Claudia Gray's Blog, page 9

July Q&A session, day seven!

Katrina N. asks: If I ever feel ready to publish a story of mine and I did all the research and such, and I got a contract and would be published I want to do it under a pen name. Legally what did you have to go through to do that? Did the publishing company know who you were in real life?

Legally, you don't have to do anything. The copyright will be kept under your real name, unless you set up a company to hold the copyright for you, but you can slap any nom de plume on your book that you ...

July Q&A session, day six!

Tina from South Africa asks: I was just wondering, are you starting a new series after Evernight?

Yes, I am. My next series will be the SPELLCASTER trilogy from HarperTeen. It's about a young witch named Lia who's just moved to a new town with her father and younger brother. Once she gets there, she realizes that the town is heavily shadowed by dark magic, and that there's another spellcaster in town -- someone dangerous. And she meets this guy named Mateo, who's handsome, charming, and app...

July Q&A session, day five!

Pamela U. asks: I was wondering for a long time, has Mrs Bethany ever been in love? and with who?

Now that's a very interesting question. I can't go into it too much, though, because you're going to learn a lot more about that in AFTERLIFE.

Emma M. asks: How do you respond to fans telling you about how they are like Bianca or Lucas?

It's always wonderful when somebody responds deeply enough to the characters to glimpse something similar within them. I hear this the most about Bianca, but al...

July Q&A session, day four!

The euphoniously named hnybrwnmxcn asks: What was the hardest obstacle to overcome while you were first trying to get published?

Myself. Both in acquiring the discipline to write, and in gaining the confidence to try.

Kameren asks: What inspired you to write the Evernight series?

I wanted to write about an unusual kind of high school, and at the time, a boarding school for vampires seemed unusual indeed. Of course, about ten other authors all had the same idea around the same time -- but happ...

July Q&A session, day three!

Amy B. asks: If you could chose any author to write about your life (yourself excluded), who would you choose and why?

Danielle Steel. Because then the book would be all about how I blossomed into unearthly beauty at an early age, was snatched from my idyllic childhood by a cruel twist of fate, grittily fought my way to the top of a glamorous profession, and had any number of hugely passionate affairs before being at last reunited with my first, and only true, love. Which is of course exactl...

July Q&A session, day two!

Britney W. asks: Since you are already a successful author with many published books, where do you see yourself in 10 years? What are your goals and how much do you aim to accomplish? I think it's important for people to realize that even those who have obtained certain goals they have set for themselves, they still raise the bar and go one step further. It's the proverbial ladder. What do you do when you get to the top of your ladder? Do you stop and be satisfied or do you grab another o...

July Q&A session, day one!

OK, for the first four questions!

KellyRose M. asks: As an aspiring author who has given this A LOT of thought, how did you choose your pen name? And why did you choose to use a pen name? Did you make lists of possible first and surnames, look at name meanings, choose something symbolic? How did you know when you had "the one?!"

First: Don't give this a lot of thought yet. This is the kind of thing you should worry about only after you've got a publishing contract in hand, not only because, be...

congrats to the winners of the Italian Souvenir Contest! Plus, ask me questions, get answers!

I brought back five lovely Murano glass rings from Italy, and now I've chosen, at random, five lucky winners: Congratulations to Evelyn B., Susan R., Jessica R., Laura H., and Jennzah C.! I'll be mailing their rings out sometime this week, so that they will be gorgeous and sparkly this summer.

You guys had some wonderful ideas about things to add to the blog: In particular, you seem to be interested in more writing advice, more updates on what I'm reading and watching, etc. I do not know t...

slow news days, plus reminder about Italian Souvenir Contest

I have been shamefully lax in updating this blog over the past week, but wow, no matter how hard I tried to keep up with things while I was traveling last month, I still came home significantly behind. I'm writing a short story and doing essay edits while taking care of non-writing business ... little things like, oh, renewing my lease so I actually have a place to live next year, which I kind of had to do in a hurry. Ironically, when I'm busiest with the things you guys are most interested...

Italian Souvenir Contest!

I'm back in the United States! Still a bit jetlagged, but I've unpacked all the bags, done all the laundry and even gone through my voicemail. (Helpful tip: If you're leaving the country for a month, it might be a good idea to say so on your voicemail message. Whoops.) Tomorrow I hope to post the rest of my Rome photos and share them with you guys.

We'll have some other ARC giveaways and author interviews this month, but the first contest is for souvenirs I brought back from Rome -- spec...