They just chatted away and laughed. It was really fun!
Margaret Stohl, Stephanie Perkins came to the Provo Library on May 15, 2013. I know it was a month ago, but I still wanted to blog about it. It’s my blog and I’ll do whatever I feel like. Gosh!
Margaret was touring for her new book, Icons. Margaret is acutally from a small town in Utah. Since small towns are part of her first book, Beautiful Creatures, she just used a lot of experiences from Utah since Small Town is the same pretty much anywhere.
Then Margaret told the most “annoying” (her word not mine!) publishing story ever. It took her 12 weeks to write Beautiful Creatures. She wrote the book as a bet because her daughter said she couldn’t. She wrote it with her friend Kami and they had teens read it while they were writing it which gave them lots of feedback and collaboration. A friend of hers sent it out to agents without telling her and they got an agent. It sold fast, without much trying, and there were movie deals before it was even published. The end.
Then Stephanie chimed in and offered actual helpful writing advice. Lol. (I’m sure it was super helpful but I didn’t write it down or anything.)
(Back) Me, Alyssa, Jenni and son, (Front) Margaret Stohl and Stephanie Perkins.
Stephanie talked a little about her books and how she is moving on to horror since there’s been a lot of love and it’s time to kill some characters. She’s a huge movie fan like her character Anna and even interviewed local film critics because she thought their job was so cool (She’s right their job is so cool…I don’t know that I would interview them, though…). And a fun little bit of trivia – there are astericks in the foreign editions of her books for what fruit loops are.
Stephanie was hilarious and witty, but she had some serious advice that I really loved. Her professors would ask her why she wanted to lower herself to write for children. She struggled with writing for a while because she believed them. Writing became so much easier when she stopped trying to please other people. Lola and the Boy Next Door was originally an adult novel.
Stephanie would check out Princess Diaries in secret. But now she thinks it’s important to own what you love. Romance sells more than any other genre and yet it’s a “dirty word” in the publishing industry. Nicholas Sparks doesn’t write romance – he writes literary fiction or he’ll get sparky mad. I found it very inspirational that Stephanie writes young adult romance, loves it, and isn’t ashamed to say it. (I love Twilight! I always will! Just owning it right now while I’m all inspired and stuff :) )
There were tons of bloggers there and we got together for a quick picture. I linked everyone I could find below.
Picture from Suey at It’s All About Books
Back: Kathy, Jenni, Debbie, Elyse
Middle: Suey, Suey’s daughter, Kami, Emily, Angie
Front: Me, Debra, Marissa
I had a great time! I can’t wait to read Anna and the French Kiss and Beautiful Creatures that I got signed!
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About Margaret Stohl
A graduate of Amherst College, where she won the Knox Prize for English Literature, Margaret earned a MA in English from Stanford University, and completed classwork for a PhD in American Studies from Yale University. Margaret was a teaching assistant in Romantic Poetry at Stanford, and in Film Studies at Yale. She attended the Creative Writing Program of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where she was mentored by the Scottish poet George MacBeth.
Margaret loves traveling the world with her daughters, who are epee fencers, and living in Santa Monica with her husband and two bad beagles.
About Stephanie Perkins
Well, hello! I'm Stephanie Perkins, and I write novels for teens (and for adults who aren't afraid to admit that teen books are awesome). I was born in South Carolina, raised in Arizona, attended universities in San Francisco and Atlanta, and now I live in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina.
My best friend is my husband Jarrod. Our house is almost a hundred years old, and every room is painted a different color of the rainbow. We share it with a cat named Mr. Tumnus.
I've always worked with books—first as a bookseller, then as a librarian, and now as a novelist. On weekdays, you'll find me at my desk, typing away, downing cups of coffee and tea. On the weekend, you'll find me at the movies, waiting for the actors to kiss. I believe all novels and films should have more kissing.
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever.
this is awesome!!! I loved beautiful creatures and I just got anna and the french kiss and lola and the boy next door! Thanks for sharing it looked like an awesome time!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I did not know you were there! Had I connected you to your blog, I would have said hello! This was a fun event!
No worries. I should have said hi too! It took me a while to connect faces to blogs. :) I will see you at the next one. I had so much fun a this event too.
Sent from my iPod
Aww, these ladies are the best. I’ve seen Margaret Stohl in person and she was the funniest thing ever. Maybe one day I’ll have the opportunity to see see Stephanie too! I just LOVE that she writes what she loves and isn’t at all ashamed. As she shouldn’t be – her books are incredible!
I loved that about Stephanie too! I hope you get to meet her :)