Danielle’s Comments (group member since May 19, 2014)

Danielle’s comments from the Danielle L. Jensen's Reader Group group.

Ellie wrote: "I love The 100! Except recently as Bellamy’s character gets shoved back to Season 1 and he lost all his character growth. Blah!
Beauty and the Beast never occurred to me! Probably because Tristan i..."

Ughhh! The 100! I haven't seen the last episode, but I saw a spoiler on Twitter and I WAS SO MAD! Both for what happens, and because SPOILER!

You and Melissa will have to fight over the cute model :D

Zoe wrote: "1. Well, I don't mind it if they change the plot. However, it comes a point where they need to realize that we aren't stupid and they need to stick with the plot SOMEWHAT. Some examples of shows th..."

GREEN?!! HAHAHA!
Good answer for #5! Having one's suspicions confirmed by a troll who can't lie made it pretty hard for Cecile not to react the way she did. The very interesting thing about that scene (for me, anyway) is that Angoulême never actually outright says that Tristan and Anais are lovers, because he knows they aren't. He knows it's a ploy, and he's trying to get Tristan to admit as much by manipulating Cecile. Be wary of anything phrased as a question and of words with multiple meanings. He is tricksy, that Duke.

Nicole wrote: "That's awesome! Thank you for sharing this process with us, it's so interesting, and it makes reading the books even more special knowing what you went through. I'm a PhD student so I understand a ..."

Thanks, Nicole!

Yes! I've got a few projects that I'm working on, and hopefully I'll have more to tell everyone later this year!

Shreya wrote: "First off, I'm so glad I joined in on this action! The Malediction Trilogy is my favorite to date, and nothing will ever change that <3

So here we go:

1. I'll be honest when I say that I an yet t..."

Hi Shreya!
Thanks so much for joining the read-along!! :D

I am also enjoying the Outlander adaptation. I did read the books when they first came out, so I'm not sure if I'd notice if they changed anything or not. But either way, it's a fantastic show. I'm also looking forward to an ACOTAR movie... especially seeing who they cast as Rhysand :D

You bring up an interesting point about Tristan and Cecile's many misunderstandings and insecurities... Fiction sometimes seems glorify relationships with a lot of drama, which isn't really what one looks for in real life. But a from the standpoint of writing an exciting novel, the relationship HAS to have some form of conflict in order to make it interesting, otherwise it's a pretty boring read. I went to a seminar once on writing romance, and the speaker talked about how the love interest plays the role of the antagonist (or one of them) - even if they aren't bad/evil - because they are what creates the conflict for the protagonist, which I thought was an interesting concept.

Nicole wrote: "Danielle wrote: "Nicole wrote: "1. I always struggle with movie adaptations because they can rarely be very loyal to the complexity of the books. I tend to get frustrated when they change the plot,..."

MANY TEARS!

Nicole wrote: "Danielle wrote: "Nicole wrote: "1. I always struggle with movie adaptations because they can rarely be very loyal to the complexity of the books. I tend to get frustrated when they change the plot,..."

Hi Nicole,
I think that's one of the MANY things that make books better than film - the reader can imagine characters to suit her preference. In the case of Tristan, you know he's tall and lean, with black hair, silver eyes, chiselled features, and pale skin. But that doesn't REALLY tell you what he looks like. You can make him the man of your dreams, whereas in film, you either find the actor attractive or you don't.

Hahaha, I had to get a tutorial on how to post a photo on Goodreads!

ANYWAY! I swore I'd never reveal this information, but when I was writing Stolen Songbird, I had THIS image in my head for Tristan. It's Henry Cavill a zillion years ago in The Count of Monte Cristo :)

Nicole wrote: "1. I always struggle with movie adaptations because they can rarely be very loyal to the complexity of the books. I tend to get frustrated when they change the plot, but recently I've been trying t..."

Hi Nicole!

I'm glad you enjoyed that aspect of the plot line! For me, I like books to have a nice mix of romance, politics/intrigue, action, and a bit of mystery. I'd say Stolen Songbird is the most romance focused of the three, Hidden Huntress focuses on politics & intrigue, and Warrior Witch definitely has the most action (and tears!).

During the Hidden Huntress read-along, I'm going to write a long post on why I revealed certain things when I did :)

My problem with celebrity casting is that I tend to cast characters as older than they are, because I'm too old to crush on really young men without feeling super creepy ;-)

Femia wrote: "1. My favorite book-to-film adaption is The Hunger Games^^ I'm really looking forward to Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. I haven't even read the book. It's still in my tbr list. For me, I can get upse..."

