~post by Ta’Necia & Kendall of Teen Press Corps
Fierce Reads Panel
Authors: Marissa Meyer, S. A. Bodeen, Leila Sales, Alexandra Coutts
My most anticipated panel of the day was the Fierce Reads panel, and it was amazingly fierce! We got to sit down with the amazing ladies of the Fierce Reads tour and pick their brains for an hour.
Questions and Answers from the authors…
Q: Where did the inspiration for you book come from?
MM: “I got on a bus one day and saw a paper sticking out of a guy’s backpack. I took it out and saw that it was propaganda about how the government is spying on us, and, in the future, were all going to have chips in our wrist. Then, I was like, ‘ooww my characters are going to have chips in their wrist!'”
LS: “I got my idea from an annual agriculture fest by watching older bands perform their music. I wanted my protagonist to have parents with cool careers like that and that understood her.”
SAB: “I got my inspiration from a Discovery Channel Documentary about Dinosaurs. I thought it was cool how dinosaurs had many children but they always picked a favorite.”
AC: “I traveled to Central America with my husband who loves hurricanes and natural disasters. While we were in Nicaragua, there was a Tsunami watch, and we had to wait around to see if it would hit. I loved the aspect of waiting for the unknown.”
Q: What is the best/worst writing advice you’ve ever received?
LS: “If you find anything that doesn’t advance the plot or the character, get rid of it.”
MM: “My best advice would be that if you are bad with ending a story, go back to the beginning of the story and read the first chapter. The worst advice I have ever gotten is, ‘to write what you know’. I think everyone should write what you’re curious about.”
SAB: “My best advice is that it is easier to revise bad writing than a blank piece of paper.”
AC: “The best advice that I’ve received, is to think of myself as a writer every day. Also, You should also never use other synonyms for said.”
COMING UP NEXT
I Made You A Mixtape panel coverage. STAY TUNED!!!!