I’m so excited for the upcoming release of Anna Godbersen’s Beautiful Days.  I reviewed it yesterday (check it out!) and think that if you haven’t yet had a chance to get in on this series you should.  It’s a fantastic look at the temperance era that I think lovers of historical fiction and romance will enjoy.  As part of the release I have been lucky enough to ask Ms. Godbersen some questions.  Please join me and welcoming her to Galleysmith.

MF:  What draws you to writing historical fiction?
AG:  When I was a bookish teen, I loved novels set in other times, other realities, other universes. So that’s part of it—being able to create this world that looks and smells and sounds different than the one my readers and I walk around in every day. I want to transportthem, and myself. And then, once you’re there, the historical setting means that the realities of life, the situations my characters are going to find themselves in, will often be ones you couldn’t have in a contemporary setting, which is exciting stuff for a writer! Very plot-friendly.

MF:  You’ve written the gilded age and now the roaring 20′s.  What time period are you hopeful to write about next?  Anything in the works already?
AG:  I love the 1960s, that transition from a really uptight culture to one that was free to the point of chaos, and all in a decade! So I’ve got that on the brain. Nothing in the works yet, though.

MF:  If you could be one character in Beautiful Days who would it be and why?
AG:  All of my characters are pretty close to my heart, and I’d say there are bits of me in all of them.  But if I got to just drop into one of their heads for a little while? Probably Astrid Donal, because she really doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and is just all about being light and free all the time.  Also for, you know, reasons of wardrobe.

MF:  If you lived in the 20′s what would you miss most about the lifestyle you leadnow?
AG:  This is going to make me sound like such an old lady, but… I’d really miss the yoga.  Not that there wasn’t yoga, obviously, but the easy access to it.

MF:  If Astrid traveled through time to land in modern NYC what would be the one thing she’d love?  One thing she’d loathe?
AG:  I think she’d love the things about New York that were true in her time, too—that it’s a city full of strivers and eccentrics and beauty-seekers, that there’s so much to look at and smell and be transported and horrified by. But I think she would see how some parts of the city are Disneyfied versions of their old selves, and she’d be super bored by that.

MF:  What’s in store for Astrid, Cordelia, & Letty?  Can you share a little about where they are when we next see them?
AG:  I’m working on the third book now, and the scenes I’m writing these days are ones in which the girls are really on top of their games—Astrid and Charlie are in a super romantic place, Cordelia is ruling New York nightlife, and Letty is making inroads to being a star. But I don’t want to give away too much! It will be fun, I promise.

Thank you for visiting Anna, I love hearing about what’s coming up next for the girls!  I’m eagerly anticipating the next book in the series.  For those of you interested in picking up a copy check out my giveaway.

Hello my friends!  As I mentioned in my Beautiful Creatures giveaway post today I’m sharing with you the last in my Teen Read Me webinar interviews.  Please welcome Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, authors of the fabulously southern gothic YA series Beautiful Creatures.

MF:  There has been a lot of buzz on Twitter and online about the fact that you both have individual projects in the works now.  Congratulations! How does it feel different for you?  Is the process going to be very different?  How will that work for you as you finish up this last book and you kind of go your separate ways?  And then, will you ever consider coming back together and doing something else collaboratively?

KG:  Well, hopefully.  You never know if the Caster Chronicles will continue or we’ll write something else.
But, the weirdest thing about it is that, when we are writing our individual books, even though we let each other read stuff when we’re done, it’s not a back and forth anymore.  Like, I would be writing and, instead of being able to send it to Margie and say, “Hey, this part seems like it really sucks,  what do you think?” I would just have to sit there and stare at it sucking by myself.
So, it’s way more depressing and it reminded me, in a weird way, how much fun the process we have together is, because you’re not only a writer but you get to be a reader.  Whenever I would get a new chapter from Margie, I got to enjoy the universe and read things for the first time, too.  And when it’s your own words, somehow that seems a little less exciting.
For me, the majorly different part was it was such a long stretch before there was another person talking to me.  It was just me all alone and my dogs.

MS:  I think it was interesting because I think we thought we’d be really involved in each other’s projects.  And then, when we would read something that the other person wrote, all you needed to say was, “You’re great.  It’s great, just keep going,” just like a regular friend.  And we haven’t functioned like regular friends in so long.  We’ve had this kind of shared identity. It was really interesting to go back to, of course we can both do this by ourselves.  Of course we are writers.  We’ve been doing this together and working apart for a long time.
But, it was fun to kind of go back to being cheerleaders. We’ve been friends so much longer than we were writers.  It was kind of nice to have that friendship aspect, in a sort of simple and wonderful way, to come back again.

