Last night (12/8/13) Penguin Teen Australia hosted PTA Live in Melbourne, and what a great event it was, hosted by the very funny and lovely Felicity (who wore a shirt that read 'Keep calm and DFTBA', which made me instantly go 'NERDFIGHTER. My people').
We started off the evening by discussing books that we all know and love,Sarah Dessen's Just Listen, Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss, Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series, Melina Marchetta's On The Jellicoe Road, & John Green's #1 best seller, The Fault in Our Stars, which sent most of the room into a fangirl frenzy. I was extremely impressed that they went on to discuss books that aren't theirs, but they still love, such as the ever so popular Harry Potter series, Divergent & The Mortal Instruments. We then went on to discuss the hyped up books of the year so far, being The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey and The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen (which I love!), and also the underrated books of the year, Easy by Tammara Webber and Scarlet (the sequel to Cinder) by Marissa Meyer.
If I hadn't been fangirling enough at each mention of John or Hank Green, the next couple of slides almost sent me into hyperventilation mode, mentioning The Lizzie Bennet Diaries & Emma Approved, especially considering the picture accompanying one of them.
(If you know me from my other blog, or in person for that matter, you will know that I am a huge fan of anything Pride & Prejudice. And Mr. Darcy is one of my top 3 fictional wish-they-were-my-boyfriend characters.)
The discussion of these classics being translated into on online video format, led to the room breaking out into fangirl squealing as we looked at a few YA novels that are being translated on to the big screen in the future, such as; TFiOS, staring the incredibly talented and gorgeous Shailene Woodley and the brooding yet goofy Ansel Elgort (Just thinking about this casting is making me fangirl big time. I think they're both going to be fantastic). We also checked out the Vampire Academy cast (Sarah Hyland, anyone?), and oh my, were there some hardcore VA fans in the room. I unfortunately have not yet read the series, but I have now been encouraged to do so, and hope to get my hands on it sometime soon. We were also let know that the trailer is going to be released sometime this week; VA fans, keep your eyes on the look for that.
Our two special guest were then invited to the front; Will Kostakis, author of debut novel 'The First Third' & Jennifer Kloester, new author o the world of YA with her novel 'The Cinderella Moment'. With questions asked by both Felicity and the audience, they discussed their writing process, how they deal with making cuts to the novels and how they view in their mind while they are writing. When asked about the writing process Will admitted to closing himself in his room and saying his monologue out loud to help see how it would flow throughout the story. "Kill your darlings", it was a phrase that Jennifer used quite a lot when asked both about the editing and writing process, helping me understand that sometimes you just have to cut out large pieces of material form your work, and it may not seem as necessary as you think it is and improve your story in ways you couldn't have thought possible.
We then broke for break, in which the first half I went on a tour around the Penguin offices, and I fell in love. Everything about the area just screamed perfection at me, I felt insanely comfortable in the environment.
I little tour of the offices finished, and it was to the back of the signing line I went. The wait in line felt like it went for hours, but it was definitely worth, and I spent my time waiting eating the most heavenly cupcake you could imagine (It was like eating rainbows and happy things!). I finally reached the table and gave Will my copy of 'The First Third' to sign, and knowing my mother she instantly made things awkward, by trying to marry me off and asking whether or not he were married and how old he was. Typical mother. Will was very lovely about it though, and told us a few stories about his YiaYia, which made me feel like my mother wasn't so embarrassing. He then went on to write in my book, 'Lovely to meet you. I feel your mum pain'.
Jen was also so incredibly lovely. When I reached the front of her line, the first thing she said to me was 'Have I met you before?' which we hadn't and I told her no, at that she said 'You look familiar... like a model' I was very overwhelmed at that, and had no idea how to respond as it was not what I was expecting to hear. We then went on to talk about how I would love to be a writer, and that I have an extreme case of procrastination 99% of the time, and she offered me some ideas of how I can get past that, such as setting myself dates to complete tasks. When she wrote in book shad had written 'For Caitlyn, who will achieve her goals and be a writer'. I couldn't be more grateful.
Break was then over, and we went on to discuss marketing and sales, answering questions such as why are some books in series a different size? or why has the cover art changed? We found that the answer for both was all for sales, to attract the reader.
Then came the intriguing part of the evening; looking at upcoming releases. We looked at whole range, which I will list below along with the release dates, but first, we were informed of a book, that we do not yet have the name of, but we have been told that it is one of the best books of the year, and for all you John Green fans, we are told has elements which TFiOS hold. But that is all the information we have for now, so keep an eye out for more news on this secret novel of the year.
Now, here are the books that we know the name of and have the release dates for:
- My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick (August 21st)
- Fall of Five by Pittacus Lore (August 27th)
- Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (October 8th)
- Champion by Marie Lu (November 6th)
- The Fiery Heart by Richelle Meads (November 19th)
- The Morganville Vampires: Daylighter by Rachel Caine (November 2013)
- Falling Kingdoms: Rebel Spring (December 2013)
We were all lucky enough to hear a short preview of the fiery heart read to us by the lovely Felicity, although I think she may have sent a few fangirls into danger mode.
The night ended there, and I wish it went for longer (but I did have a History exam to study for, so it was probably best it ended when it did) But it was a fantastic and enjoyable night. Thank you Penguin Teen Australia for having us all and for the great show bags me and my mum have decided to share :)
Thank you to Will and Jen for going, Felicity for hosting, and anyone else who organised!