Hi Femia,
I used to get upset when movies didn't follow the plot, but I don't anymore. I've come to understand that they are very different mediums, and that sometimes things have to change in order to make a good movie. The only thing that still bugs me is when they cast people who don't look anything like how the author described them, like... Tris in Divergent!

Adriyanna wrote: "1. I love the 100! I'm not caught up with the last few episodes though because 1 & 2 (of recent season) slightly surprised me.

I think the Hunger Games and Divergent are great adaptations. I haven..."

Hi Adriyanna!
I was a HUGE fan of The Vampire Diaries (show) for a long time, but I stopped watched a few seasons ago, because it's been so meh. I read the first book in the series, but imho, the show is much better. I agree about Hunger Games being a wonderful adaptation, but I've only seen the the first of the Divergent films, so can't really comment too much on that.

I’m frequently asked about my writing process, and it’s a tricky question for me to answer, because it has been quite different for each of the three novels of The Malediction Trilogy. STOLEN SONGBIRD I wrote before I had a contract, an agent, or a deadline, so I worked on it when I felt like it. HIDDEN HUNTRESS I had about a year to write, which is the ideal length of time for me. WARRIOR WITCH… well, let’s just say, it was the most stressful of the three, because I really only had about six months to draft it. This was how it happened.

After I turned in the draft of HIDDEN HUNTRESS in the fall of 2014, I got to work writing the first three chapters and a detailed synopsis of WARRIOR WITCH, which I provided to my publisher as part of my contractual obligations. It basically gave them the opportunity to see what I had planned and to let me know if they had any issues with the direction I was going, which they did not. Yay! I then set aside the novel while I waited for HIDDEN HUNTRESS’s edits, because I wanted to make sure none of the changes would significantly affect what I had planned for WARRIOR WITCH. This, in hindsight, was probably a mistake on my part.

I received my edits for HIDDEN HUNTRESS in November 2014, delivered a revised manuscript in December, and once that draft was blessed, I got to work on WARRIOR WITCH. For about a month. Because in February, I had a baby, and WOW was that a game changer. All the very limited time I had in February through until April ended up going to the HIDDEN HUNTRESS copyedits, which proved more intensive than I’d anticipated. And then my time went to preparing blog posts and interview answers for HIDDEN HUNTRESS’s launch in June. WARRIOR WITCH was only about 15% done at that point (eeep!), and I had to concede that it wasn’t going to be done any time soon. My editor took a look at the schedule, and told me we could extend my deadline to November 1. Which gave me a little less than five months to write the last 85% of the manuscript.

Now for some authors, that’s lots of time. But I’m not the swiftest writer, and on a weekly basis, I actually had about 50% less time to write than I did with HIDDEN HUNTRESS. Imagine trying to fit a full-time job into part-time job hours, and you’ll understand what I mean.

So I had to reevaluate how I write a novel. Typically, I like to spend A LOT of time in the middle, which is the most challenging portion of the story, and I won’t move on until I’m satisfied. With WARRIOR WITCH, I actually skipped a big section in the middle (where I was bogged down), wrote the ending, and then wrote that tricky middle section last.

And you know what? It ended up working really well for me. The plot problems I was having with the middle resolved themselves as I worked through the last half, and I didn’t suffer the frustration of going weeks with little progress like I normally do. The experience has made me rethink how I write, and I’m hoping *crosses fingers* that it will make me a more productive author. Which hopefully means more books for YOU!

And YES! I did make that deadline. I sent the manuscript to my agent on November 1, and both she and my editor loved it! Both of them provided me with a bunch of plot related edits, which I handed in just before Christmas. Everyone was really happy with the changes, so it went to the copyeditor, then back to me, then to the proofreader, and then back to me again. I just handed in the FINAL draft on yesterday, and Angry Robot is in the process of formatting it to put up on NetGalley

I am SO SO SO pleased with how WARRIOR WITCH turned out, and I can’t wait for everyone to read the end of the story that’s consumed my life for almost six years. I hope you all LOVE IT!

Morgan wrote: "3. When Cécile goes into the mines, she learns a lot more about how poorly the half-bloods were treated. The theme of oppression by the aristocracy is important to the plot of Stolen Songbird, beca..."

