Out and About: Book Signing with Victoria Aveyard

Out and about is a feature here on Fragments of Life for events, book launches and movie adaptations.

I finished Red Queen and Glass Sword and the novellas in a little more than a week. It was cross over galore. It had an entertaining cast, a beautiful setting and a robust rebellion, which I all love. Today, I met the author and the creator of Cal, Victoria Aveyard in the book signing. #VictoriaAveyardinPH was enlightening - I got to ask the question that has been burning in my mind.

The Basics
Who: Victoria Aveyard
What books: Red Queen, Glass Sword + Cruel Crown.
When: March 6, 2016
Where: National Book Store, Glorietta 1

What I learned about Victoria Aveyard, her books and her writing style from the Q&A:

Here was my question to Victoria: Could you tell us if there is some kind of scientific background or explanation regarding the First Divide, when Silver and Red blood split two ways?
It was a result of nuclear warfare a thousand years before the story happened. There was mutation among mankind.

Victoria's advice to writers:
You have to finish your first draft. You need to finish your book before you could sell your book. Victoria is fond of action sequences and high-octane parts. It is easier for her to draw out a map of long battle sequences. In order to be good at writing action scenes, you need to read stuff with it and internalize the language of it. Though you need to balance it out a little - 100 pages of action scenes could just be 10 minutes in real time.

Which is more important: characters or plot?
Victoria started Red Queen with the world or in this case, an image = the Red girl in an arena about to be executed but then she kills her executioner instead, with lightning. Victoria's style is from macro to micro. Characters are more important for her. It is more important to have characters that are relatable because they keep the story alive and keep the readers reading.

On the story of Red Queen being set from a duology to a saga:
In book two, Glass Sword, Victoria figured out the ending of the story. She doesn't consider having four books for the series as extending or stretching the story. It all had to do with understanding the characters and their reactions to what was happening in the book. The characters were moving on their own accord, taking specific turns to specific paths and taking detours around the plot.

How far is Red Screen from the silver screen?
Elizabeth Banks has been signed to direct the movie. Victoria feels that she is very much involved in the process. It was also great that this was her line of her work, this way she knows where her job/her role ends. She doesn't stress out too much about the entire thing.

Victoria's favorite fantasy books and books that she drew inspiration from:

1. Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien - this was mainly Victoria's inspiration. She mentioned that she brought the book around with her for two years and kept rereading it.
2. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling - she starting reading the Harry Potter series when she was nine years old. The last book was released when she was 17 years old. She was just "there" during the Harry Potter period.
3. Song of Ice and Fire- She loved how the author twists fantasy tropes. No one's good and no one's evil in the novel. Good characters make bad decisions. Bad characters make good decisions. The characters were in a gray area and this made them more interesting.

What are the advantages of having a film/screenplay writer background in writing a book?
Film school gave Victoria a comprehensive, highly detailed way of storytelling. Pacing is key. Escalation is the name of the game. Each scene/chapter should up the ante. You should know your audience. Her main role was an entertainer to her audience. Screenplay is like poetry for her. In a screenplay you need to finish telling a story with limited words and make use of context really well in 120 pages tops. In a novel, you could really, completely paint a picture. She prefers to work on whatever she wasn't working on.

Which part was the most difficult to write?
It was difficult to write the 'quiet scenes' for Victoria Aveyard - the part where the characters regrouped after something bad happens. In the Red Queen, it was the entire middle of the book. After a certain character had died, the protagonist was a lunatic.

Inspiration for the names and abilities of the royal houses: Victoria did a lot of google translation from English to Latin and vice versa. Cal was from the word Calore, which meant heat in Spanish. She also played with a few words: Osanos sounded like ocean. Victoria used wikipedia to research about super powers. Some of the super powers serviced the plot. Elora had to be a mindreader. Evangeline, who could control metal, always had needles around her which was an indication of her character.

Victoria on literary betrayals: Game of Thrones is the ultimate book for literary betrayals. There was a time when the author of Game of Thrones took three characters successively and Victoria had to be in a dark place, sad and broken. Harry Potter was another favorite of hers, Sirius Black + Dumbledore. Taking away the mentor was storytelling 101. It was a pattern that people follow.

