Pitch Dark Days Tour: Cambridge, Mass.

I was thrilled to be able to attend the Cambridge stop of the Pitch Dark Days Tour and meet Veronica Rossi, Tahereh Mafi, Cynthia Hand and Brodi Ashton. I've read and LOVED all four authors' books, and have been excited for this event since the schedule was posted. But my family was plagued by illness all week, and a snow storm was predicted for the next day, so I was certain that I wouldn't be able to attend for some catastrophic reason. Thankfully, I didn't get sick, the snowpocalypse didn't hit until Friday, and the event was even more fun than I imagined! 

The tour stop was at the Harvard Coop, which is a fantastic and very large bookstore in Harvard Square. These banners are so wealthy boarding school (or Hogwarts). 

The staircase going up to the event, which was on the third floor (I'm sure you were all salivating for that information.) You can also see a peak of all the students studying at the  café. 

I went with two of my friends, who are also big readers. I gave them both Unearthly for Christmas and it was such fun to meet Cynthia Hand together. (PS. Erin Bowman was sitting directly behind us, though I didn't know it until later. Sneaky authors! She was really nice too.)

This isn't a great photo (or rather, it's a true candid), but this was my view of the "stage." The person speaking is a Coop employee introducing the four authors. Unfortunately, I didn't get her name. But she was great. 

With Cynthia Hand and Brodi Ashton. I can't even tell that part of Ashton's bangs are missing, can you? (See below for an explanation.) Also, it's nice to find some fellow blondes out in the world :)

With Veronica Rossi and Tahereh Mafi. I look like I'm trying to jump into the camera here, but really I was ducking, because I'm taller than both.

So I made this shirt...

When Tahereh Mafi saw my shirt, she wasn't sure if I'd read Unravel Me yet, and said "I'm sorry for you!" But when I told her I'd read the book and am still Team Adam all the way, she said "so you're in it for the long haul?" Hope that means good things for the white bird to fly again :). 

(the signing line and seating area)

NOTE: Below I've typed up my notes from the authors' talk. It is massively long.* 

Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Rossi were introduced with a brief bio for each, and then HarperCollins publicist Alison Lisnow asked them a series of questions that they answered.

1) Describe your series: (This by no means everything they said, just what stood out to me.)

Brodi Ashton on Everneath:“It’s about a girl trapped in the underworld for 100 years getting the life force sucked out of her by a hot immortal who plays the guitar. She then goes back to high school to see her boyfriend who has six-pack abs.”

Cynthia Hand on Boundless (Final book in the Unearthly series): “Boundless is about Clara figuring out who she is outside of her purpose – as well as within it.”

Tahereh Mafi on Shatter Me: “The chaotic prose in the story is a visual representation of Juliette’s shattered state of mind. The cross outs etc. decrease as the story progresses.”

"There is a lot of kissing.”

“Shatter Me is about a girl trying to find herself in a world telling her who to be.”

Veronica Rossi on Under the Never Sky: “UTNS is a post-apocalyptic adventure, romance.” (I am horrible at categorizing stories, so it was helpful for her to lay it out for me).

"In Through The Ever Night, the scope of the story broadens, and the two opposing societies (Dwellers and Outsiders) are fighting to find a safe haven. Aria and Perry are at the center of the struggle."

2) When did you know you wanted to be an author?

Rossi: Started writing only 9-10 years ago. She was an oil painter before and used to do large-scale canvases that she’d work on constantly until they were done (like 48 hours). Then she had a baby and realized she couldn’t sustain that pace. She’d been writing journals since high school (one of them sits on her desk now), and she began writing books instead.

The visual aspect of storytelling is very important to Rossi. She sketches images as she writes. “I work really hard to make sure I’m painting a picture with my words.”

Mafi: Has been a lifelong reader, and never thought she could write. She forgot what it was like to read for fun in college, because she was so academically focused. But then after college she started reading for pleasure again. She read 100 books in a month, and then started writing a book. She also got her book deal at 23.

Mafi once wrote a story about a girl with purple magical eyelashes.

Hand: Used to write Star Wars/Star Trek fan fiction, which was a great way to work on her writing skills. Except, “it’s hard to learn to write endings with fan fiction.”

Hand went to law school before realizing it wasn’t for her. Then she was lucky to be accepted into an MFA program, because she had very little usable writing experience. She wrote mostly literary fiction during her MFA program, though it wasn’t until she started writing about Idaho that others’ really took notice.

Ashton: Hated writing essays in school. She also didn’t start writing until after she had her first child. (This led into a whole discussion about her “putting baby in the corner,” which got everyone laughing.)

Ashton started writing YA after she had written a story about an alien girl who was 26 and living at home with her father and a curfew. When Ashton showed the story to her agent, her agent said “isn’t this a teenager?” When Ashton started writing Everneath, she decided to write the exact opposite of the alien story.

3) These days being an author also means being a part of the social media community, not just writing on your own. How do you balance everything?

Mafi: Is obsessed with the Internet, especially twitter and tumblr. The problem for many authors is they look at social media as a task, but she loves it.

Mafi then informed us about tumblr lingo, including “I need a bucket for my crays,” OTP and ship. **I hope she does a blog post on this sometime!**

Rossi: Talked about the awesome YA writing community, and said it is tricky to balance it all.

