A couple of years back, I closed comments on my blog and removed email access. When I started using Twitter as an amalgamation feed for my blog, I decided to make it clear in my profile that I don’t read @-replies. And I’m not on Facebook. All of these were rather soul-wrenching decisions, I’m afraid… Read more »
FAQs
Putting My Most Frequently-Asked Question to Bed
Warning: This post contains Fire spoilers. Where do you get the inspirations for your novels? There’s are two fundamental problems with this question: (1) It contains incorrect assumptions about where a book comes from. The tiniest proportion of a book — let’s say 3% — comes from inspiration. (2) It’s also unanswerable. Where does that… Read more »
A couple of links from my tour, video and audio, Madrid and Paris
Here’s a video link to the Q&A portion of my event at Casa del Libro on Madrid’s Gran Via, September 11. It’s about 14 minutes long; my editor, Patricia Escalona, serves as interpreter. It might be a little bit tricky for non-Spanish speakers to follow, because the English versions of the questions didn’t always make… Read more »
A Few Tour Questions
Before I get to the questions, I love Justine Larbalestier’s recent blog post, written to her friends and extended family: “You don’t have to read my books.” Now seems like an appropriate time for me to link to it, since I have a new book that’s just come out. Friends and family who might be… Read more »
Holiday Randutiae and a Couple FAQs
Dear Santa, I would like a teleporter for Christmas. Though I have to admit that air travel has gotten less onerous for me recently. Not because anything has changed for the better at the airports or on the airlines; quite the opposite. Things seem to be getting worse. Rather, because I’ve come to realize that… Read more »
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”
(Says Hamlet, who thinks himself straight down the path to disaster, but anyway. I’ve been thinking about thinking, and the ways that thinking can be good. ^_^) FAQ: How would you respond to an interpretation of Graceling that reads Katsa and Po’s relationship as abusive? (Okay, this isn’t actually a frequently asked question, but I… Read more »
Randutiae, Plus a FAQ: Do you have playlists for your books?
Before I get to the FAQ, I like my friend Sam’s short Tuesday post about climate change, blame, and responsibility. I also like this xkcd (though this one is still my favorite). AND I like watching those ladies luge. Have you been watching the ladies luge? The speed they achieve defies belief! And how about… Read more »
In Which the Blog Gets Too Serious and Is in Need of Dominoes
You talk about keeping the faith while writing — but how do you keep going when you can see that your manuscript is a total mess? How do you keep the faith? Well… I don’t know; maybe a combination of mulishness, arrogance, and self-delusion? :o) All underrated qualities, IMO. More seriously, I keep it because… Read more »
FAQ: Who reads your first drafts?
How do you choose your early readers — the ones who give you helpful criticism while you’re still writing and revising? This is a really important question and is a process that can take some experimentation. Here’s what I’ve decided I need in an early reader: A person who reads books often and intelligently. A… Read more »
Movie FAQs
Has anyone optioned Graceling and/or Fire yet?Nope! Who would you want to play the various characters? Do you have any movie ideas?On rare occasions, I try to picture Katsa, and usually, I fail. Sometimes, however, Zhang Ziyi springs to mind, because she can be fierce. Truth is, I’d love to see Graceling translated into a… Read more »