Friday, October 4, 2013

Kami Garcia Event Recap plus Giveaway

     On Tuesday, October 1st I went to Kami Garcia's launch event to kick off her tour. I originally wasn't planning on going to this event either, but I enjoyed her book so I decided to go. Boy am I glad I went. This was the event of the year!!! I thought we were going to be late because L.A. traffic is horrendous. Well we got to The Grove at 7:10 and I was bummed because I knew we were late. Luckily, by the time we got there it didn't start yet! We quickly grabbed a seat in the back as there were no more seats up front. As soon as the hubs and I sat down, low and behold Robyn Schneider was sitting right in front of me!!! I was like OMG, OMG Robyn freaking Schneider is only one foot away from me! Squeeee! I was trying to calm myself down but then here came Tahereh Mafi, Ransom Riggs, Leigh Bardugo, and Amber Benson!!! I was like holy freaking crow, this is author central here! Of all things they sat right behind me, so I was sandwiched between Robyn and Leigh...more squeeing!!!!!


     The next part where I talk about Kami Garcia and the panel may seem incoherent as I was fangirling and flailing like crazy, so bare with me on the details. I apologize lol. At about 7:30, in came Kami Garcia, Alyson Noel, Marie Lu, and Katie Alender. They introduced themselves and right away they went into Lightening Round. Sorry, I only remember the first question :0/

What is your favorite topping on pizza?
Alyson Noel: Umm cheese
Kami Garcia: Sausage
Marie Lu: Jalapenos
Katie Alender: Pepperoni

Second question: What is your favorite song to sing out loud to?
I just remember Alyson or Kami said Stairway To Heaven (sorry!)

Then it opened up to audience questions.
First question: Do you believe in ghosts?
KG: Yes and she's seen one. It was nice to her, not like the book.
ML: Yes but she hasn't seen one. She thinks her fiancé has a water spirit who follows him. One time when she was in bed, her fiancé was in the bathroom. When he went to turn on the light, the water in the faucet turned on full blast and he wasn't near the sink! That happens to him a lot.
KA: I didn't quite catch the whole story. Katie thought her husband was home because she heard steps, but it he wasn't home at all. It led to her saying they bought a dead writer's chair set before that. Kami told her to get rid of it since it's probably an evil spirit. It freaked her out a bit, in the end saying they moved so they're ok lol.

Ransom said her book has good music mentioned in the book, do they listen to a sound track when they are writing?
KG: No she can't concentrate with music on. She will make a play list before and after she writes the book to have the music go along with the themes.
AN: She makes sound tracks according to how the main character likes their music.

Question 3: Do you guys think you are better writers than Jessica Lange?
They all said NOOO!

Question 4: What's the difference between writing a YA book and an Adult book? (something like that)
KG: She can't answer that because she doesn't write adult books.
AN: Said it all depends on the mind set. However old the main character is, that's the mentality you have to think for the story.
ML: One thing she noticed is that adult authors hate each other, while YA authors are close friends. They are jealous that they get a long with each other, where as they fight all the time haha.
KG: People don't understand that we are not amateurs. It takes guts and dedication just to write a book. Back then, they didn't have a Young Adult section so when she's browses the adult section and sees Catcher In The Rye or other books such as that, she says "Nope that's a YA book!" The people who criticize us should write a book themselves and then tell us we can't write!

Question 5 went along the lines of: If you could be a super hero what would you be and why?
AN: She said something about having money so that way she can feed and clothe all the homeless in the world. Kami told her, well why don't you give them money? She said, the people will be happy enough with food and clothes lol.
ML: She wants to fly. Kami told her, "Oh no I hate flying!"
KA: I think she said she wished to be super strong or fast. Oh...and feed the hungry!

Question 6: What is the craziest fan moment that has happened to you?
AN: She went touring in Brazil once, and this very handsome man she quite adds, asked her to marry him! She said he was very young and handsome, and if she weren't married already she would be quite tempted hehehe.
KG: One time when she went on tour with Alyson, Melissa De La Cruz, and Margaret Stohl, this boy asked them to sign his chest. At first she was hesitant because she didn't want to get in trouble for looking like a pedophile, but his mom gave them permission! She signed it only because everyone else did and he was 17 and a half. Alyson claims he was 16, but Kami was in denial lol!
ML: Said she didn't have any crazy signings like that, though she will admit she got an email from a woman asking her to buy her a house! She was like, "I'm sorry you need help, but I'm trying to buy myself my own house too!"
KA: Katie said she's not popular enough for crazy book events either. She said one time she got invited to Melissa De La Cruz's party and Melissa is a very fashionable person. Right away she tried looking for the trendiest outfit and decided to wear boots. Well, when she got to the party, she only realized there that she had on two different boots! She was mortified and made her husband go home to get the same ones.

