Hello! Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl)! Today we’re going to talk about questions we’d ask different authors. I’m going to include a few that I actually have asked various authors. We live in amazing times (forget Coronavirus in that equation). Authors are more accessible than ever before. Some of them go on book tours (virtually this year), others do Ask Me Anythings on Reddit or are active on Twitter. It turns out that a lot of authors are very nice and are approachable. Here we go!
The actual questions (and answers) have been paraphrased because I’m going off my memory.
Questions I’ve asked:
Marie Lu
Q: Does the Thief Who Stole the Stars actually exist, or do you only have the quotes from the book?
A: Only the quotes from the book exist (she doesn’t get that into worldbuilding).
I’ve thought about making the Pseudonym T. Chirsley on AO3 and writing it, but so far I’ve been too busy.
Q (this was actually asked by my boy): How do you come up with such amazing first lines for your books?
A: I think about them a lot.
Sandhya/Lily Menon
Q: Are you good with computers (because both Dimple and her characters from Makeup Breakup are into computers).
A: No.
Kiersten White
Q: How many drafts do you write?
A: It varies.
Fun fact: Sometimes people misspell her name when she goes on tour. One bookstore misspelled her name as “Pearston.” There’s a Pearston in my book, named after her. When I got the chance to tell her about the character, she thought it was funny, but was disappointed that Pearston was a guard and not a villain.
Questions I’d Ask:
J. R. R. Tolkien: I heard that the lamppost in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia book was there because you told him once that lampposts don’t belong in fantasy. Are there any other fun Easter eggs in either of your books because of your rivalry?
Cassandra Clare: (First, background info: she wrote a story when she was a teenager called The Beautiful Cassandra that was about 1000 pages long. She read some of it during YALLWEST’s Juvenalia) Were the passages from Lucy’s book, The Beautiful Cordelia, adapted from or inspired by The Beautiful Cassandra? Also, did the beautiful Cassandra ever get her needlepoint back (it had been taken by a rogue in the part of the story Ms. Clare read to us).
Any Author:
How many rejections did you get before getting a “yes” from your agent?
How many novels have you written that are in a drawer?
What is your top piece of advice for authors trying to get published?
Who is your favorite author?
So those are ten questions I either have asked or would ask? What did you come up with today? Next week we’re supposed to talk about books that make us hungry, but I’m not very much of a foodie, so I’ll probably put a twist on that.
Cool twist on the topic adding those questions you already asked! I love the idea of talking with your favorite authors about their favorite authors! You might find some amazing new ones that way.
Nikki @The Night is Dark and Full of Books recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #31 || Questions I have for certain authors after reading their book
I’ve actually found some really good books from my favorite authors’ recommendations! Some of them have great taste.
Your question for Tolkien is a great one. I had no idea that was why the lamppost was included.
My post .
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I learned that a year or so ago. I love it when authors put Easter eggs in there like that.
Nice list! That’s great you’ve had the opportunity to talk to some authors! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday
Other than the Thief Who Stole the Stars question (that was asked at a Reddit AMA prior to one of Ms. Lu’s books coming out), I got the chance to ask them all this year! And then COVID came… although I’ve been able to go to a few virtual author events since then.
I love how you were able to both ask and get answers. It was fun to get to read a response today!
My TTT
🙂 Hopefully when this coronavirus epidemic is over we’ll have more book events and we can ask authors questions again!
Great list! I remember reading somewhere that Lewis and Tolkien both wrote each other into their books–I believe the Professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is based on Tolkien and Treebeard in The Lord of the Rings is based on Lewis.
Jess @ Jessticulates recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday | Authors I’d like to interview
That’s pretty cool! I could definitely see Tolkien as the grown-up Digory, LOL.
Ooh I love your question for Tolkien. Makes me wonder what sort of Easter eggs are around that we don’t know about.
I’m sure there are tons! I sometimes catch Easter eggs from certain authors, and I put a lot of Easter eggs in my books, but I bet there are many, many, many inside jokes just hidden between the pages of the books on our shelves!
I love that you have specific questions and answers from ones you’ve already asked. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for visiting! Hopefully we’ll be able to have more book events (and more questions) in the near future.
I love the Tolkien/ Lewis question. I had no idea!
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I would love to read their letters or to have heard some of their conversations!
I always think first lines must be the hardest lines in the world to come up with — how do they do come up with them — for any author — is such a great question!
First lines are so important. Some authors are so good at them.
I love the Lewis question. That’s a great one. I have never thought about the Easter eggs that authors put in.
Here is my TTT.
https://dmhoisington.wordpress.com/2020/08/25/top-ten-tuesday-10/
I had put in some Easter eggs in my fanfiction before I realized it was a thing. Wildcard and Warcross have Easter Eggs in them, and I know other authors put them in too.
Love your take on the topic and that you already got to ask some authors your questions! I love the Tolkien question, would love to be able to find out the answer.
It’d be fun to know all the Easter eggs in books out there, because I’m sure there are so many.