Victoria on the third book: Characters who are not that present in Glass Sword will be in Red Queen 3, based on what happened towards the end of Glass Sword.

Victoria on the strong presence of feminist indicators in the book: Victoria is a modern woman. It is her natural inclination to write about a woman who is respected, who is a strong, opinionated character but isn't necessarily a perfect one. Victoria liked Mare's flaws above her powers.

Victoria on mixed fantasy, science fiction and dystopian genres in Red Queen: Victoria likes genre mashups. She is a kitchen sink writer and she needs to love what she writes. Dystopia is the background/setting of the story. Fantasy is the power house/monarchy set-up. Science fiction is the super powers of the characters.

Victoria on the portrayal of Mare and what readers could expect from Mare after Glass Sword:
Glass Sword is the book where Mare wobbles. It was her anti-hero moment. In the third book, Mare would realize that she is not the center of the universe. Here is a brief rundown of what happens to Mare:

Book 1: She trusts the wrong people.
Book 2: She doesn't trust anybody.
Book 3: She tries to trust who she is and who she could be.

My Reaction: It was really fun to go out to meet bookish people and another amazing author after several months of quiet life. I missed the zing and enthusiasm in the air. I missed being with my blogger ladies and gents. It's always great to be able to mingle and discuss things with like-minded people. NBS staff were awesome as usual - seriously, they do a great job in making a booklover's dream come true. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to have a giveaway copy signed for you guys this time around. The rules said three books and I had three - if I knew, I would have bought the ebook version of the novella, instead. I'll try to whip up something by next week! *winks*

My black shirt, my hair and Miss Aveyard

Victoria and I

Signed books :)

The group and Victoria Aveyard. I'm the one holding Glass Sword.

Thank you to National Bookstore and Harper Collins for making this happen! You guys rock.

Out + About: Book Signing with Colleen Hoover, Tarryn Fisher and Christine Brae + Giveaway

Out and about is a feature here on Fragments of Life for events and book launches. Today's post is about #CTCinPH - the Manila leg of Colleen Hoover, Tarryn Fisher and Christine Brae's visit to the Philippines.

Tarryn, Colleen and Christine

Today, Sunday, September 13th 2015, I felt like I went to work (on a positive note) because I just spent seven hours with my blogger friends and amazing bestselling authors and brilliant NBS Staff. Remember all those Colleen Hoover (and of course Tarryn Fisher and Christine Brae) books you have stashed on the most secure, most seen spot of your bookshelf? You were probably out today in the area between Toy Kingdom and the Food Court at the lower ground floor of SM Megamall.

The Q & A with the authors was interesting. It was the first time that I interacted with New Adult (NA) authors. I am primarily a YA girl. The questions more or less revolved around the writing and publishing of books. A lot of aspiring writers would find the information valuable. So, here are the things I learned from Colleen, Tarryn and Christine:

Colleen Hoover

• Colleen could only see herself writing with Tarryn. She thinks that it might not work for all writers. With Tarryn, they kept sending the draft back and forth until it was finished.
• Her favorite thing about self-publihing is not having boss. Not having a boss means that there is less stress and it feels less lirk. The hard part of it is that there are thousands of books being released every day. There are countless amazing books that go unnoticed. It is hard to break into it when you're a new author.
• In Colleen's books, there is always a twist. She mentioned that she just waits for inspiration to hit her. She doesn't necessarily google or researrch stuff for her to be inspired.
• Back in 2011, the emergent "NA" genre still didn't exist. And yet it was this year when Colleen Hoover's book was published. She mentioned that she doesn't necessarily write a genre. She writes story that she wants to write. She only found out about the term "NA" or New Adult six months after the book was published. Colleen mentions that she is very disorganized when it comes to her writing. She tends to be manic, in which she has to allot consecutive days locked away to work on her book. She can't ever end with a sad scene because then she would feel sad. This is the reason why she puts humor into her books.
• She is actually experiencing writer's block because she doesn't know the name of the female main character. She has to know the name, in order to proceed to write the story. She also mentioned that the name of the male main character should always be unique and unforgettable because this is what readers remember.
• Writing is crazy. She feels that she lives more in a fantasy world, in her head, and she visits her house every now and then.

