Marissa chats with Alexandra Bracken about her new urban fantasy - LORE - as well as keeping a wishlist of things that inspire you in books and stories and using those details as 'scene cookies' to reinvigorate your WIP; the subjectivity of readers' and editors' tastes and the dangers inherent in reading reviews; the importance of being able to deliver a great quick pitch for your book; and some details on Alex's daily writing ritual, which includes having a go-to song for getting you back into your story's world.
Books discussed in this episode can be purchased from your local independent bookstore or buy them online from the Happy Writer bookshop.org store (that benefits indie bookstores) at https://bookshop.org/shop/marissameyer
Order The Happy Writer: Get More Ideas, Write More Words, and Find More Joy from First Draft to Publication and Beyond https://bookshop.org/a/11756/9781250362377
Find out more and follow The Happy Writer on social media: https://www.marissameyer.com/podcast/
Marissa chats with Alexandra Bracken about her new urban fantasy - LORE - as well as keeping a wishlist of things that inspire you in books and stories and using those details as 'scene cookies' to reinvigorate your WIP; the subjectivity of readers' and editors' tastes and the dangers inherent in reading reviews; the importance of being able to deliver a great quick pitch for your book; and some details on Alex's daily writing ritual, which includes having a go-to song for getting you back into your story's world.
Books discussed in this episode can be purchased from your local independent bookstore or buy them online from the Happy Writer bookshop.org store (that benefits indie bookstores) at https://bookshop.org/shop/marissameyer
Order The Happy Writer: Get More Ideas, Write More Words, and Find More Joy from First Draft to Publication and Beyond https://bookshop.org/a/11756/9781250362377
Find out more and follow The Happy Writer on social media: https://www.marissameyer.com/podcast/
[inaudible]
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the happy writer. This is a podcast that aims to bring readers, more books to enjoy and help authors find more joy in their writing. I'm your host, Marissa Meyer. Thanks so much for joining me here in the new year. I hope you all had a lovely holiday season and I am excited to be back now with all new episodes and super excited to be saying goodbye to 2020 and moving on to 2021. One thing that is making me happy today is our family has been over in Eastern Washington for the past few days since new year's Eve. And we came over specifically hoping to play in the snow and we've been waiting and waiting and waiting. And finally, this morning we wake up and it has snowed about six inches over night and just pristine and beautiful and just a glorious winter Wonderland. So we spent our mornings sledding and snowshoeing. We built a snowman, it has been absolute paradise. And now I'm so excited to sit and have some hot chocolate and relax for the rest of the evening, which is probably my favorite part of the snow, despite how much fun it is at the time. And I am so happy to be talking to today's guest. She's the number one New York times bestselling author of the passenger series, the prosper reading series and the darkest mind series, which has been adapted into a major motion picture. She's also the author of the princess, the scoundrel and the farm boy, which is a retelling of star Wars, a new hope and her latest standalone novel lore just came out last week. Please. Welcome Alexandra Bracken. Hello. I think for having me, I'm so excited, I am so excited to have you and to talk to you. I loved lore. It was one of my favorite reads of last year, so I kind enough to blurb it. Thank you so much. My pleasure. Uh, and I'm super excited to talk to you and to tell everybody about it. So thank you for joining me today. I'm like honored to be here. I listened to the podcast. It was so interesting to hear you do, do the intro without like the background music. I'm so used to my little ukulele intro. It's like the happiest song for the happiest podcasts. I love it. Thank you. Um, so I was lucky enough to get an early copy of Lauren. So it's been a few months since I read it, but I remember when I was reading it, I was on a, uh, like a weekend trip with my mom and my aunt. And I kept sneaking away to read while they're, you know, doing their own thing. And at one point my mom asked me, like, what are you reading? That must be a really good book. And I couldn't figure out like, how do I summarize this story? How am I supposed to boil this book down to a, an elevator pitch? It was, there's so much happens. It's so hard. Um, so I'm excited to hear you do it. Oh my God. What is liter about?