Question 7: Do you put people you know as characters in your book?
KG: Said no because she likes to kill off her characters. She would feel bad or worried if her friends got mad she killed them off. A long time ago, when she was fangirling over Ransom Riggs she had written a character about him. Well, they started to get know each other so she had to change the characters name. That got Ransom wondering who??? Oh, her mom thinks the character Ridley is about her when she was a hot young lady.
ML: Marie said the only character with the same name is her fiancé, Primo. It was only fitting to have an evil dictator with the name Primo because he's number 1. Her fiancé said, "Why couldn't he be Day Primo, like a middle name?" She just said no.
AN: Alyson said she did it once and it came back to bite her. 19 years ago she had a boyfriend from Greece. She said he was a wonderful boyfriend, but his mother was a nightmare from hell. To get her revenge, she put the mother in the book, Evermore with the same name and description. Fast forward a few years later, she visited Greece again and met up with her ex-boyfriend to see how he was doing. While she visited, the mother came up to her and apologized for being a mean person to her. They hugged and Alyson felt so guilty after because the ex's mother said she ordered Evermore and couldn't wait to read it! Alyson said she won't be visiting Greece again hahaha!

Question 8: How has it been writing by yourself?
KG: Said its different, boring and quiet! She enjoyed writing her own story and it felt like she was starting all over again. It was very hard for her though because she was used to the instant feedback with Margie. Since she didn't have that, she at one point got stuck and couldn't move on until someone read her book to give her input. Luckily Holly Black offered to help so she was able to move forward. The only thing Kami doesn't miss is that when she and Margie wrote Beautiful Creatures, she kids us not, every chapter Margie had one sentence that she always stuck with. While some sentences were fine, others did not fit the story. She always had to bargain with her on that part.

Last question I swear! Do you get any people who are not fans of your books?
KG: Oh yes! The one she can remember clearly was when Beautiful Creatures first came out. They were on their first tour and they asked this one girl in line if she liked their book? She said NO. They were stunned and asked her why? The girl said it is a copy cat of Cinda Williams Chima's books. Margie said how so? She said they're both about the MC finding out there is a world of magic and there are swords. (The whole crowd murmured NOOOO! Leigh said Hell NO!) Kami told her, HA there aren't any swords in our books, but the girl continued arguing with them. Margie got so mad and didn't want to sign the girl's book, but their publicist said they had to. Kami told us if that girl is listening she wants to tell her, HA Cinda is on tour with me and she likes my books!
KA: Katie mentioned that when she gave out the ARC's for Marie Antoinette, she got a letter in the mail from someone that read the ARC. The letter said that she enjoyed her book and while she read it she took the liberty of editing her book for her. The book had red markings everywhere! The real kicker was on the front, the person wrote Marie Antoinette should have a semi colon instead of a colon. (Leigh said, What?! That doesn't make sense!) Katie was mad and wrote a five page letter explaining all the details of the book and why a colon is correct. She did not mail the letter, she chose to move on from it.

The questions ended and it was time for a special musical guest to sing. Dom Liberati performed You Still Haunt Me that he wrote for the Unbreakable book trailer. His performance was awesome! It was pretty cool to see someone sing at a book event. After he sang it was time for the signing. As soon as everyone was in line I ran to the YA section, got Robyn Schneider's book, The Beginning of Everything and asked her to sign it for me! She was shocked that someone recognized her book! I told her I saw her on the Epic Reads interview and she was happy about that. She was really kind and sweet to me. I was screaming and flailing like a little girl. This truly was an epic event. I am so happy I went and everyone was hilarious!!!




     But WAIT! I have a surprise for you! I am also giving away a signed ARC of Unbreakable with a bookmark and book plate. To enter just fill out the rafflecopter below. Remember the rules! Must be 13 years old, no cheating, winner must reply within 48 hours, and this is a US giveaway only.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

7 comments:

  1. Wow! It sounds like this was a really fun, exciting event! I'm contemplating going to the Books of Wonder one, so. :)

    And no, I don't. I'm not really sure why, but I've just never believed in ghosts.

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    1. You should definitely go even if you can't afford the book! Kami is a really funny person. Plus, she has some awesome swag too! :D

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    2. Cool! Given that it's a three day weekend that week, I'm going to beg my parents to let me go. :)

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  2. I've heard her events are a ton of fun! There is one actually near me Monday, so I'm planning to go!

    Idk if I do or not. Hard question for me :/

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  3. I wish I could have been there! So as for ghosts, YES, I have seen TWO! My friends and I like to go on haunted adventures--late at night we go find the creepiest places we can in WA (graveyards and the like) and just get a thrill out of being scared out of our minds. Once we were driving and one of my friends and I both saw a kid on a bike, just slowly moving across the road in front of us and disappeared right into a hedge--not through the hedge, INTO it. We asked our other two friends if they saw it (it was right in front of us, there's no way you could miss it) but they had no idea what we were talking about! And once we were at a cemetery and the same friend and I were the only ones that saw a flash of white dart through the headstones--I'm POSITIVE it was a ghost.

    So creepy, but SUCH a thrill!

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  4. I'm so jealous! Wish I lived in California:( Thanks for the giveaway, and I only believe in ghosts after watching horror movies or reading a really scary book haha

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  5. Great event! There's probably such things as ghosts, I just haven't had an experience with one yet.

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