Find Cyn
Thanks so much for stopping by Literary Cravings, can you tell us a bit about yourself and your road to publishing?
Hi! Thanks for having me. I've been writing since I was 5
years old and always imagined myself as a novelist, but I didn't really
think it was possible-- I thought it was like saying, "I want to be a
princess!" So I put it off until much, much later. I only got serious
about writing 5 years ago. And once I did, everything worked out. Sure, I
had my share of heartbreak and rejection, but that's the norm in this
business.
How did you come up with the idea for Starstruck and what was your writing process like?
I wrote the first half of Starstruck before I wrote Fairy
Tale. At the time, it was a realistic novel about a girl suffering from
serious body image problems, and her perfect boyfriend comes back into
her life after three years. But after I sold Fairy Tale, my editor
wanted to keep me writing paranormals. I really liked Starstruck because
I'd had a lot of body image problems as a teen and I really loved the
main character, so rather than toss the thing out, I wondered if I could
add in a paranormal element. I was sitting, watching the news, and
those days everything was about the H1N1 virus. The reporter said that
the word Influenza came from the ancient belief that the stars effected
the way we felt and acted. And that became the basis of the paranormal
element. So I wrote the second half really quickly, tweaked the first
half, and it was done!
In the beginning, what or who spoke to your first? The story or the characters?
It's different each time. With Starstruck, it was definitely
Dough, the main character. She is essentially me. She's not a really fun
person to be around, and I don't think I was either. I obsessed
constantly about my looks. I think a lot of teen girls can identify with
that.
Did you do any unique research for this particular book?
Very little. Wikipedia is as far as I went. I really try to
write the book I would want to read, and I know that when I was a teen, I
had so much stress from school that the last thing I wanted to do in my
leisure time was be reminded of my homework. So my books are heavier on
the entertainment, and not very educational!
Was there any scene or part in Starstruck that was difficult to write? And if so how did you get through writing it?
As easy as it was to understand how Dough was feeling, it was
hard to see her constantly putting herself down. When you're not in her
shoes, it's very easy to want to shake her and tell her to get some
backbone. Now, I look back at myself and say, "Why was I so shy and
awkward? I was young and cute!" So while I kept wanting Dough to be
braver, that wasn't her. And I got through the scenes where she was
constantly being stepped on because I knew I could make the ending
anything I wanted to be. That's the lovely thing about being an
author.
Who was the easiest & hardest character for you to create?
Evie, the beautiful sister, was probably the easiest. She's
just very naive and the epitome of everything Dough wishes she could be.
To Dough, she has no problems, but of course, that's not true. I always
have a hard time creating the love interest. There is so much said
about the love interest in YA. You want to make someone that makes
readers swoon, but that's really hard because if you make him a bad boy,
half of the audience will think he's hot and the other half will think
he's a jerk. If you make him a boyscout, half will think he's adorable
and half will think he's a goody-goody. There's a fine line.
What mythical creature or being would you want to write about that you haven't so far?
I
love zombies. I can't write about them because others have cornered the
market. But in another life, or if I die and come back to life, I will
write about zombies.
Since your next novel coming out will be Living Backwards (2012), can you tell us anything about it?
The first thing I can tell you is that it probably won't be
called Living Backwards, since the first thing my editor said when she
bought it was that she wanted to change the title, which is based on a
passage from Alice in Wonderland. It's about a guy who has this
mysterious ability to remember things before they happen, and that
includes all the possible outcomes of even his smallest decisions. I
just finished writing it and I'm really happy with the way it turned
out!
