Amy Plum's Blog, page 43
April 26, 2011
Excitement Overload!
Three amazing things have happened in the DIE FOR ME universe during the last twenty-four hours.
Amazing Thing #1: Target will be selling DIE FOR ME. TARGET! !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! I just can't even imagine walking into Target and wandering up to the books section and seeing our lovely Kate looking out over the rooftops of Paris. I think that if I did, my head might explode. So it's a good thing they don't have Target in France.
Amazing Thing #2: DIE FOR ME received a starred review in the May issue of School Library Journal. STARRED! HOLY COW! I feel like I just won an Academy Award. Where's my dress? Where's my speech?
This is what they said:
*PLUM, Amy. Die for Me. Gr 9 Up-
One might think that it's hard to find anything fresh and new in paranormal romance, that it has all been done. But Plum has succeeded. Revenants are undead who have died and been awakened, or reanimated, and they are immortal. They are not ghosts and would rather not be referred to as zombies. They also tend to be extremely good-looking, and each time they die, which happens frequently since their mission is to save humans, their age is halted once again so they also tend to be fairly young, in a manner of speaking. Kate Mercier, 16, and her 18-year-old sister have just lost their parents in a car accident and moved from Brooklyn to Paris to live with their grandparents, whom they have spent summers with since they were very young. Kate meets a young man and her breath is taken away by the feelings he evokes within her. It so happens that Vincent died for the first time in 1940, and he has been dying and saving lives ever since. Just as they are beginning their relationship, they discover that the numa, the evil revenants, are plotting an attack on the good revenants of Paris, and Lucien, their evil leader, just happens to be Kate's sister's new boyfriend. Action and drama abound. Plum has done an excellent job of setting up the rules for her creations and following them closely. Fans of this genre will have their appetites reignited by this new addition.-Genevieve Gallagher, Charlottesville High School, VA
And if that weren't enough to have me hopping around doing a happy dance, I just got word of…
Amazing Thing #3: DIE FOR ME was named to the Summer 2011 Indie Next list! This is where independent booksellers nominate books and then vote. 54 titles were chosen for "Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers" and DIE FOR ME IS ONE OF THEM.
I don't even know what to say. I am amazed. Gobsmacked. And truly truly grateful.
April 25, 2011
April 15, 2011
ARC 2 Giveaway: Facebook Version [contest over]
Last week I gave away the first of my four remaining ARCs in a Twitter contest. This week the giveaway will be on Facebook. I was so inspired by yesterday's "Rock the Drop" that was part of Support Teen Lit Day that I decided to piggyback on that amazing idea for the giveaway of the second ARC of DIE FOR ME. (International!) (Do you get my theme? One ARC per week until Release Day! Hurray!)
So this contest is simple: you have to give a book to a teenager.
These are the rules.
1.Think of a teenager. I will accept ages 11-19, so "tweens" are included.
2. Choose a book that you are 100% positive your chosen teenager will love—either from your own bookshelf, buy one first- or second-hand in a shop, or order online. No magazines allowed. I don't care if it's Justin Bieber's autobiography or a copy of Nicomachean Ethics…as long as you know your book friend will dig it.
3. You have 1 week to either put the book in your teenager's hand, send it from the post office, or have an online bookstore ship it out.
4. Go to my Facebook page and post on my wall. Tell me what the book was, who you gave it to, and their age. We're doing this on an honor system—I trust you because I know you're all amazing people.
5. You can hand out as many books to teenagers you want—heck you can become Teenage Book Santa and I'll be tickled pink—but I'm taking only one entry per person. I will put all names into a randomizer and choose the winner next Friday, April 22.
HAVE FUN WITH THIS! I can't wait to see what you give away!
ARC 2 Giveaway: Facebook Version
Last week I gave away the first of my four remaining ARCs in a Twitter contest. This week the giveaway will be on Facebook. I was so inspired by yesterday's "Rock the Drop" that was part of Support Teen Lit Day that I decided to piggyback on that amazing idea for the giveaway of the second ARC of DIE FOR ME. (International!) (Do you get my theme? One ARC per week until Release Day! Hurray!)
So this contest is simple: you have to give a book to a teenager.
These are the rules.
1.Think of a teenager. I will accept ages 11-19, so "tweens" are included.
2. Choose a book that you are 100% positive your chosen teenager will love—either from your own bookshelf, buy one first- or second-hand in a shop, or order online. No magazines allowed. I don't care if it's Justin Bieber's autobiography or a copy of Nicomachean Ethics…as long as you know your book friend will dig it.
