Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Author Interview: Ally Condie
Today is the release day for Matched in Australia
Now for those of you who haven’t heard of Matched before well it’s definitely going to be “the next big thing in YA literature... it's been called a dystopian futuristic romance”.
Matched was such an engrossing read, I hope you all have a chance to read it. For my review simply click HERE.
Enjoy the interview!
How would you describe Matched for those who have not read the book yet?
I tell people that Matched is a story about one girl learning to choose and falling in love. I always want the reader to be able to discover the story on their own so I’m hesitant to say too much. J
I was fascinated in the intricate world building you created involving the Society could you explain a bit about how you came up with the concept.
Thank you! I built the Society around Cassia and the Matching. I thought, “What kind of world would need to exist for a story like this to take place? It was really fun to create that world.
Where did the idea of being ‘Matched’ with your ideal partner come from?
The idea for being “Matched” with one’s ideal partner has been around for centuries and in many different incarnations—from matchmakers and arranged marriages to dating websites that match people together. And I’ve always been intrigued by it. Especially when sometimes it seemed easier to have someone else do it than to find that “perfect” person on your own!
One day, talking with my husband, I wondered aloud what would happen if the government got to pair off people. And what if they did it at a very young age? So that, instead of going to Prom at seventeen, you found out whom you were going to marry? That conversation with my husband about marriage and remembering an experience chaperoning a prom were some of the things that came together for me to begin Matched.
Whilst for a dystopian novel Matched may not be action packed in the literal sense I found its brilliance lay in its subtleties which leaves the reader with an ever increasing feeling of dread for the citizens of the society, was this lack of action a conscious decision on your part?
It wasn’t a conscious decision—I wrote the story the way that felt right for the evolution of Cassia’s character. To my mind, there is a lot of action in the story, but it’s not things being blown up or destroyed (although that happens too). It’s more internal action, as Cassia’s perfect world begins to come apart.
I have to admit that seeing the society through Cassia’s non-questioning eyes at the start of the novel I was lulled into a false sense of security about the society. It seemed almost safe and comforting to me even though so many things were controlled, perhaps in order to have a safe and productive society some things have to be controlled. However as the novel progressed and Cassia’s eyes are opened to the society’s injustices my apprehension towards this controlling society increased culminating in my utter disgust at what the society was doing. Was this gradual shift in the readers’ perception of the Society what you were aiming for?
Yes, because the novel is told from first person, so the reader only knows what Cassia knows. And Cassia, at the beginning, thinks the Society is (mostly) just fine. She has twinges of rebellion now and then, but she buys into the Society because it’s all she’s ever known and because parts of it do, in fact, work very well. Cassia is an unreliable narrator—not because she lies, but because there is so much she doesn’t know. As Cassia learns more, we learn more too, both in Matched and throughout the series.
Cassia’s grandfather was extremely important in terms of opening Cassia’s eyes to the society’s injustice and excessive control. Why did you choose this character to open Cassia’s eyes?
I have been deeply influenced and guided by my own grandparents, who were (and are, in the case of my grandmother) all very wonderful, interesting people. So it felt very natural to me to have it be a grandparent figure mentoring Cassia in the book.
The powerful poem by Dylan Thomas ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ features prominently throughout the novel, I’m interested in whether or not this poem was what inspired you to write Matched? If not, what did?
I decided to add the poem about a fourth of the way into writing the book, when I wanted Cassia to receive a gift from Grandfather. I knew I wanted the gift to be poetry, and this is one of my favorite poems. It’s also an excellent fit for the book so it was very fun to include. (And it’s a poem the Society would definitely not have chosen to keep, so that worked well too!)
I’m curious as to why you chose to make the citizens unable to write even though they could still read?
I made the citizens unable to write because it’s a shift that I’ve seen happening when I was teaching and now as a parent. We can still tap and type on keyboards and phones, but more and more we are losing our ability to actually write because we don’t need it as much.
My husband, for example, can’t write in cursive because the public school system never taught him to do so (he was going through the system at an “experimental” time). I’ve also seen one of my young sons really struggle to learn to write; it does not come naturally to him and is a skill that very much has to be learned and practiced. And then, when a friend who had read a draft of the book came across this article on msnbc.com and sent it to me, I knew I wasn’t the only one noticing this rather interesting trend [to read the article click HERE].
Do you believe being a high school English teacher has assisted you when writing novels for a young adult audience?
I think it has helped a little, in that I love reading and writing and working with teenagers, and writing for YA brings that all together!
What was your journey to publication like?
My journey to national publication was both long and short. Long, in that I wrote daily for about seven years before I got an agent. Short, in that everything happened very quickly once I started querying Matched. I had an agent within two months and a book deal less than a month after that. (I also published several books with a smaller regional publisher before getting an agent, and I loved that part of the journey as well.)
