David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite! discussion
Author Q&A
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C.J. Redwine (author of the Defiance trilogy) Q&A Event--Jan 19-22nd
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Ohh, I've had this on my tbr list forever!
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Okay I have a question: Will you make an another trilogy/series/standalone after the Defiance trilogy? Also, I really do need to read them so it will be very nice to have them so I can read the three.
Is there any chance that Conner might be getting his own book, or otherwise putting in an appearance in a future book of yours? :)
which of your books are your favorite?
I Have a question. Which character was the most fun to write?
What was your inspiration for your characters?
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How do you choose the names of your characters?
My question is, is any character even roughly based on you or your experiences in life?
What made you want to be an author ? How did you accomplish your dreams to have your books publish? Why this specific genre? ~ Bold~
What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
Hi CJ! Where did the story for the Defiance trilogy come from?
Do you have to plan out the stories or do you just go with the flow and let the characters decide?
Do you ever get writer's blocks? How do you deal with them?
Do you ever feel bad about killing off characters, or do you just think it's necessary?Do you have a favorite scene from the Defiance trilogy?
How long did it take for you to have all the details of the world building worked out to start the series?
I also have another question: Was there any inspiration that led you to write the Defiance trilogy?
And then another question...and last: Which book was the longest it took you to finished it?
Hi, CJ! Thanks for answering our questions. I haven't yet read Defiance, but it sounds fantastic.
I like listening to a good soundtrack. In fact, I wish real-life had a soundtrack. Do you have any playlists for characters, scenes, or the series in general? Did any particular songs, artists, or albums inspire anything about the series?
Thanks!
What message do you hope your fans take away from your books?
Here is my question: I thought the parts of the book where there is grieving envolved were very honest and I felt it took a lot of sensibility to write them. Did you do any research for them? How was this process (of writing people in grief) for you as an author?
Which character do you relate the most to?
... Why did you choose the publishing company that published your books? How many companies did you go through before finding the right one? What was it like as an author trying to get their books published? What have you your inspiration to become an author?
Which character was the most difficult to write?
In addition to fantasy, do you have any other genres you are interested in writing or wish you could write in?
What was your favorite scene to write? The most difficult?
My question: How do you generate your plot ideas?
Jenny wrote: "From January 19-22nd, bestselling author C.J. Redwine (author of Defiance) will be coming to our group to answer questions about her books, her life as an author, and about anything else you all ca..."My question: How do you generate your plot ideas?
I was wondering if the books become a movie who would you want to play the characters and why?
Thank you for having me! I'm looking forward to answering all of your questions. :) 1. Ryan--Will you make an another trilogy/series/standalone after the Defiance trilogy?
My next series is actually a series of companion novels (meaning they each stand alone as a story, but are connected because of the world they share). I'm doing epic fantasy interpretations of fairy tales. The first book is THE SHADOW QUEEN and it's the story of Snow White--a fugitive princess with a plan to take down her evil stepmother and reclaim her throne and the desperate prince of a neighboring kingdom who will do anything to save his kingdom. Even if it means allying himself as a huntsman to a wicked queen.
2. Angela--Is there any chance that Conner might be getting his own book, or otherwise putting in an appearance in a future book of yours?I'm so glad you loved Connor! He was an unexpected addition to Deliverance, and I really enjoyed every second he was on the page. At the moment, I don't have any plans to return to the world of Defiance, but I might explore the idea of writing novellas for each of the popular secondary characters sometime down the road.
3. Goodglory--which of your books are your favorite?I usually feel most attached to whichever book I'm currently writing, so right now, my favorite is THE SHADOW QUEEN. But if you mean which of my published books is my favorite, I have to say Deception. It was the HARDEST book to write. I had to really push myself to go to some very dark places in my own soul in order to do what I wanted with Rachel's emotional arc, but I'm proud of that book. I wanted to deliver a story where the character feels the aftermath of trauma and struggles with it in a very authentic way, and then slowly finds her way back toward truth and healing. I may have done any number of things wrong in that book and others, but I got that one thing right.