I thought it was important to show Cecile (and the reader) why Tristan is doing what he's doing :)

Rachmi wrote: "Danielle wrote: "Rachmi wrote: "1. I used to organize my books based on the author’s names. Not necessary in alphabetical order, but just organize it from one author to another. For my favorite aut..."

Well good thing she's in extra #6!

Erika (The Nocturnal Fey) wrote: "Danielle wrote: "Erika (The Nocturnal Fey) wrote: "And once again, I'm late for this week's discussion, but better than never. :p

1. I organize my books based first on genre, then by author and se..."

It's hard to avoid Throne of Glass spoilers because EVERYONE is reading them :D

Femia wrote: "1. I do organize my books twice a month. I love to keep my bookshelf clean so it won't get dusty. I can't even being away from them :) I sometimes reread my books too but not too often because I ca..."

Twice a month! Wow! I need you to come visit me to organize my shelves :D

Abby wrote: "Danielle wrote: "Abby wrote: "1. The way I organize my bookshelves is by preference. Like I put my favorites on the first shelf and then go from there. I'm an organized freak when it comes to my bo..."

It's good for a villain to be unpredictable!

Adriyanna wrote: "1. I have two shelves - a big Ikea one (16 cubes) and a taller but less wide one. Most of my books go on the ikea one and are organized by authors last name. However there are a few books that have..."

Hi Adriyanna,
I like the look of hardcovers, but I prefer to read paperbacks because it's easier to hold them with one hand :)

FUN FACTS!

Chapter 18 – Cécile’s ride on the cart in the mines was loosely inspired by the scene in Harry Potter when he visits Gringotts Wizarding Bank and they go through the underground vaults. Here’s a link to a YouTube clip https://youtu.be/isWBD76ZkVM

Chapter 19 – Anushka was a very interesting character for me to develop. I liked the idea that over the centuries the trolls – via propaganda and time – came to see her as this innately evil creature, with little thought given to her justifications and motivations. As an outsider, Cécile is able to question those beliefs without the prejudice of a lifetime of captivity. She believes that Anushka must have had a GOOD reason to do what she did, and she’s right!

Chapter 20 – Duchesse Sylvie insults the King with a little rhyme: “The glutton’s gut eats all day and lechers all night. Such a thoroughfare of vice has no time to waste waiting on manners.” That line was taken from a poem by Ben Jonson titled ‘On Gut’

Gut eats all day and lechers all the night;
So all his meat he tasteth over twice;
And, striving so to double his delight,
He makes himself a thoroughfare of vice.
Thus in his belly can he change a sin:
Lust it comes out, that gluttony went in.

The masque in Hidden Huntress was inspired by the court masques written by Ben Jonson for King James in the 17th century.

Chapter 21 – The scene in which Cécile and Tristan discuss the various myths about trolls is a fairly obvious nod to The Hobbit, but it was also my way of poking fun at the fact that my trolls are really nothing like the trolls of mythology. That scene also has my favorite lines from the novel: “I think it is our nature to believe evil always has an ugly face,” he said, ignoring my question. “Beauty is supposed to be good and kind, and to discover it otherwise is like a betrayal of trust. A violation of the nature of things.” That particular thought was inspired by an article I read years ago that argued that people were more likely to trust attractive vs. unattractive individuals, a thesis that has quite a bit of research to support it. This notion has always troubled me, because obviously how an individual looks has no bearing on how good a person they are, which is one of the reasons why I made Marc, who is arguably the most honest and kind character in the novel, physically disfigured. This was also one of the reasons why I made the ultimate villain, the Duke d’Angoulême, attractive in appearance, because trusting him would surely be a mistake!

Chapter 22 – Not too much to say about this chapter other than what would Tristan do without Marc?

Chapter 23 – I really like this scene, because it once again demonstrates how knowing what something is feeling isn’t the same as knowing what they are thinking. Cécile knows that Tristan is afraid, desperate, and miserable, but she entirely misinterprets why he is having those feelings.

Chapter 24 – One of the things that was important for me to demonstrate in this chapter was that Tristan has faith in Cécile’s ability to take care of herself. He doesn’t think she’s helpless or incapable, and he doesn’t instinctively think she needs him to rescue her. For me, it was a sign of the respect he had for her even this early in their relationship.