Tarryn Fisher

• For Tarryn, co-writing a story was enjoyable experience, Colleen and her did it for fun. She can't see herself writing with anybody else.
• Self-publishing is badass. It's a deviant movement because some people say that there is something wrong with their books and that it can't be published. However, based on Tarryn's experience, self-publishing is successful. The hard part of self-publishing is when people don't take you seriously.
• Tarryn's writing process: Feel something - anger, etc. Write daily, a few hours or so. Be in her character, to make it authentic (this involves reading books and watching movies that is related to her character).
• She doesn't think too hard about the character names. Whenever she is writing, and she would then need a name, it just drops into her mind.
• Good writing is a combination of believable characters, a good story and beautiful words. This can also be related to developing a style and reading a lot. She incorporates pieces of what she loves into her style.
• "Only you can see the world the way you see it."

Christine Brae

• Christine can't imagine herself co-writing with anybody, due to her busy schedule.
• Self-publishing entails doing it all on your own. You need to have your own resources, your own readers, etc. The good thing about it is that you can write whatever you want and when you feel that it is ready to be shared, you can share it with the world (aka self-publish).
• Christine's writing process: She starts from the ending and move backwards. (In fact, whenever she reads a book, she always reads the last line first. Just like I do.)
• Every character's name has a meaning in Christine's books. She researches the meaning of names before she uses them.

I have to admit that a big chunk of my book pile was written by Colleen Hoover. After reading Ugly Love and Maybe Someday, I have become a fangirl, indeed. There was something about her writing, something good and addictive. All of the books she wrote were superfluous in the narration. The plot and the story itself and the way in which it was told were all seamless. Enough of my babbling, I'm practically typing all this while I'm still high off of it.

Me, the authors, Maricar from Blackplume and signed pretties!

Bloggers :)

I have an extra copy of Never Never, signed by Tarryn and Colleen, for giveaway. This one is only open for Philippine residents. Sorry, my international lovelies, I will have something super nice for you soon!

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Out and About: Book Signing with #KMRinPH + Giveaway: Signed Paperback of The Beginning of Everything

Out and about is a feature here on Fragments of Life for events and book launches.

This rainy Sunday morning, I had the opportunity to meet three amazing contemporary authors. Being in the presence of KMR (Katie, Melissa and Robyn) left me buzzing with excitement and sheer book love. As Lyra from Defiantly Deviant says: This is what it feels like to be in YA Contemporary Heaven! So please join me as I recap #KMRinPH.

The Basics
Who: Katie Cotugno, Melissa Kantor and Robyn Schneider
What books: Katie Cotugno: How to Love + 99 Days
Melissa Kantor: Maybe One Day, Better than Perfect and more
Robyn Schneider: The Beginning of Everything + Extraordinary Means
When:July 5th 2015
Where: National Book Store, Glorietta 1

What I learned about Katie, Melissa and Robyn from the Q&A:

 

