Happy
Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have debut author Adalyn Grace here
today to share about her YA fantasy ALL THE STARTS AND TEETH. I was lucky to obtain
an ARC and loved it. The world
building is fantastic, and this is a fast-paced page turner.
FYI, In addition to offering an ARC for a
giveaway, Adalyn’s agent, Hillary Jacobson, is offering a query critique.
Before I get to my interview with Adalyn, I
have my IWSG post.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
The co-hosts this month are Lee Lowery, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Jennifer Hawes, Cathrina Constantine, and Tyrean Martinson!
Optional Question: Has a single photo or work of art ever inspired a story?
No, though I can see how it could be inspiration. I did find a very weird button under strange conditions in my garden when we first bought this house where I've lived since. It's become an important part of the current fantasy I'm writing.
What about you? Where have you found inspiration?
Now onto my interview with Adalyn. Here’s a blurb of ALL THE STARS AND TEETH from
Goodreads:
Set in a kingdom where danger lurks beneath the sea, mermaids seek vengeance with song, and magic is a choice, Adalyn Grace’s All the Stars and Teeth is a thrilling fantasy for fans of Stephanie Garber’s Caraval and Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series.
She will reign.
As princess of the island kingdom Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer—the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for Amora, it’s never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy’s dangerous soul magic.
When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he’ll help her prove she’s fit to rule, if she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic.
Hi Adalyn! Thanks so much for joining us.
1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a
writer.
Thank you for having me! So I have a bit of a silly story about this. I always
enjoyed writing in school, but it wasn’t until I was about eleven and
discovered the roleplaying boards on Neopets that I really started to write for
fun. My first stories on there were wolf roleplays, and I wrote about a female
alpha wolf who killed her entire pack because of a curse, but was super
misunderstood and wanted to start over. You know, super nice things. From there
is moved onto vampires, then onto fantasy. I became obsessed with these roleplays. I had a group of 3 other girls
around my same age, who lived all over the country, and somehow, we’d come
together nearly every day to just write and write for hours. It wasn’t until a
few years into those roleplays that I really recognized that writing could be a
job. Twilight had just come out, and Stephenie Meyer was a local author in my
town. The moment I went to one of her first Twilight book signings (they used
to be so low key in the beginning!) and saw her signing books, I knew I wanted
her job.
2. The role playing games are a cool way to get into writing. Where did you get the idea for your story?
The story really came
first with Amora. This was the fourth book I’d written, but the process was so
unlike any of the others! When I wrote the previous stories, I always felt
like I was forcing it, and writing
always took me so much longer because of it. But when Amora popped into my head,
I knew I had to write her story.
Writing her, I wanted to challenge the leniency male characters get throughout
the media. They get away with so much
more than female or non-binary characters, and I really wanted to examine that.
I wanted to create a morally gray heroine who not only embraced her femininity,
but who also embraces her moral grayness. Who embraces her desire for adventure,
as much as her desire to date and court. Who wants to be in the thick of the
action, and is unapologetic about what she wants.
From Amora, the rest of the story snapped into place. But it very much started
with her.
3. One of the things that I loved about ALL THE STARS AND TEETH
was your world-building. It was unique and complicated with all the different
islands in the realm. Share a bit about your world building process.
One of my main goals
with the novel was to create a world that was entirely its own. I knew it was
going to be a huge undertaking when I gave all of the seven islands their own
magic system, but I wanted the world to feel really massive and fantastical, and
like so many different things could happen within this world.
When writing fantasy, especially fantasy with magic, I always start pretty
basic by just putting the magic on the page while drafting. In revisions is
where I really let loose and grow, and there are a few elements I like to
consider about the world and the magic, such as:
How can magic influence this setting? How does the setting influence the magic?
How does the setting/magic influence outfits? Jobs? What people do? What they
eat? In what ways would having magic in this setting be beneficial? What are
some common and uncommon uses for this magic?
I love questions like this, because I feel like they can really help further
develop the world I’m creating, and make it as distinctive as possible.
4. I love those questions too. Amora is a flawed
but strong, compelling character. Did her character come to you as a
pretty developed character or did she grow over time as you worked on your
manuscript?
I definitely knew who
I wanted Amora to be from the very beginning. But only in writing her and learning
her story could I carve out
why she’s
who she is, and what she wants most. I definitely believe that you truly find out
so much more about your world and character in editing, and that drafting is
all about just getting the ideas on the page. So for me, she definitely grew
over time, and is still growing in the sequel!
5. You also have worked in live theater and as
an intern on Nickelodeon Animation’s series The Legend of Korra. Did
this help you develop your storytelling abilities? How?
I think theater probably
helped most in terms of staging! When writing characters, I’m usually able to
see very clearly how they’re positioned in their surroundings, and what they
might look like as they move. I’m not sure if this is fueled by my theater
days, but it’s possible!
