that she’s getting the opportunity to see her character through a brand new perspective.  Gayle Forman said that it’s very interesting to her as a writer to explore the exact same timeline but from a new perspective.  And Kristin Cashore added that changing perspective can actually change how you see your own characters.  When she was writing from Leck’s point of view in Bitterblue, she found that she had to keep going back to his words again and again, to make them “more creepy.”  She only realized then just how disturbing he really was.

They moved on and spoke a bit about point of view.  Melina Marchetta said that Quintana of Charyn will have multiple points of view, just like Froi of the Exiles, but they will all be introduced at the beginning so that the reader knows what she’s getting into.  Kristin Cashore suggested that sometimes simple boredom might be an issue with point of view – it’s more interesting to change perspective when she’s writing.

Gayle Forman gushed a little bit and said that Melina Marchetta is her favorite contemporary YA author and then went on to express some anxiety about how difficult it must have been for her to switch over to fantasy – to which Melina Marchetta replied, “It’s not that dramatic.”  Apparently, Kristin Cashore is also switching gears and writing a contemporary novel next.  I didn’t know this, but her first and third novels (unpublished) are also contemporaries. She said that for her, it's the character who leads her to contemporary vs. fantasy.  Katsa appeared to her with powers, so she wrote a fantasy.

Melina Marchetta spoke about what motivated her to write a fantasy, telling a “New York story” about a two month period where she had switched homes with “Justine and Scott” (ie, Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld) and stayed in NYC.  She was riding the train and saw a poster showing a camp in Africa.  Then she noticed that everyone in the carriage was speaking a different language and she thought about how “so many people are not in their home lands.”  She said that she feels very strongly about refugees and people who lose their homes, and she feared that a contemporary novel would feel too political.  She sent an email that day, asking her editor to “talk her out of it.”  But when she asked if her editor thought she could possibly write it as a fantasy, her editor replied, “of course you can.” 

Some highlights from the audience Q&A (abbreviated):

How do you create characters that are abrasive and difficult to like and then make us like them so much it hurts?
Gayle Forman said that it was quite easy to write Adam, because he's so much like herself.  Kristin Cashore said that difficult characters are the most fun to write, and if you (the writer) are having fun, then the reader will enjoy it. Melina laughed and said that she gets a bit sad when people say they "hate Georgie" because that's the character she thinks is the most like herself.  Melina Marchetta went on to say that it was important to her that Tom Mackee was genuinely unlikable at the beginning, but that she slipped in little hints, like "a promise to the reader" that he was a decent guy.  For example, in the email exchanges between Tom and his sister, his address is "annabelle'sbrother" which is a cue that he's not all bad.  Kristin Cashore then piped in to say that she gave Death a cat in Bitterblue with much the same intent.

What was the most helpful advice you've received from your editor?
Kristin Cashore: after handing in her 800 page draft that took three years to write, her editor said "would you consider starting from scratch?"
Gayle Forman: couldn't think of a simple piece of advice but said that her editor often "gives her the key to unlock the book."
Melina Marchetta: "The word 'said' is a good word.  Use it."  And, "don't be a thesaurus; use a thesaurus."

On reviews:
Melina Marchetta: doesn't let any of her books go to print unless she's 100% happy with what's inside.  If she's 100% happy, then anything negative a reviewer might have to say won't affect her.  Also gave this sage advice: "stop reading the review after the words, 'I really wanted to like this book but...'"
Kristin Cashore: doesn't like when reviewers try to speculate about what she was trying to do with the book, or about who she is as a person.  

On writing:
Melina Marchetta: the characters are just there, in her mind.  She begins by listening to her characters and waiting to see who they bring along with them.  She waits for them to come to her and she spends a lot of time listening to their dialogue before she commits anything to paper.
Kristin Cashore: is somewhat the same.  She listens to her characters' dialogue and waits for them to reveal themselves.
Gayle Forman: her characters often surprise her and she doesn't always know where they're going to go.  Sometimes as she's writing, a scene will come out completely different than she initially pictured it.  Her characters sometimes seem to have a mind of their own.

