On Saturday I had the incredible pleasure of attending the Warmer Days, Darker Nights tour featuring three Zondervan authors. Heather Burch who wrote Halflings, Jill Williamson who wrote Replication, and Bill Meyer who has written over one hundred novels including Eli. Prior to the event I had read both Halflings and Replication but I was unfamiliar with Bill Meyer’s works.
As you guys know by now I’m sure, when I started on this awesome blogging adventure and fumbled my way around NetGalley, Halflings was the first book that I ever received and reviewed, followed closely by Replication so both of these books meant something special to me. Over the past few months I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Heather a little bit more through twitter and she even participated in the Birthday Bash! I was stoked to get to meet her and when I found out Jill was also going to be on tour I knew this event couldn’t get any better. I was supposed to make it to the Atlanta event on April 14 but work had other plans for me and I had to reschedule. The date in Nashville turned out to work better for me and I got to make a visit to Parnassus Books, which I’ve heard so much about.
Of course allergies decided to rage war against me, and the night before I got sick. :’( I woke up Saturday morning sounding like a man…omg…was I really going to (finally) meet Heather Burch with my voice all messed up! Luckily by the time the event rolled around my voice was almost back to normal but a nasty cough had rolled in. I’m pretty sure I freaked everyone in the store out while hacking up a lung but it was just my allergies, nothing contagious. =D They were all safe.
My parents, who are always wonderfully supportive, decided to accompany me to Nashville, in part because I’m an anxious driver so driving 2.5 hours by myself was totally out of the question. They had never been to a book signing before and it was really cool to get to share this with them. We left Chattanooga around 2pm our time and headed over to Nashville where the signing was due to start at 6pm their time. We ended up arriving at Parnassus two hours before the signing started but there was a jazz band playing in the store. I wanted to leave and get something to eat (I tried to “I’m sick” and it didn’t work) but my parents wanted to stay and hear the band. Of course in true parents fashion my dad started SINGING AND DANCING!!! Right there in the middle of the bookstore!
When the band finally left my parents and I moved up to the front of the store and waited for everyone else to arrive.
My parents kept asking me if signings were always this empty and I told them that usually it fills up.
So we waited for another hour before I heard someone say behind me “Hi Heather” my eyes went wide, back rigid, and my parents looked at me like I was insane.
Then the event started. I need to point out that there were actually two signings that day. The first one was at noon and the second one (the one I went to) was at 6pm. At my signings there were only a small group of people but it was one of the best events I’ve ever been to!
Heather came up and introduced herself, we hugged, and I was in awe that I finally was getting to meet her. She is honestly one of the most down to earth authors! She chatted with me like we were old friends and it was so much fun getting to hang out with her.
I also had the pleasure of getting to meet Jill Williamson at the event and at first I thought she was testing me. She didn’t know that I read her book yet and pointed over to the YA section and asked me what books on the shelves I had read. My social awkwardness took over and I laughed thinking she was kidding.
Kidding she was not. We walked over to the YA section and I shared what books I had read with her, what I knew about which ones I hadn’t read yet, and she shared with me which ones she had read. I saw Replication on the shelf and jokingly said “I’ve read that one!” and that’s how she found out I was her fan too!
Then in an awkward moment Bill Meyer arrived, and Jill took me over to meet him. I quickly told her that I hadn’t read his books and she said without missing a beat “Well you don’t have to meet him!” and I let out a sigh of relief. To me there is nothing more awkward than meeting an author at a signing and informing them that you have not read their books.
Then we all sat down and the event got started. Each of the three authors read excerpts from their books and I was immediately reminded why I fell in love with the beautiful writing of Halflings and the unique story of Replication.
After that there was a short Q/A. When I saw short I mean this horrible moment where no one wanted to ask a question. So I asked this:
“You hear a lot of horror stories from authors about editors changing a lot of elements of the story and the final draft being nothing like the version the author originally wrote. Was that the case with any of you?”
And of course this is what actually came out:
“Yeah….uh….did your editor make you change a lot of things around?”
Not my most grace full moment but I was thinking under pressure lol.
Bill Meyer was the first to answer: “I’ve written over 100 novels, those first few novels are now out of print and for that I am grateful” Heather then offered a bounty to find those books, “But now nothing major changes from the drafts that I write to the ones that are printed”
Jill Williamson was the same way. She said that her drafts pretty much stayed the same.
Heather Burch had a different story. Her writing was inspired partially by the Manga books that her son reads. So her first draft was very action packed, every single scene leading to another action packed scene. She was asked to take the action of book one and spread it out over three books. Heather said that by spreading the story out she was able to go back and develop a lot of the themes and characters better.
Then something occurred that has NEVER happened to me at a singing before. The. Tables. Were. Turned. Bill Meyer started asking US questions. He asked how many people in the room were writers. Three of us raised our hands (my dads a writer too but he likes to be a quiet writer and not tell anyone, that’s what I’m here for). Bill asked us what the hardest part of writing was for us. I remember one man said that finding actual time to write was his hardest part and Bill said that one of the most important things was discipline. Make time every single day to write. Then the other man went but unfortunately in my terror at having to speak out loud in front of everyone I did not catch what he was saying. While he was speaking the only thing going through my head was “WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM!!!” then of course I can’t think of anything and my thoughts become, “YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PROBLEM. EVERYONE HAS A PROBLEM! THINK. THINK. THINK.” And yes. My thoughts were in all CAPS during that moment.
Bill turned to me “What’s your biggest problem?”
Me: Oh…um….probably like Heather said, putting too much action all at once an not developing my characters enough.
I felt like I threw Heather under the bus because I’m pretty sure that’s not what she had meant earlier in the evening.
Heather also told us three things, plot wise, that are essential for a good book.
1) An unforgettable character.
2) An impossible situation.
3) Relentless threat.
We also talked a lot about agents, both the querying process and getting an agent. We learned that a lot of agents wanted Heather to change Halflings and make it much darker and more sinister. She struggled with that for a while before she finally decided that she wasn’t going to make it darker. That morally she could not turn her book into the type of novel they wanted her too. I think it was so great that she made that decision because I love Halflings just the way it is! She also told us that we are going to get rejections and that it’s going to sting but to keep sending them out. Heather said that if we haven’t sent at least fifty out then we aren’t even trying.
The three aspiring writers in the group were also asked if any of us had started the querying process yet. I raised my hand and looked to the two men…only to find that I was the only one.
Bill: “How many queries have you sent out?”
Me: “Twenty.”
Heather: “Its okay! Remember what I said, you’ve got a long way to go before you get to 50!”
After that there was a lot more really great advice given. I found out that both Heather and Jill had attended conferences before getting published and that those experiences really helped them. Heather even gave me some great advice for a conference I may be attending in September!
Then books were signed and we all talked some more and more books were signed. I was even able to get the Birthday Bash giveaway copy of Halflings signed so you can head over to Few and Far Between to enter to win!!
Over all this was one of the best events that I have been to. This event and the Ruta Sepetys event in December were so amazing because there was true one on one time with the authors. My parents were shocked at how down to earth all three of the authors were and couldn’t say enough about the great time that they had. I really hope that I am able to attend another even with these authors in the future!
Hannah
