The Happy Writer with Marissa Meyer
Kendare Blake's True-Crime Inspired Vampire Horror - All These Bodies - Virtual Launch Event
Marissa joins Kendare Blake for the virtual launch event of her new paranormal murder mystery - ALL THESE BODIES - hosted by Square Books. Topics include the horrifying real-life murders that inspired the story; what happens when you make a book idea wait to be told, sometimes for years, while you tackle other projects; the decision to leave an ending open to reader interpretation, and how to get it right; why the protagonist of your tale may not make the best narrator, and how a strong narrator acts as a natural lens through which readers will view all the other characters of the story. Plus: gore-themed cocktails, dreamy Twilight dates, and some reader-submitted Q&A!
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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 joins Kendare Blake for the virtual launch event of her new paranormal murder mystery - ALL THESE BODIES - hosted by Square Books. Topics include the horrifying real-life murders that inspired the story; what happens when you make a book idea wait to be told, sometimes for years, while you tackle other projects; the decision to leave an ending open to reader interpretation, and how to get it right; why the protagonist of your tale may not make the best narrator, and how a strong narrator acts as a natural lens through which readers will view all the other characters of the story. Plus: gore-themed cocktails, dreamy Twilight dates, and some reader-submitted Q&A!
The Happy Writer at Bookshop.org
Purchasing your books through our webstore at Bookshop.org supports independent bookstores.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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 to help authors find more joy in their writing. I am your host, Marissa Meyer. Thank you for joining me. We have a special episode today because last week I had the great pleasure of joining Kundera Blake for the virtual launch event of her new paranormal murder mystery. All these bodies, the event was hosted by square books. And as of a few days ago, they did still have some signed copies and signed a book place available. So if you don't have your copy of all these bodies, yet you might want to consider ordering it from them and hopefully get a little bonus. And as far as I know, they are happy to ship just about anywhere. I should probably confirm that before going on and saying it. Um, but I think that it's true with that. Please enjoy my conversation with Kindara Blake.
Speaker 3:Uh, hi everybody. My name is Caitlin. I am the events coordinator at square books. Um, thank you all for joining us, uh, to celebrate Kundera Blake's news novel, uh, all these bodies and, uh, recent Myers here to talk with her about it and celebrate with us. Um, so Kundera Blake is the number one New York times bestselling author of the three dark crown series. She holds an ma in creative writing from Middlesex university in Northern London, and she's also the author of Anna dressed in blood that's civils award finalist, um, girl of nightmares, anti goddess, mortal gods, and ungodly. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages. We've been featured on multiple best of year lists, including square books, junior best seller list. Um, and we, and has received many regional and librarian awards dart lives and writes in gig Harbor Washington. And you can visit her online at[inaudible] dot com. Marissa Meyer is the number one New York times bestselling author of the Lennar Chronicle series. The New York times bestselling renegades trilogy as well as the graphic novel wires and nerve falling into and the lunar Chronicles coloring book. Her first standalone novel heartless was also a number one New York times bestseller. And you can pre-order her newest novel, uh, gilded slated to be published in early November of this year. Uh, she lives in Tacoma, Washington with her husband and her two daughters. Um, wow. Two very accomplished and wonderful, uh, writers here this evening. Um, please submit any questions that you may have for, of them in a QA. And I will come back later in the evening to moderate those, but I think everyone's tired of hearing me talks. I'm going to get out of here. Um, thank you both so much for spending your evening with us. Um, I'm really excited about this. All right. Y'all have fun.
Speaker 4:Awesome. Yay. Thank you.
Speaker 5:Hey, how are you?
Speaker 4:I am so good. I'm so excited to be here and congratulations on the launch of all these.
Speaker 5:Thank you. Um, it's, it's been a while. I haven't had a book come out since 2019 and then that pandemic thing happened and who is time? Like, I don't know what time it is. So this feels very weird.
Speaker 4:I didn't realize that your last book came out that long ago. I binge read the three dark crown series and it was just like amazing and making the choice to like, not read them as they were coming out and to wait until they were all out was one of the best life choices I've ever made. Um, so thank you so much for inviting me to join you on today's celebration. Um, and for agreeing to let me use the audio for the happy writer podcast, I'm really thrilled to be able to have you
Speaker 5:Well, thank you for having me on the podcast. I love writing or listening to the happy writer. Although I do feel like an extra layer of pressure to be like audibly interesting instead of just like I could do this and the zoom would be okay, but like, I actually have to say smart things cause we're doing the podcast.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I'm sad that everyone listened to the podcast. Didn't get to see your little dance shimmy right there. Yeah. So on that note, it is customary to kick off every episode by talking about something that's making me happy. Uh, but today I'm going to pass that honor off to you. What is making you happy this week?