Melina Marchetta then spoke a bit about Quintana's dual nature in Froi of the Exiles.  She was confused because Quintana would sound one way in one scene, and then another way a few scenes later.  She couldn't figure it out until Quintana finally revealed her secret - it was a big surprise.  

On world-building in fantasy:
Kristin Cashore said that with Graceling, she let the world develop more as she wrote it and didn't really pre-plan it out.  She said that she regrets that now and she thinks that planning it out before-hand works the best for her. Melina Marchetta said that she does a bit of both - planning and just going with the flow.  She uses a lot of her real-world travel destinations as inspiration for her fantasy worlds.  They both agreed that making up swear words or using the more "quaint" swear words is really fun.  I think Melina Marchetta said "swiving" about five times during that conversation, haha.

Where's Jimmy Hailer? (this from an audience member who called Melina Marchetta "her goddess")
Melina Marchetta: "three words: I don't know."  She went on to say that Jimmy was based on a student of hers who was very angry at the time, but has since gone on to become very happy in his life.  She said that she feels content to leave him there, to let him be happy.  She also thought that Jimmy's absence in The Piper's Son would speak more loudly than his presence.

After the Q&A, we all lined up to get our books signed. I felt bad that I only had books for Melina Marchetta (and also that I'd been walking around all day and was a sweaty mess) but I made it to the head of the line and they were all so wonderful!  Melina Marchetta gave me a hug (poor woman) and I got a picture!  I look like complete hell and my eyes are like half closed, but Melina looks gorgeous.  And isn't that all that really matters?   In fact, I'm just going to warn all of you right now that every picture of me from this day is pretty rough.  But I'm gonna share them all, because I know you guys love me for my heart and not my (usually) not-so-sweaty face.

Of course, Sash and I had to take our customary photo at events such as these.  I was really hungry, so you'll have to excuse the excessive baring of teeth.  Watch out Sash!

And look, more awesome people!

On the left, the lovely Janice from specificromantic.  With me in the middle and wearing the absolutely stunning knitwear is my tour guide Heidi.  And on the right with me is the goddess of goodreads - Karen!  Karen was amaaaazing and heroically walked with me through what I can only describe as several million blocks to drop me off at Port Authority safely at 9:30 at night.  Not only did she save my life once on the journey (true story!), she left me with the very wise advice that I probably shouldn't just stand on the street corner waiting for my bus and looking "directionless."  I took that advice, and I'm happy to say that I survived New York City.  I had a blast, but I have to be honest - seeing the national mall all lit up in the distance as I picked up my car in the middle of the wonderfully dark and silent night was one of the best feelings I've ever had.  

Occasionally on Three Heads Are Better Than One (or Two) we will highlight the work of an author we all love. Today, we would like to help celebrate the release of This is Not a Test by one of our favorite authors, Courtney Summers. This is Not a Test is a slight departure from her usual dark, gritty contemporary novels featuring damaged girl characters. Instead, she has written a dark, gritty contemporary novel featuring a damaged girl character… with a side order of zombies! Contrary to what those last two sentences would suggest, her novels are far from repetitive. But they do all contain certain elements that we have loved.  Today we chat about all the reasons we love the writing of Courtney Summers and highlight our favorite novels of hers.

When I first joined Goodreads, I floundered around for awhile. Years, actually. Somehow, and I really don't remember how it happened, I made friends with a few people on the site who invited me to join them in a private group of awesome. I was as nervous to post there as I always was on the first day of school. They read a book a month together so it was with great excitement that I purchased their next pick, Fall for Anything by Courtney Summers. It's funny to think back on that time, which was really only about a year and a half ago. I've become an absolutely more confident reader since that time. Until we talked about doing this post, I don't think I realized how important reading that book was for me as a reader. If I hadn't joined that group and read FfA, I might not have discovered my love of Summers' books until much later.

