The time we had a gag order

Posted January 6, 2015 by Stacee in Signings | 3 Comments

When Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner announced a US tour, I was really hoping they would do a SoCal date because I didn’t get to see them when they were at MGRB. So of course when a date at MG was announced, Michelle and I were going.

We met at the new store {OMG SO GORGEOUS!} and we got books before heading to Cocos for pie.

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They set up the seating in the New Event Area and got front row seats. The authors came out right at 5 and MaryElizabeth called me out for typing on my phone. When I said that I was typing up my blog post, MaryElizabeth said that I could add to the post that she called me out.

aa

MaryElizabeth introduced them and asked them about how the trilogy wasn’t traditional.

M: A traditional trilogy is same world and same characters. Like The Hunger Games. Our trilogy is a little different. The main characters change in each book.

{At this point, Meagan knocked over her water bottle, but caught it.  I said she was a ninja and Amie said that Meagan’s superpower was recovery.  That she is the biggest klutz, but has the best recovery.  She will do a crazy windmill type motion, but never hits the ground.}

{To Amie:} What is your answer to superpowers?

A: Great persuasion. I can talk anyone into doing anything they don’t want to do. Things that are outside their comfort zone.  Just ask Meg.

Do you have to have read These Broken Stars first?

A: You don’t have to, but if you have you’ll get more out it.

M: There are some big things from book 1 that you’ll get spoiled with if you haven’t read it.

a

What is the attraction between rebels and soldiers?

M: It’s all about opposites. It’s a guy and a girl and they usually hate each other.

A: It’s totally different worlds, they have different morals and values.

{There was a conversation about Lilac and how people were quick to judge her.  There were even some readers who mentioned that they were upset with themselves for judging Lilac. One person even said that they realized that they are unfair to women in real life.}

A: We did the journey before the characters did. Are the soldiers oppressing us or helping us? We both had different views.  And we argued about it.  Here’s this rational person that you respect and see eye to eye about things most of the time…

M: But you could honestly see where the other person was coming from.  No one had to change their opinion.

How does the partnership work?

M: I know it wouldn’t work with just anyone. There has to be chemistry. For me, it’s a lot of fun and there’s instant feedback. If you think something is bad, that other person can tell you if it’s great or it’s bad.

A: There’s someone in the trenches with you.

M: Amie writes the male POV and I wrote the girls. She’ll write a chapter and I’ll lightly revise it. During revisions it’s a free for all, we both rewrite each other’s things.  We get to a point where neither of us remember who wrote what.

A: We’re on opposite sides of the planet, so when I’m going to bed, Meg is waking up. We do a little hand off.  I’ll tell her what I’ve been working on and if she wants to keep me working on my part, these are the things I need her to work on.

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How did you find each other?

A: Online. We met writing fanfiction online. When Meg’s series got published, we thought it was maybe something we could do.

M: We have so many things that we’ve written that no one has seen. We played with the characters for about a year before we showed anyone.

What are you reading right now?

M: Seconds by Bryan Lee O’Malley. It’s a graphic novel and it was amazing. If anyone is looking to get into comics, pick it up.

A: Now That You’re Here by Amy Nichols. I blurbed it and I loved it.

M: I just realized that we didn’t talk about what are books were about. A reader told us that it’s that it’s like the movie Titanic, if it were in space and the ship crashed within 15 minutes and they landed on the planet from Lost.

A: When the initial synopsis for This Shattered World came up, they didn’t mention the sex of the soldier so everyone thought it was a same sex couple. No one thought the solider could be a girl.

M: We wanted two completely different characters.

A: Lilac is a girly girl. She’s strong and proving herself, but liked dresses. Jubilee would punch you if you tried to put her in a dress. Tarver is a total solider and Flynn hates war.

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Can you tell us something about the dress?

M: The covers are based on real photographs. The dress is custom made and they sent it to us.