3. You have 1 week to either put the book in your teenager's hand, send it from the post office, or have an online bookstore ship it out.
4. Go to my Facebook page and post on my wall. Tell me what the book was, who you gave it to, and their age. We're doing this on an honor system—I trust you because I know you're all amazing people.
5. You can hand out as many books to teenagers you want—heck you can become Teenage Book Santa and I'll be tickled pink—but I'm taking only one entry per person. I will put all names into a randomizer and choose the winner next Friday, April 22.
HAVE FUN WITH THIS! I can't wait to see what you give away!
Title Trickiness (+ Reveal of Book 2 Title!)
When I was writing DIE FOR ME, my brain was on constant alert for a phrase or a word that would make a good title. I had labeled the Word document "Undead" as a temporary measure, but was constantly checking Amazon with ideas for titles, and just as constantly throwing the idea into my mind's wastebasket because…IT HAD ALREADY BEEN TAKEN.
Finally I realized that—unless I named my book with a made-up word like SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS (taken), or with a complex multi-word phrase like THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW (also taken)—EVERYTHING had already been used at least once.
And finally I came up with a title. SLEEPWALKING. It hadn't been used for years. And it described Kate's frame of mind after her parents' death, and then again when she realized what kind of paranormal world she had just unwittingly stepped into when she fell for Vincent. It seemed perfect.
So I was shocked when—once the book was bought—no one liked it. I got the feeling they thought it wasn't dynamic enough. And—although nobody actually said it—I think they felt SLEEPWALKING held the subliminal suggestion: This book will put you to sleep. And suggesting that a book is going to make you nod off and then wander around and perhaps even hurt yourself…well that's not the best literary commendation a title could give.
So the search for another title began. I enlisted a number of friends to help, and suggested several of our top picks to my editor. All were turned down. Finally I gave her this list:
Penumbra; The Risen; My Former Life; Breathless; Wingless; Dark Halo; Death Does Us Part; Truly Madly Deadly; A Darker Shade of White; A Deathly Kind of Love; Afterdeath; Alive Again; Angelheart; Angels of Death; City of Nights; City of Dreams; Dead Again; Dear Departed; Death and the Maiden; Deliver Me; Deliver Me From Death; Earthangel. Eternal Night. Everland; Everwaking; Everdeath; Evermore; Everafter; Forever Dying; Forever Yours; Guardians of the Living; Guardians of the Night; If I Should Wake After I Die; Immortal Love; Immortal Night; Immortally Yours; Inamoratas; In My Dreams; Kiss of Death; Kissing Death; My Heart, Mortality, And Other Jokes; Obsession; Paramour; Return to Me; Revenant; Shadow of Death; Shadowheart; Shadowland; Awakening; The Death of Each Day's Life (from Shakespeare's Macbeth); The Guardians; The Rising; The Watchers; Under A Paris Moon; Undying.
Guess what. Nuh uh.
And then my editor came back to me with two suggestions: DIE FOR ME and TO DIE FOR. She asked what I thought. I said I liked SLEEPWALKING. I'm glad I was an ocean away from New York City, or I'm sure I would have been able to hear much groaning and ripping out of hair up on Madison Avenue.
I'm not quite sure what the internal procedure is at HarperCollins, but Tara asked "the powers that be" and everyone agreed that DIE FOR ME was the very best title. And you know what? After about three or four days of letting it sink into my psyche…I agreed. And now I can't imagine the book with any other title.
According to my ancient email file, the title decision for Book 1 was taken the first week of May, 2010. And here we are, almost one year later, and Book 2 has just received its own title.
My editor has been asking me for title ideas for months. And until two months ago, I had no clue. Until I wrote a certain line in the book and thought…Hmm. Then I did my 4-mile jog—the one I tend to do my problem-solving thinking on—and almost sprinted back to my house near the end because I was so sure it was a good title idea.
But since I hadn't yet sent the new manuscript to my editor, she didn't jump at it right away. And then, just a couple of weeks ago, she read that section and wrote me right away. "How about (insert new title)?" she asked, not immediately remembering that I had suggested it.
That's got to be it, I thought. If both of us came up with the title individually, it was meant to be. And just over a week later, and an official "okay" from HarperCollins, I am overjoyed to announce the title of Book 2:
UNTIL I DIE
*Amy swoons, and then gets back up and keeps typing*
It's perfect. Trust me.
