The Fault In Our Stars: Demand Our Stars Nashville Event Recap

Last night, I had the pleasure and privilege of watching hundreds of teenage (and adult) fans go absolutely bonkers over the stars and author of the the latest upcoming teen movie. Except that this time, the movie isn’t about sparkling vampires or teen wizards or futuristic freedom-fighters. It’s about a girl dying of cancer, a boy with one leg, and how they fall in love as they make a trek to meet the author of their favorite book.

The movie is The Fault In Our Stars, the author is the ubiquitous John Green (who was recently named to TIME Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Influential People), and the story is one that, quite possibly, some of the young fans in attendance last night could relate to. (Read my review of the book here.)

Nashville was fortunate enough to win a stop on the Demand Our Stars tour, where John Green would meet fans, answer questions, and show exclusive clips from the movie, accompanied by young stars Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, and (the almost equally ubiquitous) Shailene Woodley.

Due to some serendipitous string-pulling by some well-placed friends, I was able to snag a Media pass to the event, which meant:

1) I didn’t have to stand in line all day. (Tickets to the event were free, but entry was on a first-come-first-serve basis, which meant some fans lined up before dawn that morning to ensure their spot.)

2) I was this close to the stars as they walked the red carpet. (How close? Well, you’ll see in a minute.)

By the time I arrived at War Memorial Plaza around 5:45 (the stars were set to arrive at 6:30), the crowds were INSANE. The general admission line stretched the entire length of the courtyard and looped back around itself. The fans were mostly teenage girls, many in groups, many with a parent or two in tow. Lots of them clutched copies of The Fault In Our Stars, and some held other copies of John Green’s other books as well, hoping for signatures. Mix 92.9 had a tent set up where they’d been doing giveaways of wristbands and other YA books all afternoon. Despite the fact that some fans had been standing all day (and possibly awake all of the previous night), it was an overwhelmingly festive atmosphere.

 
After I checked in, I was put in the media pen by the red carpet. Teenage girls pressed all around the edges. Some in the pen had seen the movie that morning and said it was fantastic. The girls on the perimeter couldn’t wait to see it, telling stories of how much they loved the book. One girl relayed enthusiastically how she finished it during social studies class and cried so hard she had to be sent to the guidance counselor.

The stars were supposed to come down the red carpet at 6:30, but unbeknownst to us outside, Nat Wolff (who will also be playing the lead in the upcoming movie adaptation of John Green’s PAPER TOWNS) and his brother Alex surprised the crowd waiting inside with an impromptu live musical performance. Sadly, I didn’t get to see this, but I hear they were amazing.

At around 7:00, a roar went up from the crowd closest to the street. The stars had arrived. In a way, it was good I wore my tall and highly uncomfortable shoes, because there was no way I would have been able to see through the field of waving hands as fans strained for signatures. I just had to hold my camera over my head and hope for the best.

John Green came down the line first, and the crowd reaction was spectacular — which would be expected if he were, say, Chris Hemsworth or Jennifer Lawrence or a member of One Direction. But this was an author. A 30-something guy in glasses and a checkered shirt who types words into a computer and makes videos on YouTube. Yet when he arrived, many of the young fans burst into tears, and I heard several gasp excitedly, “It’s him, it’s really him!” It was kind of a magical thing to watch these kids get just as excited about the author of a book as they would a movie or rock star.

John was very gracious and tried to sign as many things as possible, but he couldn’t get to everything because there were just so many. He joked with a fan about how crazy it was to have events like this since he suffers from anxiety, and talked to reporters about how much he loves this movie and the cast.

Ansel Elgort followed next, far more dapper and charming than I would’ve ever expected him to be after seeing him as Caleb in DIVERGENT. Watching him in person, I suddenly understood exactly why he was cast as Augustus Waters. He radiated charisma, speaking kindly to the fans while smiling and signing and waving. When he spoke, he was charming and intelligent. I didn’t get to ask him a question, but I heard him mention to a reporter that he loves being in movies that have been adapted from books, because he understands so much more about the character. With a script, all he has is what’s in the movie, but with a book adaptation, he has so much more to draw from. It was clear that he had a great fondness for Gus, and I’m excited to see what he’s done with the character.

Shailene Woodley came next, soft-spoken and beautiful as she sincerely thanked the multitudes of fans who were excited to see her as Hazel and praised her performance as Tris. She too talked about how much she loved working on this movie and with this cast, and it was very evident that the three leads of the film and John Green had all grown very fond of one another.