Chapter summaries for those who need them

Chapter 18
Cécile knows that she can lure Tristan to the gardens when she sings, and today is no different. But this time, when he leaves after she is finished, she follows him. Their rooms are dark when she arrives, but she senses he’s there. Wandering down into the courtyard, she discovers a piano has been placed there, and on it, there is a glass rose. When she touches it, the rose glows pink. Tristan is sitting on a bench in the shadows, and while she plays for him, Tristan expresses admiration of her bravery for standing up to Damia. He explains that Lessa is his elder half-sister, which means the King once had an affair with a half-blood. This new information does not fit with what Cécile knows about the King, and after some thought, she determines that instead of spending her time learning about art and history, it was better spent learning more about the complexities of troll politics.

The next night Zoé and Élise sneak Cécile out of the palace so that she might see and better understand the struggles the half-bloods face. When they arrive at a small house in the Dregs, they are greeted by Tips. He is the miner who will be smuggling Cécile and Zoé into the mines for the day, and when he asks Cécile why she’s doing this, she explains that she needs to know what she’s fight for.
The descent into the mines is both terrifying and exciting. Once they reach the area where they will be mining, they put Zoé to work. The half-bloods need to make a quota; if they don’t they must choose a member of the gang to be left in the labyrinth for the sluag. Tips spends most of the night explaining the harsh circumstances the half-bloods endure.

At the end of the day, the gang hears a cave-in on the way back to the lift. When they reach the lift, a guild member joins them, which makes them all nervous, because they are worried Cécile will be caught. Tips discusses the cave in with the guild member. A gang went into an unstable area to find more gold because they were going to miss their quota. Tips accuses the guild member of indifference to the deaths, which causes them to quarrel. As they are fighting, the Guild Member sees Cécile. Instead of turning her in, he tells her that he has to live by the same laws as everyone else, and she realizes he’s sympathetic to the half-bloods plight. She wonders if there are more like him.

Chapter 19
The mines and what Cécile learned while she was in them made a large impact on her. She now feels certain that helping the half-bloods is the correct course of action, but believes that to do so, she must learn more, so she goes with Élise to the library. Enlisting the help of a librarian named Martin, she asks for books relating to the prophecy, Anushka, and the Fall. The book he finds her is illustrated, and they both notice that Cécile bears a striking resemblance to the portrait of Anushka within the pages. Cécile reads the account of the Fall, horrified to discover how horribly humans were treated as the trolls struggled to dig a pathway out. She also learns that Anushka murdered the troll king as he walked with her out into sunlight and freedom, then cursed the trolls to remain within the confines of Trollus for as long as she drew breath.

Martin offers more information about the difference between troll magic and human (witch) magic. Witches draw from the power of the earth; they can heal people and even bend people to their will. Cécile secretly wonders if her ability to convince people to do what she wants might be a product of magic. Martin also shows Cécile a witch’s grimoire that no one has ever been able to open. She tries and fails to open it.

Tristan interrupts them. Under pressure from Cécile, he recites the foretelling for her, but when she tries to discuss what it means, he gets angry and tells her not to delve further. She realizes that it isn’t that he doesn’t think the curse can be broken, it’s that he doesn’t think it should be. He shows her how poorly trolls have treated humans throughout history, and tells her it will be more of the same if they are free to rule the world once again. This new information makes Cécile reconsider breaking the curse. Once he leaves, Cécile tries to open the grimoire again. This time she succeeds. She flips through the pages, and as her eyes catch sight of a chapter titled: Trolls, Élise comes up behind her.

Chapter 20
Cécile lies to Élise, telling her that the grimoire isn’t helpful, and hides the book in her pocket when the other girl isn’t looking. They return to the palace as Cécile is suppose to dine with the King, but once back in her rooms, Cécile goes to the garderobe (bathroom!) to read further. She learns about how spells against trolls require troll blood and about what one needs to curse them. But before she can delve any further, Élise tells her it is time to get ready.

When she arrives, the King is displeased that Tristan has refused to show up, again. He warns her to start focusing on capturing Tristan’s attention, not her other activities. The conversation ends with a threat that if they don’t start acting like a married couple soon, he will lock her up until she understands what it means to defy him.

Cécile is upset when she returns to her room and her maids suggest she start wearing tighter dresses and more alluring perfume. At least that way the King will know she is trying, even if Tristan refuses to act more appropriately. As they are altering one of her gowns, Cécile contemplates her wish that Tristan would trust her more, and that he’d believe that she’d never do anything to hurt him or jeopardize his cause. Later that night, she examines the book further and determines there are spells within it that might be useful against the King, but that she’ll need Tristan’s help. She wonders if the alterations to her appearance might be what she needs to lure him in.