KG:  And it’s really interesting, too, because when Margie’s book was announced it was just so much before mine. It’s not the same as when our things are announced.
When our things are announced, I think, “Uh, whatever.  You It’s our stuff. It’s embarrassing.”  But, when it’s my best friend’s thing and it’s not my thing, it’s super exciting.  When something happens to your best friend, you’re like, “Oh, my God.  I can’t believe it.”  I’m like, “My best friend has a book and it’s coming out and it’s got this giant announcement.”
So, it’s totally different because you get to be excited about it in a different way.  It feels kind of strange to be that excited about your own stuff.  But it’s much more allowable to be super excited about something that happens to someone that you care about.

MS:  I think we really liked coming back together to write the Dream Dark book.  And I’m sure that there are still little extended pieces that we would want to do.  So, even in the near future, I’m sure there are more evolutions our partnership will take.

MF:  So, I read Dream Dark this weekend.  Of course I loved it.  I can’t wait for the next book.
But, the question I have for you is that clearly Dream Dark is more about Link and Ridley than anything else.  And I wanted to know if, as we move into Beautiful Chaos, will they continue to play a larger role in the story overall, or will we see that scale back?

KG:  We’ll never tell.

MS:  We never actually talk about what happens in our books.

KG:  These guys are trying to trick us into telling us what happens.  I love you guys.  You’re all so clever.

MS:  Bloggers.  We adore Link and Ridley.  And they’re always a part of the story.  And aside from that, that’s really all we ever say.

Thank you ladies!  I’m very much looking forward to Beautiful Chaos.  The Beautiful Creatures series is one of my absolute favorites!

Welcome to this week’s installment of Teachable Moments.  I’m continuing to focus on Sarah Darer Littman‘s forthcoming title Want to Go Private to be released this coming Tuesday.  This week I’m excited to share with you a Q & A that gives you some insight into Sarah and her wonderful book.  I have to tell you, that this is one of my favorite Q&A’s I’ve ever done.  Sarah is thoughtful, honest and gives great perspective on a very serious subject.  She also makes me laugh out loud (see the last question for proof!) with her wit.  Please join me in welcoming back Sarah Darer Littman.

MF:
I follow you on twitter and it’s clear to me that advocacy for issues you’re passionate about is important to you.  Was this book born of a larger cause?

SDL:
It was really born of a burning need for understanding – I met Supervisory Special Agent Tom Lawler of the New Haven FBI Office when he gave a presentation on Internet Safety at my son’s school two and a half years ago. He told me about a girl who ran off with a predator. Her mom was obviously pretty clued up, because she had the passwords to the girl’s Internet accounts, so the authorities were able to catch up with the pair pretty quickly, but even so they were almost at the Canadian border. But what got me was the girl’s reaction when they were apprehended – it wasn’t “Oh thank you for rescuing me!” but rather “Don’t hurt him!”

As soon as SSA Lawler said that, I exclaimed, “That is the book.” Because I needed to know how she got from having all the Internet Safety talks in school, and having a mom who’d clearly spoken to her about online safety, to “Don’t hurt him!” It was a question that plagued me so much that I had to give up writing the book I was supposed to be working on and write this one instead. I just HAD TO KNOW.

MF: As a parent, do you do anything specific to keep your children’s “heads on straight” about the dangers of social networking?

SDL: Constant conversations. Parenting is all about the conversations. But I also have told my kids that having monitoring software on their laptops until they are 18 is a condition of being online. It’s always been an open thing, never secret, and it’s enabled us to have some very important discussions about appropriate behavior. My son just turned 18 and I sent him an email telling him I’d removed the software (I did it remotely while he was in the UK with his dad) and wishing him “Happy You Are Now Legally And Financially Responsible For Your Own Actions Online Day!”

MF: Quite a bit of the time Abby (the victim) was being blamed for what had happened between she and Luke.  Were you worried about readers reaction to the parts that appeared to blame the victim?

SDL: To be honest, until I read your question, I didn’t even think about that. Now I’m worried!