Nat Wolff (who reminded me a bit of a seventh-year Neville Longbottom) came last, full of smiles and laughs. He mentioned later that the show he’d performed inside with his brother was his favorite show he’d ever done. He echoed Shailene and Ansel’s sentiments about loving his experience on TFIOS, and talked about how excited he was to be starring in PAPER TOWNS.

After the stars finished working the red carpet, they were ushered inside. I went up to the balcony and collapsed into my seat, my feet throbbing. The floor was the general admission area, and it was PACKED. The chairs had been taken out in order to accommodate more people, but the screaming audience didn’t seem to mind, even though they’d already been standing all day. Ten minutes of the film and behind-the-scenes footage was shown, highlighting text from the book interspersed with scenes from the movie. The sound was cranked up to ear-splitting levels, which was the only way the dialogue could be heard since crowd went crazy every time they saw one of their favorite scenes brought to life.

Without giving away much in the way of spoilers for those who haven’t read the book, the scenes we were shown included:

  • Isaac egging a car
  • “It’s a metaphor.”
  • “I’m in love with you, Hazel Grace.”
  • Hazel’s wasted Wish
  • “Okay?” “Okay.”
I’ll let you guess which one got the biggest reaction from the crowd.

 
After the preview finished playing, John and the stars came onto the stage for a Q&A, and the crowd went wild again. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the audience is functioning without a voice today. I haven’t heard a crowd scream like that since the New Kids on the Block concert I attended last summer.
 

The questioners in the crowd brimmed with enthusiasm (some with tears), and the topics ranged all over the place, from the movie to the book to interesting tidbits about the folks on stage. Probably most people’s favorite response was when Ansel was asked if he had any hidden talents, and he did this:

(Video by YouTube user Carrie Germain)

One person asked what their favorite part of filming was. Ansel answered that his was the days they spent in Amsterdam. He and Shailene would walk around the city together, getting to know each other as friends. Shailene’s was the egging scene, which was also Nat’s first day on set. John loved them all, but he skipped the day they filmed the love scene. Because there is getting-your-book-made-into-a-movie weird, and then there is…that. (That was the only day he skipped — he was fortunate to have the opportunity to be invited to the set for the entirety of filming.)

The cast was asked their feelings on John, and they promptly had A Moment on stage. “John is probably my favorite person in the world to talk to,” Ansel said. Shailene agreed. “You really are unprecedented,” she said in obvious awe. “There’s no one in the world like you.”

None of the cast were Nerdfighters, or knew about vlogbrothers, before they started working on the movie. However, now they all would consider themselves part of Nerdfighteria. Ansel even threw up a Nerdfighter gang sign, which promptly endeared him to everyone who hadn’t already been wooed by his killer dance moves.

John was asked who his “John Green” was as a teen. The one author who spoke to and inspired him more than anyone else. He answered Kurt Vonnegut. “He reminded me I was real.”
 
They answered questions until 8:00, then left after giving the audience their heartfelt thanks.

It was an amazing night, and not just because that’s the closest I’ve ever stood to a movie star. It was inspiring to see the impact that books — and not just TFIOS, but all books — had on these young people. While we waited outside for the event to start, the girls near us chattered about the other books they’d read and loved. At one point, a girl behind me yelled to someone across the courtyard, “Talk nerdy to me!” in reference to the sticker she was wearing promoting The Fifty-Seven Lives of Alex Wayfare. It was moving to hear the crowd go bananas over their favorite scenes from a book. It was lovely to watch the young stars on stage express their wonder and admiration for an author.

I’ve heard from a few who have already seen the movie that it’s wonderful, and I’m excited to see it. But I’m more excited about the spirit that prevailed in War Memorial Plaza last night, and the unquenchable excitement of a generation of readers.

All photos used in this post were taken by me. 

Multi-Author Event: Tricks and Treats

Back LtR: Ruta Sepetys, Stephanie Perkins, Sonia Gensler, Victoria Schwab, Myra McEntire, Beth Revis.
Front: Tessa Gratton, Kat Zhang
Photo Credit: Sarah at Breaking the Binding

This weekend, our friendly neighborhood indie bookstore, Parnassus Books, hosted a pretty fabulous event. I actually heard about it a few months back at C.J. Redwine‘s launch party for Defiancewhere Myra McEntire was in attendance and gave me and a few other book bloggers a heads-up that something big was in the works for the end of October. So of course, I promptly Twitter-stalked* Myra until she gave me a definite date and time to mark on my calendar.