Speaker 3:It's so funny cause you and I did a quick, um, panel together for NCT Allen in November. And that was really the first time I had talked about more at all because of the way that this, the way 2020 had gone with the pandemic. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I, I like didn't practice my pitch by now. I would have had like this whole very like quick pitchy one-off thing. Um, I like jokingly described this book actually, when I pitched it to my editor, I'll tell you this. I was like, imagine it to be the kind of like it's the tone is if Percy Jackson had like a mean older sister with that attitude and scars kind of, that's sort of the mood I was going for with the book, but really it is, um, it's a contemporary fantasy. It is set in modern day, New York city. It stars lower as you might've expected. She is, um, the last member of the ancient bloodline that descends from the Greek hero Perseus. And she grew up in this sort of hidden secret society of hunters who participate in what's known as the Argonne. And the Goan is a hunt that occurs every seven years for seven days. And during this hunt Greek gods, as a punishment for trying to disobey zoos are forced to walk. The earth is mortal. And if one of these hunters can kill one of the gods, they can take that God's power and mortality. And so Laura has grown up in like this really? Um, how do I want to describe it? Like violent, dark culture. Um, and she leaves it after her family, her main, her remaining family, um, is murdered during the previous[inaudible]. So yeah. So in this, at the start of lore, she is very much separate from the action that's happening. It's she is basically trying to stay out of it as much as possible, but of course, on the first night she comes home and finds a wounded Athena on her doorstep seeking help. And Athena basically makes her deal that if fuller will agree to help Athena survive that week at vena, we'll give Laura the one thing she's always wanted, which is revenge for her murdered family. So that is like not an especially quick pitch for it. I would say if you want a really, really quick pitch, it's probably like the Highlander clash of the Titans, or like the hunger games meets Percy Jackson is the one I see a lot, but yeah, it's, it's a lot, it's, it's hard to kind of boil it
Speaker 2:Is, it is one of those books. It's just very, very complex in the, the plots and the subplots and the characters and the history, but it's so good. It's so good. It is one of those absolute page Turner novels. Uh, so I'm super excited for readers to get a hold of it. Cause I don't have anybody to talk to about,
Speaker 3:I know it's been like this book has been on such an interesting journey too. It's um, I it's the one book that I've had where I ended up revising it for really over a year, it ended up, I thought it was going to be out like fall 2019, winter 20. So like early January, 2020. And so he turned the book in really early for once. And my editor was like, no, I had a really like leisurely editorial pace with this book. So I've been living with it for a really long time. And it's kind of hard to believe that it's finally coming out. It'll be tomorrow. Actually.
Speaker 2:That's a good time that we're recording this. Congratulations by the way, happy launch week.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. It is a very different kind of launch week, which is kind of nice and kind of interesting, like after this, I'm going to go grocery shopping and I'm not like getting on an airplane.
Speaker 2:I know, I know it is weird doing launching books in the midst of this pandemic and with tours and everything being canceled. And um, you know, with my book coming out last November, there was a very strange disconnect. Like it just doesn't feel like you have a book out if you're not doing a big launch event and doing the things you normally do.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I was going to ask you about that too. And you also, you know, ended up coinciding with the United States election too, which is like a whole other piece I know that's happened before. Was, was it heartless? I think that, yeah. Yeah. Good memory. I just remember thinking like, wow, that is like a tough, tough day to come out. But obviously the book spoke for itself, both of them. Wonderful. But you know what I mean? It's just like, it's weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, even for me, you know, when you have a book come out, you're so excited and you're just it's you want to talk about it and you want it to be like the, the number one thing you're thinking about that we can celebrating. But yeah. Having books come out during election week, like even for me, I can't focus on the book. Like I'm so distracted by everything that's happening in the world. So it's strange, very strange.
