Tell us a secret about your recently published or forthcoming novel.
"Masque of the Red Death isn't my favorite Poe Story. (The Fall of the House of Usher is my absolute favorite). Maybe that's more of a secret about me...when I first came up with the idea it wasn't historical, it was a generic post-apocalyptic future, and there are still a couple of reminders of that world in the book, that a I left because they were fun and a little mysterious, but maybe readers will be able to find them, who knows?" - Bethany Griffin, author of Masque of the Read Death.
"One of my fellow Apocalypsies, Jessica Rothenberg, was an editor at Razorbill when my agent first tried to sell Neversink. She passed, but liked the book enough to give me some notes, which I used on the revision that sold. So I told her she should get at least partial credit for two 2012 debuts." - Barry Wolverton, author of Neversink. 
"Before I started writing Incarnate, I did a lot of worldbuilding, plotting, and character building. Since one of my favorite parts is the discovery of where the story will go next, I made sure to leave myself plenty of room for change. One thing I didn't expect, however, was the dedication of souls ceremony. There I was, writing along, and a character piped up about it, explained the romantic bits, and I knew it would be an important a part of the book. It came completely out of nowhere while I was working on the first draft, but the rededication scene ended up being everyone's favorite thing -- and the inspiration for the cover." - Jodi Meadows, author of Incarnate. 
"For Envy, the sequel to Fury that comes out this September, I had to make 'class schedules' for the main characters to ensure that their school days made sense - that Em wasn't in History when when she was supposed to be in Spanish, that JD wasn't eating lunch when he was supposed to be in Physics. I'll have to refer to them again for the third book, Eternity, which I *just* started writing." - Elizabeth Miles, author of Fury. 
"You’ll never make me talk, copper!" - Sarah Wilson Etienne, author of Harbinger.
"It was originally meant to be a four part series, with a new pair of protagonists for each book. In the process of acquiring an agent and an editor, it morphed into a trilogy, staying with the same protagonists from book one." - Veronica Rossi, author of Under the Never Sky.
"One secondary character—Konn Torin, Prince Kai’s adviser—went through two transformations since I started writing the book. In the first draft his name was Coen and he was actually a villain, secretly working for the evil queen. In the second draft I changed his name to Torin and he became Kai’s older brother, and the destined emperor. Finally, in the third draft, he settled on being just a plain helpful and loyal advisor. Talk about multiple personalities!" - Marissa Meyer, author of Cinder.
"One secret about Catastrophic History is that it was inspired (in part) by real life events. I don’t mean that I’ve died of a broken heart, obviously. But there was a time a few summers back when my heart ached so much for a certain someone that I certainly thought I might. Then I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about 'Broken Heart Syndrome,' a rare condition where a person really can die from the cardiac stress brought on by an intense emotional loss. And since first love tends to be all the more intense and emotional, I thought to myself, 'What if that happened to a teenage girl? What if you really could die from a broken heart?' And voila, The Catastrophic History of You and Me was born." - Jess Rothenberg, author of The Catastrophic History of You and Me.
"I killed one of my favorite characters so that it would break two other characters’ hearts. I’m evil." - David Macinnis Gill, author of Invisible Sun.
"I had a major revelation about the direction of Jessica Rules the Dark Side while running on the treadmill to REO Speedwagon’s 'Roll with the Changes' I used to hate that song, but now it’s a favorite." - Beth Fantaskey, author of Jessica Rules the Dark Side.
"It’s not really a secret, but Shattered Souls was originally written in third person with a heavy portion of the story told from the hero’s point of view. It was rewritten in first person from the heroine’s point of view prior to publication. The rewrite took twice as long as writing the book in the first place." - Mary Lindsey, author of Shattered Souls.
"There’s all sorts of crazy stuff that happens at the end of Illuminate and…that’s all I’m saying!" - Aimee Agresti, author of Illuminate.
"The One That I Want is set in Atlanta. I was born there, and I lived there again from 2005 to 2007, but I haven’t been back much since. I had trouble picturing parts of the book. So one day not long before the book was due, I dropped my son at my mom’s house, went to Atlanta, and spent the whole day walking where the characters walk, riding the subway where they ride it, and driving around lost. Several Atlanta readers have told me I got the setting exactly right, and that’s why." - Jennifer Echols, author of The One That I Want.
"The title was inspired by a quote from A Midsummer's Dream then voted on by my facebook friends." - Suzanne Lazear, author of Innocent Darkness.
Stop by Tuesday when the authors will talk about the biggest stumbling blocks in the writing process and how they overcome them!
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