Then I realized that not only was it scheduled on the same day that we were going to be coming back from visiting friends in Arkansas, but it was also on the same day as our church’s Fall Fest, which the kids had told us in no uncertain terms that we had to attend OR ELSE.

So what’s the solution? Obviously, it’s to leave Arkansas at 7 a.m., drive six hours, make a super-speedy stop at home to grab a book for the event that had been delivered from Amazon while we were gone (and to take a gander at the über-nasty vinyl flooring in our kitchen that the owner of our townhouse decided to replace our wood floor with while we were gone — SURPRISE!), and then for me to go to the author event while my husband** took both of the kids to go jump in bouncy castles and get their faces painted and eat lots of cotton candy.

This may seem extreme, but I think the lineup of authors excuses the crazy, crazy day that was Sunday. Here’s who was there:

Tessa Gratton, author of the Blood Journals series

Beth Revis, author of Across the Universe series

Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door

Victoria Schwab, author of The Near Witch and the upcoming The Archived

Myra McEntire, author of the Hourglass series

Sonia Gensler, author of The Revenant

Pretty impressive, right? And I wasn’t the only one who thought so. The place was pretty packed, and while I probably had one of the farthest drives to get there (I don’t think anyone topped 6 hours, but then again, I didn’t poll everyone because that would be weird), I had a scant 30-minute drive home, whereas many others had to traverse state lines after it was over.

So what actually happened during the event?

Well, first they gave us candy, which is ALWAYS a good way to begin an event. Always. And this doesn’t just apply to author events. I bet everything from school board meetings to sessions of Congress would be more pleasant if they opened by passing around buckets of candy.

I will attempt to recap the highlights of the event for you, but first, a warning. I normally take copious notes at these sorts of things, but I didn’t this time because I woke up at 6:00 and drove six hours that morning and my brain wasn’t entirely present. So I’m going to recap this from memory. If When I screw up the details, feel free to let me know.

Ghost/Spooky Stories/Weird Research Happenings

Sonia: She’s pretty sure her dad’s house is haunted, and when she was little, she thinks she may have trapped a ghost in a closet, thus demonstrating her mastery over it. It didn’t bother her after that.

Myra: She went to New Orleans to research Infinityglass, and after taking pictures of Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar for inspiration, she looked at the photos and is pretty sure there are four ghosts in one of them. Of course, she didn’t bring the picture to show us, and so now I must bug her some more until she shows me.

Victoria: While living in London, she heard a story from a man who, while visiting an old house in some other country heard footsteps on the abandoned floor above him every night, like someone up there was having a party, but there was no one there. And when she got home to her house in London, she started hearing the same thing, except there was no abandoned floor above her. It was just the roof. (Others tried to convince her the footsteps were Santa, scouting the location, but she remained unconvinced).

Stephanie: Worked for a couple years in what she was pretty sure was a haunted library. She would hear bookish sounds like someone was moving books around while she was there alone, and came to find out that happened to all the librarians, with the same sounds coming from the same location, whenever they were alone in the library.

Beth: Didn’t have a ghost story, but once she took a group of students on a ghost tour of London, where the tour guide was being super-creepy and telling a story of a murderer who dismembered his victims and tied their body parts up in brown paper and string, and a student of hers broke into a hilariously inappropriate-yet-appropriate rendition of My Favorite Things.

Tessa: Also didn’t have a ghost story, but once upon a time she gave herself an impressive accidental cut with a kitchen knife, then instead of immediately bandaging it, she decided to do an impromptu experiment on whether or not vinegar really does slow coagulation. Using tupperware, because she is not crazy enough to pour vinegar onto her bleeding wound.

Where do they get inspiration?

Stephanie: Inspiration for Anna came in a dream, dramatically retold to us by her obliging husband, in which she saw Étienne St. Clair waiting for her on some steps in front of a white dome, and she knew she loved him and was in a boarding school, and he was American but with an English accent. She woke up and wrote it all down, and thus the book was born.

Beth: Wanted a murder mystery in a confined space with explosions, and her first idea of setting it on a cruise ship was hokey, so she put it in space.