Speaker 3:And like, I dunno if this is like true for you when you're on book tour, like, I feel so lucky and privileged that I get to actually travel in non pandemic years and go on full on book tours. And it's sort of like, you're in strange kind of like dreamlike, feverish state the whole time you're traveling because you're in like a different place every single day. You're not really getting like a ton of sleep. I can sleep on airplanes. That's like my one superpower. So I'm usually like the second I sit down I'm out and then I'm, I wake up and I'm in a different city. It's just this whole different, this feels so much more relaxed, like being at home like right now, my dog is sitting right next to me. I'm recording on a bed.
Speaker 2:I want a bed too.
Speaker 3:Unfortunately I moved perfect year to move pandemic. Um, I am like my office isn't set up yet. So like I have to figure out where I can have these virtual events where it won't be super echo-y and I can still have like a fun backdrop. That's not a blank wall and one lone houseplant
Speaker 2:Or like the clutter of boxes behind you. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:It was so funny. I did one of those. There was like an Instagram. I mean, I don't know, but I don't actually know the term for this, but it was sort of like you could have people suggest things to post photos of like, ask me to show you a photo of this. And someone was like, can I see a photo of your workspace? And I showed it like, it's just this mountain of boxes. And my desk is sort of like tucked into a corner. Things are like spilling off the edges of it as, I don't know, I,
Speaker 2:That person's dreams. I know what I was looking for.
Speaker 3:Do you think like isn't there? What is the old saying of like a cluttered desk? Is the sign of a creative mind? Do you believe in that? Or do you have to have things like,
Speaker 2:You need to have a, some amount of order two months? It just stresses me out and then all I can think about is tidying up. I can't focus.
Speaker 3:I agree with that. I think I actually, um, it's like, you just need a little tidy space, even if it's the only clean area of your entire house, but like something about like having mess around you kind of like ease on you psychically or something. Yeah. I disagree with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I do feel like it changes by the person though. Cause I, I know writers who, or you've seen pictures of writers, like famous, really successful, talented writers and you see pictures of their office and it's just teetering books and papers and mess everywhere. And it's like, I couldn't do it, but it must work for them.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's almost like they've kind of like built themselves a little fortress of like pieces and books. Like they're like hidden behind it almost. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, okay. I want to go back to LOR. Um, I love Greek mythology. I'm I'm by no means a scholar in it, but I just think it is some of the most fascinating stories that have just, you know, survived the test of time. So I want to know for you, like what, what was it about Greek mythology that you were drawn to and what was your research process like? And are you now like an expert on Greek mythology?
Speaker 3:I am definitely not an expert, sadly. Um, so I was kind of that kid that was into dark sad things. So I was like all about Greek mythology from a really young age. And my mom introduced me to Greek mythology when I was pretty young, I would say like six, seven, eight ish. Um, by introducing, by handing me dilemma's book of Greek myths, which is like a famous, it's like a beautifully illustrated book, if I'm sure many people, even if you don't recognize the title would recognize it site. Um, because she, her side of the family is Greek. And that was her way of kind of starting to introduce that heritage to me and to my siblings. And obviously ancient Greek culture is very different than modern Greek culture, but it felt really cool to me as a very young kid to feel even like distantly connected to these stories and um, that world. And I think what I loved best about them was actually like the darkness. There was a lot of really problematic content within the, within the stories. Um, but I liked that there were no easy answers and like heroes would rise and then they would fall. And it doesn't function in that same kind of like black and white morality that you sometimes get with like biblical stories, for instance, like it is a very more like gray world and even the gods themselves, you know, aren't necessarily to be admired when it comes down to it. They can be really awful. Actually. They are a lot of the times, but, but yeah, I think I was like, I was like thought I was like the kind of weirdo kid who was like, I like darkness and sadness and it's like very into dashboard confessional feeling. A lot of
Speaker 2:Kids go on to be writers
Speaker 3:Of a universal thing. I don't know what it is if we're just all like experiencing like the depth of human emotion as these like little angsty children. Yeah. What did you like, what did, what attracted you to this stories? Cause, I mean, there's so many like interesting aspects to it. Um, and obviously like Greek mythology has come to form, you know, like I feel like we did you learn about it in school? We had a whole Greek and Roman unit when I was in middle school. And so it's, you know, it's just so, um, I feel like it's so prevalent in Western culture. Yeah. I honestly don't.