• Melissa would like to write historical fiction but she finds the idea of it daunting. Historical fiction entails a lot of research to do. She wants to get the information right.
• Robyn would like to write horror fantasy, in which there is an element of horror but the heroine still feels like a 'real girl' living in a world that we can relate to.
• In Katie's books, her characters make mistakes and they are not perfect. This is the kind of story that she wants to write -stories about people who make mistakes. She feels that this makes the story more 'real' and genuine.
• For Robyn,   
• The biggest challenge for Melissa was making Zoe (from Maybe One Day) likable. There were things that Zoe said in the book that seemed harmless to Melissa, but it came out as negative/rude for other people. In the original draft, Zoe was much nastier.
• The authors are drawn to the YA genre for the following reasons: Katie actually wrote How to Love when she was in high school. She mentioned that from the perspective of a teenager, everything feels important and feelings are intense. She thinks that this is a fertile ground for story telling. For Melissa, it would be the fact that every decision seems important. There is intensity in writing about teens. Meanwhile, Robyn likes to write about impactful firsts. She finds it exciting and great to try to remember parts of herself through writing. She also mentioned that teens read to find themselves in the world and this is one of the things that draws her to YA.
• Melissa outlines before she writes. She mentioned that as a writer, you need to find the process that works for you. When Robyn writes, she gets various inputs from different people. She figures out everything and everyone that influences and is involved with the main character. She gathers her materials, builds the background of her character and when she has these ingredients, she starts to write.
• All of the leading guys in Robyn's books are patterned after herself. Ezra reflects how she was like in high school while Laine reflects how she was like in college. As for Melissa, one of the leading men in her books was actually inspired by a serious ex-boyfriend named Steve.
• Melissa commented that the people around you (the writer) tend to attribute names to your characters even though it was unintential at the time of writing.
• The authors' favorite part of writing YA novels are: (Melissa) romance scenes: seeing him across the room scene and the kissing scene; (Katie) figuring out how you feel about things in the world and; (Robyn) nerdy popculture references/fandom.
• When Robyn writes, she is basically trying to answer her own questions. She doesn't have a complicated writing style - she just writes really fast, as simple and true as she can be.
• Katie's next book is set in 1990s Florida, during the time of boybands. It is a popstar book about two not-so-famous popstars.
• Robyn prefers writing from a male's point of view. For her, it is like writing a fantasy - writing something that is away from her true self. Ezra was so much easier to write. She was drawn to his brokenness.
• Melissa changed publishers. For her, it was like reinventing herself.
• If the authors have to write a book about their lives, the titles would be:
• Melissa: Don't Press Send - she feels that she had said too many things that she shouldn't have via email.
• Katie: Places I Have Fallen and Injured Myself - she is clumsy. Each chapter would be a specific injury that she had endured.
• Robyn: #ihatehashtags - she just finds herself angry at the internet culture, especially with #hashtags.

 

Book Signing - up close and personal

Talking to each one of the authors was great - they were all so warm.

Me and Maricar from Blackplume with Katie, Melissa and Robyn.

A signing isn't complete without my lovely bloggers.

The signed pretties!

I can never say thank you enough to National Book Store for the amazing experience!

Ladies and gents, one lucky reader of Fragments of Life will win a signed paperback copy of The Beginning of Everything! Rules: Be a follower + should be a resident of the Philippines (sorry, international readers - but I'm currently running an international giveaway of a Pre-order of Six of Crows!) Enter below.

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Out and About: Book Signing with Leigh Bardugo + Giveaway: Signed Shadow and Bone + Six of Crows

Out and about is a feature here on Fragments of Life for events, book launches and movie adaptations.

Shadow and Bone has been in my wishlist for a very long time now. I love fantasy, stories set in Russia and light versus darkness theme. I kept delaying getting my hands on the first and book. And when I finally got a copy, I couldn't stop reading. The book basically took hold of me and refused to give me my life back (in a very good way, I assure you.) That was the beginning of my fangirling. This weekend, I was blessed to be able to attend #LeighBardugoInPh.

The Basics
Who: Leigh Bardugo
What books: Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, Ruin and Rising + Six of Crows.
When: June 21st 2015
Where: National Book Store, Glorietta 1

What I learned about Leigh Bardugo, her books and her writing style from the Q&A:

Here is my question to Leigh: Exotic languages are featured in your series. Could you tell us if these are inspired by the current languages of the world or if you followed Tolkien’s steps and made your own languages?
Leigh based the languages in the Grisha trilogy on the cultures and languages of the world. Ravkan was Russian. Kerch was based on the language in the Dutch Republic during the 1700s. Fjerdan was her Scandinavian.

If you had to choose one amplifier from the Grisha trilogy, what will it be and why?
Leigh will choose the firebird. She is an animal lover. An amplifier could be an animal or a person, slain, and then pieces of them - usually bones,antlers,etc - are worn by the Grisha. This boosts their power. Leigh had a hard time writing the scenes wherein animals were killed.

