SHANNON MESSENGER INTERVIEW AND KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES GIVEAWAY

Happy, Happy Monday! I'm so excited for today's interview. 

But first, I've got winners to announce:

The winner of WHAT'S LEFT OF ME is LORI LEE!

And the winner of UNCONTROLLABLE is LAURA HOWARD!

Congrats! E-mail me your addresses so I can send you your books. You must e-mail me by the end of Wednesday or I'll have to pick another winner.

Today I’m so very excited to be a part of Shannon Messenger's  (You know, the founder of Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays) blog tour and to help her celebrate her debut as an author. It’s always so special to share a book written by a friend. It’s one of the reasons I love blogging. I’ve been following Shannon’s blog for years and watched her road to publication. Her book KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES is being released tomorrow.

I loved KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES. Fantasy is my favorite genre and Shannon did not disappoint. She shares the world of elves in a way nothing like you think of elves. Her world building is fantastic with totally new modes of transportation, such interesting settings, and a wide range of unique powers that elves can possess. Sophie, her 12-year-old main character, is  mature for her age because she’s so much smarter than kids her age, yet a vulnerable character, who has to deal with so much in learning who she is and her place in her new world. I can’t say how much I love this and I’m so excited to share this book with you today.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

Photo Credit: DeVende Photography

Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath—someone who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain.

Everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and also reads minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known.

Sophie has new rules to learn and new skills to master, and not everyone is thrilled that she has come “home.” There are secrets buried deep in Sophie’s memory—secrets about who she really is and why she was hidden among humans—that other people desperately want. Would even kill for.

In this page-turning debut, Shannon Messenger creates a riveting story where one girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world, before the wrong person finds the answer first.
 

Hi Shannon. Thanks so much for joining us. Happy Debut! So excited to celebrate it with you!

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became a writer.

WELL, I’m 5’6 with brown eyes and I enjoy long walks on the beach and…. Wait, wrong question! J  Really, I’m rather unexciting. I’m a nerd who eats far more candy and cupcakes than any adult ever should and thanks to my crazy writing schedule I don’t get out of the house much. I grew up thinking I would study art, then switched to a film major in college to study screenwriting and spent a couple of years discovering the many reasons why Hollywood and I were terrible for each other. Eventually I figured out that writing books was a perfect fit and I’ve been writing ever since.

2. I bet the screenwriter has helped you as an author. I loved the world building in KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES. You created such interesting modes of transportation like the pathfinder and the eurypterid (a scorpion-like creature that pulls a carriage along the water), fantastic buildings designed from crystal, and fascinating powers like Sophie’s telepathic powers, inflictors (can inflict pain), descryers (can sense potential), and technopaths (a talent for working with machines), which are just a few of the powers elves can possess. Share with us your world building process and any tips for creating a fantasy world.

Awww, thank you! *blush* I wish I had some sort of FANTASTIC WORLD BUILDING SECRET to share, but really? It’s just a lot of work. A LOT of work. I spent almost 2 years building KEEPER’s world, filling idea journals with notes and snippets and sketches. And then I sat down to write the story and realized there was a TON of stuff I still needed to figure out. I guess the best advice I can give is to a) always push beyond your first (and most obvious) ideas and b) question everything and make sure that if someone asks you why you made a certain choice that you have a real, legitimate answer behind the decision.

3. Wow! You spent a lot of time on the world building. Pushing beyond the first ideas is such great advice. I’ve read that Sophie is in part like you. Tell us a bit about Sophie and how she’s like and different from you?

Well, she’s way braver and smarter than I was at her age (okay, fine she’s smarter and braver than I am now). Twelve was also the prime age for my terrible awkward phase, so I wasn’t nearly as cute as she is. But I did give her my nervous habit. We both tear out loose eyelashes when we’re stressed. And we both can’t sleep without a blue Hawaiian-shirt wearing stuffed elephant named Ella.

4. Ha! I think we all wish we were as brave as our characters. That's cool that you share somethings with Sophie.You have so many other great and unique characters. Sophie’s friends Dex, Keefe, Fitz, Fitz’s dad Alden who guides her, her guardians Edaline and Grady, and her telepathy mentor Tiergan are a few. How did you keep track of all your characters and who they are?

It’s not easy, trust me, and I’ve been known to have to look up some of the small side character’s names because I can’t keep them straight. But the major characters all have such strong, distinct personalities in my head that they pretty much write their own dialogue for me. I’m often re-reading scenes and wondering, “where did that come from?”

5. I think it's harder with fantasies to keep it all straight because so much is created by the author. I know I have lists of things I need to keep straight. You’ve also got a YA book, LET THE SKY FALL, being released on March 3, 2013. How have you been juggling the demands of writing both books and the deadlines for the sequels?

Um… I don’t sleep very much and I rarely have time to watch TV. For realz. My deadline schedule is INTENSE—especially since I’m not as fast of a writer as I’d like to be. It helps that I don’t have kids or a day job—in fact, I doubt I could handle the schedule if I did. But I pretty much work for at least a few hours every single day, and most days I work a 10-12 hour day between writing/revising, blogging, emails, and other marketing related things. Which is why its such a good thing I love my job—and that my husband is so incredibly supportive.

