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Event Recap: Cynthia Hand, Kimberly Derting, Tahereh Mafi & Veronica Rossi

5/6/2012

12 Comments

 
Cynthia Hand, Kimberly Derting, and Veronica Rossi
Cynthia Hand, Kimberly Derting, and Veronica Rossi
University Bookstore in Mill Creek, Washington is doing a series called Teen Book Brunch where young adult authors come to speak about their books, answer questions, and do a signing. The brunch part is in reference to donuts which are provided and from where I"m standing, all author events should come with free donuts. Donuts make almost every experience more fun, with the possible exception of swimming. I saw Marissa Meyer and Lissa Price at the first Teen Book Brunch and yesterday I had the pleasure of attending their second event, the Spring Into the Future HarperTeen authors tour with Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me), Kimberly Derting (Body Finder series and The Pledge series), Veronica Rossi (Under the Never Sky) and Cynthia Hand (Unearthly and Hallowed).
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Tahereh Mafi, Cynthia Hand, Kimberly Derting, and Veronica Rossi
Totally awkward table/chair setup for an author event.
Each author started by introducing themselves and their most recent book. All of the books are part of a series and both Rossi and Mafi have the second installments of their stories coming out in early 2013. Mafi's second book will be titled Unravel Me and Rossi's is called Through the Ever Night. The third Unearthly book, whose title is still an undisclosed mystery, will be out around the same time. The first question members of the audience asked was about the writing process and how long it takes to write a draft and edit the final work. Answers varied but generally it took each of them about four to six months to write a draft and six months to revise. Derting, who is writing two simultaneous series told a story about writing an entire draft in 30 days (!) due to a deadline but it sounds like she wouldn't recommend it, as she followed that up with a story about getting eleven pages of editor's notes on the draft. Derting said her editor's notes were like a sandwich--something nice about her, pages of fixes, and then something nice again. At this point, I was totally grinning because there is an episode of Family Guy where Stewie creates a business (actually a pyramid scheme) and he gives Brian a "compliment sandwich" and it's the same concept that Derting was alluding to. Tahereh Mafi talked about how she worked full-time while writing her second novel and that she once wrote 30,000 words (about 100 pages) in four days. She needs a quiet environment to write and I cracked up at her comment that she basically locks herself in her house, blocks everyone out, and "pants are optional." I like living the pants optional life as well. Her writing environment came up again later in the event when talking about listening to music while writing. Veronica Rossi said she often listens to movie soundtracks because they are written to be purposely evocative and that she recently listened to the Bourne Identity soundtrack while writing. Hand said it was exactly that which made it hard for her to listen to music while writing--she ended up writing the emotional ups and downs of the music into the writing. Mafi said she has noise-cancelling headphones but that she sometimes listens to rain noises on her computer to get her into the dystopian mood of her novel, which the audience laughed about because seriously, we're in Seattle. If someone needs to set the doom and gloom mood, all they need to do is visit during one of our 7-8 months of rainy grayness. (luckily, yesterday was really sunny and beautiful!)

The topic, not so surpringsly, changed to a discussion of "darkness" in young adult literature and the authors each addressed their feelings on the issue, though they mostly agreed that they go where the story leads them. Derting said she didn't add anything dark gratuitously and doubted that other authors do either. Mafi stated that she doesn't really feel like anything in her book is "edgy," more that she stayed true to her character's voice. Rossi made a good point that what is appropriate for one person may not be appropriate for another in terms of violence, romance, or anything else and Cynthia Hand piggybacked on this by saying (and I agree with her sentiment) that it is rarely the teenagers who are complaining about darkness in YA--it is the adult readers. 
     
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Veronica Rossi, talking about Under the Never Sky
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Cynthia Hand
Kimberly Derting joked about being a few years older than the other authors. She remembers reading Stephen King, John Saul, and other authors as a young adult due to the dearth of YA literature when she was in that age group. (She also mentioned her childhood aspirations of becoming a lady truck driver like on B.J. and the Bear) Hand echoed what the authors at the last event said--that not just following the story and staying true to the characters is what is important and authors shouldn't talk down to teenagers or alter storylines to satisfy any group. She did say that editing out some scenes is not as hard as it probably used to be because the internet allows for deleted scenes to have their own place and they don't just disappear into a void.