With the editing process, I assume you removed some scenes from the manuscript. Are there any scenes (HOPEFULLY A BIT STEAMY OR ROMANCE-HEAVY) that you cut and regret?
No, Leigh writes outlines, so the cutting of scenes is rare. However, she took some action scenes from Siege and Storm and put them into the middle of Ruin and Rising.

Can you make a haiku, right now, to describe Six of Crows?

Six deadly outcasts
One impossible heist, yeah!
You should order it

We heard you're writing a book about Sturmhond. When can we expect to hear all about it? And obviously we all love him, but what was special about writing Sturmhond that he's getting a spin-off?
Sturmhond is a very interesting character. He's a privateer and is always doing risky and adventurous things. While Leigh was writing Siege and Storm, this (Sturmhond) character swaggered his way into the scene and started talking. He wouldn't shut up. Leigh already know how his story is gonna go and who he will end up with. However, Leigh is taking a break from the Grisha trilogy after writing the sequel of Six of Crows. She might (please, please, please) write Sturmhond's story after that.

Your upcoming book, Six of Crows is set in the same world as the Grisha trilogy, what made you decide to continue writing a story in the same world instead of creating a new one?
Kerch is a very interesting setting. It is cosmopolitan, hub of legal and illegal trade.

Supposedly a villain who wants to take over the world but like me, many readers ended up liking The Darkling instead. How hard was it to build The Darkling’s character and was it intentional to make him that kind of character?
Leigh set out to write characters and not love interests. Each character has their own motives, goals, reasons and journey.

Is there any chance we’ll have a novella about Alina’s origins and where her powers came from?
There are many threads about Alina's past and it would be interesting to explore them. Leigh says this is a possibility! Hopefully in the near future.

What was your inspiration for creating The Grisha?
Leigh likes Old World England but she felt that there were too many stories set in England. Leigh wanted to bring readers to another place. She thought of Russia, the era wherein there were two elements at work: rise of modern technology and medieval magic.

Six of Crows is the first book in a new series also set in the Grisha world. How has the experience of conceptualizing and writing this new series been unique from writing the Shadow and Bone books?
In Six of Crows, the whole setting was in place before Leigh wrote it. It has five POVs and flashbacks. Shadow and Bone was a classic chosen one story. Leigh wanted to write a book about the people who aren't chosen.

Aside from high fantasy, what genre do you see yourself writing in the future?
Horror. Leigh's upcoming book is called Slasher Girls and Monster Boys, which comes out in August. Leigh is also going to be contributing a story which is not set in our world, for an anthology called Summer Days & Summer Nights, edited by Stephanie Perkins.

If you were to collaborate with one author on a story, who would it be and what would the story be?
Leigh would like to write with Laini Taylor. Although she noted that they have very different writing styles. While Leigh outlines, Laini writes the entire book, reads it again and edits it, and so on.

How has life changed for you after the success of the Grisha trilogy?
A few years back, Leigh was really broke. Although she worked as a make-up artist in Hollywood, and people perceives this as a glamorous job, her heart wasn't exactly there. A friend of hers drew a picture of her in a book signing, as a gift to her on her 14th birthday. She knew that this scenario was something that she would like to experience and continue experiencing in her life. Leigh is literally has her dream job.

Big thanks to National Book Store for the awesome event! TWO lucky readers of Fragments of Life will win a signed paperback of Shadow and Bone and a pre-order of Six of Crows.

Okay ladies and gents, mechanics of the giveaway. There will be two winners. The winner from the Philippines will win the signed paperback copy and the international winner will win a pre-order of Six of Crows! How does that sound? :) Enter below.

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Out and about: Book Signing with E. Lockhart + Giveaway: Signed Paperback of We Were Liars!

Out and about is a feature here on Fragments of Life for events, book launches and movie adaptations.

This time around, I am sharing my experience about the #ELockhartInPH event.

The Basics:

Who: The author is: Emily Lockhart. The Organizer is: National BookStore.

What books:

The books!