4. Laura--I Have a question. Which character was the most fun to write?Willow. Hands down. I enjoyed many of the characters, but she was the best. She has this swagger to her that just takes over every scene she's in. Sometimes I had to work to pull her back so that she didn't take center stage away from Rachel and Logan. :)
5. Xandra--What was your inspiration for your characters?I don't know. Honestly. They show up in my head already formed, and I get the delightful task of discovering who they are. Sometimes that discovery is easy and immediate, like Rachel. She's exactly who she seems to be, and she wears her emotions on her sleeve, so she was really easy to figure out. But others were hard. Logan took a while. It wasn't until I learned what had happened to his mother that he began to reveal his true self to me. And the hardest BY FAR was Quinn. He's secretive and guarded, and that's exactly how he showed up in my head. I didn't fully understand him until I started writing OUTCAST (his novella) from his perspective, and then it was like "Oh, there you are."
LOVE your books. Just got another one for Christmas, can't wait to read it!!!Who would you want to co-write a book with?
What was the most uncomfortable scene you had to write?
As a writer, are you a plotter or a panster (i.e. writing by the seat of your pants)?
6. Xandra--How do you choose the names of your characters?Sometimes they show up already named (like Quinn, Connor, and Willow). Sometimes I have to think about what kind of person they are and then look through baby name websites to find something that fits. That becomes more challenging if I'm writing epic fantasy (like THE SHADOW QUEEN) and I have an etymology chosen for the culture I'm writing. It narrows the name field significantly. One of the kingdoms in THE SHADOW QUEEN has a German etymology, so I had to look at Germanic names. Another is a kingdom of Draconi (dragon shape-shifters) with a Norse/Slavic etymology, but with complex made-up names, so I took pieces of Slavic names and combined them in new ways to come up with my characters' names.
7. Vicki--My question is, is any character even roughly based on you or your experiences in life? Not at all. I do draw upon my observations and my experiences, but my characters show up in my head already fully formed, and it would be a significant distraction to base any of them on people I know in real life. I have to be deep beneath my characters' skins. I have to know how they feel and think and move, and I simply cannot do that if I'm also comparing that character to someone I know.
When writing your books, do you outline your story and characters before you type, or do you just sit down and begin to type seeing where it leads you?
8. Kelly--What made you want to be an author ? How did you accomplish your dreams to have your books publish? Why this specific genre?I've been making up stories since I learned how to read. I used to write little stories and bind them into books and try to sell them door to door when I was in grade school. My brain spends far more time in fictional worlds inside my head than it does in the reality around me.
In second grade, my mom bought me a boxed set of The Chronicles of Narnia for my Scholastic book fair purchase of the year. I devoured those again and again, and that was when it dawned on me that someone got to make up stories for a living, and that someone was going to be me. :)
I chose this genre through some trial and error, actually. I tried adult romantic suspense first (I don't even know WHY. Honestly. What even.), and it wasn't a good fit for me. Then I wrote adult urban fantasy, which was a better fit, but still my characters tended to sound younger, and I wasn't interested in cynical or jaded. I wanted brand new adventures and first love and first heartbreak, and all the things that feel so unique and intense when we're coming of age. I realized that I was reading almost nothing but YA, so why wasn't I writing it? Defiance was my first shot at writing a YA, and it's been the perfect fit for my writing voice.
I accomplished my dream by working hard for years. I have 5 kids now. 3 when I first started pursuing publication. I got up at 4:30 a.m. and wrote until they woke up. Then when I had to work a 30 hour a week job and homeschool two of mine on top of that, I stacked my workload so that I had several really awful days of work in order to give myself Wednesdays and Saturday mornings to write. I treated it like my job long before it paid me.
I wrote and revised. Took workshops. Read widely and paid attention to how the author did things. Then I queried agents I'd researched. I signed with my agent in 2009, went out on sub with two different books (the adult urban fantasies) and didn't sell. Discouraging, but this is the kind of business where the only person who can truly stop me is me, so I kept writing. I finally sold in 2011 after I went on sub with Defiance.
David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite!
Books mentioned in this topic
Defiance (other topics)Defiance (other topics)
Deception (other topics)
Deliverance (other topics)
C.J. has generously donated a great prize--1 lucky winner will receive a signed copies of each of her books!(US Only) To be entered, all you have to do is to ask a question!
Please remember to put your questions in bold so C.J. and I can find them easily, and put any spoiler questions in spoiler tags. Thanks!
