Sunday, June 17, 2012

BEA Week - Young Adult Fiction Panel and Contest!

After the BEA Bloggers Convention me and my pal Maria from The Serpentine Library went to the YA Fiction Panel at the McNally Jackson bookstore.  Authors Ally Condie, Marie Lu, Andrea Cremer, Michelle Hodkin, Tonya Hurley, Adele Griffin were featured.  Although we arrived a little late, there was still plenty of room and time left to enjoy. 

On being artistic: Ally admits she personally has no artistic talent, but she was exposed to art.  Her mom was a studio artist and her sister is artistic.  Andrea was in the choir, Maria was an artist before becoming a writer and Michelle states she is a "...karaoke bad ass." Adele doodles quite frequently and Tonya was formerly in the music industry and used to write for bands.  She was also a director for indy films. 

 
On Fans: Andrea is blown away by her fans.  She loves the constant interaction.  Ally told a story of one teen who re-created Cassia's dress for a school sewing project.  Marie once met a girl who was  learning English by using her book.  Michelle feels that fan art reflects how invested people are in the books and characters. Adele told a story about how she received a very simple yet touching letter from a young child that said, "...every word you write means so much."  Tonya felt she made it when Ghostgirl was featured on an episode of Ace of Cakes

On what they like better, first drafts or re-writes:  Andrea likes first drafts because she loses herself, but also gets very distracted.  Ally says a first draft is a rush.  Marie hates first drafts because nothing makes sense and she can fix it with the re-writes and Michelle agrees with this.  Adele stated that the idea is so perfect when it's in your head and then it slowly diminishes as you set it down on paper.  She advised that you need to find the pieces of what was there. Tonya likes the period when she feels she can breathe which is after she has handed in her first draft and before the editor gets back to her.

On if they have always wanted to write YA:  Tonya stated "Mentally I'm a teenager."  She wrote a few tv series for teens and as soon as she entered into that world she loved it. Adele said she was working in a publishing house when she realized writing was a process that she could do.  Michelle was a lawyer and once met a woman who wanted her to help her daughter.  Michelle knew there was more to her story that she wasn't telling and the idea "took her hostage."  "YA chose me." She finished.  Marie said her agent told her she was writing YA and realized her characters were 16-18.  Andrea knew she wanted to write coming of age stories because those are the kind of stories that shaped her, such as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.  Also Mists of Avalon was about a female coming of age story.  Ally explained that there are age groups that we are more natural with and YA is where she falls.

Check out a few more photos and contest below.








CONTEST



Prize #1: Ghostgirl Trio by Tonya Hurley.



Prize #2: Latest Ghostgirl (Lovesick) by Tonya Hurley. 



Prize #3: Signed Hardcover of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.



Prize #4: Slightly worn softcover ARC of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. 


Contest:
~Four winners will be chosen.  The first winner will get their first choice and so on from there. 
~This contest is open internationally!

To Enter:
~Fill out the required entries on the Rafflecopter form.  
~Extra entries are optional.
~If you are choosing to do extra entries, please read the questions/instructions CAREFULLY! If you do not follow the instructions, I reserve the right to disqualify that entry. (For example, if I ask you to leave a comment and you do not, or you don't answer the question, that entry will be removed.)

Rules:
~Please see my contest policy HERE.
~Contest ends Friday, June 29, 2012 at 12:01 am, EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and thanks for entering!




4 comments:

fakesteph said...

This looks like SUCH a fun event! I'm jealous that you got to go. I love events like these. All of the authors are so much fun and are usually just as fun as they are on twitter.

Celine said...

Thank you for the recap! I absolutely adore the authors you've mentioned above and their books! Thank you so much for the giveaway as well and I hope you've had lots of fun in BEA! :)

Anonymous said...

Hey! I am in that picture :) The girl smiling in the red shirt! I was SO EXCITED to be there. I had come all the way from NH to see my favorite authors :)

-K8
http://froze8.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Would you mind if I linked this to my post? In case readers want to read more about the event?

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