Snapshot Saturday #13

I'll admit that this week's picture is not the best, but I had to use it. It was taken with my phone during the Melissa Marr signing at Barnes & Noble this week. She was sitting in front of a bunch of windows and it was so light outside that the picture is really dark. But, I knew I couldn't post this without a picture, so I snapped one! Next author signing I promise to remember my camera when I leave the house in the morning! Trust me, there will be more! I have some stuff in the works and you are going to love it!

I was very excited when I got the Harper Collins newsletter and it said that Melissa Marr, author of Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange and her latest, Fragile Eternity, was coming to Barnes & Noble in The Woodlands! I just had to be there. So, I left school right at 3:30 and got there a little after 4. I bought my books and sat in line; I was first! There were some other ladies who came and sat down beside me. We all started talking about books, authors, and the fact that we were all adults waiting to see a YA author. There has been alot of talk lately about adults reading YA, see Vania's post about it here.

Anyway, I digress. Melissa arrived about 5:45 and told the lady in charge that she wanted to do a Q&A session, not just sign books; that wasn't her style. So, they moved us over to a larger area and we got started.

Melissa is not formal at all. In fact, she sat on the table and just chatted with us. She started out by telling us about the "swag" that she had brought to hand out. The "swag" turned out to be court bracelets, like the "livestrong" Lance Armstrong ones. She had them in a bag and we just reached in and pulled one out, surprise! I ended up w/Solitary, which is probably what I would have chosen had I been given a choice. In the bag were also special USB bracelets that had "extras" from the books that aren't available online. Oh, I wanted one, but she gave them away randomly and I wasn't one of the lucky ones; that's okay!

She had just found out that she was named to the NY Times as well as the Wall Street Journal's best seller lists. Because of how well her book is doing, they have upped the date of publication for book 4. So, Wicked Lovely fans, you won't have to wait as long for the next installment. By the way, she let us know that there are 5 books in the series. Wicked and Ink could be read as stand alones, but there are some things in Fragile that have to happen in order to complete the series. So, Fragile is the middle book, with 2 more to come. Harper Collins bought 6 books, but the 6th one won't be from the series, it will be different.

When asked which character she is most passionate about, she replied Irial, even though she probably needs therapy for answering that way. The character that she loves the most is Donia. She spoke alot about the characters in her books and how even though it's fiction, she wants them to be real to the reader and have real characteristics and qualities. She also admitted that she writes death scenes for her characters just to prove that she can kill them. It happens alot when they do something that annoys her. Sometimes she leaves them in the manuscript just to irritate her editor. The character that she has written the most death scenes for is Ash. So, she said, if you're annoyed, frustrated, irritated with a character, write a death scene for them; it helps.

She left us with thoughts on being a writer. It's not about who you know in the writing or publishing business. Her advice, just write it, send it to agents, wait, send to others if they don't like it, and just keep trying. Wicked Lovely was originally a short story sent to Adult Magazine, who said it was for children, send it to them, and they said it was more adult like. So, she turned it into a novel and the rest is history!

Let me just tell you...she is so personable! She just sat and chatted with us like we were old friends. It wasn't like, I'm an author and you are beneath me. I was so impressed! She even knew who I was from Twitter. I thought that was cool. I am still just in awe that I chat with authors online. Yes, I know they are just people like me, but I think it's awesome that they choose to talk to people like me.

So, I have a surprise for you!! For those of you who are like me and can't or won't read Fragile Eternity until you have read the other 2 books in the series, you're in luck. I am going to get you started! I bought an extra copy of Wicked Lovely and had it autographed for one of you! Melissa was also kind enough to give me an extra court bracelet for the winner. So, should you win, you will receive an autographed copy of Wicked Lovely and either a High Court or Summer Court bracelet.

To enter, please leave a comment telling me why you NEED to read this book. Then, earn extra entries by being a follower (+1), tweeting about it (+2) or blogging about it (+3). You can enter from now until next Sat, May 9th. I will randomly choose, email, and post the winner on May 10th. So, who will it be? Who wants it?