6. I already don't sleep much or watch TV. I hope I can handle it all if I get a publishing contract. As an aspiring author we’re told not to break the rules because it’s so hard to find an agent and get published. Yet you’ve broken the word count rule (not complaining at all about that because we get to read more awesomeness) in creating a story that’s 488 pages. What made you take the bold step of breaking this rule?

Well, for one thing, my word count really isn’t THAT long for middle grade fantasy—or so I’ve been told. But I did worry about it before I queried, wondering if it would make things more difficult. I didn’t cut it back though, because I firmly believed that the story needed to be that long. It’s a really complicated plot in a really complicated world. In fact, one of things my agent had me do before we shopped it was to ADD additional description and clarification. So I think that’s really what it comes down to. Focus on what’s right for THE STORY. Then the rules won’t matter.

7. I agree that word counts can be longer for fantasies. And awesome that your agent gave you the freedom to expand what needed more info. Because as an aspiring author there can be word count pressures. You’ve had a pretty amazing experience in obtaining your agent Laura Rennert and getting published. Share how Laura became your agent and your road to publication.

Oh boy, that could end up with a very long answer. The Cliff’s Notes version is that Laura was one of several agents I pitched to at the SDSU Writer’s conference. They’d all requested to read a partial, but Laura and I had really hit it off and she seemed to really “get” my story, so—after some stalling—I worked up the courage to send some pages to her. Two weeks later she offered to represent me, and we spent another nine months or so revising the draft to get it ready to shop. And the rest, as they say, is history.

8. You’ve had the benefit of watching some of your friends, including your WriteOnCon co-founders, go through their debut as authors. What have you learned about marketing from their experiences and how has that shaped your own marketing plans?

Ooo, that’s hard. The thing is, every book is different and every publisher is different, so it’s hard to say, “they did X so I should do X” because X may not be right for you or your book. Especially since I’m in the unique position of trying to launch two series in two age categories, six months apart, I’ve had to really rely on the brilliant people at S&S as far as what they think will work best. BUT, having writer friends who can help translate what certain things mean or explain how certain things will work has been priceless.

9. I'm looking forward to watching what you do and learning from it. We all know that it’s harder to get buzz about middle grade books than YA books, especially in the blog world. What advice do you have for marketing a middle grade book and getting the word out?

TRY NOT TO STRESS.  I know that may not seem all that helpful, but trust me, it is. It’s so easy to feel like I NEED TO BE DOING ALL OF THE THINGS, but the fact of the matter is, it’s not that middle grade is HARDER. It’s that it’s slower. Most of the big middle grade series were not INSTA-SUCCESS stories. It takes time for teachers, librarians, and kids to find the book and fall in love and spread that love through word of mouth. So do as much as you have time for, and then don’t stress about the rest. The rest will come with time.

10. Good to know that middle grade success usually take longer to get there. I didn't realize that. Okay, only one last question, promise. What are you working on now?

It switches by the day. I still have a lot of technical things to complete for the sequel to KEEPER (copyedits, first pass pages, etc). But my main focus is the sequel to LET THE SKY FALL. I’m trying not to think about how soon that draft needs to be done. *bites nails*

Thanks Shannon for sharing all your advice. Hope you have a awesome debut day and that your book does fantastic. You can find Shannon at:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

WriteOnCon

You can find the links to Shannon's entire blog tour at Mundie Moms (a awesome book review blog that I highly recommend you follow here.  

Here's the links to where you can purchase KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES:

• Simon & Schuster
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million
• Indiebound
• iTunes
• SIGNED Copies from Once Upon a Time (Must order by October 2nd)
• The Book Depository

Shannon has generously offered a signed copy of KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES for a giveaway. The contest runs through October 5th and Mundie Moms will notify the winners.

Please fill out this form to enter the contest:




a Rafflecopter giveaway

Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays was started by ShannonWhitney Messenger to spotlight middle grade authors. Check out the other Middle Grade group:

Shannon O’Donnell

Joanne Fritz

Sherrie Petersen

Brooke Favero

MyrnaFoster

Barbara Watson

Just Deb

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Pam Torres

Jennifer Rumberger

Mundie Kids

Ms. Yingling Reads

The Accidental Novelist

Gabrielle Prendergast

Gina Carey

Nye Louwon

Brennan and Meyrick Murphy

Andrea Mack

Laurisa Reyes

Kim Aippersbach

Akossiwa Ketoglo

Julie from That's Swell

Jemi Fraser

Michelle Mason
Faith Hough 
Heidi Grange 
Susan Olson

Here's what's coming up:

Tomorrow I have a special Tuesday Tip by debut author Carrie Pearson to help celebrate her new picture book, A WARM WINTER TAIL

Thursday I'll be doing a guest post at Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing on what I've learned about reading.

Next Monday I'm helping Kiki Hamilton celebrate the release of THE TORN WING, the second book in her historical fantasy THE FAERIE RING series, with an interview and ARC giveaway.

Then on Tuesday next week I'll be participating in Mike Mullin's blog tour to celebrate the release of ASHEN WINTER, Book 2 in THE ASHFALL Trilogy with an interview and ARC giveaway. It's a fantastic dystopian novel told from a male POV.
 
And don't forget our Tuesday Tips and Casey's Thursday agent spotlights.

Hope to see you tomorrow!