April 12, 2011
Writing Week in Saintes
I wrote this post a couple of years ago, but thought I'd show you it since I'm returning to this writing paradise in exactly 9 days for a week-long writing hideaway!
2/25/2009 Yes, I'm writing you from the smack-dab middle of Writing Week. Since the university is on a break, I decided to run off to Saintes and spend an entire week writing in Nicolas and Paul's chateau. Since Nicolas is starting on a new film script, it was the perfect time for me to come…when both of us knew we had to be hard-core about writing instead of going to the market, antique shopping, and eating four-hour champagne-soaked meals with his neighbors like we usually do when I come.
It's going really well so far (knock on wood). I stripped out the fictional ex-girlfriend and evil MIL plotline as well as another kind of magical-realism device that I had used, and began filling in the gaps. And let me tell you, it is SO much easier to get work done here than it is at home, where the phone is ringing, people are stopping by, and I'm doing loads of laundry and cooking between writing paragraphs.
So just to share the wealth of my spoiledness, let me give you a guided tour of what a day of writing in Saintes looks like.
8:00a.m. Open my eyes. See this…
If you can't see what that is outside of the window, here's a close-up…
I let my eyes wander around the room and enjoy all of its beautiful colors and objects…
And then maybe I close my eyes again and let myself sleep for another fifteen minutes. Just to get the biggest bang for my buck out of the fact that it's not 6:45a.m. and I don't have to go pick up a baby with a full diaper. This is where I should be working…
But instead I work from here…
I write in bed. I know…a very bad habit but I've been doing it too long to stop now. And, if you were wondering, yes, the bookshelves on either side of the bed open up to closets that are jam-packed with these…
Costumes from the Paris Opera. (Nicolas has an amazing collection.) When I start to feel hungry, I get up and walk down this hallway…
Say "good morning" to these handsome fellows…
and continue down these stairs…
to the kitchen…
Where I make myself some coffee and eat a slice of the giant carrot cake that I brought to celebrate Nicolas's birthday and will probably last the two of us 'til the end of the week, if it hasn't gone rock-solid before then.
After breakfast I go back up to bed and write for a couple of hours, and then take a shower, and come back downstairs to pick up my emails, since the wi-fi signal doesn't stretch as far as my room. I cross the kitchen and into the living room to see if Nicolas is up yet.
He is…
Since he's giving me the "Go away, I'm trying to work" look, I say, "Just ignore me, I'm taking pictures for my blog." He cooperates.
I go back upstairs and work for a few more hours, then come down for lunch, which we take turns making on alternate days. Nicolas has already been out for a swim at the (indoor) town pool, by the time we eat, which is around 2p.m. Today it's going to be 3p.m. because he's still out swimming as I write this. Yes, I am dying of hunger, but just went and ate the end off a baguette. It's not easy fitting into the schedule of a normal person: someone who doesn't have children to feed at noon and 7p.m. on-the-dot.
At lunch we talk about what we wrote that morning. Yesterday Nicolas gave me a wonderful idea that I took and changed around a bit, and produced one of my favorite chapters so far.
After lunch it's back to work, and maybe an hour or two into it, I might put the computer on the ground and take a little nap. Just because I can.
Then downstairs for tea, and a little wave at Nicolas through the glass doors.
Back up to my room for more writing, until around 8p.m., at which point I am all-wrote-out. Dinner is between 9 and 10, and if I can stay awake (which I didn't quite manage last night) we watch a movie. (Bulgarian silent film the first night, "Little Children" the second.) I drag my tired body up to bed, and Nicolas goes back to work.
Close eyes…sleep eight hours…start again!
P.S. Here's the outside all lit up for a party!
April 10, 2011
Twitter ARC Giveaway [now over!]
I just got 4 more ARCs from my publisher. Four. Because that's the end of her stock. And I have to figure out how to give them away, using a method that's not too complicated for me to calculate. (Last time I had to get a friend to help me count!)
So for ARC #1, it will be Twitter only. International. I just reached 500 followers on Twitter. As soon as that number reaches 600, I will choose randomly from everyone who tweets with the hash tag:
#DIEFORMEMay5 (if you're in the UK, Australia or New Zealand)
or
#DIEFORMEMay10 (if you're anywhere else).
One entry per person. (Or if you feel like tweeting that hash tag a kazillion times, feel free. But all names count once!)
This is the trick: get all of your friends to follow me, but don't tell them about the contest. *laughs evilly* So the faster we get to 600 without other people including the magic hash tag, the more of a chance you (who of course, Tweeted the magic hash tag) will have of getting the ARC.
