Dark Days Young Adult Tour!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to celebrate my 1 year blog anniversary by going to the Dark Days Young Adult tour with Kimberly Derting, The author of The Body Finder series and The Pledge series, Dan Wells, author of his YA debut Partials and his adult series I am not a Serial Killer, and Jill Hathaway, debut author of Slide.  It was such a fun event and I got some fantastic writing tips.  These people really know their stuff! 

Left: Kimberly Derting Center: Dan Wells Right: Jill Hathaway

The authors started the evening off with a brief summary of their writing careers and an introduction of their newest books. 

Dan

• Partials is his first official YA book.
• It is described as a medical mystery that is heavy on the science (YAY!).
• He said that he loves writing post apocalyptic fiction because he gets to take famous landmarks and blow them up.
• The main character is a girl, and Dan discussed how difficult it initially was to write as a girl.  He then had a bit of an epiphany and realized that with his other series he didn't think about writing as a boy, he just wrote a person.  Once he saw his female character as a person and stopped trying to define her by her gender his writing process really took off.

Kim

• The Last Echo is the third book in The Body Finder series.
• The Body Finder series is a murder mystery and some of Kim's favorite scenes to write were from the perspective of the killer.  She was worried her editor would think it wasn't appropriate for a YA book and was really excited when they said they wanted more.  She's glad that the industry is starting to realize that teens  want to read and can handle more dark stories.
• The Silence of the Lambs was one of Kim's favorite books growing up.  She really likes getting into the head of a serial killer and spent a lot of time researching serial killers for the series.

Jill

• Jill is a high school English teacher and she came up with the idea for Slide while doing NaNoWriMo with her students.
• Initially Jill began with the image of the main character standing over a dead body and having no idea how she got there.  The book then grew around trying to discover the coolest way to put the main chracter in that situation.
• Jill described Vee's ability as super empathy or literally walking in someone else's shoes (and I love that!).

Signing my books!

Following their introductions the author answered some questions from the audience.

Do you outline? 

• Jill is more of a pantser, meaning she likes to figure stuff out as she writes.  She'll have a vague idea of the ending, but lots of her creative process happens during the writing.
• Dan creates an outline, then promptly disregards it when he actually writes the book.  He also gave some great advice, saying there should be 2 or 3 "stand up and cheer" moments in the book.  Moments that would be so cool to read about.  The rest of the book should build up to that moment to make it as impactful as possible.
• Kim writes what she calls "plot points".  She'll have a basic understanding of each of the major events in the book, but she allows herself to deviate from that if inspiration strikes.  She also discussed linear vs. patchwork writing, where you write the book from start to finish or write a bunch of scenes then connect them together (Kim is a linear writer).

Do you characters talk to you or take on a mind of their own during the writing process?

• All three authors agreed that sometimes characters (usually side characters) will develop into something way more awesome then they initially thought and will start taking over scenes because they are so much fun to write.
• Kim talked about how when she is deep in the writing process the book will be constantly on her mind and she'll get great inspiration during the most inconvenient times, like while showering or driving.

Some of my signed books!



I asked, since their books are all medical or crime fiction, what do you do to research your books so the paranormal and fictional elements are realistic, supported, and believable? 

• Kim has a whole group of advisers from firemen to police officers to a medical response team that she emails with questions about different procedures.  She's also toured the county morgue because she believes that you need some hands on experience to write effectively.
• Jill also knows a police officer that answers questions and she also did a lot of research on narcolepsy when developing how her character's ability works.
• Dan suggested that for general world building to start with the totally awesome aspect of your idea and then branch out from that to try and figure out what would actually make that totally awesome thing happen.

What do you like to read when you're writing?  What do you look for in other books of the same genre?

• Dan has "eclectic" reading tastes, but he always looks for books that are completely unique and give the feeling of "I have never read this book before".
• Jill likes reading biographies, but when reading fiction she finds that she has become a much more critical reader since starting her writing career.
• Kim avoids all books of a similar genre because she doesn't want anything to creep into her own writing.

The final question was what are you working on now?

• Jill just finished the second book in the Slide series, Impostor, set to come out Spring 2013.  She is also brainstorming a Blair Witch type book (which sound awesome!)
• Dan is working on the second book in the Partials series, Fragments, expected to be released in 2013.  He is also writing an ebook novella for the Partials series called Isolation that will be released in the fall.  Dan has another book, The Hollow City, releasing July 3, 2012.  The Hollow City is about a man with schizophrenia whose imagined monsters might actually be real. 
• Kim recently finished the second book in the Pledge series, The Essence, coming January 1, 2013.  The fourth book in The Body Finder series is currently in revisions and has a tentative 2013 release date.

The Dark Days Young Adult Tour was so much fun!  I'd like to thank Kim, Dan, and Jill for coming to Ohio and for taking the time to talk about writing and publishing.  It was a fantastic event and now I'm so excited to read their books!



Kimberly Derting's The Body finder series, The Body Finder, Desires of the Dead, and The Last Echo (aren't those covers gorgeous!?).  Kim was kind enough to sign all of my books and also haded out bookmarks, stickers, a bracelet, and some Last Echo nail polish...

...which of course I used as soon as I got home :)

 

Kimberly Derting's The Pledge, Dan Well's Partials, and Jill Hathaway's Slide, all signed.  I also got some bookmarks and advertisements for their upcoming books!