Book Description:

Hardcover, 225 pages
Published May 13th 2014 by Delacorte Press

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

When: March 22nd 2015

Where: National Book Store, Glorietta 4

What I learned about E. Lockhart Frey, her books and her writing style from the event:

Frankie was different in lots of ways better than the author. Frankie is a very difficult person. - executes large-scale and political and funny series of pranks. The pranks end up shaking up the social hierarchy of her high school and end up bringing down the all-male secret society. These pranks took the author forever to figure out, the author had to read tons of books on college pranks.

All her characters have a big part of Emily. Frankie is smarter than the author really was.

Emily basically like to experiment with formats. The boyfriend list has lists. Emily always set herself some kind of structural challenge. In We were Liars, the various tales that Cadence tells are used as interstitials between the stories while not really revealing anything major. In We Were Liars, for the first time, Emily used a different word processor. She used Scrivener, which allows you to see the structure of the book that you're writing from a bird's eye. You can look at the pieces from above and move it around. Emily shared the book with a lot more colleagues than she normally does. She didn't know when people would have the misleading suspicions that she wanted them to have or when they would figure out the plot.

Emily was taught the same way you were taught how to write - to erase yourself. She came out of college writing as formally, as invisibly as a person could be. She writes the same way that she would talk to a friend. The way that you would tell a story to a friend is quite unusual, because you jump back and forth through time, the same way you tell a story, you don't have to make sure that everything is in order. You don't have to be invisible. You just fill them out with what they should know.

Lockhart went to two different high schools: she grew up in Seattle in Washington state and went to the Northwest School of the arts, humanities and the environment. She was just completely miserable in this high school. She couldn't find a friend. She couldn't get into the drama productions. She was so unpopular that people would move away when she sat down at their lunch table. Then she decided to go to a Prep school called Lakeside. She got into the school and she was still the same exact person and nobody had any idea that she was a nerd and a loser. She had boyfriends. She was on the Prom committee. She got into drama productions. She got to experience high school from the bottom and from the top - two radically different experiences, both culturally and socially.

She does not reread We Were Liars. She made the best book that she knew how to make and she's not thinking about it again. We Were Liars had a different style of writing. She was ready for people to dislike the book or the characters because of the style.

She had this idea to write a book about an island, a family, a patriarch with fairy tale. When you have published books, you don't write the entire book, you write a pitch. That was what she did. She met her editors for lunch. She told them: "I want to write a book about real estate." They initially didn't like the idea and suggested for her to write "the sexy stuff" into the story and to include "a thing that happens."

It only took 10 minutes for Emily to finish the plot for We Were Liars while she was waiting in a coffee shop before picking up her daughter.

Emily would like to write about con artists. The next book is not set in high school, and there is a little bit of murder and international jet-setting characters.

Emily likes to write unusual characters who have an unusual voice or way of thinking. But she also always needs to find some points of connection between those unusual characters and other people's lives, human experience. So, in We Were Liars, one of the things she wanted to write about was real estate. But real estate is not really it. It is families fighting over property, and grown children fighting over parental love and approval, and younger kids in the family hearing older people fight and feeling powerless and angry about the way the grown ups are conducting themselves. So, that is an experience that she had and she thinks most young people have had. All families fight, all kids feel threatened when the grown ups in their lives are threatening to dissolve or implode or whatever they're gonna do. That was one of Emily's subjects. All families fight over property and the affection that it symbolizes.

Truism of mystery writing versus writing. In a book or story, when you don't know whats a lie and whats a truth, it gets more interesting. There would be multiple interpretations of what is really going on. The characters are lying for their own reasons and you would know when they are lying but not why they are lying.

Emily and her mom lived in communal houses, with around 15 hippies smoking, meditating and doing yoga during the 70s. She didn't have bookshelves and funiture. One thing that they moved from house to house was a cardboard box filled with books of late nineteenth and early twentieth, beautifully illustrated, bound books of fairytales. It was only much later that Emily found out why: these books were given to her mother by her father during their courtship. She was interested in writing a story We We Liars with objects that were endowed with a lot of family baggage and meaning. She always had that King Lear set-up. Three daughters, one of whom is good, two of whom are bad.

Me and E.Lockhart, my blogger ladies!

