Fierce Reads NYC Tour Stop (Recap, Interview + Giveaway)

I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Fierce Reads event held at McNally Jackson on Tuesday, June 18, featuring Leigh Bardugo, Jessica Brody, Anna Banks, Emmy Laybourne & Gennifer Albin. I'd heard about the event a couple of months earlier and had immediately marked it down, eager to meet the authors. Thanks to Ksenia, I was able to spend a little time with them and ask them some fun interview questions before the event proper, as you're going to see below! 

(The people at McNally Jackson were gracious enough to lend us a small office space, which is why we had to do the interviews in two groups. Still, the authors were wonderful about answering all my questions, even when I was flustered or random interruptions would occur.)

The video coverage of Leigh, Gennifer & Anna got cut off, so allow me to include the transcript of the rest of their interview below:

Alexa: If you could live in any fictional world, which one would it be? And which character would you be in it?
Leigh Bardugo: Harry Potter. Luna Lovegood. Yeah, I mean, doesn't everybody want to go to Hogwarts? I mean, I love Westeros...
Gennifer Albin: Westeros?
*everyone laughs*
GA:  I want to be alive for two days in my fictional world...
LB: but I don't want to live there... I would like to go to a nice bathroom. I would like to brush my teeth. I would like to eat delicious snacks and I would like to do magic! I feel like I just adore Luna. Although I guess Hermione is more on point. But I feel like I'm not organized enough to be Hermione, so Luna.
GA: Which is a great reason to be Hermione... I was gonna - I'm gonna live with Leigh in Harry Potter. I'm not gonna lie -
Alexa: Are you going to be Luna too?
GA: I'm not gonna be Luna though. I like Luna but... I don't know who I would be.
LB: Tonks!
GA: Tonks?
A: Actually, that sounds very accurate.
[insert Harry Potter spoiler here]
Anna Banks: Do we have to be one of our own characters?
A: No, no.
AB: I want to live in the Hundred Acre Wood.
*everyone makes sounds of agreement/awws*
AB: I would be Piglet -
LB: Aww!
AB: Everyone's always looking out for that little guy. What a great world!
LB: I love that!
A: I don't think I've ever heard anyone answer like - answer that answer. That's a great answer!
AB: I mean, you've got all these great friends around you.
LB: Nothing really bad ever happens. Like the worst thing that happens is you get stuck in a tree.
A: Or in a rainstorm.
LB: I'll be Eeyore. *uses Eeyore voice* Okay...
*everyone laughs*
AB: I probably would be Eeyore, but my preference would be Piglet.
A: What are you current favorite TV shows or movies?
AB: The Walking Dead.
GA: Doctor Who.
LB: Game of Thrones. I'm also really loving Elementary, and Hannibal has been surprisingly good. And Chopped. I watched Chopped all of the time.

After my time with them, the authors spent a few minutes relaxing before the event started. They each talked about their books, and then answered questions from the audience. If you missed my tweets, here are some of the Q&As that cropped up during this part, as edited into text format:

Question: How did your characters/story come to you?
Leigh Bardugo: Some characters show up fully formed, while others take a little longer to find their voice.
Anna Banks: She was watching a documentary about giant squid. It made her wonder what else could be out there.
Jessica Brody: She saw a newspaper article about a 14-year-old who survived a plane crash.
Gennifer Albin: Her characters pop into her head and start talking to her. And all of them have secrets!
Emmy Laybourne: Characters appear to her too. But she also lurks in streets or in malls to find people who resemble her characters.

Question: Who's your favorite lit hero?
EL: Harry Potter
JB: Katniss Everdeen
AB: Scarlett O'Hara
LB: Jaime Lannister
GA: Lyra Belacqua

Question: Describe your method/tips/quirks when writing.
LB: She goes on walks, puts her Bluetooth in her ear and talks about what she's going to do for the day.
AB: She has to get up, get dressed and leave in order to write.
JB: She's trained her brain to think coffee is a "creative juice".

Question: Can you imagine writing a novel on a typewriter?
LB: She can imagine writing longhand, but not on a typewriter.
EL: Fun fact - Emmy had someone from the Philippines (!) type something up for her.
General Consensus: Typewriters are great, but not for writing.

Question: Which character from a book would you be?
EL: Fire
JB: Whoever ends up with Maxon in The Selection
AB: Piglet
LB: Luna Lovegood
GA: Anne Shirley

Question: Do you ever feel like you are the character in your book?
JB: When you're writing in the first person, it's hard to feel like you're not in the scene.

Question: Book recommendations?
EL: Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick
LB: Coda by Emma Trevayne
AB: Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
JB: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
GA: Anything by Stephanie Perkins and Gillian Flynn

Question: Favorite genre?
EL: Post-apocalyptic. (Random tip: Buy a salt lick. All the deer will come.)
LB: Non-fiction while writing. Romance novels. High fantasy.
AB: YA sci-fi. But they must have a love story!
JB: Dystopian, like The Jenna Fox Chronicles.
GA: Contemporary YA, like Stephanie Perkins, John Green and Kody Keplinger

Question: Scariest part of writing process?
EL: February. That's usually the time she wonders if she'll make the page count she needs.
JB: She actually has an Excel sheet to chart her progress and feelings.
AB: Coming up with endings! (Random: She has never solved a Scooby-Doo mystery on her own.)
LB: She always has a beginning, middle and end. But she worries about how she'll keep up with writing.
GA: The moment when the return phone call or email comes after submitting a draft

The night ended with the signing, of course. I waited in line with my friends Rachel, Gaby, Rachel, bumped into Heidi and Ash who got in line behind us. Other blogger sightings include the West brothers and Hannah & Jackie. As the line inched forward, I took the liberty of showing Rachel my favorite part of Siege & Storm (spoiler: it features Sturmhond!). After getting books signed and grabbing some swag, Rachel and I ducked out to grab dinner at MacBar, which was delicious.

It was definitely a very fun night! All of these authors are very friendly and really funny, plus they go out of their way to make you feel at ease and to show their appreciation. It was honestly just a lot of fun to listen to them chat, especially when they'd veer off into random tangents! I'm so glad I was there.

But don't you worry! If you can't make it to any of the Fierce Reads tour stops, I've got just the thing for you: a giveaway! Yes, thanks to the lovely people at Macmillan, I have the following prizes up for grabs:

a set of Fierce Reads books: Crewel by Gennifer Albin, Of Triton* by Anna Banks, Siege and Storm* by Leigh Bardugo, Unremembered by Jessica Brody and Monument 14: Sky on Fire* by Emmy Laybourne (Note: books marked with asterisks are second books in series)

a Fierce Reads poster

a Fierce Reads tote

To enter the giveaway, just use the Rafflecopter form below:
*This giveaway is US only.*
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