Mundie Moms

Monday, March 15, 2010

Author Interview with Lauren Kate



We are so excited to share with you our Q&A we had with Fallen author, Lauren Kate. Torment, her sequel to Fallen will be released this Fall. You can find her beautiful cover for Torment below.

Who was your favorite character to write? Why?

Arriane came the most naturally to me. I think of her as a breath of fresh air in the novel, and the scenes where she appears (I mean, takes over) were always a lot of fun for me to write. People ask me which character is most like me and I guess and there’s a little bit of me in all the characters. There’s also probably a little bit of all the people I love in them too. Of all the characters, I had to go most deeply inside of Luce so I could examine how she'd react in the various situations she finds herself in. And how I wrote her changed a lot of the course of the book. Towards the end of the book, I'd often realize that the way I'd written her in an earlier scene was not at all the way she'd react, so I'd go back and rewrite her response until I got it right.


Who was the hardest character to write? Why?

Daniel was the most challenging, mainly because the full truth of his character has to come to light very slowly over the course of the entire series in order for the books to work. The reveal at the end of the first book was probably one that most readers saw coming...it is book about fallen angels after all! But there's a much bigger, game-changing reveal between Daniel and Luce to come later in the series. It's challenging for me because I know what's coming, but I can only to show the reader a portion of the story in each book. Daniel's character is difficult enough as it is!

I like to think of him as a work in progress, a developing story, and someone who--above all--knows Luce better than anyone else (including herself) does. He always has her best interest at heart.


Are you thinking of doing different points of view in the next book? (We got to see a little bit of insight into Daniel's mind, will we see more?)

Yes! For each of the books in the series, I plan to follow the same structure of Fallen. That is, the prologue and the epilogue will be written from Daniel’s point of view, while the main body of the novel will always be a close third person on Luce. Point of view is something I’m really interested in and I give it a lot of thought in all my books. Daniel’s prologues/epilogues came as a surprise to me, actually. I had a different prologue originally from Luce’s POV, and I went back after writing the first draft of Fallen and rewrote the current prologue from Daniel’s eyes. I think I chose to do this because of what I was saying above about Daniel’s character—how he can seem a little impenetrable at times. I wanted to give readers a better “way in” to him, a chance to see his motivations and passions more clearly than we can when Luce is narrating. I like the way his prologue and epilogues frame the novel so I’m going to keep that consistant in each book.


Is whoever can claim Luce's soul (since she wasn't baptized) going to win the ultimate good v. evil fight?

Great question. Wow. The answer is…yes. But the story is going to take several surprising turns before that happens.


How many books will be in the series?

Four books. The second book, Torment, comes out in the fall. I just finished the final draft yesterday, and I’m reallyreallyreally excited about it. After Torment, the next book in the series will actually be a prequel, which will look back at Daniel and Luce’s relationship across time. I love the idea of this prequel and can’t wait to get started on it. The final book will conclude the series…and we’ll learn all about the destiny of Luce’s unbaptized soul!


If you had to be on an airplane for 24 hours and could only bring one book, what would it be?

Lolita by Nabokov. Or! The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner. I’ve read both of them at least five times and they just get better and better.


Do you have any other projects (books) in the works?

I’ll start working on the prequel to Fallen very soon, but in the meantime, I’m working on a screenplay adaptation of my other novel, The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove. Never written screenplays before and I’m looking forward to the challenge of a new genre.


Who's been your greatest influence as a writer?

I find it impossible to answer these kinds of questions with a single name. Nabokov and Faulkner (see above). Also Virginia Woolf and Dickens. Don DeLillo. Roald Dahl. F. Scott Fitzgerald. I’m an insanely avid reader and am always looking for new authors to be inspired by.


Thank you Lauren for taking the time to visit with us. We are looking forward to reading Torment and can't wait to read the prequel.


