Monday, February 14, 2011

Won't You Be My Paranormal Valentine?

Two book signings in a week? Yup, it’s true. I want to thank Damaris from Good Choice Reading for Tweeting about this event.

This signing took place at The Voracious Reader in Larchmont, NY. It is an adorable book store with mouth watering shelves. There were so many great titles displayed. It is also clear that the owner has a wonderful personal relationship with the community.






Won't You Be My Paranormal Valentine? featured Daniel Nayeri (Another Faust, Another Pan -with sister Dina Nayeri), Cynthia Leitich Smith (Tantalize, Eternal, Blessed), Sarah Beth Durst (Enchanted Ivy, Ice), Jen Nadol (The Mark), Shannon Delaney (13 To Life, Secrets and Shadows) and Peter Moore (Red Moon Rising).

I sat right near Daniel who right away started to chat with me about books. He pulled Terry Pratchet’s The Wee Free Men off the shelf next to him and recommended it to me. The event then started with a little bag of chocolate for everyone and a few giveaways. The authors described their books, read a passage and talked about their characters.  Then they moved onto my favorite topic to hear writers discuss; writing. Here are a few tidbits I found out about these authors and their creative process:

(l-r) Daniel, Cynthia, Sarah, Jen & Shannon
  • Daniel writes with his sister who lives in Denmark. He is very funny and self deprecating and told us his sister is smarter, but we were stuck with him. He also told us that writing with a partner is twice the work, not half. 
  • Cynthia goes shopping for characters at the mall and open houses and Dracula was the inspiration for her first novel.  To my horror, she admits that she writes a draft and deletes the file and then starts over. She claims this is very freeing and allows her to learn from that deleted draft. Another ritual she does is blasting the soundtrack to Xanadu and dancing all over the house.  “You must try it!” (To which Daniel replied, “Oh I will!”)
  • Sarah explained that her book Enchanted Ivy takes place in a college because she sees that as a huge turning point in life and feels that you are not the same person coming out as you were going in. Regarding writing, she told us that she has her first draft planned, but it often goes in different directions than what she originally intended.
  • When discussing her book, Jen asked, "What would you do if you knew if someone was going to die?" She touched on moral dilemmas and responsibility. She also stated that she knows the beginning, the end and a few things about the middle when she starts her story. 
  • Shannon told us that her book 13 To Life is about two people who are running from two very different things. She got published because her story won a fiction contest on the internet. “Let the characters lead you.” She told everyone, “Just write. No one has to see it.”
  • Peter’s book sounds interesting to me because it is written as if it is real. He revealed that everything (vampirism, lycanthropy) has a scientific explanation. He also discussed how the book is a parallel to racism, segregation and civil rights. His writing advice: Write like crazy and don’t look back!
Unfortunately, my battery was dying and I didn't get a picture of Peter Moore.  (Sorry Peter!)  I also can’t read my own chicken scratch and am not sure who said this, but my favorites quotes of the night are: “If you wait for the muses to speak, they’ll stop talking.” And, “Fiction provides a sense of wonder to a jaded world.”

Here are the books I picked up.  Some for me and some for future contests.

I want to thank the authors and The Voracious Reader for organizing such a wonderful event!





I really want this coat rack!

12 comments:

Missie, The Unread Reader said...

So freaking cool! You are a star going to all these events! Love the pictures.

Amber I @ Awesomesauce said...

That is so cool. You are so lucky getting to go to all these signings!!

Stormi said...

So envious, where I live nothing cool happens.
:(

Kulsuma said...

How wonderful!
and that coat rack is so lovely!

Alyssa said...

that IS an adorable coat rack! & Looks like it was a fun event =)

Angelique said...

Fiction provides a sense of wonder to a jaded world.”
LOVE that quote...and love that coat rack too...I have a little owl candle holder hanging in my living room...it's a Halloween decoration, but I leave it up year round =)

Anonymous said...

You certainly go to a lot of great book events - that is awesome! Nice group of authors and love the paranormal valentine theme. Thanks for sharing the recap of the event and the authors writing tidbits. It is a funny visual thinking of Cynthia deleting her first draft and then dancing around to Xanadu :)

Unknown said...

wow, it looks like you had a blast! so cool! =DDD

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