Hey Mary!
--
I just wanted to say thank you again for hosting me! It was SUCH a
pleasure meeting with the Book Club - I'm SO impressed by the kids and by how
obviously smart and talented they all are. Seriously, I've heard from more than
one adult who's read Stitch that they didn't really understand what happened,
but these kids were so on top of the story and had so many thoughtful questions.
It was really a treat to talk to such a large group who has read the book and
hear their reactions and share my experiences - I really can't thank you
enough!
I came home and was so excited that I actually already put up a blog post
about the experience - here's the link in case any of you guys are
interested: http://www.samanthadurante.com/2013/04/25/thank-you-stamford-high-school-for-the-amazing-visit/
And for anyone who missed today (or who was there!) and wants an autograph,
they should totally send me a request on Authorgraph and I can send them one
electronically - here's the link: http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/SamanthaDurante
Also, for the teacher who was interested in self-publishing, she might find
some useful resources on my blog here. I don't have a super-thorough step-by-step guide
(though I do have plans to put one up eventually), but there are a couple posts
on Kindle/CreateSpace/Smashwords formatting which are pretty useful - basically
all the hard questions I had difficulty finding answers to (the basics are
pretty easy to find online).
I also wanted to mention that Stitch is going to be free on Kindle for a
few days in June, so if any students have friends who want to read it and are on
a budget, that would be a good time to grab it. (And if they miss it - or have
a non-Kindle e-reader - seriously they can just email me and I'll send them an
e-book copy in whatever format they prefer.) I'll be posting more info on my
blog/Facebook/Twitter/etc., so they can follow me there for more details about
the freebie and the Shudder release and blog tour, etc.
Oh, and here are responses for the student who submitted the great list of
questions!
1. If I could work with any author, I'd have to go with JK Rowling. I
would just love to get inside her mind and see how she came up with such an
amazing and imaginative world in the Harry Potter series. To collaborate with
her and create a new world together would be a dream!
2. I have a long list of favorite authors - JK Rowling as I mentioned, Jane
Austen, Stephenie Meyer, Suzanne Collins, Christopher Paolini, Veronica Roth -
too many to name! I would *love* to think my writing is like theirs, but I
might be flattering myself! Haha. Though one reviewer did comment that my
style reminder her of Suzanne Collins, so that was a HUGE compliment.
3. My favorite part of any book is the twist - I'm usually pretty good at
guessing where a story is going, so if one can catch me off-guard, it will
ALWAYS have my respect.
4. Yup, whenever I come up with a character's name - at least an important
character - or am deciding between a few names, I always check the meaning. For
example, Alessa means "defender" and her last name Khole (an alternate spelling
of Cole) means "victory of the people." That actually worked out randomly - I
just liked the name - but when I saw the meanings, that really solidified that
choice for me. Isaac, on the other, means "he who laughs" which kind of fits
his personality but isn't exactly related to the story - I went with it anyway,
though, b/c I just really liked the name and it felt right to me. And then with
the Engineers, for example, some of their names are related - like the Doctor's
name is Eugene (which is a reference to eugenics, which is kind of his basic
philosophy on life), and the Draftsman's name is Pascal (for the unit of
measurement, since he's a physics guy), etc. But then like Janie for example
was just always Janie - that name popped into my mind and I just knew it
was her name. It means "God is gracious" apparently, which has nothing to do
with anything, but I think she'd kill me if I tried to name her anything
else!
5. My favorite thing about writing is just the experience of coming up with
this crazy new world and being able to share it with others and see them get
excited about it - it's a really amazing feeling, I can't even describe it. The
toughest part is just making sure your story is actually good. It's really
hard to see your own work clearly and objectively, especially when you're
excited about it - I really need feedback from readers to help me gauge how well
I actually did and how to get better (and sometimes hearing criticism is
obviously hard, no matter how much I want it!).
If anyone think of any other questions, please tell them to send them to
me! They can email me, comment on my blog/Facebook, message me on Goodreads,
send me a tweet, whatever - I'll definitely respond and I'd love to hear from
them!
Okay, I think that's it! Let me know if I forgot anything or if any of the
students need anything else! Again, it was so, so amazing to visit with you
guys today. It's really such a great club, and so good to see so many
enthusiastic young readers. :-) Thank you so much for organizing! If you need
anything else, PLEASE don't hesitate to ask!
Thanks again!!
Samantha
-----------------------------------
Samantha Durante
Author of the Stitch Trilogy
Samantha Durante
Author of the Stitch Trilogy
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