Chapter 21
Cécile wakes up to find Tristan in their rooms. There are a few moments of awkwardness as they discuss Cécile’s new order to seduce him. When he changes his shirt, Cécile feels desire for him, then embarrassment, because she knows he felt what she was feeling. As he goes to leave, she asks him to show her the tree. He agrees, joking that his father did order them to spend more time together.

Tristan is in charge of maintaining the magic of the tree, and he lights it up to show her what it looks like. It is one of the rare moments they are not (fake) arguing and they enjoy each other’s company, sharing information about themselves. On their way back to the palace, Cécile knocks Tristan away from a ray of sunlight, believing it will turn him to stone. When she explains herself, he starts to laugh and enquires what other myths she’s heard about trolls. They have a light-hearted conversation about the many myths she’s heard, but the conversation grows serious when she tells him that trolls are supposed to be ugly.

There is a brief moment where they almost kiss, but Angoulême interrupts. Tristan reverts to his usual snarky personality, but this time, it doesn’t seem like an act. Angoulême makes many insulting comments and suggests that he knows Tristan’s true loyalties. Then he mentions Tristan and Anaïs’s affair and Cécile believes that Tristan has been lying about what he does at night, especially when he doesn’t deny it.

Feeling betrayed, she runs away and no one stops her. She finds herself near the waterfall and the gates to the labyrinth, and because she’d been with Tristan, her guards are not present. She decides to take the opportunity to escape.

Chapter 22
Tristan slumps against a wall, worrying that Angoulême is too close to the truth. He knows Angoulême will try to use Cécile against him to gain information. He also knows that he cares too much for her to let anything happen to her.

Marc comes and they discuss what has occurred. He tells Tristan he must find Cécile soon so he can explain to her that the affair with Anaïs is a lie. When Tristan focuses on his sense of where Cécile is, he realizes that she’s too far away to be in the city, and that she’s found her way into the labyrinth.

Chapter 23
Cécile runs through the crushed streets that make up this part of the labyrinth, trying to remember everything she learned about sluag. But she stops just before the tunnel leading into the depths of the labyrinth in order to ‘listen’ to Tristan’s emotions. She senses his fear, desperation, and misery, but interprets them as concern over how his father will react to him allowing her to escape. She believes he isn’t going to come after her – that he’d rather be with Anaïs – and tells herself she doesn’t care anymore. She pushes further into the labyrinth.

Chapter 24
Marc is prepared to go after Cécile, but Tristan tells him not to. Tristan believes that she is tough enough to make it through the labyrinth, and that this might be her only chance to escape Trollus. He can’t take that away from her. If he did, she would hate him. He believes that this is what she wants.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS!!!

Here are the discussion questions! You can answer as many or as few as you want, and you can also pose questions about these chapters to me!

TO UNLOCK EXTRA CONTENT #8 I need 20 different people to answer at least one question!

One participant on this thread will win a signed copy of WARRIOR WITCH, courtesy of my publisher, Angry Robot Books

All participants are entitled to a WARRIOR WITCH swag pack. Details here https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

1. We’ve been talking a bit about The 100 on these threads, and I’d like to know what other book-to-film adaptations you’ve enjoyed. Are there any that you’re looking forward to? Do you get upset when the film/TV show changes the plot, or are you okay with that?

2. After Stolen Songbird was published, lots of people described it as an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, which made me laugh, because that hadn’t been in my mind at all when I was writing it. Why do you think people thought that? Do you see parallels between the two?

3. When Cécile goes into the mines, she learns a lot more about how poorly the half-bloods were treated. The theme of oppression by the aristocracy is important to the plot of Stolen Songbird, because it is Tristan’s primary motivator. Do you find that plotline interesting or boring? Why?

4. I put a lot of clues in the scene where Cécile learns about Anushka. Did this scene cause you to have any suspicions of the witch’s identity and her motivations, or were you still in the dark?

5. Despite knowing that Tristan has to put on an act for Angoulême, Cécile still cracks under his verbal abuse and the suggestion he's having an affair. Why do you think she so easily fell for the Duke's manipulation? Would you have done the same? Given the growing chemistry between her and Tristan, and her desire to help the half-bloods, were you surprised that she took the chance to escape?

6. Cécile sees Tristan shirtless for the first time and she LIKES what she sees. Who do you think our favorite troll prince looks like? PLEASE feel free to post photos :)