Sunday, January 24, 2010

Questions??

I was really, really happy with the interview I got from Holly Schindler. She put so much thought into her answers, and they really made sense. It was great. There are sooo many questions that sooo many of us have, but we never get to have them answered because, well, it's kind of hard to find authors to talk to. It was really great to be able to see answers to questions that I've wondered, and stuff that you guys have wondered too.
So.
I have good news.
Hillary Wagner, of the upcoming Nightshade City novels, agreed to an interview too!
Are there questions you have? I've asked some people at school, and the questions asked have been a little more personal. (IE what is your routine to write, what are books you'd recomend, ect. ect.)
Is there anything you are wondering? I have a couple of days before I send in the questions.

12 comments:

Curious and curiouser said...

What's the hardest part of getting published?
How do you write a sequel?
Do you ever feel overwhelemed? How do you cope?

Jennifer said...

How do you deal with a family life and stil write?

Jessica said...

is getting a deal for a sequal hard?

Brandon said...

Well, I have many questions.

-I was wondering how she focuses.
Does she have an area where she can just go and write, or does she just find a time and a place?

-How many times has she had to have her book revised by the editor, and how does she manage to still keep it feeling as though it were still her own writing (how does she change it without losing her special touch in the book, like I did with Everett and that poem.)

-Does she have any secrets or tricks on how to get her characters to seem like more than just words in a book?

That's pretty much all I can think of, but I'll let you know if I think of more.

Sam said...

Awesome! Thanks everyone. :D

Hilary Wagner said...

Oh my gosh, these questions are great! I'm going to try and get all my answers for everyone and Sam by next week!

I can give one answer to Brandon now in regards to editing.

My editor, Julie Amper from Holiday House and I went through 2rounds of edits. I was shocked when HH offered on the book and told my agent it only needed light editing--shocked! The editing part was really a lot of fun and made me address some issues I knew needed fixing. Julie is a great editor and person. She made suggestions on what needed changes, never insisted I change something and told me if I didn't feel comfortable with a suggestion it was totally okay to skip it, but let's just say, I followed everything! She's the expert, right? I was really nervous when I sent it my 1st round edits, but Julie was a dream. She loved them! Our second round was really just some clean up work and fixing one small issue and then--done! Now Nightshade is with the copy editor who will find in of those little things the blind eye can miss.

Can't wait to tell you guys more!

xoxo -- Hilary

Sam said...

Hilary, thank you so much! That's so cool...

Brandon said...

Wow. Editing sounds... interesting. Though I'm not sure if I'll even try to get my book published, it does sound like a fun and exciting process. Is it possible to get a book published without going through an agent? Because to me, it sounds as if finding an agent is the hardest part on the road to publishing.

Sam said...

Hey, I can answer that one! Lol.
Yeah, Brandon, it's possible. Holly Schindler did. But once you get an agent, you have a much easier time of it.

Brandon said...

So, though agents are hard to find, they actually make life easier?

Sam said...

Yeah. They negotiate deals and find editors and publishers and help deal with all that stuff.

Brandon said...

Ah, I see.