Sonia: Had always been intrigued by 19th century boarding schools, and during a visit to one in Oklahoma, she got the idea for a story.

Myra: Wrote the first chapter of her book, and in asking herself why, at the end of the chapter, the man knows Emerson’s name, she eventually landed on her time travel theme after dismissing all the paranormal elements that she’d heard of before.

Victoria: In The Near Witch, she wanted to write a fairy tale where setting was as much a character as the people, and she also wanted to feature witches because she thinks they’re awesome archetypes.

Tessa: She settles on an emotional reaction she wants to elicit, then figures out what story would best accomplish that.

On the writing process:

This can really go all over the place. Some have a set process, some change it up. Some write linearly, some write scenes here and there. Some write a bit every day, some do nothing for days at a time then crank out 10,000 words in a flood of inspiration. Some crank out a first draft in a month, others take over a year. Basically, as long as the finished product is a book, there is no wrong way to write.

Also, if you want to make a career of writing, then just keep writing books. If the first one doesn’t sell, write another. And another. Beth Revis wrote 10 novels in 10 years before getting her publishing deal.

On the querying process:

Be professional, follow agents’ submission guidelines, and listen to the common querying advice that writers give on their blogs. As simple as that sounds, apparently those little things put you ahead of the pack.

On crossing genres:

None of them want to be put in a box, and several of them have other, unpublished novels in genres vastly different from what they’ve published. They just write what they’re interested in.

After the Q&A (during which local authors and event audience members Ruta Sepetys and Kat Zhang also weighed in a bit), the authors chatted, signed books, and were just generally fabulous. They also fangirled all over each other and traded copies of their own books for signing, which just drives home the point that authors are people and readers and fans too. It was fantastic to get to hang out with most of them, see some lovely blogger friends, and finally meet Sarah from Breaking the Binding (who drove 4 hours each way for the event), which was good considering she’s the one who gets subjected to the crazy randomness of my brain on a daily basis, and therefore it was about time that we actually meet.

So, once again, I leave you with the information that Nashville rocks and our authors are fabulous. And for those authors that aren’t Nashvillians (which was all of them except for Myra and Victoria), please come back, because we’re fun here.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go stare at my ugly kitchen floor some more and try to morph it into something acceptable using the powers of my mind.

*Not really. Okay, maybe a little.

** He’s the best ever.

Author Event: C.J. Redwine, Kat Zhang, Sharon Cameron (@cjredwine @KatZhang @CameronSharonE)

Have I mentioned how much I love living in Nashville? Because I do. Love it, that is. Even though I’m a northerner by birth, ever since we moved here 8 years ago, it’s been home. We tried moving back up north a few years ago, and we made it a couple years up there, but something had changed in us. We weren’t New Englanders anymore. We were Nashvillians.

And then — and then — I learned how many awesome authors live here. I had no idea my city was so rife with talent! It’s amazing and wonderful and I love it.

Last night was no exception. I went to a debut author event at our library for C.J. Redwine, Kat Zhang and Sharon Cameron.

I’ve only read Defiance (LOVED it) and half of What’s Left of Me (greatly enjoying it), but I’ve read some great reviews of The Dark Unwinding as well, plus I’d talked with Sharon briefly and already determined she was awesome, so I was really looking forward to this event.

I showed up 15 minutes late because rush hour traffic is the devil, but it was okay. It was a small gathering (probably because it was a Thursday night and rush hour traffic is the devil) and they were just sitting in a circle chatting about their books. And they all recognized me, and I felt like I was one of the Elite, but really all that means is that they all have decent memories because I’ve seen all 3 ladies within the past month.

But anyway. You don’t want to hear about that. You want to hear what they talked about.

LtR: Sharon, C.J., Kat

They each gave a brief summary of their books, then opened it up to questions. Here’s the highlights.

On the covers of their books:

  • C.J. said she thought hers should be ALL FIRE. Obviously, it is not, and it is better. But the trailer is all fire, and it is good.
  • Kat didn’t offer much input on her cover, but she says it didn’t change much at all from the original concept they sent her. But she did a double-take when she noticed the second face on the cover. (DO YOU SEE IT? I didn’t, until Kat pointed it out.)
  • Sharon said she didn’t care, but she ABSOLUTELY did not want a back-shot of a girl looking over her shoulder. ANYTHING but an over-the-shoulder back-shot. And, well…you can see what happened. (For the record, she loves her cover).

