Books for YA!: Author's Slambook: Elizabeth May + Giveaway

Author Bio
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Elizabeth May currently resides in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her fiancé, Mr May. THE FALCONER is her début novel. For more information, follow her on Twitter @_ElizabethMay or visit her website www.elizabethmaywrites.com

Favorites

1. What is your favorite color? Teal! Or, maybe, violet.

2. Favorite food? I probably enjoy anything put down on a plate in front of me, but cake makes me happiest.

3. Favorite movie of all time? Some Like it Hot makes me irrationally happy.

4.Favorite song? Right now it’s NIN’s “And All That Could Have Been”, but that could change as soon as next week.

5. Favorite book of all time? GOOD OMENS by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

All about Writing

1. How did your interest in writing originate?

Mostly in an attempt to be an exceedingly clever and insolent child in grade school. What did I do on my summer vacation? Lounging on the couch isn’t an answer? Fine. I hunted for monsters. I found the Loch Ness Monster in the pool. Etcetera.

2. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

It goes something like this:

2 cups of coffee in the morning, write for 2 hours.

Nap.

More coffee. Write for 2 more hours.

Consider napping, but write for another hour.

Nap.

Naps are very important, you see.

3. Do you work with outline or just write?

I work with a general outline, but it’s nothing set in stone. I’m able to outline about 2/3 of the book to pretty detailed accuracy (with wiggle room for plot developments, but usually it works well enough that I don’t have to toss it in the bin), but the last act of the book is less clear until I begin writing. I always, always have the end game in mind, but I’m pretty foggy on how that plays out.

4. What was the hardest part in writing your book? The easiest?

The hardest part is writing the rough draft. I have Blank Screen Anxiety, which is where you look at the curser blinking in Word, the empty white page, and you realize you have to come up with all the words that are going to go on that page. And those words? Yeah, they’re not always pretty to read at first. In fact, they can be downright awful. So the entire rough draft process is a self-flagellating period where you say to yourself, “Your writing sucks. This book sucks. I hope you can make it better. Because it really sucks.”

Which leads to the easiest part for me, and that’s the editing. All the words have been written, the ideas are already there so you can focus on the words and the story and how to make them better.

I can’t remember where I heard it, but it’s something like: I may be a horrible writer, but I am a great editor.

5. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I like to slink around the Scottish countryside and take pictures of pretty things.

Finish the sentence

1. The difference between fiction and reality is that I can personally fly in one, but have to use a plane in the other.

2. Research is what I'm doing when I don’t want to write, but I feel like I should.

3. I can write better when drinking copious amounts of coffee.

4. Sleep is an excellent way to experience the zombie apocalypse, because if you get bitten, at least it’s not permanent.

5. A room without a book is a cry for help. You should help by putting books in it.

Books

Title: The Falconers
Genre/s: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Steampunk
Publisher: Gollancz (UK)
Expected Publication: September 26, 2013
Add to Goodreads TBR List
Buy: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Book Depo

Synopsis:

Heiress. Debutant. Murderer. A new generation of heroines has arrived.

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1844

Lady Aileana Kameron, the only daughter of the Marquess of Douglas, was destined for a life carefully planned around Edinburgh’s social events – right up until a faery killed her mother.

Now it’s the 1844 winter season and Aileana slaughters faeries in secret, in between the endless round of parties, tea and balls. Armed with modified percussion pistols and explosives, she sheds her aristocratic facade every night to go hunting. She’s determined to track down the faery who murdered her mother, and to destroy any who prey on humans in the city’s many dark alleyways.

But the balance between high society and her private war is a delicate one, and as the fae infiltrate the ballroom and Aileana’s father returns home, she has decisions to make. How much is she willing to lose – and just how far will Aileana go for revenge?