I went back and reread my review of the book and I was not surprised to see that some of the insights I had about the book are the reasons I've also enjoyed her two earlier books, Some Girls Are and Cracked Up To Be. Something that I enjoy in every one of her books is how she actually understands what being in high school is like and doesn't sugar coat even one iota of it. I've never really been bullied but my blood pressure soared as I read about how Regina and her friends treated other people in Some Girls Are (and how they later treated her). Likewise, I've never had to deal with harboring a secret like Regina and Summers made me feel more worry for her, specifically in one scene, than most any author I can think of made me feel for a character. I always try to block that one scene out of my mind but I just reread my review and it came back to me--I think it put me on edge as much as a horror novel. This makes me certain that This Is Not A Test will be chalked up as a total success, since I know Courtney Summers can write high tension scenes. I'm saving that book as a rescue from a future reading slump. 

I don't know if I could put my feelings about her writing into better words than I did when I wrote my original reviews of her books, so I'll just select a few of the things I've said about her writing:

"Her characters are realistically flawed and you can almost smell the desperation that drips off of nearly every one of them, whether they are desperate for friendship, love, or forgiveness for missteps. " (Cracked Up To Be)

"Courtney Summers lovers will find the same old awesome in this one: gritty topic, beautiful writing, a bitchity main girl, and a lightning fast read." (Cracked Up To Be)

"At times, her books feel almost painfully realistic. This one definitely gives you the feeling of what bullying actually feels like--about the hopelessness and loneliness of it all. And about how either willfully or negligently unaware parents and teachers can be.  " (Some Girls Are)

I really have to give Summers props for coming up with what I feel like is one of the harshest things you could ever say to another human being: "You make me feel alone." (FfA) If someone said that to me, I think I'd probably cry for hours. But having read two more of her books after that initial one, it doesn't surprise me that one of her characters would say that to another. She really is the queen of writing manipulative characters. I truly don't know of any YA authors who do it better.  If you enjoy honest and realistic YA and you haven't read her books, you are an idiot. (sorry, I was just trying on my Courtney Summers mean girl character hat for a minute.) What I meant to say is, read them! You'll love them!

If you write reviews long enough you’ll start to hear your own critical broken record.  You’ll start to notice the gripes that you tend to voice over and over again.  A book can be hitting every one of your good spots, but the appearance of one or two of those things can automatically disconnect you from whatever love you were feeling.  In fact, we wrote a post about some of those things last week.  My inner broken record of gripes probably sounds something like this:

…unrealistic…

…too much resolution…

…too damn HAPPY…

And I haven’t failed to notice that most of the time, I am alone out here on my grumpy little island.  (Tatiana visits quite often, however.  We make bitter, bitter mojitos.)  It’s not really a mystery why so many people love to read happy stories about people learning from their mistakes and then riding off into the sunset.  Those stories can make you feel hopeful and optimistic about the world.  They can make your heart swell and your face ache from grinning.

Unless you’re me.  None of that happens for me, ever.  At least, not when it’s “supposed to” happen.  Not with the stories specifically written to elicit those emotions.  And I admit that sometimes I feel like there’s this big, cheerful, exciting club that I’ll never belong to.  Sometimes I pick up a “heartwarming” story for review with this complete sense of dread because I know that I’ll probably be the one person to dump all over it while you all are hanging out and celebrating.

This rambling opening is all just a semi-relevant precursor to the reasons that I adore the writing of Courtney Summers so much.  Reading her books is like having an author specifically address each of my gripes one by one.  Her characters never make unrealistic progress, her stories are never resolved into neat little packages, and the word “happy” doesn’t belong anywhere near her books.  Her stories make me feel uncomfortable and bruised; they force me to sit with my darkest places and they linger in my mind long after I’ve finished them.  Her writing is pared down and striking in its honest simplicity.