On sequels:

  • Defiance and What’s Left of Me are both the first part of a trilogy.
  • The Dark Unwinding at least has a sequel, and Sharon is uncertain if there will be more after that.

On when they write and what their lives look like:

  • Sharon quit her day job in the spring to focus on writing, but she also runs SCBWI and a non-profit, so she is B-U-S-Y.
  • C.J. also quit her day job after she sold Defiance, and she writes at night and during her daughter’s naptime.
  • Kat is in school, and she writes at night and over summer break (and sometimes in between/during class…shhh).

On whether they always wanted to write:

  • Kat decided to be published when she was 12. She credits the Internet for opening her eyes to the fact that authors were real people. If they could do it, so could she.
  • C.J. wanted to be a writer since she was teeny tiny.
  • Sharon was a classical pianist and never dreamed of being a writer, until one day she got an idea for a story, sat down at her computer for 45 minutes to see what it would look like if she wrote it down, and then decided to change her life.

On the creative process for writers:

  • C.J. recommends protecting the creative process for as long as possible, getting your story out and intact before you show it to anyone.
  • C.J. struggles with beginnings, and has to write hers over and over until she gets them right.
  • Sharon agrees, but also amends that there’s no one “right” way to write. She personally doesn’t give her critique partners anything until she’s finished a draft.
  • Kat wrote What’s Left of Me in high school (!?!?!?!?!) in 10-page chunks. Then she’d print them out and give them to her friends to read the next day. However, she says they weren’t really critique partners, but more like cheerleaders. She wouldn’t do that now, but she’s more willing to give her critique partners and editors rough stuff than C.J. or Sharon.
  • Kat hates endings and has to rewrite them several times.
  • Sharon stays laser-focused on one story at a time until the whole thing’s out of her head.
  • Kat and C.J. both have several stories going at once.
  • Kat always wants to work on “the other story,” so she makes good use of the Sticky Note feature on her Mac.
  • C.J. has a bunch of different word processor windows open at once when she’s working, so she can jot down an idea or a scene or a conversation for other stories as they come to her.

On the job of writing, and writing when your well of creativity has run dry:

  • Sharon forces herself to sit at her computer for 30 minutes to write, even when she absolutely does not feel like it. Normally by the end of 30 minutes, she’s found her inspiration and wants to keep going.
  • Failing that, Sharon researches for inspiration. She loves research.
  • C.J. hates research and tends to skim, even when she probably shouldn’t. (I can relate to this.)
  • C.J. uses Pinterest and music playlists to inspire her.
  • C.J. also uses the accountability of her critique partners to force her to write. She sets a word count goal and a time limit, lets them know, and they check up on her to make sure she’s working towards that goal.
  • Kat does a little bit of all of the above.
  • Sharon says writers should read, read, read within their genre, not only to find out what others are doing, but to get a good idea of structure and pacing.

On the word counts of their books, because I am curious about these sorts of things:

  • The Dark Unwinding: Sharon actually doesn’t remember, but she thinks it’s in the low-90K range. She underwrites and added material in the editing process.
  • Defiance: 96.5K. C.J. overwrites and subtracted words during editing.
  • What’s Left of Me: 82K. Kat also underwrites and had to add.

Thanks so much to these three lovely ladies for talking with us, and for Angela at the Edmondson Library for organizing the event. If you ever have the opportunity to see any of these fabulous authors in person, snatch it up! And go read their books — it’ll be time and money well spent!

LtR: Me, Kat, Sharon, C.J. Please ignore my hair. I don’t know what was going on there.

A Myra-culous signing + some a-Paul-ing service

Okay, my sincere apologies for the awful punnage in the title. I just couldn’t resist.

Today I got to see the fabulous Myra McEntire again, when she came to a branch of the Nashville Public Library to celebrate the launch of her new book, Timepiece. (My review is here, but if you don’t want to read a whole review, I’ll just save you some time. Timepiece rocks my world, and it should rock yours too.)

I saw Myra once before, which was an amazing experience. But this time was a bit more intimate. Her husband and kids were there. She brought cupcakes. We pulled our chairs into a circle and talked about all sorts of stuff, some of it related to the Hourglass world, and much of it…not. We discussed Kaleb and Lily and Michael and Emerson, to be sure, but also Vampire Diaries and dementia and 50…um, “Something” of “Something”…and whether or not we think Stephenie Meyer will ever write another book.