Speaker 5:Oh my goodness. Uh, well obviously it's always wonderful to have a book come out, even though it's nerve-wracking and I had a stress dream last night that I actually overslept and missed this whole event, even though it took place at three 30 in the afternoon, I woke up like, oh my God, it's been over for hours. I didn't even know. So, um, yeah, so definitely having a book out. And right now I also made myself this like delightful boozy milkshake themed for all these bodies. So it's, this is Michael's murdery milkshake and it's smell ice cream with like some grenadine at the bottom to look like blood. And there's a cherry in here somewhere because you know, I'm turning everything into a celebration during the pandemic. I don't even care how small it is and boozy milkshakes make me happy.
Speaker 4:No, that's a brilliant idea. I'm really jealous. I wish she would have told me. And then I could've had something to,
Speaker 5:It was totally last minute. I was just like, I have ice cream and I have cherries and I'm I have alcohol and I'm doing it right now.
Speaker 4:You, if people could see it, it looks like there's blood in the bottom, right? Yeah. Perfectly worried for this book.
Speaker 5:It makes sense.
Speaker 4:I took, um, this is totally off topic years and years ago, I took a bartending class with my dad and it was like one of the coolest things we've ever done together. So for like the 12 months I had an actual bartending license. Oh my God.
Speaker 5:Yeah. To have like an actual book had
Speaker 4:An actual license and we bartended, I think three weddings even. Yeah. Random tidbit about Marissa Meyer.
Speaker 5:Like, can you throw the bottles and catch them? No,
Speaker 4:No, I I'm just like really good at shaking the shaker. That's my skill. Cause you could do a little shimmy.
Speaker 5:You can, you almost have to. Yeah, no,
Speaker 4:You have to have fun with it. Otherwise you're not doing it. Right.
Speaker 5:All right.
Speaker 4:So for everyone who does not have delicious boozy drinks and just really wants to hear about your new book, tell us about all these bodies.
Speaker 5:Oh, well, all these bodies is the story of two teenagers who get caught up in the mystery of this terrible brutal 1950s murder spree that rips through the Midwest. So Marie Catherine Hale is the girl found covered in blood in the middle of a farmhouse where the entire family, except the two year old baby has just been slaughtered. And 17 year old, Michael Jensen is the son of the sheriff, the son of the local sheriff. And he wants to be a journalist. And it turns out that he's the only one that she will tell her story to. So it's up to him to find out the truth.
Speaker 4:So I remember when you were first starting to write this book. Uh, but I, if I remember right, and you can correct me if this isn't true, but I feel like I remember you saying that it was one of those books that had been kicking around in your head for like a long time before you actually sat down to write it. How long was this story brewing and where did the initial seed of inspiration come from?
Speaker 5:Well, actually all these bodies, the idea for it, all these bodies has been around since before three dark crowns blows oddly enough. And but all these bodies is such a strange idea. I mean, it's like true crime with a vampire and that's just odd. And it doesn't like immediately scream like, yes. Right. That, so when I pitch
Speaker 4:Kind of, does he need to write this book?
Speaker 5:When I pitched both ideas to my agent, you know, it was between, Hey, I got true crime with a vampire or I've got, you know, three murderers Queens who have to kill each other on their 16th birthday. And they each have a magical gift. She was like right at that one. So I did, and all these bodies was very put out about that. You know? So then it just took the time to roll around in my head and get weirder and weirder and stranger and stranger and keep adding more murdery elements to itself until finally when three dark crowns was over, it was like now, and I was like, fine. So yeah. Then I, I was able to actually, I did start writing it when we were on that retreat together Years and years ago.
Speaker 4:Now I miss writing retreats. We actually get stuff done during that. So if I recall correctly in your author's note of the book, you mentioned that it was loosely inspired by some real life murders. Can you talk about how those influenced the story?