Hand: Loves how connected you can be to fans and each other, but says it is also important to guard your writing time and writing self. She wrote Hallowed longhand in a notebook at the library to get away from the Internet. Though by the time she wrote Boundless, she’d found a better balance with the computer. She’s also an advocate for the Freedom app, which locks you out of the Internet for periods of time.

Ashton: Talked about how writing her first book was a very solitary experience, but once she was published, writing became much more social.

Then we were treated to Ashton’s “hair burning” incident - basically she burned half of her bangs this morning with the iron. Rossi, Mafi and Hand were all very helpful and encouraging after it happened, illustrating the writer's community at work. (Honestly,  I could not tell any hair was missing at all!)

4) What is your favorite scene from your current book?

Hand on Boundless: The scene on page 342. Hand had been waiting to write that scene since the first book. It took her two tries to get it right, and was “so happy for Clara” when it was done.

Mafi on Shatter Me: Regarding the shower scene in Shatter Me where Juliette discovers Adam’s bird tattoo. Apparently that scene made Mafi’s Thanksgiving uncomfortable one year. Her brother also has a bird tattoo on his chest, and he couldn’t quite figure out what Mafi was saying by giving Adam one too. He’s also the only one of her brothers who has read her book (there are four of them) and Mafi is fairly certain that he warned the others.

Mafi also went on about chapter 62 in Unravel Me a bit…yes, THAT scene. Honestly, I blocked it all out. TEAM ADAM.

Rossi on Through The Ever Night: Her favorite scene is the one in which Aria sings a duet with Roar. Rossi loves their friendship (so do I!), and said she had a lot of fun writing that song. She even mentioned wanting to record it with music. **I hope that happens**

Ashton on Everbound: Her favorite scene takes place when Nikki and Cole are trapped in a dark cellar. Cole talks about eternal punishments and explains how his attraction to Nikki is like an eternal punishment. Like Sisyphus rolling the rock up the hill.

Then Ashton asked the audience: Do you view your relationships that way? Oh Cole…

Audience questions:

1) Cynthia Hand was asked whether she every envisioned an alternate ending for Clara – i.e. an ending in which the Other Guy got her?

Her answer was an emphatic “NO.”

2) Tahereh Mafi was asked whether she always planned Warner to be so well rounded – i.e. did she know what he would be like in Unravel Me when she wrote Shatter Me?

Mafi said that she started Shatter Me with an idea and wrote through the book from start to finish. She didn’t plot, or think through the series when she began writing. However, by the time she finished writing the first book, she had plotted out the characters (including Warner), as well as the full story.

Mafi also mentioned that Warner is a ‘pseudo’ bad guy and you don’t meet the actual villain until book 2 (One guess who he is. *shudder*).

3) Have you thought about writing other genres or for other age groups?

Hand: Plans to keep writing YA (at least for now). All of her current ideas are for young adults. But she mentioned loving the Middle Grade age, especially that readers at that age “fall in love so hard” with the books they read.

Ashton: Loves writing for young adults, because “everything is all consuming.” She stated that she would not write for anyone else. Ever.

Mafi: Talked about how much she loves picture books. Her favorite authors are Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss. (I’ve noticed Mafi is really good at interesting non-answers J)

Rossi: Would write for any age, and is really motivated to challenge herself as a writer.

4) How did your e-novellas come to be written?

All four authors stated that they were approached by their publisher to write a novella to fit within the series.

Mafi: Was approached about writing a novella prequel for Shatter Me. Although she liked the novella idea, she thought a prequel sounded boring. Because Warner disappears at the end of Shatter Me, she wanted to write from his perspective instead (good thinking!).

**I am leading a campaign for an Adam novella to come out next. I think that he probably has some important things to say as well.**

Rossi: Originally envisioned her Under the Never Sky series as 4 books with the second being from Roar’s perspective. When the series didn’t work that way she was excited to give Roar and Liv their own novella.

Hand: Also, first plotted the Unearthly series as 4 books. Clara’s time in Italy was the first three chapters of book 3. When the series was cut to three books, she switched those sections to a novella and added Angela’s perspective.   

Ashton: Didn’t realize how difficult it would be to write a novella when she was asked to add one ("It’s like a short book!"). She thought it was “really hard” and does not plan to do it again. She also said that she keeps forgetting about her novella. When her sister asked whether the Delphinians would show up again, she couldn’t remember who they were. (I think she was joking...)

Also of note, Ashton stated, “I still don’t know how Cole feels about Nikki.” Very interesting, in light of the events of Everbound. 

Rossi, Mafi, Hand and Brodi represent their men on my shirt. This photo isn't the best, you can see a better one on Alison Lisnow's twitter page HERE. 

If you're interested in my thoughts on these four authors' novels, see my reviews:

• Shatter Me and Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
• Under the Never Sky** and Through The Ever Night by Veronica Rossi
• Everneath** and Everbound by Brodi Ashton
• Unearthly, Hallowed and Boundless by Cynthia Hand

*Although this is taken directly from my notes, I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies in information. 

**These are less polished Goodreads reviews. I wrote them before I started blogging.