Can you tell us an interesting fact about yourself that most people would be surprised to know?
Um…I’m pretty boring! And I’ve been blogging for about four years so I feel like I’ve used all my material! But one thing that most people probably don’t know is that I took seven years of folk dance lessons (and I’m still terrible).
I know when I’m writing an essay for uni I have a whole routine I must follow, do you have a writing routine that you follow?
Yes! I need water and my special blue hoodie. I listen to a few songs before I write. Cinnamon bears and Junior Mints are also good, but I can work without them if I must. ;)
As this is a YA blog what are your favourite YA novels?
My favorite YA novels right now are Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis, and Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams.
The ending of Matched left me desperately wanting more, can you give us any information on the second novel in the series?
Oh, thank you! I can only say a little about the second book because we’re still thick in revisions—so things can change! But I can tell you that it will be released about a year after Matched and that it will have two narrators this time.
[Update: Since this interview the name of the second book in the series was released as well as the release date, so without further ado the next book in the series is called Crossed and will be released on the 1st of November 2011.]
Are you currently working on anything else, can you tell us anything about it?
My writing focus is mostly on the Matched trilogy right now, but my oldest son did ask me recently to write a story for him, so I’m working on that as well. It’s been a lot of fun!
Thanks so much for the great questions! I appreciate your taking the time to write such thoughtful queries. And thank you for letting me be a part of your wonderful blog!
I’d just like to thank both Ally for taking the time to answer these questions and Erin over at Penguin Australia who organized it all for me, without Erin none of this would have been possible, so thanks Erin !
Teaser Tuesday #17
Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
1. Grab you current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
Today’s teaser is from The Ghost & the Goth which I am really enjoying so far, Alona Dare, our protagonist, may be a real bitchy ghost (or “spirit” as she likes to be known) but she has some great one liners. Also don’t you just love the cover? I have some serious cover love going on for it!
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“Clearly, this business of walking through walls and such was a lot more complicated than I’d first thought. How come I could fall into the freaking house by accident, but I couldn’t step out of the car, no matter how hard I concentrated?”
- p. 77, The Ghost & the Goth by Stacey Kade
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Sunday, December 5, 2010
In My Mailbox #22
In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren once a week which explores the weekly contents of your mailbox and books bought.
For Review:
Mercy by Rebecca Lim (HarperCollins Australia/November 1, 2010)
Mercy ′wakes′ on a school bus bound for Paradise, a small town where everyone knows everyone else′s business -- or thinks they do. But they will never guess the secret Mercy is hiding ....
As an angel exiled from heaven and doomed to return repeatedly to Earth, Mercy is never sure whose life and body she will share each time. And her mind is filled with the desperate pleas of her beloved, Luc, who can only approach her in her dreams.
In Paradise, Mercy meets Ryan, whose sister was kidnapped two years ago and is now presumed dead. When another girl disappears, Mercy and Ryan know they must act before time runs out. But a host of angels are out for Mercy′s blood and they won′t rest until they find her and punish her -- for a crime she doesn′t remember committing ...
An electric combination of angels, mystery and romance, Mercy is the first book in a major new series.
I know I haven’t had too much luck with angel themed books lately but when Patricia from HarperCollins Australia got in contact and asked me if I wanted to review Mercy how could I say no? This one definitely sounds like it has potential plus Rebecca is from my town Melbourne (I like to support Aussie authors). Patricia also sent me two extra copies so I’m going to be holding a giveaway for my Aussie and NZ readers very soon so keep an eye out for that!
Big thanks for Patricia and HarperCollins Australia for sending me the books!
Oh yeah here’s the trailer for the book, enjoy.
The Ghost & The Goth by Stacey Kade (Hyperion Books/June 29, 2010)
Alona Dare–Senior in high school, co-captain of the cheerleading squad, Homecoming Queen three years in a row, voted most likely to marry a movie star…and newly dead.
I’m the girl you hated in high school. Is it my fault I was born with it all-good looks, silky blond hair, a hot bod, and a keen sense of what everyone else should not be wearing? But my life isn’t perfect, especially since I died. Run over by a bus of band geeks—is there anything more humiliating? As it turns out, yes—watching your boyfriend and friends move on with life, only days after your funeral. And you wouldn’t believe what they’re saying about me now that they think I can’t hear them. To top it off, I’m starting to disappear, flickering in and out of existence. I don’t know where I go when I’m gone, but it’s not good. Where is that freaking white light already?
Will Killian–Senior in high school, outcast, dubbed “Will Kill” by the popular crowd for the unearthly aura around him, voted most likely to rob a bank…and a ghost-talker.
