Author Interview: Marissa Meyer (Cinder, The Lunar Chronicles, #1)

Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) is the amazing re-telling of Cinderella, by Marissa Meyer, that was just released in April. It's been taking over the blogging world by storm, leaving us readers anxiously awaiting the next books in the series. 

Today I am thrilled to have with me fellow author of Cinder, Marissa Meyer! Marissa was kind enough to take some time off of her busy schedule to drop by for an interview.

Here is Marissa's bio:

I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my fiancé and our two cats. In addition to my slight obsession with books and writing, I'm big on road-tripping, wine-tastingand hunting for antiques. I'm represented by Jill Grinberg.

CINDER, my debut novel, is a futuristic re-envisioning of Cinderella in which Cinder is a cyborg mechanic. Release date: 3 Jan 2012.

     Find Marissa: Twitter/Blog/Goodreads

Q:Hi Marissa! Thanks so much for joining us here at The Teen Book Guru! And an even bigger thanks for writing such a fabulous book. Your absolutely amazing debut, Cinder, was released just a while back. Could you tell us a little about it?

A:Thank you so much for having me! Cinder is the first of what will be a four-book series called The Lunar Chronicles. In it, Cinderella is re-envisioned as 16-year-old Cinder, a girl who's part-human, part-machine. Her innate ability with mechanics brings her in contact with the handsome Prince Kai, and soon she's caught in a political battle of wills between Earth and the cruel Lunar queen who wants to rule it.

Q:Cinder is set in futuristic New Beijing. I personally love the choice of setting, because it’s so rare to find a book set there. What made you choose New Beijing, and that too, for a retelling of Cinderella??

A:Many, many years ago, I heard a little factoid about Cinderella that always stuck with me. Fairy tale scholars believe that it has its roots in a story called "Ye Xian," which was written in 9th-century China, and that the concept of the lost slipper fitting the smallest foot may have been a direct result of the Chinese tradition of foot-binding. I found that so fascinating, so when I decided to write a Cinderella retelling, the setting of futuristic China just seemed to fit and be a nice way to tie the story in to its little-known history.

Q:The world of Cinder is so intricate and detailed and different! How did you come up with it?

A:Little by little! For me, world-building is a slow process. With every draft I write, I discover the world a little bit more, and it's often directly effected by the plot or the research I've been doing. For example, I knew that the series would take place all over Earth, but I wanted to have the freedom to combine different cultures together, largely because I think that with technology and travel, this is a realistic future for us. This desire gradually transformed into the idea of Earth being divided into only six countries, which led to the question of why there were only six and how that had come to be, which led to the idea of the 4th World War and the destruction it caused, etc. One thing leads to another and little tidbits slowly get integrated into the plot and description and in the end - with any luck - we have a world that's interesting and believable.

Q:How did you come up with your characters? Do you see yourself in any of them? 

A:Some characters pop into my head fully-formed - such as Cinder, who changed very little over the course of revising the book. Other characters require more effort, such as Kai who has been through any number of personality-overhauls. I find that when a character is fighting against me, it's probably because I'm trying to make them into someone they don't want to be, and I need to just step back and let them say and do what they want. That's usually when they start to feel the most natural and multi-dimensional. I do think that  my personality makes its way into each of the characters - even the villains - but it's never a conscious decision.

Q:Cinder is such an interesting retelling of Cinderella!! Why did you choose Cinderella’s story out of all of the fairytales?

A:I didn't choose Cinderella so much as it chose me. I'd had the idea to do a series of science-fiction fairy tale retellings and had made a list of a dozen or so tales I was considering. Then the idea of a cyborg Cinderella came to me in a flash one night as I was falling asleep. Cinder's story began to unfold very quickly once I had that vision of her.

Q:I have no clue how on earth I am going to be able to patiently wait for the other three books to come out!! Can you tell us a little about what we can expect?

A:Sorry! I know - silly publishers and their silly release schedules.

Each book in the Lunar Chronicles will be based on a different fairy tale: SCARLET (Little Red Riding Hood), CRESS (Rapunzel), and WINTER (Snow White). Cinder's story will continue on as she crosses paths with these other heroines, who each have their own problems to solve, as they gradually join forces against the wicked queen.

Q:What are your writing habits?