An audience member asked a very insightful (and nicely worded) question about how to take that jump from writing for fun to actually attempting to get published. Tahereh Mafi spoke about how she has always been just a huge, huge reader. To her, J.K. Rowling and some other authors are amazing and the Potterverse is so close to her heart. When reading the books, she was in awe that someone could write something so amazing; How could she do something like writing a novel? When she started working after college, she found she had a lot of free time so she started writing and when she finished her first draft, she basically Googled the crap out of anything and everything to figure out what came next.
Tahereh Mafi
When the inevitable question of "What book do you wish you'd written?" came up, Cynthia Hand spoke about her recent love of the voice in Blood Red Road and the originality of Cinder. Veronica Rossi said she loved Kristin Cashore's writing and would consider it a compliment if anything she'd ever written was compared to Cashore and said that she rereads Jane Austen books every year. (at which point, Catie will be happy to know, Tahereh Mafi and Rossi fangirled over Captain Wentworth and Persuasion) Kimberly Derting chose To Kill A Mockingbird and then the authors all had a discussion about how it is healthy to have writer jealousy and wish you'd written something in someone else's style. I really liked what Mafi had to say on the subject which was that she never really reads something and wishes she'd written it because then it would mean that she couldn't be experiencing it as a reader. (and more about Harry Potter)
Hand Derting and Rossi
Hand, Derting, and Rossi
Some other fun facts gleaned from the event:
  • Veronica Rossi is a painter and works mostly with oils.
  • Kimberly Derting and Cynthia Hand share an editor
  • When Cynthia Hand sees an error in a finished copy, she likes to think that all the people who read through it (and there are MANY) just got so wrapped up in the story and missed it.
  • Rossi sometimes uses a text-to-speech app to listen to her book during the revision process because it is a change in perspective.
Make sure you check back on Friday, when Catie will be recapping an upcoming event with Paolo Bacigalupi. I'm going to see Kristin Cashore in a few days as well. Will any of you be seeing these authors soon? Or any others? 
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12 Comments
VeganYANerds link
5/6/2012 10:04:20 am

You get to go to some fantastic events, Flann! I just said over on YAA that Aussie authors need to start teaming up so we get these multi-author events!

I haven't read any books but these authors but I do have Shatter Me on my shelf. And I like that they discussed darkness in YA and how it's always adults that are complaining

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Flannery (The Readventurer) link
5/7/2012 02:28:06 am

I loved that comment too, Mandee. It's so true! If anything, the more risque a book sounds or is, the more likely teens will be to read it. I know that, when I was a teenager, I was always more excited to read something that I heard was taboo in any way, and I don't think I was alone in that.

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Lucy link
5/6/2012 02:53:13 pm

Another great book event! I continue to be impressed with your excellent note taking abilities. Sounds like an interesting panel, and with donuts too! (LOL about swimming w/donuts)

Too bad Cynthia Hand didn't drop the title of her third book - that would have been a good reveal.

I like that Rossi writes to soundtracks. That makes a lot of sense to me and I haven't heard other authors mention that too much.

Looking forward to hearing about more of your bookish adventures!

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Flannery (The Readventurer) link
5/7/2012 02:30:09 am

I've never heard any authors mention that either, but it makes sense. I can't listen to anything with words or else I start singing along. I've always listened to classical music when working. I wish CH had let the name of book three slip out! :)

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Sam link
5/6/2012 06:33:13 pm

Pants are optional? Ha! ;)

Sounds like a really good event! Thanks for the great re-cap. It's awesome to hear that Tahereh Mafi is a Harry Potter fan. ;)

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Flannery (The Readventurer) link
5/7/2012 12:08:11 pm

Sam, she is totally in love with that series. She talked about how her childhood was basically defined by reading that series and experiencing it. It was so great to hear in her voice and see in her mannerisms how much it means to her.

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Giselle [Xpresso Reads] link
5/6/2012 09:26:21 pm

Omg SO lucky! No one every comes around here so I never meet anybody interesting. There are all fabulous authors too! Cynthia hand especially. I loved Blood Red Road! :D I have her on Twitter and she'S really awesome!

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Flannery (The Readventurer) link
5/7/2012 12:10:42 pm

Thanks for visiting, Giselle. Yeah, I thought all four authors were extremely polite, interesting, and relatable. I love seeing what people are like in real life:) I hope some authors come through your area eventually!

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Nomes
5/6/2012 10:08:42 pm

i LOVE this recap

love the Q's about what books they wish they had written

I was just pondering that tonight, staring out at the full moon... if I could be any author, I think I would choose to be a bonus Moriarty sister. They seem too cool, you know? Funny and awesome. And I can TELL they are like that in real life.

Back to your post, LOL @ Derting's expression in that last pic! Having a chuckle here. Awesome

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Flannery (The Readventurer) link
5/7/2012 12:11:57 pm

Of course you would choose to be a bonus Moriarty sister. I laughed out loud of the image of them all walking down the street and then you walking one step behind and pretending you're with them. So classic. Thanks for that, Nomes:)

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Tanya Patrice link
5/7/2012 08:34:14 pm

How exciting to see those fantastic authors. I've a few of those books to be read and I love seeing the authors talk about their process - especially the differences.

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Maja link
5/8/2012 01:37:24 am

Tahereh Mafi is by far my favorite of these authors. I just watched a video today in which she announces an e-novella that is to be released in October. I know Shatter Me got a lot of mixed reviews, but I loved it.

I don't know how you do this, Flann. You include every detail! I know you take notes, but still. I really hate living in Europe sometimes. I'd love to go to one of these events.

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