Emma’s Comments (group member since May 31, 2013)

Emma’s comments from the Totally Random Tour group.

Thanks so much for hosting us, Random House, and thanks for such great questions, Karen and Amy. It was a real pleasure talking to you, and I'm looking forward to Wednesday!

P.S. I've said this once, but I'll say it again – anyone who's reading this, GO BUY KAREN AND AMY'S (when it's out!) BOOKS. They are incredible!

And if you want to know more, come find me @EmmaPass on Twitter, www.facebook.com/EmmaPassAuthor or at emmapass.com. I'd love to hear from you!

An occult bookstore? What an amazing place to work! And yes, there are some fascinating fairy tales out there. One of the best fairy tale/folklore books I've ever read was one I found at the library, full of stories from India.

Me too!

You must! It's chilling. Also, Nevil Shute's THE BEACH. I still like to frighten myself, even now!

That's really interesting, Karen! I would LOVE to write a trilogy but at the same time, the thought terrifies me!

Hooray, Karen! The trick is to get 2 seats to yourself and then give off your best don't-sit-next-to-me vibe. Otherwise you end up elbowing your fellow passengers as you type, which doesn't go down well!

Karen, I found the elements of magic and alchemy in your trilogy absolutely fascinating, especially Donna's 'tattoos'– the iron in her arms that gives her such incredible strength. What research did you do for this?

Amy, the worldbuilding in THE OATHBREAKER'S SHADOW blew me away. It's so vivid and rich. How did you come up with such amazing settings for your novel?

Twisted mind, moi…? Mwahahaha!

I have always loved dystopian and post-apocalyptic fiction, even as a young child, although it used to terrify me, too! I remember reading Robert Swindell's BROTHER IN THE LAND in middle school, and getting totally paranoid about a nuclear holocaust. I also read, and loved, 1984 when I was a teenager, and that book and Malorie Blackman's NOUGHTS AND CROSSES were a huge influence on me when I started to write ACID.

A lot of the politics in ACID stemmed from my feeling that the UK is increasingly becoming a 'nanny state', with everything we do being monitored and managed to the nth degree. I also read somewhere that in 2009, the Shetland Islands had more CCTV cameras than San Francisco!! And I'd been reading about the situation in North Korea - a real life dystopian society. All this led me to wonder what life would be like if the people in charge really DID control EVERYTHING, even what you ate or who you could marry…

Yes, same here, and I'm glad it was THIS book (ACID) that got published, and not the contemporary that got me my agent. I'm not a contemporary writer (much as I adore the genre) and I don't think I could have sustained that sort of writing over more books.

And even the stuff you write that you don't think is any good teaches you SO much!

Thanks, Amy and Karen! I remember seeing that article too, but I didn't have a link.

Amy, I'm sure you will be just fine! The Oathbreaker's Shadow is such a wonderful book.

I knew I wanted to be a published author right from the beginning, when I decided this was going to be my career, and wrote a LOT in just about every genre. But I didn't query a novel until I was 25. It was a contemporary YA and it was… rubbish. Thank GOD it's been consigned to a folder in the wardrobe!

I next queried a novel – another YA – 2 years later, and this one landed me my fabulous agent, Carolyn Whitaker. It didn't sell to a publisher but it was a near miss. After that, I started ACID. This was 2008, and it didn't sell until 2011… and then it was another 2 years, almost, until it came out! But totally worth the wait.

10K a day? I wish too! I am a slooooow writer. If I manage 2K, that is an EPIC writing day for me!

Definitely both! I used to not plan at-all, and would get into a horrible mess. Then I tried planning every single paragraph, practically, and got bored. Now, I've settled on a method of planning the big story events, and letting what happens in between grow organically… which usually means I then have to re-plot the big events as the original plan doesn't work any more! But it's a lot of fun.

In my old flat, I used to write at a desk in the corner of the living room, so when I moved into my current house, I was full of plans to turn the spare room into a study. But it was cold, and sitting at a desk got uncomfortable… so I decamped to the living room. Now, I write on the sofa, usually with G-Dog (my rescue greyhound) snuggled up to me.

I wish I could write in public places, but alas, I get too distracted, and feel too self-conscious, although I can write on trains sometimes.

What was it like? How long did it take? And what were the high points and low points along the way?

Amy, that made me giggle! And Kaz, I mis-read your post at first… I thought it said you hit your teacher when you were 12 and told them you wanted to write books for a living! :O

I've always loved making up stories – I used to write books about a mouse called Perry and illustrate them and staple them together! (And I still have them!)

I always planned on being an artist or an musician, though. Then, when I was 13, I saw the film Jurassic Park. I couldn't get it out of my head and decided to write a sequel. I guess nowadays, you'd call it fanfic. A few days later, I suddenly thought 'I'm going to be a novelist'. That sounds SO cheesy, but that really is how it happened - like a light going on inside my head. And ever since then, I've known that was what I wanted to do.

How about you guys??

Thank you, Amy and Kaz! Back atcha with your books - they are all AMAZING.

No plans for a sequel to ACID yet… but never say never! If the opportunity arose, I would love to write one.

(Er, dystopian… I was typing too fast. Sorry!)