Seth Fishman's Blog, page 14
February 23, 2014
Letting Go
I’m having a hard time.
My book, The Well’s End, comes out on Tuesday the 25th. I’m feeling all the things you should be feeling. Excited, nervous, anticlimactic climax. But there’s a problem: I’m also a literary agent.
I want to let go, to say to myself hey, relax, everything’s a go now and all you have to do is sit back and smile. But I know too much. I know that there’s always more I can do. I even know how to do much of it. I realize that there are reviews to be had that are hard to get and fun ideas to be explored and mini facebook/goodread campaigns to be created. I know that my book launch seems to be going amazingly but I wonder what will happen a week from now, when it’s wed and I check bookscan for my clients. I know the grim reality of probability in the book world. I dread the walk on Tuesday to my local Barnes & Noble because they are often slow at shelving books. I wonder idly if there will be any notable surprises.
I know from experience that my marketing and publicity team is killing it, that they genuinely love the book, that they are discovering new ways to do what they do just for me - and it’s amazing. But it’s scary too, right?
I practice reading for my reading and then read queries. I love that I get to be more aggressive with my clients than with my own book. I hate that I think about my own book this way at all.
I’ve wanted to be a writer forever, and it’s finally happening, and I’m sure I’m going to ruin it myself. I’m trying to let it go. Let it go.
February 22, 2014
New box for cats to play in. Also, books!
New box for cats to play in. Also, books!
February 15, 2014
newleafliterary:
lbardugo:
macteenbooks:
Make War, Not Love...
Make War, Not Love this Valentine’s Day!
IT’S HERE!!!!! I hope you guys like it. I can’t wait to hold it in my grubby little mitts.
Two quotes from Ruin and Rising have already been released this morning so make sure to check out macteenbooks and GET READY TO CHAT WITH ME AT 10am PST/ 1pm EST!!! I’ll be the one with a rose in her lapel… and murder on her mind. Use hashtag #ruinandrising.
Isn’t it gorgeous??
February 14, 2014
Flashback Friday to the time I had long hair, played chess, and...
Flashback Friday to the time I had long hair, played chess, and really cared about Valentine’s Day.
February 12, 2014
ATTENTION TEEN WRITERS
Are you a writer?
Are you between the ages of 14 and 19?
Would you like to meet and be taught by the likes of Rachel Swirsky (2010 Nebula Award Winner), Tobias S. Buckell (the Xenowealth series, Halo: The Cole Protocol, and others), Bruce Coville (over 100 children’s…
Cool
jephjacques:
I really liked today’s XKCD and decided to do a...
I really liked today’s XKCD and decided to do a little Dinosaur Comics style thing with it!
February 11, 2014
today i read something that was so good i had to put it down.
today i read something that was so good i had to put it down.
February 10, 2014
penguinteen:
When we read Seth Fishman’s debut novel, The...
When we read Seth Fishman’s debut novel, The Well’s End, it quickly became an in-house favorite. We love everything about it—the characters, the mystery, the adventure, and the writing! We also love the xkcd remix of the cover (above), custom made by xkcd creator Randall Munroe! Take The Well’s End for a test drive by reading the exclusive digital sampler, or enter to win a copy over at Reddit! Seth was kind enough to drop by today and answer a few of our burning questions about The Well’s End. Take it away, Seth!
Q: Can you tell our fans a bit about your book, The Well’s End?
On the surface, The Well’s End is about a strange virus outbreak on the campus of an elite boarding school, and the steps Mia Kish and her friends take to save the school and themselves. Mia Kish, who’s called Baby Mia ever since she fell down a well as a toddler. She’s scared of the dark, of her memories, and she must learn to use her fears to help overcome the virus. But in reality, the virus just scratches the surface. Why does it age people to death? Where did it come from? Why does Mia’s father work in an underground facility known as the Cave? I never once when writing the book ever thought of it as a virus book. In my mind, it’s about what happens when uber talented teens come against the unexpected and insurmountable - could they actually remain themselves amidst the chaos? In this case, a quarantine put in place around the school is almost an afterthought to what’s really going on, and for me, the goal was to keep sending readers further and further down a the rabbit hole until they had no idea where they were, but they were happy they came.
Q: Who in The Well’s End would you nominate for Best Supporting Character and why?
This is a tough one. My instinct would be to say Rob, the hipster genius with a sense of style. He’s dry, funny and loyal to a fault. But the dark horse here would definitely be Jimmy. For me, Jimmy was the jock who secretly liked chick flicks but still acted like himself. A big, strong, softhearted hero. Rob and Jimmy would make a good cop team ten years in the future.
Q: What is your novel-writing process? Are you an outliner, a macro planner, or do you work at the micro level, writing into the darkness?
I prefer to write at whim, knowing only vaguely where I’m heading but with no routes in place. That said, for The Well’s End, my agent sold the book on a partial, which means I had some 65 pages written and a very very detailed outline of the remainder of the book. To be honest, it was kind of weird. I’d sit down to write and look at my outline and all of the creative decisions in the plot had already been taken care of. I just had to fill in the gaps with the physical sentences. It was easier, I admit, and kept me writing, but it also lacked some of the ‘aha!’ moments that I love so much.
Q: If you were one of Mia’s buddies in The Well’s End, what would be your greatest fears?
I’d fear the death of my friends and family. I’d fear what I didn’t understand. Getting the virus was not, necessarily, a death-sentence, so that might not be my big fear. Instead, as a townie, the idea that my parents and siblings and friends could all die very quickly would be all the fear (and motivation) I needed.
Thanks Seth! You can pre-order The Well’s End here.