For Korra, I will always be
incredibly grateful for my time there, and for the opportunity I had to study
under such brilliant storytellers. I was only 18 when I went to Nickelodeon,
and I think that having that opportunity at such a young age really helped to ignite
my drive, and make me feel like anything was possible. Apart from that, it also
helped me learn something very important about myself, which was that I could
never feel fully satisfied working on someone else’s story, instead of working
on my own. I think this was a very timely lesson for me, and more than anything
about story or craft, this was the most important lesson I learned, and I’m so
glad I was able to be honest with myself and use it as a drive to really push
toward publishing.
6. I saw on your website that were involved in
Brenda Drake’s Pitch Wars and recommend writers who are querying participate. How
did this help you and why do you recommend it to other writers?
I definitely
recommend it, and think Pitch Wars is an incredible opportunity for querying
writers to get mentorship from established authors! So many incredible books
come out of Pitch Wars (Children of Blood
and Bone, The Kiss Quotient, and Four
Dead Queens among so many
others), and so many writers end up finding their agents through this program.
But Pitch Wars is about so much more than just finding an agent; it’s really
about growing as a writer, and learning about the publishing industry. I did
not get an agent through this program, or even with the manuscript I
participated with. But what I did get is a wonderful community, brilliant
critique partners, and the skills and knowledge I needed to move forward and write
a stronger book.
7. The growing as a writer part of the pitch wars really appeals to me. Your agent is Hillary Jacobson. How did she
become your agent and what was your road to publication like?
Hillary became my
agent through good old fashioned cold querying! With the aforementioned Pitch
Wars manuscript, I’d had probably around 100 rejections, had spent years
writing the book, and probably spent another year and a half querying and
editing. It was incredibly difficult to shelf that book, but doing so and
learning how to fast draft were the two best moves I could have made for my
career.
After I set that manuscript aside, I wrote what would later become my debut
novel, All the Stars and Teeth, in
about a month, spent another month editing, and then got querying! My query
process with this book was drastically different with my previous, in that I
had multiple offers within the first 24 hours of querying. It was absolutely
bewildering, and a totally lucky and abnormal experience. Once I decided to
work with Hillary, she and I worked on editing for about a month or two before
she submitted it to editors, and found it the perfect home with Macmillan!
8. I need to learn how to write faster. How are you planning to promote your book?
Why have you chosen this strategy?
As I’m traditionally
published, a lot of this is actually determined by my publisher! We do have
conversations (like what angle do you think might be a good one to promote, or
what have you noticed people having the most reception to while reading). But
ultimately, so much of this comes down to your publisher and their sales and
marketing team! I can focus on smaller things like trying to grow my social
media presence, share exciting news, or possibly even work on promotional
material (like art), but when you’re traditionally published, your publisher
mostly influences strategy.
9. How have you grown your online presence
since signing with your agent and getting your book deal? What advice to you
have to other writers on growing their social media
platform and using it during the year leading up to their book’s release to
promote it?
I really think the
best way to grow your online presence is to do it organically and naturally. If
you hate being on a certain platform so much that you’re basically never on it
and it feels like work, don’t use it! Focus on a platform you genuinely enjoy.
From there, try to find people with the same interests and in the same stage of
this process as you. For querying writers, you can find so many others in our
same position on the #amwriting or #pitchwars hashtag. And when you post, you
want to make sure it’s organic. No one likes when they get an automatic DM the
moment they follow someone, spamming them with a book pitch and a sales link.
Don’t do that! It feels so spammy and gross, and like you’re a robot instead of
a real person.
Be authentic and find your people. But also take care of your mental health. If
you find social media too stressful or depressing, remember that you don’t need
it to be an author.
10. What are you working on now?
I’m currently working
on finishing up edits for the sequel of All
the Stars and Teeth! There’s no set release date yet, but things are moving
along well and I can’t wait to share more of Amora’s story!
Adalyn generously is offering a hardback of ALL THE STARS AND TEETH and her agent Hillary Jacobson is offering a query critique for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through February 22nd. If you do not want to be included in the critique giveaway, please let me know in the comments. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter either contest.
If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog or follow me on Twitter, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. The book giveaway is U.S. and the query critique giveaways are International.
Here's what's coming up:
Monday, February 10th I have an interview with author Katya de Becerra and a giveaway of her YA fantasy Oasis
Monday, February 24th I have an agent spotlight interview with agent Megan Manzano and a query critique giveaway
Wednesday, March 4th I have a guest post by debut author EM Castellan and her agent Carrie Pestritto and a giveaway of IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN, a YA historical fantasy, and a query critique giveaway
Monday, March 9 I have an interview with debut author Tanya Guerrero and a giveaway of her MG contemporary HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE SEA
Saturday, March 14 I am participating in the Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop
Monday, March 16 I have an interview with author Beverly McClure and a giveaway of her YA contemporary GABE'S GUARDIAN ANGEL
Monday, March 18 I have an agent spotlight interview with Ann Rose and a query critique giveaway
Monday, March 25 I have an interview with debut author Alechia Dow and giveaway of her YA sci-fi THE SOUND OF STARS
Hope to see you on Monday!