Speaker 2:I don't remember when, and I don't think it was a part of any official education that I got. Um, but I also had like a book of Greek myths at one point maybe middle school age. Um, and I like, I never read the whole thing, but remember reading you kind of picking and choosing which stories looked interesting. And I think very similar to kind of my interest in fairy tales. It seems like the society and our culture, we pretend to know the stories. We think we know the stories, but then when you actually dig into them, there's so many things that have just kind of been glossed over and you're like, Oh wow, this is actually really gory or really tragic. And I just find that fascinating. And I think it's so interesting how those are the things that society just like doesn't want to talk about, but at the same time, those are the things that everybody is most interested in.
Speaker 3:Sure. And like within Greek mythology, like the story served kind of like a dual purpose of explaining the world and like, uh, you know, even like weather events. Um, but it also, the story served to like reinforce the existing society and kind of explain customs and rituals and all of that too. And so, and there were so many different variations of each story and they changed sometimes over time. Like the story of Medusa changes a little bit, it kind of gets expand upon as the century kind of roll on. Um, but it really it's sort of, I think because of it being an oral tradition, like there was just so much variation and that was actually one of the really hard things about writing this book was trying to pick and choose which version of the myth and which version of the stories to go with. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Did you feel maybe trapped isn't the right word, but did you feel responsible to give at least an existing version of the stories or were there points in writing lore when you felt like, well, okay, the story says this, but I need it to be this for my purpose. And so I'm going to change it.
Speaker 3:I definitely tormented myself into trying to stay as close as humanly possible to, you know, preexisting versions of the myth. And I really, Oh my gosh, like one of the most, I don't know why I really tortured myself over this. Um, so I like just the smelling, the transliteration from Greek to English. Like I really tried to preserve, um, kind of like the foreignness of the Greek language when I included some words. So for example, um, many people know the hero hair CLIs is Hercules. And so what happened essentially was that when a lot of these stories were translated into Latin, you know, the Greek alphabet has certain letters, the Latin alphabet has other letters. And so there wasn't like a direct correlation. Um, for example, a lot of the Ks, the Kappa, the letter Kappa, um, became C in Greek or in Latin. I don't actually know what the Latin letter C is now that I've said that
Speaker 2:I am going to be no help.
Speaker 3:I know, Oh my gosh, I I'm acting like I'm an authority on this, but I do, I should say right now I researched a lot. I was like, but you know, so basically it came down to like having to decide like, will I use this version of the, of the hero's name or the gods name, or will I use the better known version? And most of the time I like defaulted on what I thought would be clearest for the reader. So it was like making a lot of those little decisions as I went on. But in terms of the stories, there was really only one thing I played with and that was giving one of the heroes, Oh my gosh, this. So this is like me, in a nutshell, I spent so long trying to confirm, like within the mythology that be here, heroes had surviving descendants. So I would be like trying to go through, for example, first he has his family tree. I'm like making sure that there is like some, at least some ambiguity that there could have been descendants all the way when, you know, Laura is that, and there was one hero, I think it was Legere, um, who it was not clear. And I basically invented like an illegitimate child for him, but that was pretty much it. Um, yeah, I really, I tried so hard to, you know, keep it in line with the stories that were already out there. So like if readers were familiar with them, they would feel rewarded by like also noting, knowing the stories too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's impressive to me. And especially, I mean, reading this book, because you do talk a lot about the different blood lines and you know, it's incredibly important, you know, the hunters and these hierarchies that you've established. And I was at points in reading it. I thought Alex must have like a huge chart somewhere breaking down who belongs to which family and who is against who and at what point did this God take over and et cetera, et cetera, because it just seems so complex. