The Most Asked Q
- Are you writing another Oh. My. Gods. book?
- Not at the moment. I do have a third book planned, but as of right now there are no specific publishing plans. Publishers, like any business, want to make money. So if you're really desperate for another book, tell all your friends to buy the first two!
Qs About Tera
- Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
- Definitely not. In fact, when I was growing up (shhh, don't tell anyone) English was my least favorite class.
- Phoebe from Oh. My. Gods. runs cross-country... and there are a lot of running scenes... so, do you like, run?
- Great gods no! (No offense to die-hard runners out there, but it's just not in my genetic makeup.) That doesn't mean I made all those sensations up. I was an athlete growing up. I played tennis all through high school. I played AAU and high school basketball and went to the Indiana University basketball camp every summer for like six years. I swam competitively when I was in elementary school and high school. So, when I had to write about Phoebe running and hitting the wall and getting her second wind, I drew on my experiences in other sports. I thought about how it felt to swim that last 25yds in a 500yd race. I thought about all those suicides we had to run in basketball camp. That was more than enough running to last a lifetime.
- What were your favorite books growing up?
Qs About the Books
- If someone made a movie of Oh. My. Gods., who would you cast?
- I blogged about this a while back on Books, Boys, Buzz..., so you can check out my dream cast there. Also, when I'm in the early stages of writing a book, I do some collaging from magazine pictures to get the characters straight in my head. Check out the collages on the fun stuff page to see some of my real life inspirations for your favorite characters.
- Is it true that they're making a TV series of Oh. My. Gods.?
- Maybe. Fremantle Media (the producers of American Idol) has optioned the television rights on behalf of Ashley Tisdale. That means they bought a year to think about making a series. We'll have to wait and see what happens. (Update: Fremantle has renewed the option, which means they bought another year. Still no news.)
- Oopsy! You totally forgot to mention who Nicole's god is!
- No, I didn't forget. There are two reasons when Nicole's ancestor god is not revealed in Oh. My. Gods. or Goddess Boot Camp. First of all, Nicole's a little sneak. She wouldn't even tell me her supernatural heritage until after I'd finished Goddess Boot Camp. (It's really good. I mean, it's so good that you'll never guess!) At that point I could have somehow worked it into the story, but... The second reason is that I'm saving it. I have a super-terrific-fantabulous idea for a third book in the series that kind of hinges on Nicole's heritage. While there is no third installment in the works yet, I'm holding out hope that one day I'll get to write that story. If you want to get in on the guessing, join the Ning and weigh in on the Theories About Nicole forum.
Qs About Writing
- I want to be a writer. Got any advice?
- Read. Write. Join a writers group. Meet others like you. They'll make you feel better about so many things. Excerpt more. Write every day. Read extensively in the genre you write. Hone your craft. Learn as much as you can about writing and style and grammar and voice and plot and everything. Read Strunk and White. Read The Lively Art of Writing by Lucile Vaughan Payne. Read new authors in your genre to see what editors are buying. Write until you finish. Send it out. Keep sending it out until you find an agent who loves your book with the passion it deserves. Try not to stress about rejections. Everyone gets them. Everyone. Write something new. And if this all seems too overwhelming, just focus on the writing. That's all that matters anyway.
- I've already written a book/short story/poem. Can you read it?
- Sadly, no. Between writing and revising my own books and keeping up with e-mails, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, my blog... Well, you get the picture. You should find someone you trust (a friend, a teacher, probably not a parent--they're not good at unbiased opinions) and share your work with them. And promise yourself that you will take their opinion seriously, but not too seriously.