Interview with Claudia Gray

Today I have Claudia Gray on the blog.  Her newest book in the Evernight series, Afterlife,  is coming out March 8th by HarperTeen.  If you haven't read the Evernight series I suggest you jump on that right away! 

Claudia, it's a pleasure having you here on my blog today!  I'm a big fan of your books and I love that they have a unique feel to me.  They are full of twists and turns and I find predicting the outcome completely impossible.  I'm anxious to see where you take things!  
When you started writing the series did you know where things would go?  Were the majority of the twists and turns in your head at the beginning, or did they come later as you continued to write?  

 

Thanks so much! I'm delighted that you enjoy the plot twists and turns.  I do plan most of this out in advance -- I'm a big outliner. But while the biggest twists were mostly things I knew either before I began the series or soon after I began, there were a few things that popped up and surprised me along the way!  It's fun to strike the balance between what I knew was going to happen and what I never dreamed would happen. 

 

When you started the series what was your inspiration?  Did something specific spark the idea?

 

I was trying to think of how I could write for young adults.  I grew up in a very small town and attended a very small school K-12, so in many ways I had an atypical high school experience.  This made me think that I couldn't write for teens, because how did I know what their lives were really like?  Then I thought, well, what would be a school even more unusual than mine?  Evernight Academy sprang from that, and Bianca was born from my asking who would be the most interesting person to have studying there -- the person who would be most conflicted by it. 

 

What was the most challenging part of writing this series?  

 

Striking the balance between the overall plot arc of the series and the need for each book to be a complete story that could stand on its own in some way.  

What is one book that you find yourself constantly recommending to people? (I know that's hard, I'll let you name a few, if you prefer.)

 

A few YA books I push on everyone: HOW I LIVE NOW by Meg Rosoff; GOOD GIRLS by Laura Ruby; STEALING HEAVEN by Elizabeth Scott; anything by Kelley Armstrong; and of course THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins, though by now most people have heard of those with no help from me! 

If you could be a paranormal creature, what would you pick?

 

 

I'd be a witch. All the power, all the glamour, and very few drawbacks now that burning at the stake is only a remote possibility.  Plus you get to wear a lot of black. Very flattering. 

If you could have one super power what would it be?

 

 

Invulnerability.  Without that one, all the other superpowers are more or less useless.  I don't want to fly if I'm not going to be invulnerable to lightning strikes! 

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions! I can't wait to read Afterlife and share my thoughts with everyone! 

 

To learn more about Claudia Gray or to look up her books you can find her on her:

Website | Twitter

 

 

Will she be in your area? Here are her tour Dates:

March 8 @ 7:00 PM               

Changing Hands                      

Tempe, AZ

 

March 9 @ 7:00 PM               

Mysterious Galaxy                   

San Diego, CA

 

March 10 @ 6:00 PM 

Barnes & Noble

Frisco, TX

 

March 11 @ 4:30        

Park Road Books                    

Charlotte, NC

 

March 17 @ 7:00 PM             

Barnes & Noble                      

Roseville, MN

*Dark Days group event w/ Kimberly Derting and Courtney Allison Moulton

 

March 18 @ 7:00 PM             

Anderson’s                              

Naperville, IL

*Dark Days group event w/Ellen Schreiber, Kimberly Derting and Courtney Allison Moulton

 

March 19 @ 7:00 PM 

Books & Books                      

Coral Gables, FL

*Dark Days group  event w/  Kimberly Derting and Courtney Allison Moulton