Signed books :)

Big thanks to National Book Store for the awesome event! One lucky reader (aka Emily's bookish liar) of Fragments of Life will win a signed (with a message) paperback of We Were Liars. Emily tucked a bookmark in between the pages for you, as well.

So this is open to PH residents only, but if you're based abroad and have a Philippine address to send the book to, you could still join. Enter below!

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Out and About: Book Signing with James Frey + Giveaway: Endgame: The Calling

Out and about is a feature here on Fragments of Life for events, book launches and movie adaptations.

This time around, I am sharing my experience about the #JamesFreyInPH event.

The Basics:

Who: The author is: James Frey. The Organizer is: National BookStore.

What books:

The books!

Book Description:

Hardcover, 477 pages
Published October 7th 2014 by HarperTeen

Twelve thousand years ago, they came. They descended from the sky amid smoke and fire, and created humanity and gave us rules to live by. They needed gold and they built our earliest civilizations to mine it for them. When they had what they needed, they left. But before they left, they told us someday they would come back, and when they did, a game would be played. A game that would determine our future.

This is Endgame.

For ten thousand years the lines have existed in secret. The 12 original lines of humanity. Each had to have a Player prepared at all times. They have trained generation after generation after generation. In weapons, languages, history, tactics, disguise assassination. Together the players are everything: strong, kind, ruthless, loyal, smart, stupid, ugly, lustful, mean, fickle, beautiful, calculating, lazy, exuberant, weak. They are good and evil. Like you. Like all.

This is Endgame.

When the game starts, the players will have to find three keys. The keys are somewhere on earth. The only rule of their Endgame is that there are no rules. Whoever finds the keys first wins the game. Endgame: The Calling is about the hunt for the first key. And just as it tells the story of the hunt for a hidden key, written into the book is a puzzle. It invites readers to play their own Endgame and to try to solve the puzzle. Whoever does will open a case filled with gold. Alongside the puzzle will be a revolutionary mobile game built by Google’s Niantic Labs that will allow you to play a real-world version of Endgame where you can join one of the lines and do battle with people around you.

Will exuberance beat strength? Stupidity top kindness? Laziness thwart beauty? Will the winner be good or evil? There is only one way to find out.

Play.
Survive.
Solve.
People of Earth.
Endgame has begun.

When: February 1st 2015

Where: National Book Store, Glorietta 4

What I learned about James Frey and his books from the event:

• The ending of Endgame: The Calling had to be changed four times. In a way, this was hard for James. But generally, for him all books are the same - you go through the same process. The beginning was hard because you think of the hundreds of pages in front of you. "But the ending stinks." You have to get it right.
• The logistics of the book was complicated. There is a puzzle embedded in the book, and if you solve the puzzle, you win $500,000. The book was sold in various countries and was translated into 30+ languages. James' team had to make sure that winning the prize and the the overall set-up of the puzzle contest was legal in all the countries where the book is being sold.
• When it comes to movie adaptations, James would only help when he is called in for a specific matter. But aside from that, the big guys aka directors/producers have it all covered. ;)
• Endgame: The Calling will be a movie! (This is a surprise for me. It's the first time I found out about it.)
• There are no rules - this is the only rule in Endgame. No rules is a good place in a book because the writer gets a lot of freedom to twist and mold characters into how he wants them to be.
• In making Endgame, there was an extensive research. First, James' team searched for the oldest cultures of the world, old enough to be in contact with aliens, in theory, the ones with old, weird writings. The next step would be focused on the characters - deciding which ones would be good and which ones would be bad.
• The genre of Endgame is not dystopia. It is way cooler, more fun and is set in our own world.
• The end of book one was upsetting. Something happens to the love triangle. *spoiler alert*
• James wants to acknowledge the different cultures around the world, hence, the global characters representing the various races and cultures. He was tired of the typical novel centered on the white American. He knows that he has a global audience and wants to bring something fresh to the table.
• James has different reasons for liking his characters. He feels that there shouldn't be favoritism. He gives equal care to both the good and bad characters. If he takes care of one character more than the other, this would manifest in the book, and he doesn't want that.
• He wouldn't change anything in the book, aside from what was taken out in the editing process.
• The second book has no title yet. (They already had the title but his team decided that it had to be changed.)So let's wait for that announcement.

