Author Event with Maggie Stiefvater



Maggie & I :)


On Saturday night I got the chance to meet author Maggie Stiefvater in Liverpool. The event was organised by Formby Books and it was a lovely evening. Maggie started off by telling us the 10 steps to writing a Maggie Stiefvater novel which you can read about over at Michelle's blog Much Loved Books. It was really nice to meet Michelle and we came up with the idea of doing this join blog post so make sure you pop over there and have a read.




Questions and Answers

When the books get made into films how much input will you have?

Short Answer: None what-so-ever

Maggie's answer: Shiver was optioned a year ago and has a director & screen play and Scorpio Races was optioned just two seconds after I came out by Warned Brother, I'm super excited. But I have no input what-so-ever. People always ask who I would cast as my characters, and the first time I was asked I was in London at a posh restaurant my publishers had taken me too and in the middle of trying to order food off a menu I couldn't understand I was asked who I would cast as Sam but I don't know, I don't think of Sam as a handsome Hollywood actor. It says in the book he's got a big nose a girl couldn't get away with & floppy hair & he's kinda gangley, I was thinking maybe Alex Turner from the Artict Monkeys, he's got the big nose and the floppy hair and he walks kinda gangley and he's so funny looking he's almost cute. And then as we leave my editor says, that was his girlfriend right behind us. (I understand there not together anymore but I don't think it's my fault).



Maggie reading


Sally's question: Is there going to be a third fairy book?

Short answer: There should have been

Maggie's answer: There was always meant to be a third fairy book called Requiem but when you're writing under contract things are like double-dutch so Lament jumped when it was supposed to Ballard jumped when it was supposed to and Requiem is standing there and it looks at me like a stricken deer and then Shiver comes along and kicks it in the head and it falls into the ditch and it's laying there kinda injured and wounded but not dead and then of course Linger has to come next because it comes after Shiver and then Forever has to come next and I can see Requiem staggering out and then Scorpio Races comes along and kicks it back into the ditch again and it's looking a little bit worse for wear now but still at the end of Scorpio it stars to come back up and then the magical novel comes along. But I can tell you know it has been trying to crawl its way back out of the ditch and it's standing right there wearing Christmas finery but so help me, if it does not jump this time I myself might put it into the ditch.


Question: You said earlier you won't see daylight in Liverpool, is there a reason for this?

Short answer: I'm leaving early.

Maggie's answer: Are you asking if I'm a vampire? I'm leaving at 9:30am so I think even in Liverpool that's daylight, is there something different about Liverpool that I should know about, maybe I should stay on look out for the sun.
I have to confess I'm not a huge fan of vampires, I'm not a huge fan of werewolves when it comes down to it. How many of you are team Jacob? (hands go up, and I mention I was after he took his shirt off! and people laughed) Back to Maggie: So how many of you have seen New Moon? (again hands go up). I went with a bunch of book bloggers, I was on tour with nothing else to do and was talked into going after saying no because we will be trampled by Twi-hards, and I was right! So we're sat there watching and it gets to the part where Jacob rips his shirt off and behind me this woman who is every bit of 50 goes 'grrrrrrrr, now it's getting good' a small voice came from the front saying 'jailbate'.
So I'm not really a huge werewolf fan actually and reviewers are always asking me why werewolves and it makes me cross because the little voices in my head say, 'you don't write about werewolves, there just wolves, and when your werewolves are human they're emo teenagers, there's no in between, there's no were, that makes them shapeshifters' OK, maybe they are werewolves.

Question: How long did it take you to write the book? (Scorpio Races)

Short answer: 4 months

Maggie's answer: Well this is really easy to answer because all my books have taken me 4 months to write and I wrote Forever in 4 months but threw it out and redid it in 4 months and Scorpio Races took me 4 months but now I've hit a glitch in the pattern because magical novel has taken me 9 months and I don't know what's going on.

Question: Do you think it's important as a writer to surround yourself by other creative people?

Short answer: Not really

Maggie's answer: No. I think as a writer the more you have to look at the outside world the more you will become affected and sometimes confused. You have to almost become your own island, you shouldn't completely ignore the outside world but it's important not let your own creativity be influenced by other things.
I do like to surround myself with creative things, like my headphones on listening to my music and maybe reading a book. So I think surrounding yourself with products of creative people is a good idea.



Maggie answering
questions


Michelle's question: Why did you end Forever the way you did?

Maggie's answer: Many people have asked why isn't Forever a happy ending or why is Forever a cliffhanger or why is Forever so open, but it's not because all the information you need for how things are going to turn out is there and all you need to do is ask yourself this question, do you believe that Cole St.Clare has turned into a decent human being bu the end of the series, so roses and flowers and litter for everyone. If you think that he is still a terrible person and he got it wrong everyone dies in pools of their own vomit and blood.
Here's the thing, if I tied it up neatly in a bow it wouldn't fit with the rest of the series, it's about being a teen, it's about hope and if you end it by saying, everyone got into the minivans and drove away with no kind of looking to the future, it's already there, so there is no ending until you're dead. Also, it's the same reason I didn't write a fourth book because things would only get worse for them if I kept on writing, people would die!

Question: Will there be anymore Scorpio Races books?

Maggie's answer: It was meant to be a stand alone and I'm happy with it as a stand alone. I'm pretty happy with then ending of it.

My question: You said that Scorpio Races is your favourite novel, why is that?

Short answer: I wanted to write a book that I would have loved as a kid.

Maggie's answer: It is a very Maggie novel. I grew up in the middle of no where, my parents were very stricted in many ways but they would always let us have any sort of animal we wanted as long as we could, earn the money to by the animal, earn the money for the enclosure, build the enclosure and learn how to take care of it. My sister and I really wanted horses and so we did everything we needed to and we got our horses. And I love the fact that the story has that sort of Mr. Darcy thing going on, and it's more of an adventure story rather than a full love story going on.



Maggie signing my
books, ALL of
them :)


I really hope this might answer some of your questions. I had a brilliant time and was so pleased I got to meet Maggie as well as Michelle :) Maggie was brilliant, she made everyone feel at ease and it was such a great way to spend my Saturday night.

If you haven't yet read anything by Maggie, get your hands on some of her books and get reading :)