You can read our 5 star review of Fallen here-http://tinyurl.com/ykra7ms

You can find out more about Lauren Kate at her website here-http://laurenkatebooks.net/

Don't forget to follow Lauren on Twitter here-http://twitter.com/laurenkatebooks


In case you missed Lauren's announcement this past friday, she has revealed the beautiful cover of Torment (out this September)-

Mundane Monday #25

City of Bones Pictures, Images and Photos
(image found on photobucket)

Clary turned instant traitor against her gender. "Those girls on the other side of the car are staring at you."
Jace assumed an air of mellow gratification. "Of course they are," he said. "I'm stunningly attractive."
"Haven't you heard that modesty is an attractive trait?"
"Only for ugly people," Jace confided. "The meek may inherit the earth, but at this moment it belongs to the conceited. Like me." -City of Bones, Jace & Clary, page 86

AuthorAppreciationWeek- How It All Started

Author Heidi Kling is hosting Author Appreciation Week! What a great way for all of us book lovers to take time out on our blogs and sites to give our appreciation to our favorite authors. It's hard to pick only a few authors, as we have so many. Anyone can join in, and you can find out all the information at Heidi's site here http://seaheidi.livejournal.com/. You can also follow AAW on twitter with this, #AuthorAppreciationWeek.

We're kicking our AA week off with two authors who have had a huge impact on our lives. Cassandra Clare and Stephenie Meyer.

Cassandra Clare- I've had the opportunity to meet Cassie in person and chat with her via email, especially while starting up Mundie Moms. She's one of my most favorite authors to meet! She's hilarious, witty and very grounded. I love her style of writing. Not many authors (in my book) can pull off the type of writing she has with her amazing characters that come from all different walks of life. She brings them to life in ways that not I don't think other people could have.

Though her books, I decided to start this site with the help of some amazing friends (Admins) and through the blog and our forum, we've met and have some amazing friends from all around the world. It's been wonderful talking about Cassie's characters, her books and books in general with her fans world wide. http://cassandraclare.com/cms/home

Stephenie Meyer- Is another favorite author that I've met in person, and she's simply amazing! I fell in love with SM's books before they were hugely popular. Her books were the first YA Fantasy books I read. Not only that, they were based in the NW where I'm from and that's what first drew me to her books. She described my own back yard perfectly.

Through reading her books, I needed to see if I was the only "adult" who was reading YA books and to my excitement, I wasn't. I joined a site called Twilight Moms before the site itself was started, as it started as a group on myspace. Once the site was started, I enjoyed chatting with women all over the world and have met some of my closet friends from being apart of the site and being a lead moderator on there for awhile. Through TM's and Stephenie's Book Of The Month picks, I found Cassandra Clare's MI series.

Thank you to Cassandra Clare and Stephenie Meyer for being such amazing authors who have given a new face to YA books and helped bridge the gap of adults reading YA books. Your books have allowed many to fall in love with reading all over again and for some, they've found they love reading for the first time.

Our Saundra Mitchell 3 Book Giveaway Winner!


The *new* WINNER of Saundra Mitchells's Shadowed Summer, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan and Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl is L.J. Boldyrev! Congratulations! We have sent you an email.

Thank you to everyone who entered our awesome giveaway, hosted by Saundra Mitchell.

Thank you so much Saundra, for your friendship & support! We really loved your birthday bash post. Thank you for hosting an amazing giveaway.

Please don't forget to enter our other wonderful author sponsored Mundie Moms Birthday Bash Giveaways.

*All winners have 48 hrs to contact us via email. If contact has not been made, than a new winner will be selected. The previous never contacted us, and we drew a new winner's name.*

Birthday Bash Winners!!!

Thank you to Kay Cassidy, Bree Despain and Kristin Tubb for their support in our Birthday Bash. Our lucky winners from their giveaways are:

Amanda Leigh- WINNER of our Kay Cassidy bookmark giveaway

Jen-WINNER of our *signed* Bree Despain book, The Dark Divine and The Dark Divine nail polish (if outside the US, nail polish will be exchanged for stickers).


Jenn M-WINNER of our Kristin Tubb *signed* Autumn Winifred Oliver does things different book.
Signed Kristin Tubb Bookmark WINNERS- bianca_riot, ally, Amanda Leigh, Anonymous, May, and Mariska.

Congratulations to our latest winners!!! Winners have been sent emails and have 48 hours to reply back to us. After which, a new winner will be chosen.

Thank you to all the authors who have participated in our Birthday Bash!! We have really appreciate all the support. Thank you to everyone who's entered our giveaways. We have had so much fun during our month long celebration and look forward to many more celebrations!!

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