Kate asked Alwyn Hamilton:

Hi! I'm so sorry and I know that this sounds dorky and lame, but I absolutely LOVE the Rebels books.I anxiousy wait for any more sequals (wink). I have a few questions in the writing category.How long did the writing process, research and all, take for the first book?What step did you follow after plotting and research were completed?Did you use a set out plot line, or did the story lay out as you went? Thank you!!!

Alwyn Hamilton Loving books will NEVER sound dorky or lame! Especially to an author! Thanks so much for the lovely words! <3

To answer your questions It probably took...a year an a half-ish to write REBEL before I submitted it to agents, and then another six to eight months of editing it with my agent and then editors, before it became the book you see today. Of that, six months was probaly spent just thinking up the book. I find it much easier to write when I know everything within a book, so I like to spend time daydreaming the plot before I write it. I had initially thought the whole story would be a stand alone, but realized how impossible that was as I started writing, and recalibrated the plot so that REBEL would have its own story line, while maintaining the arc of the series overall. I like to approach things with a plot in mind, but also you need to be flexible, sometimes things don't work out on paper the way you have them in mind.

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