I also love that her main characters always have a romantic interest, but never a true loooove.  I love the occasional dark humor that shows up to make me chuckle evilly in scenes where I probably shouldn’t be laughing.  And I love her crazy taste in character names: Parker Fadley? Regina Afton? Culler Evans? Sloane Price?  Is this a modern day high school or a fancy ski lodge in 1984?  I don’t know.  And more importantly, I don’t want to know.

But perhaps the thing I love most of all is that Courtney Summers’ books make me get in touch with my inner smug bitch.  You see, I kind of love reading negative reviews for her books – reviews that say things like, “the main character is just so…awful” or (in outrage) “There was no resolution in the end!!!”  or “I just wish that it wasn’t so dark.”  (Note: I made up all of these quotes.  They do not come from actual reviews.)  I love reading those reviews because they make me feel like I’m finally the one on the inside.  I’m finally a member of the club that gets something, and not on the outside shaking my head.  Unhappiness never felt so good! 

What is ironic is that my favorite Courtney Summers' novel is the one I was reluctant to read the most. I resisted and resisted and resisted this book recommendation.

I am talking about Some Girls Are - a novel about a mean girl.

The reason why I stay away from mean girl books is because most of the time they are too... humanizing and forgiving. You normally have a bully girl who is a nasty person but who learns during the course of a novel the wrongness of her behavior. We also find out why she is the way she is. Then she changes for better, possibly says sorry to her victim(s), and everything bad is forgiven and forgotten. And I am often left feeling like these characters are cut too much slack.

I never felt that way reading Some Girls Are. Regina is as mean of a girl as they come. When she crosses another mean girl, she finally gets a taste of  hard-core bullying that she's been on a giving side of for years. Does she learn her lesson, become better and drive into sunset with a hot boyfriend at her side? Not really.

I liked that Courtney Summers never made Some Girls Are into a "lesson" story. I liked being in a mean girl's head and seeing how horrifying and damaging it is to live always hating and being hated. I enjoyed reading about predatory social dynamics in a mean girls' group. And I LOVED that there was no easy forgiveness for Regina. Whatever she did in her young life, she would have to carry with and within herself forever, but there is still a tiny possibility of Regina being able to make a positive change. There is more truth in such ending than in any HEA.

Having read all Summers' novel, I know for sure Regina is my favorite character. She is hateful, but she is proactive and vocal, and that separates her from the author's other more subdued and less "mean" heroines. Who knew I would ever end up falling for a mean girl?

This is Not a Test releases today and can be found over at Amazon, along with Courtney Summers' other books. We reviewed it here. Make sure to stop by this Thursday, when Courtney Summers will join us for a Book vs. Movie post and a giveaway of her new book!

If you want to give a book event some ambiance, hold it in a church. Better yet, hold it in a chapel with a backlit cross and recessed lighting above it, so that when something shorts and the lights flicker over the cross and then smoke starts coming out, everyone will ponder if it is God wondering why it took a book event to get them to go to church. Or maybe that was just me.  This event made me so excited from the get-go. I walked in and was handed a raffle ticket for the paperback boxed set, which included an advance reader's copy of Bitterblue. While writing the series, Cashore's editor moved publishing houses so she's had two different publishers. For that reason, she noted, this might be the only boxed set that is ever offered of the series. Spoiler alert, I didn't win the boxed set. Second spoiler alert, I thought about jumping the winner in the parking lot. Instead, I bought a dollar ice cream sundae at Mickey D's and called it an evening well spent.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from Kristin Cashore in real life, but what I got was an enthusiastic, approachable, friendly author who more than carried the event with her personality. Most of the events I've gone to previously were for groups of authors and I was curious to see if I would take as many notes when it was primarily a reading and just one author. Well, when the author is so gosh-darn interesting and quotable, it turns out that answer is definitely yes.

Cashore said she was in a great mood that day for several reasons: a positive diagnosis for a family member, Obama's support of gay marriage, and finding out she was #2 on the New York Times bestseller list for the week. She'd decided, upon visiting Seattle, that she'd like to take a ferry ride since we have regular ferries running all over Elliott Bay and Puget Sound. While she was on the boat, she found out all this information so not only did that make it "the best ferry ride ever" but she was also contagiously happy that evening. 