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that's like, that was the real trick of this book because I wanted the world to feel really expansive, even though it was a standalone and Oh my gosh, like I actually really do enjoy a good standalone that wraps things up in like a really satisfying way. And I hope readers will feel that way when they get to the end of lore where they're like, Oh, I would love more about these characters, but I'm like satisfied with where the story ends. But because you have to really introduce, or I had to introduce this big cast of characters and this whole, the whole idea of the hunts and all of the rules with the hunt and like their society and all the bloodlines, I was like, Oh my gosh, this book ended up being such a beast to edit. It was like a real journey to edit this book. And, um, one of the editors I worked with on it, her name is Morris also Marissa. Um, she was wonderful and she's the, she like, like scrape apology, but like, doesn't love it the way I like of it. And so she would, she would, you know, when she was reading through a past, she would say like, we've really don't need to, we don't need this. Like pull me back. Cause there's even more like references to Greek mythology in the earlier drafts of the book. And she's like, no, I'm looking at, look here. This is like too, too much of a deep cut. And it was that way too. Even with, um, some of the more like insider new Yorker things that like Laura would reference, she's like this except for actual new Yorkers. So it's finding a balance between like information overload, but also making that world feel like it could be real and have these characters do exist and they do live by these rules that are so punishing and awful. And yet if they can see it through, they get this ultimate glory and power. Oh, editors. I know. Do you have that? Like, how is your, what is your world-building process? Tell me everything because you're,[inaudible] your interview, Alex. You're not okay. I was like, please follow up with a detailed email about how you approach world, but not my strength as a writer,
Speaker 2:Mine either. No, I'm glad you say that. Cause I, the world building is phenomenal and
Speaker 3:Just like wiped that off my brow.
Speaker 2:Um, but I'm the same way where world building to me feels like one of my weak points as a writer. And so I often feel like I'm working 10, 20 times harder on world-building than I am on any other aspect. And like, hopefully by the time the book comes out, you can't see that like the reader can't tell that to me world-building is a struggle. Um, but then it's always really refreshing to hear other writers who I feel do a great job with it. Also say that they struggle with it. And then I'm like, okay, it's not just me.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, that it's actually re it is honestly reassuring to hear you say, because I'm, some of my friends are just like amazing world builders and I'm like, how do you know? They work very hard at it too, but I think I just am such a character writer. Like that really is how I develop a story is, you know, I start with the main character and the plot is built off of the main characters are honestly, the first thing I decide with any story is like, who is the character at the beginning of the book and who will they become by the end of the book? And then the story kind of expands from there. Although now that I've said that Laura was a little different in that you've really started with, um, one of the twists in the book, like that was the first sort of like concrete thing I had. And I had to kind of like build the book backwards. Oh, interesting. Where it was like, I kind of knew who Laura was. I knew what this twist was. And then I think that's honestly another reason why I ended up editing this book for so long because it was so different from my usual process. And it was like, it didn't feel as cohesive as it usually does when I start with the main character and kind of go from there.
Speaker 2:Well, that's interesting. I wonder because, and there's a couple of twists in the book, so I don't know specifically which one you're referring to. Um, but for me, like there was one moment in particular that, I mean, my jaw dropped when I read it and I thought I did not see that coming at all. And it really just clinched the, the whole plot of the story and, you know, so much made sense at that moment. And it was just a wonderful twist. And I'm wondering now, if part of the reason that that twist worked so well is because it was one of the catalysts for the whole book.
Speaker 3:Oh, I obviously have to discuss afterwards
Speaker 2:Off camera referring to there,
Speaker 3:Honestly, such a fun part of this book was that it has like, it has little twists that has big twists. It has like a fake-out at one point. Um, but yeah, it was like, it was honestly such a joy to write because I for years have wanted to write a book of a book about Greek mythology or that utilized it in some way, but I didn't really want to write necessarily a straightforward retelling. Um, I don't know why I like gave myself that additional challenge, but I keep a running list. You do this, I keep a running list of things I want to write about eventually, whether that's like a trope or it's, you know, like just some little twist or it's a character type or something as big as like use Greek mythology. Do you have a list like that?
Speaker 2:True. And it's so long and it makes me really sad to know that I will never get all to all of the things that I want to write about.