I have nothing much new to report from Myra and the Hourglass crew, since most of what she was allowed to reveal was already discussed at the last signing. Or when I interviewed her. Or was something she wasn’t supposed to say, but accidentally let slip. So I’m not going to break confidence and report it.

Sorry.

I am going to start a rumor that Myra’s next book is going to be about mermaids, based entirely on the fact that the cupcakes she brought were decorated with little cartoonish plastic sea creatures. I told her I was going to start this rumor, and she laughed at me, so I’ve decided to take this as confirmation that I am 100% CORRECT. You can take that to the bank.

Um, the third book is going to be called Infinityglass. At least that much is true.

But anyway, it was lots of fun. Myra held firm to her status as one of my absolute favorite authors/people I wish I could hang out with all the time. But I will settle for the occasional local author event.

And she signed my book in a fancy glittery Sharpie.

AND we re-took the picture my camera ate. So now I have proof that we have indeed met.

This event was also fun because I got to meet up with some other Southern bloggers again. I had met Shalena from Writer Quirk and Marla from Starting the Next Chapter at the last event, and today I had the pleasure of meeting Shannon from Stalking the Bookshelves.

I need to go to more events with Shannon. She introduced herself, then promptly pulled out a bag and started giving me presents. Seriously. This has never happened to me before. It was like meeting Santa, if Santa was tiny and female and gave out ARCs and swag.

So that was pretty rad.

LtR: Marla, Elizabeth (an avid reader), Shalena, Myra, Elizabeth's mom Debbie, Shannon, Me

After the signing (Myra and her family hurried out yelling something about Little League), Shannon, Shalena, Marla and I decided to go grab a late lunch/early dinner at Applebee’s before they all started their hour+ drives home and I braved my 15-minute drive.

And at Applebee’s, our waiter was Paul.

The worst. Waiter. Ever.

Okay, I’ve had bad service before. I’ve had waiters and waitresses who didn’t seem to care, who were rude, who were kind of dumb. I even had a racist waiter once, which was real pleasant.

But Paul…well, Paul was different.

First, it took Paul about half an hour to remember to stop by our table at all. So for the first 30 minutes of our Applebee’s experience, we couldn’t have told you that Paul was our waiter. Because he didn’t introduce himself.

Then once he did decide to stop by, he acted like he had just noticed us. No mention of the fact that it took him forever to come to our table.

I should probably mention that Applebee’s was mostly empty, and Paul had spent that 30 minutes waiting on the table right next to us. So I’m not sure how he didn’t see us. It was like we were rips.

(Sorry, that was an Hourglass joke, to tie into the Myra signing).

And when Paul introduced himself, we pretty quickly deduced that he was probably high. And I don’t mean high on life.

I could try to explain to you the wondrous shortcomings of Paul, but my narrative can’t do it justice. So I’m going to write a (bad) sonnet. (And a loose sonnet. Because I don’t feel like worrying about iambic pentameter.)

Longing for Paul

Oh Paul, how we longed for your service

While we sat and discussed YA fiction

and you disappeared into the kitchen.

Your long absences made us nervous.

Your eyes seemed clouded and glassy

Your mouth always slightly ajar

Your words were slurred and bizarre,

Had you been smoking some grass…y?

We thought it was odd when you’d take a long phone call,

Or only refill one of our drinks.

We were confused and nothing made sense.

It was all part of the experience of Paul.

As a waiter, quite frankly, you stink.

Hence your tip of only eighteen cents.

Ta-da! Obviously, if this blogging thing doesn’t work out, I have a very promising future in poetry.

Paul aside, it was a fun day. I love having such awesome blogging friends that live relatively close. And actually, Paul doesn’t have to be aside. Paul’s service was so bad, it was kind of hilarious.  And truthfully, Paul’s frequent mysterious absences gave us a lot more time to talk and laugh and get to know each other. Otherwise we would have left much sooner, to return home to husbands and children and responsibilities.

But we couldn’t because Paul was holding us hostage, and our moral fortitude was keeping us from dining and dashing.

So thanks, Paul. Thank you for making our Applebee’s experience extremely memorable, and for giving us something to look back on and laugh about. Extensively.