I just wrote the situation as I thought it would really happen. I knew from my research (for example, A Girl’s Life Online, the memoir based on a true case in CT that is often used to teach Internet Safety in schools) that the victim can face that kind of judgmental behavior from friends, family and the wider community, even though she had been manipulated by an older, more experienced person. I also knew, from my own experience as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, that no matter how much a therapist might tell you that you are not to blame for what happened to you, you will feel responsible, guilty and defective, even if you were so young that what was happening didn’t even make sense. So in writing that part of Abby’s experience, I had to make it real, even though I hated having her go through it.

While I wanted to leave Abby (and the reader) with hope, I also didn’t want to pretend she’s totally fine and will definitely live happily ever. She really is at the beginning of the journey to recovery. It’s fully possible that Abby can go on to live a happy and productive life – I’m living proof of that – but first she’ll have to travel along the Recovery Road – which is a bumpy, winding and full of obstacles and runs beside a deep, dark chasm.

MF: Aside from the powerful messages about digital literacy and internet safety that “Want to Go Private” carry, you also included a realistic view of bullying.  What encouraged you to focus on Abby’s treatment by her peers?  Did you consider leaving that element out for fear of diluting the overall message?

SDL: I don’t think I could have left that out and told the full story, because the implications of one small mistake online are just so huge and far-reaching. I didn’t think it would be realistic for Abby to come back and have everything to come up roses for her. That’s just not how it would happen in real life, and I owe it to my readers to be honest.

I read this incredibly heartbreaking story in my research about a high school girl who sent a picture of herself nude to a boy she was dating. They broke up and he disseminated the picture around the school. She was bullied terribly, and ended up committing suicide. There were so many stories I encountered while researching WANT TO GO PRIVATE? that made me angry and sad. These are the realities kids face. That’s what’s so scary. It’s not just writing someone’s name on the wall of a bathroom stall, like it was when I was a teenager. The stall wall is the entire Web and names are painted there in a few mouse clicks.

MF: The story you told was, at times, hard to read because it was so very real.  How difficult was it to crawl into the minds of these characters? What did you do to step away from the more difficult moments?

SDL: It actually really freaked me out to write the parts as Luke. Whenever my daughter would come home from school when I was writing a chat scene and come to give me a hug, I’d say, “Don’t come near me! I’m a dirty man!!”

I didn’t want to touch her or have her touch me while he was in my head. I’d want to take a shower when I was finished writing the scenes involving Luke. Being him made me feel sordid.

I’m very fortunate to have an Amazing Boyfriend who owns a convertible that he lets me borrow. So when I needed to clear my head, I’d go out for a spin with the top down and blast Led Zeppelin really loud. Even in the middle of the winter.

MF:  One of the best parts of this story for me was that the reader spends the bulk of the time in the heavier places of Abby’s life, yet are still given some moments of light-heartedness.  Were you ever worried that this book would be considered too dark (or even too scary) for the teen reader?

SDL: Not until Meghan Cox Gurdon wrote that “THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!!!” article in the Wall St Journal

But seriously…

At every moment of writing this book I was conscious of walking a very difficult tightrope between trying to portray the reality of the grooming process, where according to my research predators get “very dirty very quickly,” with the sensibilities of my teenage audience – and their gatekeepers. I made a decision to focus on listening (the predator’s greatest weapon) and seduction as much as possible to minimize the other “content”. Yet it’s impossible to write a realistic book about an Internet predator without any sexual content. That would be a half truth, and I respect my readers too much to do that.

I do, however, feel that moments of levity are critical – I wouldn’t have survived my own life without them.

MF:  What kind of feedback have you received from the educational community? Have you been surprised by any of the reactions those who may use this book as a tool in their classroom have expressed?

SDL: I’ve been gratified to have been told that it’s “an important book.” I know that a media specialist that kindly read the manuscript for me was anxious to have a more up to date book for kids to read, because in A Girl’s Life Online, Katie Tarbox meets the predator in an AOL chat room and kids are like, “What’s that?”

MF:  What’s next for you?  Do you have another book in the works?

SDL: I do! And thankfully, it’s a complete change of pace. Writing WTGP really took it out of me, and believe it or not, I’m actually a quite a humorous person beneath all this seriousness.

I’m working on a funny middle grade about kids from an anime club who go to a Con. Hijinks ensure. The research for this book is SO. MUCH. FUN. I’m heading to Otakon July 29-31 and to my son’s utter mortification I’m cosplaying as Lara Croft. He’ll be there with his friends pretending he doesn’t know me and that we are in no way related by blood. Unless he needs money, of course.