Armed with a tabbed and margin-note-ridden copy of Bitterblue and one of her many notebooks, Cashore began talking about her writing process. She writes everything by hand and transfers her work in Word every so often. Since it is impossible to backup handwritten words with the same regularity as computer work, she keeps her notebooks in a fireproof, waterproof safe. Cashore showed the audience one of the seven notebooks she filled while writing Bitterblue, and when she walked down the aisle, we could see that almost half, if not more, of the writing was crossed out. She chuckled when she saw that she'd written, "This is rot and shards and contagion, but that's okay" along the top of one page. Evidently that is a quote from a book she enjoyed but she used it as a starting point to talk about the importance of failure for aspiring (and all) writers.

According to Cashore, the first draft is total crap. You know the heart of the story but you don't know how to get it into words. You just write it and rewrite it until you get it right, except even when you think you might've gotten there, you could be totally wrong. Bitterblue took twice as long as the previous two books for her to write and when she turned it in, her editor read the draft and said what is probably every author's nightmare sentence: "Would you consider starting from scratch?" Though it was an initial shock, Cashore agrees with her editor's statement and thinks the book is stronger for it. She used that first draft as a source and just lifted all the good stuff from it. Doing so allowed her to approach her revision with unbelievable freshness and when she was completed, her editor called the revision a miraculous feat. 

Here's Cashore doing two readings from Bitterblue. Sorry the audio quality is not the greatest. Pump up the volume! (I wish there was some reason to put pics of young Christian Slater in this post.) These two videos are a bit long and straightforward so if you're pressed for time, watch the other two later in the post, in which she answers audience questions.

I mean no disrespect to young adult fans in general, anyone who knows me knows what a huge, huge fan of the genre I am, but I have to say, fantasy and sci-fi young adult readers ask phenomenal questions. They are invested in the worlds, the characters, the author, and the inventions in ways that astound me. I was surprised several times over when audience members asked questions about how tyrannical characters from history influenced her writing of Leck and a question about a comment Cashore made in the acknowledgments of Bitterblue that elicited a wonderful response from the author. Apparently, she made a comment in the acknowledgments about Po's character and this was the first time she'd ever been asked about it. (If you click that link, it takes you to a discussion on Cashore's blog which was inspired by the audience member's question.) The reader just asked if she could elaborate a little bit on what the comment meant. I could tell that Cashore thought very hard about what exactly she wanted to say, and I think she explained herself thoughtfully and tactfully on the matter. (There will be a spoiler for Graceling, if anyone wants to skip on to the next paragraph.) When an author is writing a book, they won't notice everything in their own characters or plot that might offend people. By blinding Po at the end of Graceling but then having his grace be magical sight, it might be seen as implying that Po couldn't be a "complete person" without his use of sight. "Curing" a disability may be seen as rude or presumptuous. Cashore talked about the inevitable mistakes authors make and though she regrets making that choice for Po overall, it was never intentional and she is very mindful about not making a similar mistake for any future characters she writes. I actually drew hearts all around my notes from this section of the event because it was readily apparent how much Cashore took it to heart and I was glad she didn't try to evade the question even one bit.

The most exciting part of the night for me was when someone asked the inevitable "What's next?" question.  The answer, I was ecstatic to find out, is contemporary, realistic YA!  The draft is already completed so I, for one, cannot wait to read it when it comes out. What she will do in other arenas?  Here's Kristin talking about the book she's just finished a draft of and what else might be next for her:

She said she may eventually write another book set in the same world as the Graceling Realm books, perhaps one from Po's point of view, but one character she hopes never to visit again is Leck. Cashore said being inside Leck's mind was an awful experience. For a few weeks, she'd write something terrible for him, approach it with fresh eyes and realize it had to be even more horrific and rewrite. The entire process was taxing, but an author can get a sort of sick pleasure when writing evil characters.  