Speaker 3:Um, Jen Lynn Barnes, their author, who's wonderful. And so smart. Um, she told me about this a couple of years ago where she was like, I just keep like a list, like a wishlist of like tropes of ideas of things I love like whenever I'm watching a film or when I am reading a book and something happens in it. Um, like for example, one of, one of the things, one of the examples she gave me was she loves secret passageways. So she put that on her list. So as she's writing and now as I'm writing, since I copied her completely, um, I can like go back and look at the list and be like, Oh, I feel like my energy is of, you know, I'm like not feeling the scene. Is there something for my wishlist, but I can like throw in here in a natural way that then like, it's like a little scene cookie for me and I'm excited to write it and kind of can re-energize the scene with it. So, yeah,
Speaker 2:No, that is a great idea. And I do have a list very similarly, and honestly, it's been a long, long time since I looked at that list. Um, but it is such a great way to kind of revitalize your creativity and get you back into that mood of exploration. And what's fun for me. What am I excited about in storyteller?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I know, I know because I'm a fan of the podcast that you and Amy and Meg kind of talked about, like searching for the fun and the joy and writing and like trying to maintain that and the struggle of that. And that's really something I focused on in the past, like two years or so, like really prioritizing my sense of fun as I'm writing. And that was definitely the case with this book, even though it is like a torque book,
Speaker 2:So dark, I know it's like, I'm like,
Speaker 3:It's ultimately a hopeful story. It's just like very dark and violent. And that was kind of like to honor the myths, like they are, I wanted it to be kind of as unflinching as those stories are, but I'm like how I often will just stop and I'll be like, how can I have more fun with writing the scene? How can I have more fun with this chapter? And I think when you approach it from that angle, you know, it just gives this story a kind of energy and readers can always tell, I think when you are really struggling and you've kind of like labored something over to the point of it, or you've labored over a scene or a character or something, you know, story-wise that, um, I always think of Tim Gunn and project runway saying like a look as tortured. Like, I feel like you can kind of tell when the author has kind of tortured this aspect of their story or the section of it. And, um, I've definitely been there. So I say that
Speaker 2:It's funny. I often hear Tim Gunn in my head telling me to make it work.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And like, make it work is so iconic and it really sums up so much of the publishing experience. You just sometimes have to make something work or you have to find a different way to make the work like brainstormer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and you and I are, you might've been, I've been doing this for a long time
Speaker 2:When you realize like, you're one of the authors that's been around forever. Like when did that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. My debut came out, brightly woven came out in 2010 last year. It was like, I've been doing this for decades. Like where did the time go?
Speaker 2:I know. And it really,
Speaker 3:Like, I do think it becomes a little bit more of a challenge as time goes on because not that you become more jaded necessarily, but you have more critical voices in your head with each book.
Speaker 2:If you happen to look at reviews, which do you look at reviews I've pretty much stopped. Yeah.
Speaker 4:It really, I, I feel like when ends up happening is curiosity gets me and I will read maybe like when I know arcs have gone out, I'll read the first initial wave of reviews and then I will find one that's negative enough where I'm like, I am satisfied. I do. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Now. Yeah. Yeah, no, I, I haven't read them. I really sent cinder. Um, because I quickly realized how, if you stumble across a negative review, it just would derail me for days. And it was like, this is not good for my mental wellbeing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, for sure. Um, it's interesting too, because like with the darkest minds film, that was such a surreal, amazing experience on one hand. And then on the other hand, because the film didn't perform that well, and the reviews were not great. I felt like the one thing I hadn't expected about that experience was how many of the film reviews would ultimately like referenced the book and kind of like blame the book for certain film choices. Yeah. That surprised me the most. And I think the problem sometimes with engaging with reviews, especially, well, at least for me is that sometimes I will find one that like perfectly echoes my like imposter syndrome or my own doubt or the sphere that I've had about my writing. And then it feels like all the confirmation I need to believe it. So that's, it's not that I think authors are like, weak-willed, it's sort of just the not fun part of the job is, you know, having to balance, trying to like constantly reclaim your joy when you are having very natural doubts and yeah. Hoster syndrome reinforced by outside voices, I think. Yeah.