I can see, hear, and touch the dead. Unfortunately, they can also see, hear and touch me. Yeah, because surviving high school isn’t hard enough already. I’ve done my best to hide my “gift.” After all, my dad, who shared my ability, killed himself because of it when I was fifteen. But lately, pretending to be normal has gotten a lot harder. A new ghost—an anonymous, seething cloud of negative energy with the capacity to throw me around—is pursuing me with a vengeance. My mom, who knows nothing about what I can do, is worrying about the increase in odd incidents, my shrink is tossing around terms like “temporary confinement for psychiatric evaluation,” and my principal, who thinks I’m a disruption and a faker, is searching for every way possible to get rid of me. How many weeks until graduation?
I signed up to the Good Golly Miss Holly Arc Tour for this book ages ago and the book finally arrived on Friday afternoon, hoorah! I can’t wait to get into it, I love the whole premise.
Thanks to Holly at Good Golly Miss Holly.
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Penguin Australia/March 28, 2011)
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates, and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her along with her mother and younger brother. They are being sent to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp. All is lost.
Lina fights for her life, fearless, vowing that if she survives she will honor her family, and the thousands like hers, by documenting their experience in her art and writing. She risks everything to use her art as messages, hoping they will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.
It is a long and harrowing journey, and it is only their incredible strength, love, and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be enough to keep them alive?
Between Shades of Gray is a riveting novel that steals your breath, captures your heart, and reveals the miraculous nature of the human spirit.
This one from Erin over at Penguin Australia was a big surprise, I wasn’t expecting it at all but I love when I’m surprised! I won’t be reading this for a while as it’s not released till March next year but it sounds like it’s going to be an extremely emotional read for me. For more information visit the books website, simply click HERE.
Below is a really interesting video in which Ruta discusses her inspiration for Between Shades of Gray and a little about the book. I know it’s long but you should definitely take the time and look at this video.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
I’m back from my little sojourn (oh and the winner of the giveaway is ….)
Hey guys,
Sorry about the late posting for this, I was so tired from my trip back to civilisation (it took so long to get home, 6 hours in a car is not fun let me tell you!) but I’m finally back now and refreshed so now I have to pick a winner for my Eternal Ones Giveaway, so without further ado the winner is …..
Entry no. 84, so that’s Charlotte
Congratulations Charlotte!
I’d just like to thank everyone who entered the giveaway and if you didn’t win fear not for I have another giveaway coming up very soon but it will only be open to Australian and New Zealand residents this time around (sorry, it’s a stipulation from the Australian publisher as the book is only available in Australia and New Zealand at the moment), I’ll try and organise an another international one soon.
I don’t know if anyone reading this will actually care one bit but I’ll mention it anyway, I really enjoyed my trip to the bush, well apart from the mozzies, they were everywhere, I am so itchy right now! I saw so many different animals (possums, frogs, owls, skinks, snakes, wombats, wallabies, kangaroos) and got to help with some research going on regarding behaviour in possums and whether or not our native animals eat bait (which is poisonous to them) set out for introduced predators which are a huge problem for our native wildlife. The place I stayed at was pretty amazing (it was right next to a state forest) and we visited it every day as well as at night to spotlight for possums, I had a great time!
These two pictures are where the research was conducted, pretty amazing, don’t you agree?
I also got to go here on one of the days, so pretty. The rocks were also so fun to climb!
On a side note I had a pleasant surprise when I finally got round to checking my email (after 5 days without it, torture for me), I won a copy of Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead! Remember that post I had telling you guys that Penguin Australia was giving away six copies of Last Sacrifice and all you had to do was tell them in 25 words or less how you want Last Sacrifice to end? Well I was one of the lucky winners, fancy that! They were going to send the winners the books by express post on Friday so the winners will get them Monday (a whole day before the official release date) however I got home so late on Friday night that I was too late for my copy to be sent to me as I needed to reply to the email and give them my address so I’m going to have to wait until, most probably, Monday for them to send it to me which is a bit of a bumer, I want to read it so bad, the sooner the better!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Bloggy Downtime
Hey everyone just thought I’d give you all a heads about my lack of posting that will be coming up this week. Tomorrow (Monday 29th) I’ll be leaving Melbourne and going to the bush where there will most probably be no internet connection *gasps in horror*, it’s probably a good thing as I’m supposed to be helping out a PhD student with her research so I can’t get distracted. Anyway long story short I won’t be posting anything this whole week as I’ll be away until Friday 3rd December, this is going to affect my giveaway which ends on the 30th November, so sorry but you guys will have to wait until either Friday night or (if I’m too tired Friday night) Saturday morning for me to pick a winner. Well that’s it from me, have a great week!
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