GLIMMERGLASS
(Faeriewalker, Book 1)
by Jenna Black
by Jenna Black
Fantasy YA
St. Martin's Press
www.JennaBlack.com
5 Signed Copies will be given away on Friday, June 4, 2010!
About the Book:
It’s all she’s ever wanted to be, but it couldn’t be further from her grasp…
Dana Hathaway doesn’t know it yet, but she’s in big trouble. When her alcoholic mom shows up at her voice recital drunk, again, Dana decides she’s had enough and runs away to find her mysterious father in Avalon: the only place on Earth where the regular, everyday world and the captivating, magical world of Faerie intersect. But from the moment Dana sets foot in Avalon, everything goes wrong, for it turns out she isn't just an ordinary teenage girl—she's a Faeriewalker, a rare individual who can travel between both worlds, and the only person who can bring magic into the human world and technology into Faerie.
Soon, Dana finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat game of Fae politics. Someone's trying to kill her, and everyone seems to want something from her, from her newfound friends and family to Ethan, the hot Fae guy Dana figures she’ll never have a chance with… until she does. Caught between two worlds, Dana isn’t sure where she’ll ever fit in and who can be trusted, not to mention if her world will ever be normal again…
Read our Exclusive Interview with the Author!
1) No matter how many books you write, I’m sure each one has its own challenges. How was this book more challenging to write than your others? How was it easier?
GLIMMERGLASS was extremely challenging for me to write because of the emotional impact it had on me. One of the issues Dana has to deal with throughout the book--and throughout the series to come--is her mother's alcoholism. Having grown up with an alcoholic mother who eventually destroyed herself, I feel a very visceral connection to Dana, and when I wrote scenes involving her and her mother, I had to wade through a lot of negative emotions. The personal connection also adds an extra dose of fear to having others read the book. As a naturally private, reserved person, it's hard to reveal so much of myself, even when it's all disguised by the fantasy elements of the story.
The same things that made GLIMMERGLASS a challenge to write also in some ways made it easier. I never had much trouble figuring out what Dana would feel or what she would do in the stressful situations I put her through. She certainly doesn't always make the same decisions I would have made in her position, but I feel like I know her better than I've known any other character I've written.
2) Considering a book from the first word you write to the moment you see it on a bookstore shelf, what’s your favorite part of the process? What’s your least favorite?
I'd say my favorite part of the process is writing my second draft. When I'm at this stage, I no longer have to deal with the blank page/screen, and I already know exactly how the plot is going to work, but I still need plenty of creative energy to add, change, and delete scenes so that everything is in sync. It's almost like doing the first draft writing, only without the uncertainty. My least favorite part is reading page proofs, even though it's cool to see my manuscript formatted like a book for the first time. By the time I get page proofs, I've done anywhere from three to five of my own revision passes, then one or more passes based on my editor's feedback, then another pass as I incorporate the copyeditor's feedback. I have read the book so many times I practically have it memorized, and it's really hard for me to sit still and proofread with any concentration.
3) When you start a new book, do you like to outline the entire story or fly by the seat of your pants? What about your characters? Do you figure them out entirely before you start writing or do they reveal themselves to you along the way?
My method varies a bit based on whether I'm trying to sell the book on proposal or not. If I'm trying to sell on proposal, then I'll need a synopsis to submit, which means I have to figure out the story before I get past chapter 3. This is not my natural process, but I am capable of doing it. I will figure out the plot in broad strokes, but I'll have a lot of details still to work out. (For example, in my synopsis, I might mention that my heroine escapes from the dungeon. I don't, however, mention exactly how she escapes. Those kinds of details I leave for the actual writing.)
If I'm writing a novel I'm not trying to sell on proposal (e.g., it's a continuation of a series), I will generally skip the synopsis. I'll have a starting point in mind, and most likely an ending point, but I'll work out all the stuff in the middle while I'm writing the first draft. (Which does lead to me getting stuck every once in a while, but then I can get stuck if I have a synopsis, too, since what I have planned in the synopsis doesn't always work out.)
As for characters, I tend to learn more and more about them as I go, and much of my second draft is fine-tuning the early parts of the book where the characters were not as well established in my mind.
4) When you got that first phone call announcing you had sold a novel, how did you react? How did you celebrate?
My "first" novel was actually the eighteenth novel I'd written over a grueling sixteen years of trying to get published. I had been waiting for The Call for what seemed like forever, and there was a part of me that had trouble believing it could ever happen. My agent had told me that an editor was going to be pitching my book to her acquisitions committee, so I was waiting on pins and needles. After a few weeks, I got impatient one Monday morning when I was working from home. I was just about to head off to the office when I emailed my agent to ask if she had any idea when I'd hear. To my shock, she told me that she'd called me on Friday to let me know the publisher had made an offer. She'd left a voice mail for me at my office. After five o'clock on a Friday!
When I realized that despite the fact that I hadn't exactly gotten The Call that I'd fantasized about, I'd actually sold a novel, I screamed and started crying. I scared my poor husband half to death! But I'd been dreaming of this moment for so long, it was hard to believe it had actually happened. I immediately called my boss and told her I wouldn't be coming in that afternoon--I had a 45 minute drive to get to the office, and with the way my hands were shaking, I would be a menace on the road. My husband and I then went out for a fancy dinner that evening to celebrate.
5) Series like these always fascinate me because I want to know where the author is going and if he/she even knows where they’re going. So do you? Do you have it all plotted out in your head until the end or are you winging it as you go?
This is definitely a write-it-as-I-go thing for me. I don't even much like to plot out single books, much less whole series. In the books where I have to have a synopsis, the end of the actual book often bears little to no resemblance to what's in the synopsis, so plotting anything beyond that would be useless for me. I often have ideas for what will happen, and I often have in mind how I want my character to grow from book to book. My plan for the character growth is often what helps me plot out the next book in the series. Perhaps there's a specific life lesson I want her to learn, and then I figure out a plot that will let her learn it. (I did that a lot with my adult urban fantasy series.)
About the Author:
Jenna Black graduated from Duke University with degrees in anthropology and French. A full time writer of paranormal romance and urban fantasy, she lives in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Visit the author's website at: www.JennaBlack.com
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