The I Heart Love Stories Panel!
Featuring Stephanie Perkins, Simone Elkeles, Christina Madelski, Jenny Han, Jennifer Ziegler, and moderator Cristina Garcia
The I Heart Love Stories panel was a blast! The authors were great, fantastic questions from their moderator and the audience, and lots of laughs were shared. They were so charasmatic and sweet to us fans!
Stephanie Perkins writes about characters that are outsiders because she was one, and writes about dreamy boys (St. Clair!) and locations that she loves. Paris for Anna and the French Kiss because that’s where the story always was, and San Fransico because that’s where her husband proposed and courted her. Her personality is bubbly and sweet, and her boots are awesome! Five buckles and super high platforms. The boy come first for her, then the girls based on who will match the boys, and each one of the books have Stephanie sprinkled (heavily) throughout them. What can you expect from her next? Isla Happily Ever After due out this time next year.
Jenny Han is beach girl through and through and in order to write the stories she does, first loves are protrayed the wasy the happen – where you are confused and don’t know how to deal with them. In The Summer trilogy, on the beach only the moms are present, which is the way she likes it: “Woman’s relationships are so interesting, and I’m happy if the men come and go!” What can you except next? A trilogy with the first one called Burn for Burn.
Jennifer Ziegler, a local Austin-ite, can’t get her characters thought out of her head! “Every time I start something new I can’t get the past one out of my head!” Her novel Sass and Serendipity is written in third person which isn’t her comfort zone, but is key for the sisters Gabby and Daphne.
Simone Elkeles who is from Chicago and writes steamy sexy love stories is her comfort zone. She writes about boys she dated, wish she had dated, and the boys her parents said she couldn’t date. “I write about the good, the bad, and the ugly times in our lives.” It’s true, and with her newest novel, there is plenty of all.
Christina Madelski’s character knows what she wants and that is what she loves about her! It’s an unusual thing, and something she admires. She tries not to hope for the future with her characters and keep them in the moment. She writes her main character first, and then builds the story around them. Expect more from this amazing debut!
–Willa, Teen Corps