And of course, thanks to the person who brought us together in the first place, Myra McEntire. For writing two amazing books. For being hilarious and fabulous to the extent that you make people want to drive multiple hours to hang out with you. And for picking a location really close to that Applebee’s, so that we could discover Paul.

Author Event: Myra McEntire & Amy Plum (with guest appearance by C.J. Redwine!) (@myramcentire @amyplumohlala @cjredwine)

Yesterday afternoon, I headed up to Nashville for my first ever author event. I’m fortunate to live less than 30 minutes from Nashville and less than 5 minutes from a giant Barnes & Noble, so there’s author events galore around here, but I’ve never actually attended one. I guess I’ve been hanging out in my own little bubble of oblivion or something.

But yesterday changed all that! I got wind a couple weeks ago that there was going to be an event at Parnassus Books with Myra McEntire, Amy Plum and C.J. Redwine. At the time I learned about the event, I hadn’t read any of their books, but I had heard of them and was determined to be thoroughly educated by the time the event arrived!

I read Hourglass and Timepiece by Myra McEntire first, and absolutely loooooooved them. Like seriously. Imagine I made a ridiculous face while saying that, because saying “I loved them” like a normal person just doesn’t do justice to the amount of happy feelings I had after finishing Timepiece.

I read Die For Me by Amy Plum next, which I enjoyed. It didn’t rock my world, but it was a fun read and I was still excited to read its sequel, Until I Die. I was all set to buy a copy, when, lo and behold, I won one. Score! Only problem was, it wasn’t going to arrive in time for the signing. Drat! Oh well.

Then, in an awesome and bizarre coincidence, I was able to get my hands on a copy of Defiance by C.J. Redwine just two days before the signing, and it blew me away. Seriously, it was amazingly good, and I’m so glad I was fortunate enough to read it now instead of having to wait until the end of August.

So anyway. I was PREPARED for this signing.

Before the signing, I met up with some other Tennessee book bloggers for an early dinner at Panera. It was my first time ever interacting in person with other bloggers, and it was a lot of fun. Represented were Marla from Starting the Next Chapter, Nikki from Books Most Wanted, Shalena from Writer Quirk, Hannah from The Book Vortex, and Megan from Myth-Illogical. And me. Duh.

Left to Right: Hannah, Nikki, Marla, Me, Shalena, Megan

We headed back to Parnassus around 6, ready for the signing to start at 6:30.

C.J. arrived first, and sat right behind us, since she wasn’t actually a participant in the event itself (probably because her book is still months away from release). We chatted for a few minutes and I may have incoherently gushed just a tad about how much I loved her book, and how I read it all on Mother’s Day, and how I nearly had a heart attack at one point.

Maybe.

Amy and Myra arrived a few minutes prior to 6:30, grabbed some water, and got down to business.

Pardon the shoulders. I was in the second row.

And guys, I’ll admit it. I took notes. Copious notes. As I furtively glanced around, I noticed I was the only one taking notes, but I know me. I have the memory of a goldfish sometimes, and without notes, I would never remember anything they said. And I wouldn’t be able to tell you anything fun at all. But thanks to my extensive, copious notes, I can give you some fun details.

First Amy introduced herself and told us a little about herself and her books.

Some interesting tidbits:

  • She knew she wanted to write a paranormal romance, so she made a list of all the paranormal creatures she could think of (vampires, unicorns, werewolves, etc.), then stared at it and tried to decide which ones she wanted to write about.
  • She eventually narrowed it down to two: zombies and gods. She then set out to take aspects of each and merge them into something new and interesting. Thus, the Revenants were created.
  • She lives in France, and lived in Paris for five years. Specifically, she lived in Jules’ art studio.

Then Myra took the floor for a couple minutes to introduce herself and her books.

Interesting tidbits:

  • Ivy Springs is based on Franklin, TN (which is where I live! Woohoo!)
  • She started writing Hourglass in a writers’ club, where she was given a prompt that may-have-been-but-wasn’t-necessarily “Ann Dosseldorf.” She started writing based on this (dumb) prompt, and thus the first chapter of Hourglass was born.
  • Most of the plot Hourglass was the result of her calling people up and asking “what if?” questions.
  • She wanted to make sure her main love interest was not “creepy and sparkly.”

They then took turns reading from their latest books, Amy from Until I Die and Myra from Timepiece.

Then the floor was opened up for Q&A. Here’s some highlights from each of them.