And if you haven't checked out her books yet, I encourage you to try them!
Questions:
1. Ryan--Will you make an another trilogy/series/standalone after the Defiance trilogy?
2. Angela--Is there any chance that Conner might be getting his own book, or otherwise putting in an appearance in a future book of yours?
3. Goodglory--which of your books are your favorite?
4. Laura--I Have a question. Which character was the most fun to write?
5. Xandra--What was your inspiration for your characters?
6. Xandra--How do you choose the names of your characters?
7. Vicki--My question is, is any character even roughly based on you or your experiences in life?
8. Kelly--What made you want to be an author ? How did you accomplish your dreams to have your books publish? Why this specific genre?
9. Jenn--Who is your favorite author?
10. Mary--What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
11. Brooke--How long have you been writing?
12. Holly--Where did the story for the Defiance trilogy come from?
13. Holly--Do you have to plan out the stories or do you just go with the flow and let the characters decide?
14. Holly--Do you ever get writer's blocks? How do you deal with them?
15. JP--Do you ever feel bad about killing off characters, or do you just think it's necessary?
16. JP--Do you have a favorite scene from the Defiance trilogy?
17. Katherine--How long did it take for you to have all the details of the world building worked out to start the series?
18. Ryan--Which book was the longest it took you to finished it?
19. Opal--Do you have any people from your past who were writers?
20. Opal--Do you wish to be a writer until the day you die?
21. Lauren--Do you have any playlists for characters, scenes, or the series in general? Did any particular songs, artists, or albums inspire anything about the series?
22. Kami--What message do you hope your fans take away from your books?
23. Raquel--I thought the parts of the book where there is grieving envolved were very honest and I felt it took a lot of sensibility to write them. Did you do any research for them? How was this process (of writing people in grief) for you as an author?
24. Xandra--Which character do you relate the most to?
25. Shantavia--Why did you choose the publishing company that published your books? How many companies did you go through before finding the right one? What was it like as an author trying to get their books published? What have you your inspiration to become an author?
26. Xandra--Which character was the most difficult to write?
27. Fallon--What was your favorite read in 2014?
28. M. Andrew--In addition to fantasy, do you have any other genres you are interested in writing or wish you could write in?
29. Beth--What was your favorite scene to write? The most difficult?
30. Shantella-- How do you generate your plot ideas?
31. Samantha--I was wondering if the books become a movie who would you want to play the characters and why?
32. Natalie--Who would you want to co-write a book with?
33. Natalie--What was the most uncomfortable scene you had to write?
34. Mary and Lacey as similar questions--As a writer, are you a plotter or a panster (i.e. writing by the seat of your pants)?
35. Stephanie--I know that the group crosses over into Kentucky on the journey to Lankenshire. Does that mean Baalboden is located in what was Tennessee? If so, where does that peg Lankenshire to be and was Tennessee chosen because it is your home state?
36. Gabriela--Does it was hard for you todo chose the names of the characters and the name the city?
37. Gabriela--When you read do you limit yourself todo read books with the same genre you like por do you like to read other genres?
38. Harlee--In just five words, how would you describe your series?
39. Cindy--what is the best writing advice you could give someone who is feeling uninspired?
40. Michelle--Is there a set schedule that you follow when you write?
41. Michelle--It must get complicated keeping all those minute character and world-building details straight from one book to the next. How do you keep track of all those small details? Do you use spreadsheets? Files? Some other method entirely? Thank you.
42. Katie--What do you think is the most important thing you’ve learned from writing, especially with this trilogy?
43. Jess--Would you ever consider writing in another type of genre?
44. T.A.--Do you have a set word count you like to hit each day? Do you have any tips on managing both a family and a writing career?
45. Catherine--Do you have any strategies for breaking writers block?
46. Angie--I would love to see your trilogy be made into movies...what are your thoughts on seeing your books on the big screen? Who would you like to see play the characters from the trilogy? Are there any plans even being mentioned to turn this amazing trilogy into a movie trilogy (or into 4 movies as many of these trilogies end up being)?
47. Harlee--What is your favorite candy? :)
48. Lee-- I was wondering what your writing process is like—how you develop your characters and their world, etc. Also, what do you do to sharpen your writing skills?