Speaker 2:No, and I think it's so important to remember that not every reader is going to love every book and you know, so if a reader came across one of my books or one of your books and didn't love it, then you know, of course they get to have that opinion and that's okay. Um, you just hope that it will, then that your book will then find the readers that are going to love it. And so it's like, well, clearly I wasn't writing the book for this person. And yeah, you just have to find a way to know that not everybody's going to love your work, but I don't want to hear them pick it apart. Everything,
Speaker 4:You know, reviews are really meant for other readers. So much of it as someone's like emotional response and their just their own personal tastes that they're bringing to a project. That's really, I think what we're talking about here is everybody has different tastes. And actually, if you don't mind me going on like another tangent here that's related, um, this was like a really important lesson that I learned at my first job. I was an editorial assistant at a major publishing house and I worked on the children's book side. And actually I was just thinking about this last night, Marissa. And I remember when your submission came in for the, um, for the lunar Chronicles. Really? Yeah. I was like a total. I would have to copy. I would stand at the copy machine for a really long time because I'd be copying all of our authors passes to send to them. And I found your, it was sort of like, um, some additional submission materials or maybe it was like kind of the editors presentation for it, um, on the copy machine. And I was a total nosy and
Speaker 2:Read through it. I was like, this is so great. Why didn't
Speaker 4:I think of this idea? Um, so, but what I was starting to say before was like, I would have to, one of the jobs as part of being an editorial assistant was that I would have to take minutes at editorial and acquisition meetings. And they were really fascinating because you really are forced to understand how subjective taste is and how like one editor can love a project. So, so, so, so much and bring it in and like another editor they asked to read really didn't like it. And so I try to keep that in mind too, that as you said, like what works for one person does not work for another person that's true across the board inside publishing and with readers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I am jealous. Cause I would love to be on a fly on the wall of those meetings. Like whenever I submit a new book to my editor and she takes it into the acquisitions meeting, I just, I want to know so badly what's happening behind the scenes. I'm so fascinated by that whole process.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It was. I feel very lucky for the years I worked in publishing. It has taught me some really interesting lessons about like, what's actually worth fighting for like, what are the Hills to actually die on as an author? And then it just, yeah, it was, I'm very grateful for that time. I think it has helped me in my career. Uh, the one thing, this is sort of ironic given how much I fumbled that earlier pitch of law, but like one of the things I would say that is honestly, one of the most important things. If you are an author or you are an inspire or aspiring author, if I can get that word out, one of the most important things you can do is figure out a quick pitch for your book, because that was kind of what I saw over and over and over again, working in marketing, not a book without a re like an efficient, quick pitch can work and can work really well. But there's something about that quick pitch that helps so much with word of mouth that sometimes it can actually make a difference. People can very quickly tell you, you know, like what's floor, it's about, um, hunters who can take a God's power and immortality or it's Percy Jackson meets hunger games, you know, quick pitches like that. Sometimes kind of, I don't even want to put this. They just sort of fuel word of mouth.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, it's kind of the, you know, the first impressions aspect and we, we make judgment calls based on first impressions and that pitch that you hear could be the thing that makes you, it gets you excited and you think, Oh, that sounds amazing. That's totally of my I'll. I still want to read that or the opposite could happen. So I agree. I think that that having that pitch is really important and it is not easy to have a really good pitch and it's something a lot of others really struggle with. Um, but I think it, it really can make a huge difference.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And, um, I was actually this past summer, I was reading, save the cat, writes a novel and they have like a, actually a very handy way. If you, if this is something that you really struggle with or you can't wrap your head around it, they have like a very good way of distilling your story down into a quick pitch. I like, I thought that was brilliant.
Speaker 2:So just a side note, um, that I did have Jessica Brody, the author of save the cat, writes a novel on the podcast. She was my very first guest ever. Uh, so if anybody's just heard you talking about it and wants to go, listen, that would be episode number one.