Thank you Sarah for taking the time to answer these questions.  Readers, I can’t encourage you strongly enough to run out and pick up a copy of Want to Go Private [Indie Bound] [Amazon].  It’s a book that is well worth reading and then sharing with your friends, family and anyone who may learn from it.  It’s a great book club read, a fantastic conversation piece and just a really amazing story.

As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I was fortunate to be able to participate in a webinar with Author Sara Grant who’s new dystopian novel Dark Parties will be releasing the first week of August.  It was a good read filled with interesting characters.  Ms. Grant was lovely enough to answer a few questions for me.  Take a look at what she had to share:

MF: Now that Dark Parties is about to be released, if you could go back and either re-envision (or perhaps revisit) a character and tell us a little bit more about them, who would it be, and why do you feel that way?
SG: Part of the book for me is a tribute to my grandmother. And the grandmother, if you’ve read the book, plays a significant role in Neva’s life. And that’s not an accident. My grandmother passed away about 10 years ago, and I miss her every day, just like Neva.  I’ve actually done a little writing around and I have a few short stories about Ruth, that character, when she was younger and how she was like and not like Neva. I have a lot of affection for the grandmother character. She’s probably one I would like to explore more.  And also kind of obscurely, Sanna’s brother. He’s intentionally not named and intentionally this mysterious, ghostlike character who helps Sanna out sometimes and also gets himself into big trouble. And I think he would be quite interesting to explore a little bit, as well.

MF: Sanna turned out to be a pretty loyal friend, given how the situation between she and Neva kind of worked its way out through the book. How would the story have changed if she didn’t accept or forgive Neva for some of the things that she had done throughout the course of the story?
SG: I think it certainly would have been understandable because Neva does some interesting things. But the friendship that I see for Neva and Sanna is the type that would eventually forgive all. In my heart, Sanna would always have forgiven Neva because that’s the nature of that kind of friendship. The book is a friendship story at its heart, and I don’t think I could have let them part as anything but friends.

MF: What genre would you like to tackle? Is there something that is the Mt. Everest that you want to achieve in your writing, be it YA, be it adult? Was dystopian always something that you were passionate about and you knew that the books that you were going to write, or did you have a mind to write something contemporary and it just kind of morphed into something else?
SG: For me, it’s more about the story and about what I want to explore and how I want to challenge myself, if that makes any sense. I didn’t set out and say I’m going to write a dystopian novel. There were just a lot of things that I wanted to explore. And then when I found this idea of the protectosphere and looking at identity, that excited me.  My next two projects, I would say, are dystopian, kind of a similar feel. I don’t have a Mt. Everest that I want to climb, but I would like to work in a lot of different genres. I would quite like to write romance. I would love to write something funny. As much as I like writing dark stories and exploring those types of things, when you’re really immersed in the story, it can be kind of a dark place to stay for a little bit.  So, I think something funny. Libba Bray’s work is an Everest that I will never climb, but I love what she does and how she brings together humor and insight and layer upon layer that are in her books, which I think is just phenomenal.  Right now, I’m working on another book. And it’s in two different time periods, and they’re interconnecting stories that are hundreds of years apart. And it’s looking at the nature of faith and kind of the power of miscommunication.  Again it gets back to that the strength of the human spirit. It’s similarly dark and dystopian, but asking some different questions, I think.

There is still plenty more from Ms. Grant!  Also in attendance at the webcast were fellow bloggers from Novel Novice, The Story Siren, The Page Turners and Green Bean Teen Queen please be sure to head over to see what Sara said to each of them as well.  Also, keep watch this week for my review of Dark Parties [indie bound] [amazon].

I’m so grateful to have been asked to participate in a series of author webinars as part of Little, Brown Books for Young Reader’s Teen Read Me initiative.  As part of the series I am excited to have the opportunity to interact with authors of upcoming releases.  The first webinar was  this week with Cat Patrick author of Forgotten.  I’ve read this book (review posting tomorrow) and can honestly say I loved it.  One of the best mysteries I’ve encountered in young adult fiction in some time.  I strongly encourage you to pick it up and read it.