Myra McEntire

  • When asked a question about whether or not there’s going to be another point-of-view change in the 3rd Hourglass book, Myra cryptically responded that there is no third book. Officially. And that we should maybe check her blog soon, maybe, because there could be something there, allegedly, about something. Maybe.
  • Then I threw something at her.
  • Okay, I didn’t, but I kind of wanted to. There MUST be a third Hourglass book!
  • The original title for Hourglass was “Weaver,” which she admits sucked.
  • The original name of The Hourglass was The Establishment, which is much less cool.
  • She recommends that no one ever attempt to write a time travel book, ever. Including her. Because it’s just too hard and confusing.
  • Emerson Cole was not named after the creepy kid in The Sixth Sense who sees dead people. But once I drew her attention to the connection, she said that from now on, she will say she named Emerson after him on purpose, and she will put an asterisk with my name by any mention of it, because that is a cool connection.
  • I kind of hope she does.
  • She doesn’t have a lot of time to read, and when she does, she prioritizes the writing of her crit [critique] partners, C.J. Redwine and Jodi Meadows. She also loves audio books.
  • Her favorite characters to write are Emerson (because she wished she was more sarcastic as a teen) and Kaleb (because he is awesome).
  • The most surreal part about her entire authoring experience was “everything.” Literally.

Amy Plum

  • The original title of Die For Me was “Sleepwalking,” which she loved but HarperTeen thought was too boring. So she suggested a bunch of other titles, which they rejected, and then they picked “Die For Me.” She likes it now.
  • The third book is called If I Should Die.
  • The first book she wrote, which has never seen the light of day, is a memoir of her first year in the French countryside entitled A Year In the Vines.
  • She also doesn’t have much time to read, and will read her friends’ books first, then books sent by her publishers. She is also endeavoring to read more in French, since she lives in France and is trying to be a “good expatriate.”
  • She has to write sitting on her bed. She built an office to write in, and had to put a bed in it because she can’t write at a desk.
  • She had 3 surreal moments as an author. The first was finishing her first book (A Year In the Vines). The second was when her beta reader told her she may have something with the first few chapters of Die For Me. And the third was when she was offered her book deal with HarperTeen and realized she was going to be able to quit her job teaching at a university in order to write.
  • Her favorite characters to write are Kate and Georgia, but it’s hard for her to pick because she adores all her characters, even the villains.
  • The first draft of Die For Me was a lot steamier because her beta reader was really into historical romance and kept telling her to dial it up. Most of the steamy additions were the first things to go during the editing process (much to Amy’s relief).
The Q&A session ended on Myra’s words of wisdom, “Don’t be a nutbag.” I can’t really remember why she said it, I only remember that it was said. Well said, Myra.

After the Q&A, they set up a table to sign stuff for us. I got my copies of Hourglass and Defiance signed, but didn’t have either of Amy’s books yet. Fortunately, I had contacted her on Twitter earlier in the day explaining that I was getting the books but they hadn’t arrived yet, and she told me she’d come prepared with bookplates for me. So she signed those instead, and they are ready and waiting for whenever my books arrive.

Also, when I revealed that I hadn’t read Until I Die yet, she responded (extremely cryptically, I might add), “Oh…I apologize for the end. I’m really, really sorry. I mean, I had to do it. I had to. But I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”

What did you do?” I asked her. “Who dies? Who dies?” But she wouldn’t tell me.

So for those of you who have read it, if you are mad, Amy is sorry.

I posed for pictures with all three authors, but for some reason my camera ate my picture with Myra. So now I’m going to have to stalk her and get another one.

Relax. I’m kidding.

I think.

But at least I have pictures with C.J. and Amy! And BONUS: I do not look like a psycho. You have no idea how many pictures of me there are floating around the world where I look like a psycho. I don’t know what it is I do. I have like psycho eyes or something. But in these pictures, I look like a human! Huzzah!

Me and C.J. Redwine

Me and Amy Plum

I will have to track down Myra at a future date to get a picture. She lives in Nashville, so surely there will be an event in the near-ish future where I can right my photographic wrongs.

Aside from that one mishap (which I didn’t even realize until way after the event had ended), the event was so much fun. I’ll have to make it a point to go to more of these in the future!

And then I went home and watched TV until 11:30, because I had really overdone it with the Dr. Pepper at Panera.

The end.