An audience member applauded Cashore for cleverly writing a young adult book with romantic elements but without that as the central theme. Story is the main force behind Cashore's books and she said she wouldn't feel as challenged if she were to write a book with romance driving the story along. She is averse to love triangles and finds them "so boring." As do I, Kristin Cashore, as do I. 

A few more fun facts:

• She queried Graceling along with a realistic middle-grade book, which is now, sadly, closeted.
• It took her one and a half years to write the first draft of Graceling, and six months to revise it.
• She doesn't remember the inspirations behind the characters in the series.
• She once worked as a waitress in a pub in Australia. She said she must've been hired for the novelty of having an American working there as she was a terrible waitress.
• When they were trying to think of a name for the overall series, one of her friends suggested "Kickass Women Who Kill Their Fathers." 

At the end of the evening, when it was time for the raffle for the boxed set, she walked over to the bag of tickets and looked at the audience before saying, in a perfect Effie Trinket voice, "May the odds be ever in your favor." Psht, as if you could even make me like you more, Kristin Cashore.   

Today, we have one of our favorite Aussie authors, Shirley Marr, here at The Readventurer to celebrate the release of her second novel, Preloved. Marr's first novel dealt with a teenager accused of murder so it's safe to say that Preloved is something completely new for her. In it, a high school girl finds a locket that is haunted by the snarky ghost of a boy from the 80s. Here's my review, if you missed it. If you're outside of Australia, you can purchase Preloved at Fishpond with free international shipping. In Australia, try The Nile, which has free shipping as well.  

Shirley has done amazingly fun blog posts and interviews at the prior stops on her blog tour, so be sure to check them out. Today, she's taking a trip back to her high school days. Pay close attention because we want you to grade her as a student when she's done! Here's Shirley on her day at YA Author Heights High:

Okay, so Shirley stuffs up the flux capacitor and goes back to high school!

First Period, Social Studies:
What I've noticed about YA Author Heights High is that everyone is super nice. They're all like "oh so what are you writing?" and "Yes, I completely understand Second Novel Syndrome, how about we sit together at lunch behind Writers Block and swap manuscripts?" and "That Librarian, Ms Oprah has got like favouritism or something". But I can't help but notice like every other school, it has CLIQUES.

The Popular People: Everyone is like in awe of them. They are like The Cullens. Everyone stares at them in the lunch hall. I mean that Markus Zusak is pretty good looking and School Captain Melina Marchetta is amazing. And I wish I was Cath Crowley and I wish John Marsden would look my way just the once. I would be so jealous of Jaclyn Moriarty if only she wasn't so darn nice. They always get the gold stars from the teachers and the school loves them too. One day maybe I will be able to share my Vegemite crispbread with them, but maybe this is just a pipe dream.

The Cool Kids: Wow, Lili Wilkinson has the right clothes and hair and she reads the right books and she knows how to tweet the important stuff. And Craig Silvey is the best looking hipster I have ever seen, I hope he asks me to the Year 12 formal. Gabby Williams is instantly cool cos she's from Melbourne. Leanne Hall in vintage black skivvy and capris, oh my. They hang around the bike shed being cool and themselves. They are in it for the ART.

The Newbies: These students have just moved to YAAHH this year and I'm excited. At the moment I am chaperoning Emma Cameron and Pip Harry around and showing them the canteen, toilet block, computer room etc. I reckon they will do well at YAAHH.

The Top Students: Look at those overachievers! That Kirsty Eagar, she's going to graduate and become an International Superstar. And Sonya Hartnett, always winning our school mega awards. Lucy Christopher? I didn't even know she was Australian because she's out of this world. I thought she was British. And Laura Buzo, if she over-achieves with her new novel, she might get inducted into The Popular People cos Laura "Buzo" has got serious "buzz" cred.  I wish I knew the secret handshake to get into The Popular People crowd.