The main focus of the webinar was to allow a select group of bloggers the opportunity to ask Ms. Patrick questions.  Below I share with you the questions I asked and Ms. Patrick’s answers.  To read questions and responses posed by my fellow bloggers in attendance please visit Novel Novice, The Story Siren, and The Page Turners. Green Bean Teen Queen will be joining us for remaining sessions but was sadly missed this week while she was off having an awesome time in New Orleans at ALA Annual Conference.

I’ve abbreviated some of my gushing and rambling when posing questions, but please be aware that there are questions and answers in this interview that assume you’ve read the book and can be considered spoilers if you haven’t.

MF: Which part of London’s memory came first for you?  Was it the pieces of the past or the pieces of the future?
CP: Let’s see.  So, when I came up with the idea, I was in the middle of doing something, and I forgot what I was doing, and I just thought, oh my gosh, wouldn’t that be so terrible to have amnesia.  So, when I got the idea, the very first thing I thought of was that she wouldn’t remember the past.  But then I thought: but what if she does remember the future?

So, when I was writing, I think I was, at first, most focused on the future memories.  And I didn’t end up with the conclusion that the book has until a couple of drafts in.  It took me a little while to find that right kind of mystery about her past.

I sort of knew what I wanted it to be, but it just wasn’t working in the first couple of drafts, and then I finally found it, and I was so excited.  So, I think the future memories were the thing that I first focused on until I figured out how I wanted to weave in her past.

MF: So, one of the things that I loved the most about this book was the mystery element of it, and I really enjoyed the fact that I felt like I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, like I kept trying to predict what was gonna happen, and then I was always wrong.  One of the things that I was wrong about was that I kept, for whatever reason, being very suspicious of Luke.  Was there ever a time you were contemplating that, or was he a good guy from the jump and he just stayed that way?
CP: He was pretty much a good guy from the get-go.  He was just always Luke. I like that you thought that, though.  That was my intention.
MF: Well, you did very well at it, then.
CP: Oh, thank you.  Thank you very much.  I was hoping that it would be a book where, because you didn’t know what was gonna happen, you would be a little suspicious of everyone in her life, because I feel like since London doesn’t remember anything that’s happened in her past, that’s how she might feel.  And I wanted to give the reader that impression as well.

MF: What made you decide that you wanted to write for the young adult audience as compared to an adult audience?  Was it because of the book that you had–the story that came to your mind kind of put you in that area, or was that your goal to write for this market?
CP: So, my goal my entire life has been to write, to actually write a novel and publish a novel.  And I think, as I was growing up, I always wrote from when I was very young.  I can remember writing a story when I was seven years old, and my mom took it to Kinko’s and had it laminated and bound, and I illustrated it, which was horrible.  I am definitely not an artist.  You don’t want me to ever illustrate anything.

And then in late junior high and early high school, I was just sort of caught up in life and I didn’t do that as much for myself.  And when I got older, I think probably like everyone, I sort of look back on junior high and high school as kind of a challenging time in my life.  And I think I went through some things that now I can look back and say I’m glad I went through those things because they make me who I am.

When I got the idea, I actually first thought about the amnesia situation as a mother, thinking about how terrible it would be to have amnesia and to have young children and you wouldn’t remember them every day.  But then I thought, where would it be even worse? High school because that’s when you’ve already got all of this drama going on in your life and it feels like life is so huge.  Throw this into the mix, and then what’s that going to look like?

I’m really drawn to that period in our lives when it just feels like everything is massive.

And I would love to be someone that brings teens to reading and writing because there was a time when I wasn’t writing or reading as much as I should have been.  And I think that the young adult offerings today are so valuable and inspirational for people.  If I can be that for teens, that would be my goal.

MF: [after speaking about how Forgotten has already been optioned as a movie with the young girl from True Grit rumored to be the lead I asked this follow up question]  So, will you have any hand in adapting the book for film?
CP: No, I don’t think so.  I think what happens is, they just buy the rights, and then–obviously, books don’t always get made into movies even after the rights have been purchased, so it’s a step in the right direction, and everybody seems very excited about it.  But, you never know.  I mean, things happen.  But, fingers crossed that it will actually be made into a movie.

I hear that most authors don’t have a lot of say unless you’re big time.  So, as a newbie, no, I don’t think I will have a lot of input.

Come back tomorrow to read my review of Cat Patrick’s awesome book Forgotten [indie bound] [amazon].  As you can likely tell I thought it was good, but you’ll be able to see more of the whys.  Also, please be sure to visit the other blogs participating in the interview series to get more from Ms. Patrick.