A:I wish I could say I have very GOOD and EFFICIENT writing habits, but I don't know how true that is. Mostly I try to set a specific goal for myself - these days it's one chapter a day, or about 2,000 words - and then I try to hit that in whatever way possible. I also spend a little time answering emails and being involved in Facebook and Twitter every day, and there's always some random promo thing on the to-do list, such as ordering new swag, sending giveaway prizes, updating my events calendar, or who knows what else. So that usually takes up an hour or two of each day's "writing" time.

Q:Do you suffer from writer’s block? If so, how do you get past it?

A:I always feel like people are going to get mad at me when I talk about writer's block, because no, I don't really suffer from it. It sounds harsh, but I feel that 95% of what people call "writer's block" is just laziness and procrastination. The best way to get over it is to sit down in your chair and write something, even if you hate it, even if it sucks, even if you don't want to.

That said, there is that other 5% of the time when, okay, you might really have a problem, but I don't think that watching a Top Chef marathon will solve it. Be proactive. Brainstorm. Read craft books. Experiment. Read through what you've written so far and see if you can pinpoint the issue. Take a walk and daydream about your characters. Anything to keep making forward progress.

Q:When did you first realize you wanted to be an author? What/who made you want to become one?

A:I loved reading when I was a kid, and I think when it first occurred to me that books were created by real people, rather than just magically existing, I knew that's what I wanted to be. The idea of creating worlds that people could live in and characters that people could befriend was such a lovely idea, and I'm honored to think it's now my reality.

Q:Could you briefly describe how you found a publisher, and the journey to the publication of Cinder?

A:The old-fashioned way: I queried agents! Well, back up a step: First I wrote the best book I possibly could, and then I queried agents, and ended up signing with the first agent I'd queried. Two weeks later, she sent the book to publishers on a Friday, and we had our first offer the following Monday. It was so serendipitous, and my whole publication journey has taken off since then. The team at Macmillan has been behind Cinder every step of the way, and I feel so lucky and grateful for that.

Q:There are a lot of aspiring authors out there today, and many children and teenagers who want to be authors when they grow up. What advice would you give them?

A:Read as much as you can - it's the only way to learn what stories you're drawn to, and what types of stories and plots do and don't work for you. It's also how you learn what the tropes and cliches of your genre are.

Write as much as you can - it's the only way to develop your voice and build the confidence that you can, in fact, create an entire story from start to finish. It takes time and many attempts to learn these things.

Q:Are you working on any other projects that we can look out for?

A:Although I still have two books left in the Lunar Chronicles to revise, I'm hoping to have Book 3 done far enough ahead of my deadline that I can spend a few months later this year looking toward the next project. I'm sure it will be YA, but beyond that I have ideas for high fantasies, thrillers, urban fantasies, horrors, paranormals, and - yes - even more fairy tales. We'll see!

And now some not so serious questions... 

Q:What are your favorite book(s), and who are your favorite author(s)? What authors/books are you currently reading?

A:My favorite book of all time is Pride & Prejudice, and I also have a list of my favorite YA books on my web site for anyone in need of some recommendations:http://www.marissameyer.com/

books/book-recomendations/. Favorite authors include John Green, Gail Carson Levine, Kristin Cashore, Scott Westerfeld, and Gregory Maguire. Right now I'm reading REMARKABLE by Liz Folley.

Q:When you are not reading or writing, what can you be found doing? 

A:Eating! It's a life-long passion.

Q:What type of music do you like to listen to?

A:Mostly alternative rock and classic rock, though I also have a soft spot for Broadway musicals.

Q:What are your current favorite TV shows?

A:The Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time, Top Chef.

Q:Pick this or that--

Q:Ebooks or Hard Copies?

A:At home: hard copy, traveling: e-book

Q:Dogs or Cats?

A:Cats!

Q:Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt?

A:Whichever is most convenient at any given time.

Q:Rain or Shine?

A:Rain - best writing weather.

Q:Outdoors or Indoors?

A:Indoors.

Q:If you could be one Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor, which one would you choose and why? Or, if you don't like Jelly Beans, which candy would you choose and why?

A:Ew ew ew! I can't stand jelly beans, but give me a Reese's Peanut Butter cup any day!

Thanks so much for coming on the blog, Marissa! I can't wait for Scarlet! 


Hey guys! Happy Monday! Hope you enjoyed the interview! >.<