A: The model on the cover, look at how serene she looks. She’s on a trampoline, like 6 feet in the air and there are all sorts of people spotting her.  Afterwards, I asked them what the people were actually going to do if she fell.  They told me that they would have probably all jumped out of the way, but it made the model feel better.

At this point, Meagan and Amie told us that they had gotten the okay to sort of talk about book 3.  We were put on a strict gag order.  We were not allowed to post the name of the title {which we learned} or anything about book 3 {which we got a slight idea}.  I raised my hand to ask a question a MaryElizabeth asked if I needed to be sent away from the room.  I asked if we were allowed to brag about the information without being specific and they said yes.

INSERT ALL OF THE AWESOME STUFF ABOUT BOOK 3.

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M: Marie Lu asked us if we like writing action or romance more. It’s like action! Romance! Action! Romance! I decided I wanted kissing and explosions all the time. The best part is that we don’t have a budget. We don’t have to worry about something plummeting about of the sky and bouncing.

A: But now it’s being optioned for tv and they’re like “good lord”. The way the Icarus fell was correct. People think that because there’s a girl in a dress on the cover, it’s not a real sci-fi.

M: These books were checked by physicists and biologists and a Irish language specialist.

A: A lot of stuff isn’t possible yet, but we wanted to make sure it was as close as we could get.

M: We get a lot of people who claim these books are romance. And that’s fine, it is. But it’s also sci-fi.  But, in some places, it’s getting taken out of the sci-fi section because it’s written by female authors with female characters on the cover.

{There was a lot more to this section. There was an entire conversation about female characters and how Amie used to be a mediator and the assy thing an electrician said to her.}

A: We need to stop making characters who do things that we don’t know how to do. We have a friend who is a doctor who gets emails randomly: I need to make someone lose an arm, but they need to be in a action sequence later… And she’s a big reader, so she doesn’t even flinch.  She’ll just start answering me.

d

Who is your favorite character?

A: It’s whoever I’m writing at then moment. This guy for book 3 is a lot of fun.

M: The girl in book 3 is also a lot of fun. When I started writing Jubilee, it was so much fun because I was so deep into writing Lilac and Jubilee was new.

{There is a lot of stuff that came after this, but I was enjoying the conversation, and I sort of stopped typing. Sorry that this is just such a hot mess of a recap.}

Each author then talked about what they had coming up.  Meagan’s info was included under the gag order. Amie’s upcoming stuff sounds amazing.

Will any of the characters from the other books be in book 3?

M: We don’t want to say yes or no and spoil anyone. But I will say that all of the surviving characters from each book will be in book 3.

A: And they all come together. They all have histories that you won’t learn until book 3.

From there, MaryElizabeth thanked them for coming and the signing started.  I ended up being the first person in line.  I gave Amie my arc of TBS and Meagan my copy of TSW.  Meagan asked if I was from the internet and I gave them my Twitter handle.  They both said it was so nice to finally meet me.  I thanked them for coming and grabbed some gorgeous bookmarks.  I also thanked them for the awesome tote bag {not pictured because it’s still in my car}.  Amie said going to the signings were the only way to get one — so if you’re planning on seeing them, make sure you pick one up!

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Meagan and Amie are adorable together.  They finish each other’s sentences and their presentation was captivating to listen to.  I can’t recommend their books enough… And if you get a chance to see them? Drop everything and go.

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3 responses to “The time we had a gag order

  1. omg! gag order :( I can’t wait to see what book three will be about now. The anticipation!!! *flails*
    side note: your recaps are awesome. I cheat and record them, then post the audio :p

    • Stacee

      I’ll be honest, book 3 sounds so amazing. It’s sort of sad that it’s so far away!

      And thank you! People loving the recaps is the one of the best compliments I can get for the blog.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

  2. I’m completely green with envyyyyy!! I adore these ladies and their books and I SO WISH I COULD BE IN THE US to go to the tour!!

    Thank you for an awesome recap with all the teasing with book 3 info!!

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