Speaker 4:So I can confirm that as a fantastic episode.
Speaker 2:Um, okay. Alex, we are going to now wrap this up with our happy writer bonus round. Yay. Okay. What book makes you happy?
Speaker 4:One book that makes me really happy book because I love the story and I just love the physical book is my dad's, um, really battered copy of the habit that he had for years and years and years. And I inherited it when he passed away and I have it out on my desk. I keep it there sometimes when I feel like I need inspiration, my dad was, God, God love him. He was like a real Lord of the rings nerd, which I feel like I am so blessed to have him, but he was like full on in that like Frodo lives club. Yeah. He like loved the Lord of the rings and he, um, he was such a big reader of fantasy. And I remember he would, we used to have a cabin up North in Flagstaff, Arizona, and he would set out on the porch and he would reread the Lord of the rings every single summer. And I would just see him reading it. So I have like such attachment to that story and to, um, that physical book
Speaker 2:That I think you're the first person that has listed like a specific copy of a book like this one in my hands. This is the book that makes me happy. I love that
Speaker 4:There are so many wonderful stories, but I, you know, after losing my dad, that one has taken on this like extra specialist.
Speaker 2:Yeah. What is your personal mantra?
Speaker 4:I am a fish and I can swim through anything that is because I'm a Pisces
Speaker 2:High five. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And so I think about that sometimes where I'm like really anxious or, you know, they're rough waters ahead. It's like, I can swim through anything. I can swim through rough waters. I can swim through calm waters or deep waters. Like there's no body of water I cannot swim through in life. So that's, yeah, that's what I think about every once in a while I even have a written on a note card on my desk.
Speaker 2:I love that. That is a great response. Pisces
Speaker 4:Everywhere. Please adopt that.
Speaker 2:What advice would you give to help someone be a happier writer? So,
Speaker 4:One thing that personally makes me very happy as a writer and I always recommend is kind of creating like a little ritual around your writing. So for me, what I do is, you know, I start writing roughly the same time every day, but I light a specific candle for a book. I go through my notebook of notes that I made the night before I listened to one specific song. Every single day I write this book that kind of gets me back into the world. And I think there's something really wonderful about that feeling of sinking into the story, worlds and inhabiting the story and, um, living with the characters. So that's, I don't know. It just, it makes me so happy to see, you know, how my little cup of tea and my little candle. And I think that structure routine is something that can really boost your happiness and make writing feel like a special happiness.
Speaker 2:What was the song for lore?
Speaker 4:The song for lore? I joked that this book has big queen energy. Um, so the song for Laura was Queens. I want it all this, the song I listened to every single day first. And, um, it kinda just like helped put me in that like amped up mood to write a book about this, like hunt in this competition and people trying to kill each other and ruthless gods and all of that.
Speaker 2:So they are there. Killer queen was a big for heartless. I listened to that a lot when I was writing heartless perfect queen. They're very inspiring. I agree. They are,
Speaker 4:Um, they just go for it and there's so much emotional.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:It's just like infectious. It's amazing.
Speaker 2:Last question. Where can people find you?
Speaker 4:You can find me online@alexandrabracken.com. I'm at Alex Bracken on both Instagram and on Twitter. I'm around.
Speaker 2:You can find me, Alex. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having me. I like, ah, I'm so excited. I feel so honored. I got to be on the podcast. I was like, keep saying I am so thrilled, thrilled that you're a listener and it was just always so much fun to talk to you. So thanks again. Thank you readers. Be sure to check out Alex's newest lore, which is out now. Of course, we always encourage you to support your local indie bookstore, but if you don't have a local indie, you can also check out our affiliate store at bookshop.org/shop/marissa Meyer. If you're enjoying this conversations, I would so appreciate it. If you would subscribe and please leave a review on Google or Apple podcasts, you can find us on Instagram at Marissa Meyer author and at happy writer podcast until next time stay healthy and cozy in your bunkers and whatever life throws at you today. I do hope that now you're feeling a little
Speaker 1:[inaudible].