The Emo Kid: Me.

Second Period, Art:
I was an A grade student! Shaun Tan eat your heart out. I used to draw a lot when I was very young, when my English wasn't good (I didn't speak English fluently until I was about eight) and drawing was my only medium of expression. I made hundreds of these little picture books. But as I got better at writing my art suffered as a result and these days it's pretty piss poor! But my one Party Trick is that I can draw anything on the spot. You tell me the first thing on my your mind (hippopotamus, potato etc) and I will draw it for you. Here are some things I drew from Preloved. You get 1 point if you can figure out what they are. 2 points if you can specifically locate them in the book and a bonus golden unicorn if you can guess Number 4. 

Third Period, History:
Once upon a time in the 80s, Shirley Marr was born. As a child she read a lot of books and knew at about 10 that she was going to be a writer. If she were able to reign in her personality it would have helped as in high school she refused to take English Lit cos it was "elitist", resigned from the Year Book Committee because they were "elitist" and didn't hand in several major essays in English because the curriculum was "boring". She ended up graduating uni and ended up with that magic occupation starting with "A"! Yes! An... Accountant. But an Awkward Accountant. The other day while walking down the city terrace, she accidentally kicked a lawyer (but it wasn't Julia Lawrinson). One day she decided to send in a manuscript with a terrible submission letter and a box of chocolates (no! The inter webs says you must never do this) to a slush pile. And for some reason the Publisher liked her. And here she is. Newborn Author.

Fourth Period, English:
Shirley's aforementioned original submission letter for Fury: 


18 March 2009

Dear  Black Dog Books [actual person's name redacted by The Readventurer],

Please find enclosed a three-chapter submission of my young adult manuscript
Fury. It’s a contemporary story of murder, revenge, blood and love set in a high
school, told by one snarky narrator. It is my first submission ever, so I hope that
you like it.

I decided to submit to black dog because I like the fact that you are a young,
passionate and fun publishing house with a sense of humour and if the answer is
a yes, then I think I would fit right in. I also think Dragon Keeper is awesome and
I would very much like to be published by you if it means I get to meet Carole
Wilkinson.

I believe that I have heaps of books inside of me (not just the one) and I would
like a chance to develop all these ideas. I believe I am committed in the long run
as I write every single day of my life and have done so for the past ten years. I
don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.

Unfortunately, I have to tell you the truth that I don’t have a biography to attach
as per your submission guidelines. The only other thing I’ve ever had published
is my honours thesis called “Locus of Control and Budgetary Participation: An
Investigation into Budgetary Slack in Management Accounting”. It failed to
produce any concrete findings (as well as being extremely boring), but I won the
Asian Review of Accounting Dissertation Prize for highest scored thesis paper
based on the writing alone, so I hope this is proof that I can actually write.

Please also find a box of chocolates for you all to share. I don’t expect that a box
of chocolates will make you want to publish my manuscript, but may I suggest
that you enjoy them while you read my manuscript…

Sincerely yours,
Shirley Marr 

Lunch:
At lunch I find in my lunch box all the food items from Preloved. With cheat-sheet for our American and International friends.I'm hoping that since my lunch box is so awesome Markus Zusak will quit making himself so handsome on the rugby field and come sit with me.

Fifth Period, Science: 
The regular science teacher is "chucking a sickie" (Aussie slang for having a sick day) and the substitute teacher has failed to show up. Flann says you call them "subs" in the States, but here it is just "substitute teacher". Shirley has decided to wheel out the ancient TV and video player to play a movie instead.

