Author Interview: Marissa Meyer

About the Author:

Marissa Meyer is a well known author for her series 'The Lunar Chronicles', which comprises of the books: Cinder, Scarlett and Cress. An additional two books in the series (Winter and Fairest: Levana's Story) are on the way in 2015.Like many of us nowadays, Marissa started off her writing career with fan fiction on fanfiction.net under the pen name Alicia Blade, you can still view her stories here.Cinder was her first novel which was published in 2012, since then she has published multiple books and a number of short stories that you can view on watt pad.To find out more go to her website.

 

Interview: 

What made you want to become a writer?
I can't remember ever not wanting to be a writer. I've loved books since I was a child, and as soon as I realized that there were people behind those books who got to come up with that story and those characters, and that they got PAID to do that, I knew that's what I wanted to do. I can remember sitting in front of my bookshelf, looking up at all my childhood favorites, and dreaming about a book with my name on the cover being nestled in between them. To think that something I wrote could impact readers the way that my favorite books have impacted me has always been an enticing fantasy, and I'm still surprised every day when I realize it's now come true!

What do you think people look for in a book?
I think we're all just looking for a great story. Of course there are lots of elements that make up a great story - engaging, interesting characters, unexpected plot twists, prose that is both clear and unique to that author's voice. And if you're like me - a little bit of romance! I think we all just want to be able to slide into a book and live there for a little while and let it carry us away. We want to feel and experience something that goes beyond our average lives.

Are there any recent works you admire?
I am an avid reader to this day and am constantly falling in love with new books! Some of my recent favorites include STORM SIREN by Mary Weber (which will release in this month - I was lucky to receive an early copy), VICIOUS by Victoria Shwab, and THE WINNER'S CURSE by Marie Rutkoski. I am on the edge of my seat waiting for all of their sequels!

How did you come up with the character's names?
I try to connect the characters' names to the names in the fairy tales as much as possible. Some of them were really easy - such as Cinder (Cinderella), Scarlet (Little Red), and Winter (Snow White). The obscure one is Cress, but cress and rapunzel are both types of salad greens - though there was a time when I wanted to call her Arugula!
 
When there isn't a good connection that I can draw from the fairy tale, I'll usually hop on babynamesworld.com. It's a web site that is obviously intended for parents trying to name their children, but it's really helpful for writers, too. You can search by gender, culture, meaning, number of syllables - all sorts of different parameters. I've found it incredibly useful.

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