This post is text-heavy, and has a lot of pictures.
Almost two weeks has passed since #CassieXHollyInPH, but to be honest, I still can't believe the event happened in the first place. I never thought that it would be possible for this particular dream to come true, but somehow, it did. Thank you so much, National Book Store!
I still remember the day the event was announced. I remember just bursting into tears and sharing my excitement with all my blogger friends (and even my friends who don't really read), and I immediately started thinking of what to say to Cassie, and which backlist book I wanted signed. Those weeks between the announcement and the signing were so emotional - I kept on crying because I was excited, and because of the disbelief that I'm finally getting to meet my favorite author. I didn't know if I wanted to cry or scream in joy, so I just did both. Heh. Lyra in a nutshell. I'm so lucky to have an incredible friend who was with me every step of the way, and through all the emotions - thank you, Lou, for being so kind and supportive. I'm so happy that we both have had the experience of having our favorite authors come for a local signing!
Out and About is a feature here in Defiantly Deviant where I post about upcoming book signings and the like, and where I recap bookish events I went to!
The day didn't really start out the best of ways (for me, at least!), I woke up late - evidently breaking my streak of showing up to these events on time, and pretty much shooting down my plans of arriving at the venue early enough to catch up with my fellow bloggers. Don't worry, guys, thanks to Uber (I swear this post isn't sponsored or anything like that), I ended up only around 15 minutes late. I missed out on Leigh's big entrance, but thankfully, I managed to catch the bulk of her (meaty) answers to everyone's wonderful questions!
So, without further ado, here are my favorite tidbits from Leigh's Q&A:
If Leigh really, really had to choose an amplifier (but she doesn't want to since she loves animals!), she'd choose the firebird.
When asked which author she would like to collaborate with, Leigh revealed that she would like to write with Laini Taylor (but then again, they might end up killing each other since they have different writing processes...) She'd also love to write with JK Rowling, but then she'd probably just go 'You write - I'll just watch you.'
Leight has a horror story coming out in the book 'Slasher Girls and Monster Boys', which releases in August. She also has another story coming out in Stephanie Perkins' new anthology called Summer Days, Summer Nights which will be released next year.
Leigh reckons that everything she'd ever write will have a fantastical element. She enjoys writing stories that our set in our world but have a magical element, and she sees herself writing more stories like this in the future.
Leigh rarely cuts scenes since she has a general outline of the books. She does end up writing more scenes while revising though!
Leigh is a huge Games of Thrones and Lord of the Rings fan!
Most of the fantasy novels Leigh read while growing up were set during the medieval era, but she wanted to do a little something different. Russia felt like the right fit for her books. Meanwhile, Leigh chose the 1800s in general because she wanted to explore the tension between the rise of modern technology and magic.
Six of Crows has five POVs, a heist, a prison break, romance - it's essentially six kids trying to pull off a suicide mission. While Shadow and Bone is your 'chosen one' story (girl has powers, ends up leading a revolution), Six of Crows is story about the 'not chosen ones'. They do not have grand destinies, they're not kings, queens, princes or princesses. They're not looking to start a revolution - they just want to survive.
Louisse of The Soul Sisters asked Leigh make a haiku on the spot about Six of Crows. Here's what she came up with (not quite 5-7-5 but it was still pretty awesome!): Six deadly outcasts
One impossible heist - yeah!
You should order it now!
Leigh might write a book about Sturmhond in the future. She believes that there's a much bigger story that exists for this character. She has always known his story and who he'll end up with.
On what inspired her to write the Grisha world, it's basically the realization that our fear of darkness never quite goes away, and the question "What if darkness was a place?"
When asked about the character of Darkling, Leigh always felt that the most dangerous people in our lives don't necessarily show they're evil right away. They're beautiful, brooding, charismatic, and incredibly manipulative.
Leigh believes that a character can be a love interest, and the antagonist at the same time.
Leigh is not a fan of ship wars because of how mean people can be to each other because of them. One thing she appreciates about Filipino readers is that they seem to be #teamBook, and that they're just enthusiastic about the story.
Leigh doesn't set out to write love interests - she writes characters. They all have their own agendas and their journey to go on. She believes that if a character is simply a hero, a villain, or a love interest, they get really boring really fast.
We might get a novella about Alina's origins!
Leigh didn't pull a Tolkien - instead, she created language to suit the moment of the world.
I asked Leigh how her life changed after the success of the Grisha trilogy, and talks about how she now has her dream job. Her life is completely different since becoming a published author, and she owes it all to the readers who spread the word about her books.
After the Q&A, we lined up to get our books signed. I usually avoid lining up until the very last minute (hey - books are heavy!), so I took the time to say hi, chat a little with everyone, and take tons of photos. We all haven't seen each other in give or take three months, and for people who usually see each other at least once a month, that's a pretty long time! Basically, add up everyone's excitement to meet Leigh plus everyone's joy in reuniting, and suffice to say that the whole event was A WHOLE LOT OF FUN. Here are some photos:
When my turn to meet Leigh finally came up, (as usual) I got a little shy and tongue-tied. (I'm standing in front of a famous author!!!) Leigh is so incredibly nice, and she immediately put me at ease. She's just so warm and friendly, and she really took the time to talk to everyone! We talked a little about my name (Lyra is also the name of the protagonist of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials), and she encouraged me to read more fantasy. (I definitely will, Leigh!) All in all, meeting Leigh is such a beautiful experience that I will never forget. Thank you so much to National Bookstore for bringing Leigh to the Philippines!