Me and James Frey and the signed book :)

#PHYABookBloggers

My blogger ladies, and erm...one blogger guy and Chad. :)

Big thanks to National Book Store for the awesome event! One lucky reader of Fragments of Life will win a signed (with a message) hardcover of Endgame: The Calling.

So this is open to PH residents only, but if you're based abroad and have a Philippine address to send the book to, you could still join. Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Out and About: Meeting Marie Lu + Giveaway: Signed Copy of The Young Elites

Out and about is a feature here on Fragments of Life for events, book launches and movie adaptations.

This time around, I am sharing my experience about the #MarieLuinPH event.

The Basics:

Who: The author is: Marie Lu. The Organizer is: National BookStore.

What books:

When: November 23rd 2014

Where: National Book Store, Glorietta 4

What I learned about Marie Lu and her books from the event:

• Legend was pitched only as science fiction. Marie had never heard of YA dystopia before that.
• For Marie, the process of growing up goes hand in hand with fantasy and science fiction, as with these genres, life if more fun and more extreme. She read books from both genres when she was younger.
• One of Marie's goals that she would like to accomplish is to write a picture book. She is an artist and she would like to work on a project that is closely related to art.
• Day was inspired by Robin Hood (and figures like Robin Hood) - a thief with a heart of gold. He is optimistic and his name is related to his motto: to walk in the light. Meanwhile, June's personality fits that of a gemini - smart and intelligent. She was inspired by Sherlock Holmes.
• The plot of the Legend series is inspired by the social climate when Marie was writing it. That was back in 2009, after Obama became elected, wherein two parties were competing against each other. Marie Lu saw that as a potential for a story and she imagined what it would be like to have two America's. 2009 was the inspiration of the story world.
• Before Marie drafts a story, she draws the characters first to find out who they are, what their personalities are. She needs to sketch the story world first to understand it better. Marie is just a visual person. She wants to write what she sees.
• To counter writer's block, Marie Lu sketches.
• The Young Elites was originally only 100 pages long. It was so different from the published version. Marie Lu's agent hated it. Marie had to call her for a second chance.
• Fan reactions does not affect Marie's books. By the time she hears the reactions, the book has already been published.
• Champion was the hardest book to write for her Marie Lu also mentioned that she likes bittersweet endings. There was no other good way of ending the series than the original bittersweet ending.
• When it comes to rituals before or while writing, Marie Lu listens to sounds without lyrics, such as rain, or sounds with lyrics in a different language.
• Marie likes writing in a train. She mentioned that there was something with the forward motion of the train that was conducive for writing.
• In the beginning of the Legend series, Marie felt like she was more like Day. She related more to him because he was emotionally driven and he wears his heart on his sleeve, but as the story progressed, Marie found herself to be more like June. She noticed small details of June that represent little pieces of Marie's personality.
• Adelina was the villain in the original version of The Young Elites. She was manipulative and cunning. Marie found Adelina to be interesting and different. After submitting the first draft to her agent, Marie's agent encouraged her to explore Adelina more. Adelina has a twisted view of life. What was justified for Adelina was crazy. When Marie was writing from Adelina's POV, she found it to be a disturbing experience to be in Adelina's head space. Adelina had a dark mind. Sometimes Marie Lu had to take breaks while writing.
• Villains as protagonists was the theme for The Young Elites. "Everybody thinks they're the hero" - this applies to the villain POV.
• Writing from various perspectives was not hard to do in Legend. The alternating POV showed the two sides of the world that June and Day were living in.
• For Marie Lu, the bigger rebel is June. Day, of course, is the obvious rebel. But June changed her life 180 degress in the story, going against what she knew and what she believed in.

Marie Lu and I, books, bloggers. <3

Signed books!

Big thanks to National Book Store for the awesome event! Now, because I love Marie Lu and her books, I have a giveaway for those of you who were not able to make it to the Manila and Cebu signing.

So this is open to PH residents only, but if you're based abroad and have a Philippine address to send the book to, you could still join. Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway