Veronica Roth Book Signing!

Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth

You guys, I had an amazing Wednesday.  I was so fortunate to be able to go to a Veronica Roth book signing at Joseph Beth book seller in Cincinnati, Ohio.  VERONICA ROTH, you guys.  New York Times best selling author of Divergent and just released Insurgent came to MY hometown.  *dies*

I had so much fun.  I got there SUPER early because I wanted to beat the traffic, so I ended up with about three hours to kill.  I got dinner and read some of Velveteen while I waited, so it wasn't a huge imposition or anything.  So many people showed up, the place was packed.  I was really pleased to see a lot of younger kids there, and some boys as well.  I love it when kids get excited enough about reading to want to go to an author event. 

At the start of the signing we were told that during release week Veronica was going to three places.  New York City for publishing reasons, Chicago her home town, and Cincinnati Ohio because the reading community is AWESOME and did a TON of publicity work for Divergent.  Pretty cool, right? 

Guys, can I be completely honest with you?  Veronica Roth is GORGEOUS.  Seriously, she so pretty I think I have a bit of a girl crush lol.  She's also funny and charming and intelligent, so no wonder she's created such fantastic books!

Veronica started the night off with a reading from Insurgent.  I actually blocked out a lot of it because I don't want anything to be spoiled, regardless of if it actually is a spoiler or not.  It's always fun to hear authors read their work, just not when I haven't read the book yet!

After the reading there was the typical Q&A session. 

How do you name your characters?

• The character names change a lot
• Roth tries to find names that walk that fine line between unique but not too weird
• In a move of pure awesome, Roth revealed that Tobias's name was in fact inspired from K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series (thus solidifying her extreme cool factor)

What advice do you have for someone wanting to get into publishing?

•  Major in English
• Try and find an internship, even if it is unpaid
• Roth actually started her career wanting to be a copy editor because of her love of grammar

What is your favorite faction and what faction would you choose?  Who is your favorite character?

• Abignation is her favorite faction because they're the underdog and their virtue purveys their entire life
• Roth would choose to be in dauntless
• Tris and Tobias feel the most real
• Evelyn is her favorite new character

How many books will be in the series?  Any word on a movie?

• There will be three in the series, but the final one does not have a title yet (Insider Scoop:  it will not be "Detergent")
• Lionsgate bought the movie rights and a screenplay is being developed

How did you come up with the idea for Divergent?

• In her college psychology class, she was studying exposure theory for treating phobias which is where the inspiration for dauntless came from
• Roth then expanded on that idea and created a world where the dauntless could exist

What do you do when you have writers block?

• Roth admits that she's not the best at overcoming it
• Music is a big inspiration for Roth and she tries to find the right song for whatever scene she's working on
• She also walks away for a few days to get a fresh start

What do you wish you knew before you were published? 

• Don't read reviews!  It puts way too much pressure on you as a writer.

How long did it take you to write Insurgent?  What part of writing is the easiest, and what is the hardest?

• The rough draft took about three months with edits lasting around seven
• The hardest part of writing is knocking out the first draft, she admits to being a bit of a perfectionist.
• The easiest part is edits and re-writes.  Roth "cleanses by fire" and has no problem tearing a draft apart

After the Q&A session it was book singing time!  Even though there were so many people I didn't have to wait that long (yay pre-ordering!).  While in line I ran into some of my book blogger friends, including Lauren at Epilogue Review, Jenny at Supernatural Snark, and Dani at Refracted Light Reviews (hey girls!).

Signing my books!

Be Brave.  Be Strong.

I'd like to congratulate Veronica on her new book Insurget and thank her for coming to Cincinnati!  I had such a fun time, it was a really great event.  Oh and of course you all know what I'll be reading this weekend!