Shirley's 80s movie choices are:
1. The Princess Bride - I love this movie. I bet you can't tell!
2. Labyrinth - Teenage girl's "coming of age" symbolically manifests itself into a fantasy sequence involving a massive inescapable maze, a groping pit of hands and David Bowie in lycra tights. And this is supposed to be for little kids.
3. The Dark Crystal -  I'm sad how they don't make kid's movies like this anymore. 
4. The NeverEnding Story - ditto
5. Return to Oz - I don't really like The Wizard of Oz. But I LOVE the sequel. Dorothy is dragged to have Electric Shock Therapy after confessing to having "been to Oz" and escapes with the said magical friends. Now that's more Shirley's style!
6. Pretty in Pink - I love how John Cryer used to be young, cute and a contender for Movie Boyfriend. I think I would rather endure like, The Never Ending Story II before Two and a Half Men.
7. The Breakfast Club - *doodles "SM 4 MZ 4EVA" on desk*. If I can "accidentally" switch on the bunsen burner and maybe set Melina's hair on fire and blame it on Markus Zusak and then "act out of line" during Math, then hopefully we can end up in after school detention together. Sweet!
8. Back to the Future - I love but don't understand this movie.
9. Tron - I also love but don't understand this movie. Tron sequel thing - go way. You are too cool and that it not the point.
10. The Goonies. That is all. The Goonies! 
[editor's note: TONS of these were released in 1985. What a crazy amazing year for movies! -F]

Sixth Period, Maths:

Since Shirley can't do Math, she decides to cheat off Principal Flann in this period. Unfortunately (or thank goodness for that), she gets caught and has to do after school detention.

Seventh Period, Languages:
A normal Shirley sentence: "Something-something Pollywaffle Wagon Wheel Gotye something-something Golden Gaytime Jason Donovan Frilled-neck Lizard" What language is this?? It's 'Strine of course!

Here's a handy Aussie English  translator  for when you read Preloved:

Bloke: a guy. Can be embellished as "top bloke" - a really great guy

Dag/Daggy: something really uncool and possibly nerdy. Can be used as an expression of endearment e.g.: "You dag!" which roughly translate to "Your poor dear!"

Fair dinkum: The real deal, something genuine and "true blue". When used incredulously, such as "fair dumkum, mate!" it becomes a rhetorical "Are you being real?"

Fair go: to give something a fair chance. 

Fish and Chips: a popular Friday night meal, inherited from the British, consisting of battered fish and chips, wrapped up in butcher's paper.

Grouse: Great. Not gross I guess, but… grouse. Anything can be "grouse" e.g. - Your hair looks grouse, this book I'm reading is grouse. 

Neighbours: a once popular nightly Australian TV family drama about the inhabitants of "Ramsey Street". In it's hey day in the 80s the defining moment was when loveable female mechanic played by then-rising-star Kylie Minogue (Charlene) marries the hottie Scott (Jason Donavon, who now has totally jumped the shark) and it was the besets TV wedding ever.

Sheila: a girl

Spewin': similar to "I can't believe this is happening" or when used to sympathise with another person - "I'm so sorry to hear"

Strewth: used to express shock, as in "I can't believe this!"   

At the end of Shirley's day, I bet she went out for drinks and cupcakes with her mates. I guess that's one benefit of being an adult back in high school. What would you score Shirley for her day back at school? I'd definitely give her an A. Heck, I'd give her an A just for including her artwork, that mullet picture, and dressing up like a schoolgirl for detention. That's dedication! Her movie picks are epic as well--the wheelers from Return to Oz are a recurring nightmare of mine and I watch Princess Bride, Labyrinth, and Goonies on at least a monthly basis.

Since Preloved is so hard to find in the US/Canada and her publisher (black dog books, an imprint of Walker Books) was kind enough to send us two copies (one of which we already gave away--Congrats, Missie!), we'd like to tour our other copy to give a few more people the chance to read it. Don't forget to enter the giveaways on earlier blog tour stops as well for books and a few other goodies!

We will see what the demand is like for a book tour, so fill out this form if you are interested. We'll definitely include the first 20 people to respond but maybe more, depending on the success of the initial effort. 

Thanks for joining us today, Shirley! You were a wonderful student! 

Let us know in the comments what high school clique YOU belonged to, what grade you'd give Shirley, or what your favorite period was in today's back to the future trip to high school was.