newleafliterary:
This week for your #3QT reading pleasure,...
This week for your #3QT reading pleasure, we’re featuring Sara Raasch. Here to introduce her is her agent, Mackenzie Brady:
I’m so pleased to introduce one of my very first clients Ms. Sara Raasch, author of SNOW LIKE ASHES, which is the first book in her epic fantasy YA trilogy due out from Balzer & Bray in October. Sara originally queried me with another project set in my hometown of Philadelphia (I couldn’t resist!) but as we worked on it, she admitted that she couldn’t get an older project of hers off her mind. It turns out that, that project had not only been in the works since she was ten years old, it was also unbelievably compelling. I zoomed through it in two days and a few short months later so did her future editor. SNOW LIKE ASHES was the first book I ever sold, so it will always have a special place in my heart as will she! On that note, take it away Sara!
Tell Us a Fact About What You’re Working on Now
I’m currently working on editing the sequel to SNOW LIKE ASHES and drafting the final book in the trilogy. Writing a trilogy is a unique experience, to say the least, and through this process I have come to label each book in the trilogy in very simple terms based on the biggest overarching issue each book presented:
Book 1: WORLD BUILDING GAH
Book 2: SEQUEL CONTINUITY GAH
Book 3: EMOTIONALLY DRAINING GAH
I’m pretty sure this labeling method applies to most trilogies. And even knowing this, I’m still planning on my next projects being duologies/trilogies. Masochism and authorship go hand in hand.
What’s Something People Might Be Surprised to Learn About You?
I was this close to being a model. I had a contract at an agency and everything — until I drove two and a half hours to the first audition and a roomful of men told me I was “too fat” for what they were looking for. Which, at the ripe old age of 16, totally and thoroughly ended my modeling career. What teenage girl doesn’t like being told she’s too fat?
What’s One Of Your Favorite Books (and Why)?
I’m currently re-reading Sharon Shinn’s The Twelve Houses Series, and of the four books in it, the one I re-read the most is DARK MOON DEFENDER (the third one). Each book in the series focuses on the POV of one of the main characters, and before DARK MOON DEFENDER, Justin (the POV character of this book) was…well, let’s just say, not my favorite person. He’s extremely standoffish, in an almost intimidating way, and getting to see the world through his POV was liberating. He went from being cold and distant to my favorite character. Being able to accomplish such a shift in perspective in only one book…I will always be in awe of this series!
If you weren’t a writer, what job would you most like to have?
One of two things:
I have a BS in Organizational Leadership, which is basically the science of making a company run efficiently, so I’d end up using it to help companies figure out why they suck. (Yes, it is as boring as it sounds, and yes, I have a weird obsession with it anyway.)
Fun side story: While trying to attain said degree, I worked at a sporting goods store for about 2.5 years. When I left, I sent the company a rather long, thesis-like report on how they could improve. Needless to say, this mega conglomerate corporation was totes thrilled at having a 20-yr-old assess their business strategies.
If not that, then something in a science field. I adored all of my science classes in college — geology, neurology, chemistry. I have a number of books/ideas influenced heavily in science-y type goodness, and I hope one day to focus my writerly attentions on at least one of them. Mostly because everything in science can be finagled into this ending:
HEY THAT’S ME.