Before I wrap up this post, here's Leigh's message to her Filipino readers:
When National Bookstore announced that Lang Leav was coming to Manila
for a book signing, I was excited (but seriously... who wasn't?) and I
eagerly anticipated the day wherein I could finally meet her. I'm not
exactly that big of a poetry fan, but I absolutely adore Lang's poems.
They're all so raw and heartbreaking!
There were a storm throughout Lang's stay here in the Philippines, and
as a result, one of the legs of her book signing tour was cancelled. The
Manila leg, however, pushed through, and man, you should all see the
sheer number of people who braved the storm warning just so they could
meet Lang!
I actually arrived in time for this particular forum (LOL), and the
spare minutes I had were spent raving about Uber, and how much I swear
by their service. (No, this is not a paid advertisement, I swear!) A
couple of minutes later, Lang arrived, and we got right down to
business. Here are some of what was discussed during the Q&A:
She doesn't have a particular technique - rather, she writes from
instinct. In the recent years, she had worked on developing her writing
in order to make it more compact, but she also worked on keeping the
emotion in her writing. Now, it all comes naturally.
Common misconception is that Lang worked on all her passions at
once. (She focused on fashion and art some years ago, and the past two
years have been devoted to writing.)
Lang doesn't really have a writing process - she just writes when she can.
The success of Love & Misadventures was a big help in the
publishing of Lullabies. By then, Lang was very secure with her
publisher, and she didn't have to go at things alone.
When asked whether there was a time wherein she felt she had to
choose between her writing and her art, Lang reiterates that she has
always gone with her gut feel and based her choice on what was currently
working for her. When her writing took off, it was clear that it would
be the frontrunner based on the response she got.
When asked whether there was a time wherein she felt that something
she had written was rather similar to something else she had written
before, Lang said that yes, she does experience that sense of deja vu.
She then thinks whether or not the two pieces of work were just too
similar, and she also talks about the importance of finding a balance.
Lang will have another poetry book out in 2015. She is also working
on a novel, though she is not exactly sure whether it we be released
next year or not.
Lang loves it when readers have their own interpretations of her
poems. Lang considers the notion that people can see themselves as the
protagonists when reading poems the beauty of poetry.
For my question, I asked whether or not there was a specific moment or person that inspired Lang to write poems.
Lang doesn't think there were specific moments or people, writing
poetry was just something that she has always done. Writing has always
been her way of getting her feelings out, and she tends to be more
prolific when she is going through a tough time.
Lang is surprised by the popularity of her poem Souls. She
wrote it when she was a in a long-distance relationship - after she and
her boyfriend hung up the phone, there would be this horrible silence
and this was what inspired the poem.
The wisdom that Lang wants to share is: "Words are your power. Never forget your words."
Thank you to National Bookstore for hosting yet another successful book
signing event. This year was a year full of bookish events, and I
honestly couldn't be more thankful!
So... before anything else... can we please talk about how amazing Marie
looks in the official promotional banners? Seriously. Everything about
her outfit screams 'A+'! (Now where can I find a similar blazer...)
Anyway, before I blab about outfits and the like, let me get on with
this post. (Sometimes I can't help but blab, guys. So sorry.) The day of
the 23rd, I went home tired, but ridiculously happy. Marie is awesome,
and is undoubtedly one of the coolest authors I ever had the privilege
of meeting!
Here are some of what we discussed during the Q&A:
Marie pitched Legend to her agent as science fiction, and it was her
agent who said that it would fit into the young adult category. She
hadn't heard of Young Adult until that moment, but looking back, she's
not surprised that her writing suited YA very well. This was because
when she was young, she mostly read science fiction and fantasy novels
with teenagers as protagonists.
Marie reads almost exclusively YA now.
Marie would love to do a picture book someday. Before being an
author, she was an artist in the gaming industry, and she would love to
do something that would involve video games again.
Day's street name was inspired by his personality - Marie wanted to
find a name that would signify his optimistic view of life. His
personality is inspired by characters Marie has always loved - the thief
with the heart of gold, Han Solo, and Robin Hood among others.
June was name after the month of June, because her personality fit
that of a Gemini's. For those who don't know (*raises own hand*),
Geminis are very intelligent, ambitious, and logical. June's personality
was inspired by Sherlock Holmes, and Marie comments on how different
she and June are from each other, most especially since June is very
left-brained.
The plot of Legend was inspired by the social climate of USA in
2009. That was when Obama was elected, and the hatred of the two
political parties towards each other was a bit pronounced. The world of
Legend is inspired by real-life dystopias.
Marie cannot start writing a story unless she has the drawn
characters by hand. She finds that she has trouble connecting with her
characters if she doesn't know what she looks like.
Marie's not sure if she can ever move out of writing science fiction and fantasy since she loves those two genres too much.
Marie likes bittersweet endings, and she has a tendency to put that
in her work. She doesn't see any other ending for the Legend trilogy -
that was how she has always wanted to end the series.
Marie has to listen to music while she's writing, because she can't
write without noise. Meanwhile, her favorite place to write in is a
train.
If you ask Marie which character she is more like, at the beginning
of the series, she would say Day, and the end, she would say June.
The first draft of The Young Elites featured a kind-hearted, bland
character ala Clark Kent as a protagonist. Marie's agent didn't like
this character because he/she didn't find him to be interesting, but
he/she did like the character of Adelina. Marie's agent then suggested
that Marie focus on exploring Adelina. In turn, Marie found it
interesting to write the point of view of a villain - why do they think
the way they do; why do they think that what they do is justified, etc.
Marie has a good feeling about what will happen to Day and June post-ending. (!!!)
Thank you so much to National Bookstore - another successful signing in the books! You guys are in a roll!
