Event Recap: RED QUEEN by Victoria Aveyard

For one of the first events of 2015, Caitlyn, Olivia (Vlogger at We Think We're Funny), and I went 

to The Grove B&N for Victoria Aveyard's RED QUEEN. At first Tahereh Mafi was supposed 

to be moderating but she wasn't able to make it because she was sick. 

WE SEND OUR WISHES TAHEREH! Hope you feel better! <3

She gave a blurb on what the book was and decided she would rather not read a passage from

the book, started answering questions from the audience, and then started the signing. She also mentioned that since being a screenwriter wouldn't be a secure enough job, so her novel was kind of like a backup drop (of a sort). 

Q&A: (This isn't verbatim just the generally gist of the answer/question) 

Q: If you had an ability what would it be?

A:Time travel b/c she's a history nerd and would love to see how events actually played out. 

Q: Was the title based on the Red Queen definition/theory? 

A: Kind of. It's coined from Alice in Wonderland about how people are always evolving (And something else that I'm not quite sure of) 

Q: Anything you can tell us about the movie? 

A: There's a movie in the works. Universal has optioned it and there's a screenplay with Sony. 

Q: Books or screenplays?
A: When she's working on a book, she likes screenplays more and when she's working on a screenplay she likes books more.  

Q: Inspiration?

A: She was reading an Amazon list thingy for her internship at Fox and was just thinking that she could probably write one. And then she started thinking how cool it would be to have a book about a girl with a lightning power. 

Q: Did you ever think about changing degrees? 

A: She was already on the path for a major that didn't require her to take math and it would have gotten complicated if she did end up changing degrees.

Q: What's your writing process like? 

She likes to take on store-hours (10-6) and only works during the week.

Q: Worldbuilding?

A: This was the least worldbuilding she's done for any of her works. (Currency is too complicated) She usually has maps and such to get the basic dynamics. And I think she mentioned that the caste system and such just evolved as she wrote the book. 

Q: Biggest challenge?

A: When she first started, she had no desk. But honestly just getting it done was a hard thing for her.

Q: What's your writing environment like? Music or no music?

A: For intense scenes she usually turns down the music. Sometimes she's creating a playlist because that does relate to books so it's not exactly procrastination. 

Q: Would you ever like to write adult fantasy so you can go in depth on the world building? 

A: She would love to write one eventually.

Q: Have you known you wanted to be a writer? (Didn't quite catch the question)  

A: She's always been writing but never really thought about writing novels.

Q: What's your favorite quote or passage from the book? 

A: "I thought I could set this world..."

Q: Who's your favorite LotR character?A: Sam & Gimley

And then the signing began...(If I didn't mention before, the event was a full house!) 

There was more people in the front too.

 

 (Caitlyn on the top left, me on the top right, and Olivia on the bottom)

So I'm always (or well usually) on Twitter at book events and I heard that Nicola Yoon and other authors were also at the event. I then questioned whether I should or shouldn't go up to say hi (got the encouragement when I got thumbs up from awesome bloggers). So we were able to meet Nicola Yoon, author of Everything, Everything, Kerry Kletter, author of The First Time She Drowned (2016), and Adriana Mather, author of How to Hang a Witch (2016). So needless to say, it was a pretty fun event. 

(Left to Right: Nicola, Caitlyn, Kerry, me, and Adriana) 

So glad to be able to go to this event and hopefully Victoria will be coming to your city as well!

Enjoy a pic of the dancing red water from the The Grove...