MARIE LU INTERVIEW AND PRODIGY GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday Everone! I'm so excited for today because I'm interviewing the very amazing Marie Lu!

Before I get to her interview, I need to announce the winners of a few giveaways.

The winner of SHADES OF EARTH is JESS!

And the winner of the DREAMING OF BOOKS GIVEAWAY HOP is JAMIE!

Congrats! E-mail me your addresses so I can send you your books. Please e-mail me by the end of Wednesday or I'll have to pick another winner.

Today I’m beyond thrilled to have Marie Lu back to talk about her new book PRODIGY, which releases tomorrow. Marie has a hugely successful career as an author and is such a sweet, nice person. She was so generous to agree to come back here today and to help me get an ARC to share with you. If you want to find out about Marie’s debut as an author, see my interview with her on January 9^th last year here.

Marie does everything right to make PRODIGY a fantastic second book. She takes us into a new part of the Republic—the rebels world. And we’re introduced to new characters that may have only been briefly mentioned in LEGEND, like Anden, the new Elector. June and Day are forced to make impossibly hard choices as June infiltrates the Republic’s highest powers and Day stays with the rebels. The plot is fast moving and filled with twists. I couldn’t stop turning the pages wanting to know what June and Day would do next. And to find out if they’d be together again so we could see more of that deep, real chemistry between them. 

Here’s a blurb of PRODIGY from Goodreads: 

June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request—June and Day must assassinate the new Elector.

It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long.

But as June realizes this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood—what if the Patriots are wrong?

In this highly-anticipated sequel, Lu delivers a breathtaking thriller with high stakes and cinematic action

Hi Marie. Thanks so very much for joining us.

1.  You’ve had a fantastic year and I’ve seen on different blogs news that you’ve been touring with other authors like Beth Revis and went to the Bologna Book Fair last spring. Share about what’s been going on this year, including your book tours and attending the Bologna Book Fair.

It was a fun, if exhausting year! I spent a great deal of time traveling and touring, meeting lots of awesome readers and writers, and participating in a great writers' blog called PubCrawl (http://publishingcrawl.com). I also collaborated with CBS Films, who own Legend's movie rights, and game studio Wicked Sweet Games on a Facebook game called Cities of Legend (https://apps.facebook.com/citiesoflegend). It felt great to dip my toe back into gaming.

  

2. It sounds fantastic, but exhausting. I love Publishing Crawl. It's a great blog filled with advice. I recommend everyone follow it. 

And I’ve heard that Legend’s movie is moving along. What stage of production is it? How involved in it are you and how often do you get news of it?

As far as I know, we are finished with the screenplay. I'm excited to see where we go from here!

3.  I can't wait until Legend comes out as a movie. In your acknowledgement page, you talk about how much harder PRODIGY was to write and that the process included anxiety and tears. Share some of the difficulties in writing this book and how you overcame them.

 Sequels are hard for a myriad of reasons, not the least of which is that you now have a deadline and expectations to meet. You're also done setting up a story and must now continue from a place that's not the beginning. It's a very different challenge!

4.  Yeah, I'll confess that's the scariest things for me in thinking of getting a book contract. The deadlines and your story being locked in to a point. I’m assuming you’ve written or are writing book 3 in this series. What have you learned about writing trilogies from this one? What advice do you have for the rest of us?

One thing I've learned is that the third book in a trilogy is, for me, by far the most difficult to write, considering all the loose ends and final climax that you have to tie up. Advice: each book is different, and takes a different approach to write successfully.

 

5.  Great advice, Marie, to tackle each with a different approach. Whose story was harder to write in PRODIGY—June or Day—and why?

June is always the more challenging one for me to write. She requires so much random research!

6.  Tell us about your writing schedule and how you stay productive while juggling writing on deadlines with your traveling schedule.

 One thing I've had to learn to do is to adapt to different writing environments. I had to learn how to be able to write on planes, trains, in hotels, etc. I never used to be able to do that.

7.  I haven't mastered that one. I can see why you'd need to do it with your busy schedule. For an aspiring author who gets their book deal, it can feel very overwhelming to handle the business aspect of writing. What steps should they take to prepare for that all important debut as an author and book release?

Well, social media is something that I think most writers must learn to embrace. Be yourself, do as much as you're comfortable with, but most importantly, don't let self-marketing take precedence over your writing.

8.  Great advice to keep the writing as the biggest focus. What are you working on now?

I'm currently working on a new high fantasy series. I'm excited to get back into the first genre I grew up writing in!

 

I LOVE high fantasy. I can't wait to read your new series. Thanks so much Marie for stopping by again. You can find Marie at:

Website

Blog

Marie's publisher generously provided an ARC for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on February 16th. I’ll announce the winner on February 18th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. International entries are welcome.

Here's what's coming up. I hope you're as excited as me about it all: 

Next Monday I'm interviewing Miriam Forster and giving away a copy of and ARC of her debut book, A CITY OF A THOUSAND DOLLS. It's a fantasy and mystery. When I got it, I picked it up to look at and literary couldn't put it down. It was fantastic and I'm excited to share it with you.

Next Wednesday I'll post about my trip to China. 

The following Monday I'm interviewing debut author Elsie Chapman about her dystopian novel, DUALED and giving away an ARC of her book. It's about a world where everyone has a genetic alternate that you must battle at some point in your teenage years to the death. It is really unique concept and I enjoyed the book.

And Wednesday that week I have a fascinating interview with Chuck Sambuchino of Guide to Literary Agents about his new book, CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM: THE KEYS TO BUILDING AN AUDIENCE, SELLING MORE BOOKS, AND FINDING SUCCESS AS AN AUTHOR, with a giveaway of his book. His book really got me thinking about how I can improve my platform and social networking. I'm really excited to share Chuck's advice and his book with you. Chuck's interview is filled with awesome advice whether you're an author or book review blogger. I can't encourage you enough to read his interview.

The following Monday, I have an interview with a high school teen for my ASK THE EXPERT series and will be sharing and giving away THE CADET OF TILDOR, a fantastic debut fantasy.

And Wednesday that week, Casey and I have a super awesome 3000 follower mega giveaway. You won't want to miss it. 

And don't forget our Tuesday Tips and Casey's Thursday agent spotlights.

Hope to see you on Monday!