Am I an evil mastermind, or what! 
Tweet away! As soon as @IHeartRevenants has 600 followers, an ARC will be sent!
*p.s. These are not signed ARCs, since my cousin-helper will be sending them from the U.S. for me. But I can send the winner a signed bookmark if they choose!
AND THE WINNER IS: Tasha from Roswell, New Mexico. Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who helped me reach 600 Twitter followers! Another ARC contest coming SOON!
Twitter ARC Giveaway
I just got 4 more ARCs from my publisher. Four. Because that's the end of her stock. And I have to figure out how to give them away, using a method that's not too complicated for me to calculate. (Last time I had to get a friend to help me count!)
So for ARC #1, it will be Twitter only. International. I just reached 500 followers on Twitter. As soon as that number reaches 600, I will choose randomly from everyone who tweets with the hash tag:
#DIEFORMEMay5 (if you're in the UK, Australia or New Zealand)
or
#DIEFORMEMay10 (if you're anywhere else).
One entry per person. (Or if you feel like tweeting that hash tag a kazillion times, feel free. But all names count once!)
This is the trick: get all of your friends to follow me, but don't tell them about the contest. *laughs evilly* So the faster we get to 600 without other people including the magic hash tag, the more of a chance you (who of course, Tweeted the magic hash tag) will have of getting the ARC.
Am I an evil mastermind, or what!
Tweet away! As soon as @IHeartRevenants has 600 followers, an ARC will be sent!
*p.s. These are not signed ARCs, since my cousin-helper will be sending them from the U.S. for me. But I can send the winner a signed bookmark if they choose!
April 8, 2011
Nunchuk skills, bow hunting skills, interviewing skills*
The big day is quickly approaching. It is 31 days until the U.S. release of DIE FOR ME, and a mere 26 until it is released in the U.K. And when I actually think about it, my brain explodes. So, to preserve my sanity—not to mention avoiding brain explosion clean-up time—I am trying to distract myself. Which isn't too difficult at the moment.
Because in the last couple of months I have done 49 interviews. (And have a few more to work through on my "to do" list.) You wouldn't think an interview would take much time. But you get to a question like, "What is on Kate's bookshelf now, and what would be her nostalgic book picks from her childhood?" And then you find yourself going through your entire library and thinking book by book and what you should put on the list. Which is a teensy bit time consuming.
I know this is amazing practice, though. Because just under a year ago when I was shooting my author video and couldn't even remember the name of my book (it had just been changed from SLEEPWALKING to DIE FOR ME), the questions I was asked really stumped me. I just hadn't considered my book, the conception and writing of my book, and my life as an author from so many different angles.
Now, I'm ready. Ask me what inspired me to write DIE FOR ME, and I can blah blah blah at you for as short or as long as you wish, and tell the tale in a few different ways. Ask me when I knew I wanted to be a writer, and I can quote my poem printed in the school paper when I was in 1st grade. (Which starts, "There once was a turkey who lived on a farm." I know. Genius. Pure unadulterated genius.)
Because I've looked these things up now. I've racked my memory and my files. And instead of being shut up in a dusty box in a forgotten corner of my mind, the answers are now living on the tip of my tongue. (Or the tips of my fingers, whichever format you prefer.)
I love learning. And acquiring new skills is one of the most satisfying things life has to offer, I feel. Whether it's something major like learning to be a parent or minor like learning to stand up in front of a crowd of tourists and give a speech in French on 15th century architecture…without melting to the ground in a smoking heap of nerves.
I like to feel capable. Ready for anything. That's why I memorized the entire Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette when I was a sixteen. I was getting ready to run (not walk…sprint) away from my situation in Birmingham, Alabama, as soon as legally possible. I knew I wanted to see the world, and with my sights set sky-high, I wanted to be ready for anything life could throw at me. I knew how to address an ambassador (a skill I have used) and what to give a nun as a present (a skill I have never used…but I'm prepared: cash, a television, or luggage).
There's no Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Being an Author. Unfortunately. Or I would have memorized it too. Instead, I'm learning by watching others. And by plain old doing. By winging it. Learning by my mistakes is something I'm very good at. Especially the making mistakes part. And now, with this sparkly new challenge in front of me—being an author in the public eye—I'm faced with several new learning curves. But, thanks to the last few months, I can now happily say that interviewing is one skill I am on my way to achieving. Go ahead. Just ask me a question! ☺
*Title quote thanks to Napoleon Dynamite
