Ask the Author: Anna Bright
Answered Questions (17)
Anna Bright
It's funny you ask. I love to think about this question around NaNo season, because I started THE BEHOLDER November 1, 2013 as part of my first NaNoWriMo project.
It looked nothing like it does now when I hit 50k words at the end of that month. It's taken years to make it read on the page the way the story feels in my imagination. But I've had such great fun doing it!
It looked nothing like it does now when I hit 50k words at the end of that month. It's taken years to make it read on the page the way the story feels in my imagination. But I've had such great fun doing it!
Anna Bright
MUSIC! I'd love to be a musician. I sang some in college-- nothing serious-- but I would've loved to get serious about it. I'd also love to be able to play the drums or the fiddle. (One guess why my folks never bought me a drum set.)
Anna Bright
I didn't necessarily set out to write about a voyage, but I wanted to retell fairy tales, and I wanted to retell them in the countries where they're rooted. (This is, of course, setting aside the fact that stories migrate and morph and where a story is "from" is usually highly debatable."
As far as ties to the Odyssey-- Selah has a connection both to Penelope and to Odysseus. The former is a little hard to explain out of context; the latter is simply that, like Odysseus, all she wants is to go home, but duty and affection and danger seem to pose obstacles every step of the way.
As far as ties to the Odyssey-- Selah has a connection both to Penelope and to Odysseus. The former is a little hard to explain out of context; the latter is simply that, like Odysseus, all she wants is to go home, but duty and affection and danger seem to pose obstacles every step of the way.
Anna Bright
I sure will. :)
Anna Bright
I wouldn't say my next project has a more INTERESTING setting, but I'd say it's more.... unexpected. :) That's all I can say for now!
Anna Bright
I have so many favorites! I really love Cap O' Rushes, which is a Cinderella variant not unlike King Lear.
I also really, REALLY love East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which is a "disappearing husband" fairy tale. Fun fact, the fabulous Joanna Ruth Meyer has a retelling of this fairy tale coming out next year called Echo North! (Maybe read that while you wait for THE BEHOLDER? I mean, seems like a valid plan to me.)
I also really, REALLY love East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which is a "disappearing husband" fairy tale. Fun fact, the fabulous Joanna Ruth Meyer has a retelling of this fairy tale coming out next year called Echo North! (Maybe read that while you wait for THE BEHOLDER? I mean, seems like a valid plan to me.)
Anna Bright
MY COVER IS DROPPING ON WEDNESDAY! Follow The Young Folks @TYFOfficial and me @brightlyanna on Twitter so you don't miss it!
Anna Bright
this was always going to be a traveling book. THE BEHOLDER is actually multiple fairy-tales retold and patched together, and even though we all know fairy tales come from a lot of places (stories tend to travel), each retelling is set in its home country.
Anna Bright
i don't have an exact release date, but YES, it is a love story!
Anna Bright
sometime in the spring! i don't have a specific release date yet. :)
Anna Bright
I HAVE! I spent half a summer in Mexico and Spain when I was in college, in a language immersion program, and last spring my husband and I drove/walked all over the UK and Ireland. And I'm headed back to England and Wales in--*checks calendar*--two weeks for a walking holiday! Still a million places on the bucket list :D
Anna Bright
i was blow-drying my hair one day and it just... happened.
ok there's more to the story than that. i'd been working on applying to grad school, writing intense academic essays, studying for the English lit GRE. i'd broken my brain, basically. and then i finished. and i went to the library and got a fairy tale compilation and THE HOST by stephenie meyer, and i read them both in like two sittings. and then i was getting ready to go somewhere, i was blow drying my hair, and the initial idea for THE BEHOLDER smacked me in the brain.
(i didn't go to grad school. i did write that book, though.)
ok there's more to the story than that. i'd been working on applying to grad school, writing intense academic essays, studying for the English lit GRE. i'd broken my brain, basically. and then i finished. and i went to the library and got a fairy tale compilation and THE HOST by stephenie meyer, and i read them both in like two sittings. and then i was getting ready to go somewhere, i was blow drying my hair, and the initial idea for THE BEHOLDER smacked me in the brain.
(i didn't go to grad school. i did write that book, though.)
Anna Bright
well, each of the suitors is the center of a fairy tale retelling, so i'll leave it to readers to figure out where they fall within those stories ;) i have all kinds of influences, but, uh, people may start to suspect my undying crush on Prince Harry.
Anna Bright
1. thank you so much! you're so kind!
and, 2.... with much wailing and gnashing of teeth! haha. the title took awhile for us to land on, but we kept coming back to it. it's a word that holds multiple meanings within the novel.
and, 2.... with much wailing and gnashing of teeth! haha. the title took awhile for us to land on, but we kept coming back to it. it's a word that holds multiple meanings within the novel.
Anna Bright
this list could literally go on for pages and pages. but i'll take a stab: maggie stiefvater, neil gaiman, susanna clarke, holly black, sabaa tahir, rachel hawkins, kerstin gier, lauren oliver, j.k. rowling, gail carson levine, diana wynne jones, tolkien, c.s. lewis, mark helprin, jane austen, sarah dessen, jenny han, sophie kinsella, m.c. beaton.... i admire so many authors!
Anna Bright
okay, so this is assuming i'm not stuck on this desert island *forever*, bc if that's the case, i'm packing LES MISERABLES, BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, and the complete works of william shakespeare, because at that point, it's about "what will take me the longest to read?"
if we're talking a deserted island that i'm stuck on for a few days, just long enough to get a nice tan and read some books, i'm taking WHITE CAT by holly black, neil gaiman's AMERICAN GODS, and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE by diana wynne jones. also, i'm taking wizard howl with me. he's hilarious, snarky, the ultimate book boyfriend, and would hopefully teach me some cool spells.
if we're talking a deserted island that i'm stuck on for a few days, just long enough to get a nice tan and read some books, i'm taking WHITE CAT by holly black, neil gaiman's AMERICAN GODS, and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE by diana wynne jones. also, i'm taking wizard howl with me. he's hilarious, snarky, the ultimate book boyfriend, and would hopefully teach me some cool spells.
Anna Bright
Music. I'll listen to one song on repeat for a particular character, or for a particular scene. For the last few days, it's been Camila Cabello and Dua Lipa-- evidently, I've been writing some sassy scenes.
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