Deva Fagan's Blog

November 8, 2009

I have a strong suspicion that I will not actually have 50K written for NaNoWriMo at the end of the month. But that's okay with me. NaNoWriMo is fabulous for some books (it really helped me get the first draft of Fortune's Folly written) but sometimes pushing to writewritewrite for wordcount isn't the best thing for a book. I am finding that for the current project, my pattern is to work on one particular scene for a day or two, then take a day to mull it over, revise, and dream about the...

0 comments Published on November 08, 2009 16:32 | 1 view

October 31, 2009

Today I'm happy to welcome Kristina Springer to my blog, to answer a few questions about her debut novel The Espressologist. I haven't had the opportunity to read this one myself yet, but I love the cute premise: a barista who matchmakes her customers based on their drink choices. (For the record, my husband and I both like chai lattes. Hopefully that means we are meant to be together!).

Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult...

0 comments Published on October 31, 2009 04:21 | 2 views

October 29, 2009

I'll admit it: sometimes writing isn't entirely fun. Sometimes it is hard work. Sometimes it is painful, when the words I am wrestling with on the page are unmalleable, ugly, colorless clay compared to the perfect story in my mind. [Of course this isn't always the case. There is plenty of fun during the actual writing too, though I am always looking for ways to improve my level of fun. The brilliant Laini Taylor wrote an inspiring post about this recently in her blog. Her book Lips Touch...

0 comments Published on October 29, 2009 04:57 | 1 view

October 26, 2009

Have you every gone on a literary pilgrimage? Or do you have one you would like to undertake?

Before this year I'd gone on two: I visited Prince Edward Island, in the hopes of capturing a fragment of the magic of L. M. Montgomery's Anne books. And I visited Mankato, MN, to see the real life inspiration for the Deep Valley of Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy books.

During my recent vacation in Italy, I undertook a third: to visit the various places referenced in one of my favorite Betsy books...

0 comments Published on October 26, 2009 03:47 | 3 views

October 25, 2009

You know what helps deal with post vacation let-down (say, after a lovely trip to Florence and Venice)? Coming home and finding a box containing these on your doorstep:



It also helps if you have one of these waiting for you:



and maybe a sky like this:



And it's not like you don't have a souvenir to remember it all by…


0 comments Published on October 25, 2009 15:13 | 1 view

October 24, 2009

Today I'm happy to welcome Pam Bachorz to my blog, to answer a few questions about her debut novel Candor.

Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult) to write.

A: I love the scenes that flow out of my fingertips. They are always my readers' favorites too. But there was one scene that tied me in knots–it happens about a third of the way in, and it's a really important one. The secrets that my MC have been keeping from his...

0 comments Published on October 24, 2009 11:58 | 1 view

October 15, 2009

Today I'm happy to welcome Lauren Bjorkman to my blog, to answer a few questions about her debut novel My Invented Life.

Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult) to write.

A: For me, the first scene was the hardest because I gotl tangled up trying to achieve just the right balance of atmosphere, action, conflict, and backstory. Also, I wanted to start with a slightly unlikable/oblivious protag, who becomes more sensitive as the s...

0 comments Published on October 15, 2009 05:00 | 5 views

October 9, 2009

There is an excellent post by Colleen Mondor over on her blog Chasing Ray about Super Heroines. It's a part of the ongoing "What a Girl Wants" series, which has provided a bunch of other thought-provoking discussions over the last few months that are worth checking out too.

Reading all the great responses in the WAGW post inspires me to gush about my own love of super heroines, especially because comics and superheros were one of the inspirations for my most recent writing project, CIRCUS...

0 comments Published on October 09, 2009 03:29 | 1 view

October 8, 2009

Woohoo! I just got a peek at the cover art for my second book THE MAGICAL MISADVENTURES OF PRUNELLA BOGTHISTLE, due out in the spring of 2010. The cover is not finalized and may still change a bit, but I have the okay to share it here:

I love it! The artwork is by Brandon Dorman, which I find particularly thrilling as he is also responsible for the covers of several books by one of my all time favorite authors, Diana Wynne Jones. Check out his beautiful website for dozens of other gorgeous...

0 comments Published on October 08, 2009 15:38 | 3 views

Today I'm happy to welcome Megan Crewe to my blog, to answer a few questions about her debut novel Give Up the Ghost. I first met Megan years ago when we were both members of the Online Writing Workshop for SF, Fantasy and Horror (which I highly recommend for anyone looking for an online critique site). Even back then I knew Megan would be published one day — her prose was just so lovely and her ideas so bewitching! We've been critiquing one another's books ever since, and so this debut is...

0 comments Published on October 08, 2009 04:43 | 1 view