Author Promotes Fairy Tale Series Via Skype
January 28, 2015
Students who went to the school library at lunch last Wednesday had the chance to talk to New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer.
Meyer is the author of “The Lunar Chronicles,” a young adult science series of various fairy tales, including Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. The final book of the four-book series is slated to come out late 2015. The most recent addition to the series came out this month, which is a short story that describes the backstory of the series villain.
Students were able to see Meyer through a projection on the library window blinds via Skype call. In the beginning of the interview, Meyer explained what her typical writing process was like.
“I find that I don’t really have a typical workday like a lot of writers do. I have to be all over the board on things as I want them or as they come up in priority,” Meyer said.
Meyer also talked about why she chose the fairy tales that appeared in “The Lunar Chronicles.”
“The [stories] I that I decided to go with were the ones I had the best ideas for and see how they would fit into this futuristic world while still maintaining the realm of the original stories,” Meyer said.
As she talked about her book series, Meyer shared her aspirations for the final book and how she drew inspiration from “Star Wars” and the television series “Firefly.”
“I hope that [Winter] will be the best book in the series. I’m working very hard to make it more epic and adventurous than the previous three books,” Meyer said. “It’s really important to me that readers who have stuck through the whole series see a strong and satisfying conclusion.”
Aside from talking about her work, Meyer also gave tips for the hopeful writers in the crowd, such as combatting writer’s block, and offered advice for students who want to publish traditionally through a literary agent.
“On days when I’m tired or I’m stuck, I take a piece of paper and a pen and go away from my computer and start writing out ideas about what I want to happen next,” Meyer explained.
Meyer’s biggest advice to future writers is to continue to read. Growing up, Meyer knew that she wanted to be a writer because she always had “her nose in a book” due to her love for reading.
“I’m still an avid reader. I try to unwind at the end of the day with a good book,” Meyer said.
The Skype interview is one of many that the library plans to hold in the future. School librarian Pam Hunter hopes that guest speakers will become a monthly occasion at the library that students will be able to enjoy. She also hopes to further extend the Skype interviews to not only authors, but to robotic engineers and even painters.
“I don’t have any other speakers lined up yet because I really wanted to see how [the Skype interview] came off and I thought it came off pretty good,” Hunter said. “At this point I’m going to staff and students and ask them who they want me to go after.”
