Ali Prepares for Fandom Fest #3: Julie Kagawa Interview

I am totally fan girling right now!!! Julie Kagawa is on my blog today and I love her books! She is going to be at Fandom Fest this weekend and I'm so excited to meet her! Oh and guess what, today is the day, today is the first day of Fandom Fest!!!! YAY!!! It's finally here.  

I hope you all enjoy this little interview.  This will be my last post till Sunday, I have a blog tour that day for you all!!! Enjoy.  Monday I will be posting all about Fandom Fest and I will have tons of pics for you all!!! Enjoy.  

  

 Where did your idea for The Iron Fey series come from and did you
always know where you were going with the whole series?

Faeries, the old, ancient fey, not the glittery winged sprites, have always fascinated me. But I wanted to write a book that was different than other faery books. So I began thinking: what are the fey afraid of? The answer, in most ancient mythos, is iron. Faeries can't stand the touch of iron and steel. So, what if there was a new type of fey that had evolved with progress over the years? What if they weren't only immune to iron, their existence was slowly poisoning and corrupting the lands of the traditional fey? And I realized we already have "monsters" in machines: gremlins, bugs, viruses, ect. And from that thought, the Iron fey were born.

As for knowing where I was going with the series, I did know how I wanted the "last" book, The Iron Queen, to end.  I did not, however, anticipate the fan's reactions to that ending, nor did I anticipate writing a fourth book, The Iron Knight, to finish Ash and Meghan's story.  And I didn't foresee returning to the world of The Iron Fey with the next series starring Ethan Chase.  So, I've sort of stopped trying to predict where things will go now, lol.  I'm just along for the ride.  ;-)

    

Why did you decide to write a Vampire book and how long did it take
you to write The Immortal Rules?

I actually didn't think I would ever write a vampire book.  In fact, I remember telling myself that I would never write a vampire book because there were already so many, and I didn't feel I had anything new to add. I was toying with the idea of a post-apocalyptic world when my fabulous agent actually suggested a vampire series, so after thinking about it for a bit, I wondered what would happen if I combined the two.  And that was the beginning.

The Immortal Rules turned out to be my longest book to date, and it took me about five months to write the first draft.

  

 As an author how do you feel about book reviews and their rating of
the 3? How do you feel about authors going off on book reviews for their
ratings?

No book can please everyone one hundred percent of the time.  Someone might adore a book, while another person can't stand it.  Books speak to everyone differently, and no matter what you write, you're always going to get someone who doesn't like it.  The reasons don't matter; it's their opinion and you should respect that.  Where authors get in trouble is when they take a critical review personally and respond in defense of their book.  Not only is this damaging to the author and their career, it's also unprofessional.  No matter who you are, if you put your book out there for the world to read, someone is going to give it a critical review.  And yes, I do agree that some reviews aren't fair or constructive or are purposefully snarky and cruel, but a professional author realizes this is just par for the course, and the only way to respond is graciously or not at all.

  

 Can you tell us something interesting about your writing process?


Ha, I'm probably the least interesting writer in existence.  I sit down at my desk everyday and write.  That's about it.  Although I'm usually distracted several times by Twitter and blogs, and I'll take frequent breaks to go water my plants or talk to my chickens.  Other than that, it's just me sitting in my office and putting words on the computer screen.

    

What is your favorite character you’ve ever written and why are they
your favorite?

I love all my characters, and until recently I would say my favorite character would've been Ash.  But now with the Blood of Eden series, I think it's a tie between him and Allie.  Both of them are cold, tormented, a little angsty, and they both fight with swords.  Of course, Allie is a vampire and Ash is an Unseelie faery prince, but they do have a lot in common.

   What are you most looking forward to in regards to Fandom Fest?


I'd love to meet James Marsters (Spike!) and Bruce Campbell, but also just hanging out and talking to a bunch of people who get me. (Read: fellow geeks.)

I hope you all enjoyed that interview, a huge thanks goes out to Julie for doing this interview for my blog! Everyone please wish me luck this weekend, I'm a bit nervous!!! Have a great weekend everyone.  *hugs* to you all!!!