Speaker 5:Yes. Yes. So all of these bodies was actually inspired by three true things. Um, the slaughter of the clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas in 1959, which we all know because that was Truman Capote, his book in cold blood and, um, in cold blood was like the main inspiration behind my narrator, Michael, because I was always fascinated on how, the way that Truman Capote just walked into the small town who had just been completely traumatized by the slang and then just kind of crack them open and charmed his way into their lives. And he ended up with this intimate portrait of this small town, um, and also ended up with having a very strange and somewhat inappropriate relationship with the killers. Eventually, uh, anybody who's seen compony can, you know, you know what I'm talking about? Um, the other true things that all these bodies was inspired by was the vampire hysteria of new England, which we know now was just tuberculosis. But when the settlers and, um, they didn't know what tuberculosis was, they just saw people getting thinner and thinner and coughing up blood and then somebody would die. And then the rest of the house that would happen to them. So they thought, oh, well, naturally that person was a vampire. Now they're coming back from the dead and they're sucking the life out of their whole family. So we better like dig them up and cut off their head and take out their heart and burn it in the town square, which they did to many, many people up and down the Northeast, even as far into the Midwest, as Minnesota, there was, um, there were documented vampire exhumations in Minnesota at the time. And the final crime that all these bodies is based on is the 11 victim killing spree of Charlie Starkweather and his 14 year old girlfriend, Carol, and few gate. So they were really young and she always said that she was only a hostage, but he got the death penalty and she served a very long prison sentence. She was convicted as an accomplice. And I was always fascinated by that story and how she was so young and he was older and he was cooler and he had like the leather jacket and the cigarette hanging off his bottom lip. And I'm like, what happened? Like what transpired to bring this girl on this horrible bloody Odyssey? And so, yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun doing research on all of these terrible things. I have to tell you,
Speaker 4:I imagine, I mean, that's, you know, such human nature, that's, these things are terrifying and weird and creepy, but fascinating too. And to, as a writer, like wanting to dig into somebody's head and see what were they really thinking and feeling and going through that led to these things happening. It's for me, I find it, it can be almost kind of cathartic in a way to like, take these horrifying things from real life, but then kind of try to write it into a fictional story. Did you get that?
Speaker 5:Well, I like that morbid kind of stuff all the time. I like it. Um, but it was really fascinating to, you know, follow the cases and, and look back with, you know, a different perspective, a more distance from it and just see how the media treated Carol. And, you know, she was just a kid, but they presented her as this horrible miss promiscuous, just a bad girl. And she was convicted in the court of public opinion long before, you know, her trial was over and it was, you know, it was just, I mean, honestly it kind of me off cause she was, yeah, they, they totally, you know, oh, just because the girl is presented as promiscuous, clearly she's a murderer, but to be, to see that. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Well, it is interesting too, that not that people don't hold weird beliefs and opinions today, but so many things in this book are like straight from the time and the way that people talk about women and think about women and girls and you know, and just in general, just on a larger scale, the, I guess world-building in this book is so realistic, even though it is a true setting, Minnesota. Um, at the end of the 1950s, you really did a great job of immersing us in that, you know, it's in the way people talk, the lingo, the slang it's, you know, the food that they're eating, the way that they decorate their houses mean I can see everything. So clearly, what was your strategy for kind of bringing this setting to life like that?
Speaker 5:Well, I mean, I, I, I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, so I wanted to treat it very carefully much in the same way that Truman Capote, he treated the citizens and the location of Holcomb. I wanted it to feel very real. Small towns have always been fascinating to me. They're very insular. They have their secrets, they have their own way of doing things. And even the really friendly ones in Minnesota know how to smile while, keep you at arms length, you know, and they have a very safe sense of community, but they're also capable of really surprising violence. Like there is a lot of capability for violence in a small town. And, um, I was interested in that and I, I just, you know, even though it was in 1958 and I hopefully didn't grow up in 1958 or I look good, but I,
Speaker 4:You might be,
Speaker 5:I might be things haven't really changed like that much, the things that are were true about small towns back then are still true about them right now. So that's what I wanted to focus on.
Speaker 4:I want to talk about our narrator, Michael, um, first of all, why did you choose to have him as the narrator of the book, as opposed to Marie Katherine,
Speaker 5:That was for two reasons. And I get that question quite frequently because they're like, it's her story? Why is he telling it, like, why is it filtered through his eyes? And like, exactly because that girl's stories were filtered back then, like there was, that's why it was so important to allow Marie to tell her story and to allow it, to allow her to tell it the way that she wanted, um, and to have a sympathetic ear, like Michael's because the narrative that was built around her, just like the narrative that was built around Caroline few gates, the actual girl, uh, they were, it was beyond their control. Just like so many of the narratives that are constructed around girls today are still beyond their control. The media takes it, um, you know, opinion, the whisper network, it just takes hold. So from a storytelling standpoint, it was important that I not be in Marie's head because all of the secrets and the truth is in Marie's head. And if I was to write from Marie's perspective, I'd have to give all the cards away or turn her into a completely unreliable narrator in a different way than she is right now. And so I didn't want to do that, but also I just thought that filtering it through Michael, filtering it through a boy, even a very earnest listening. Boy was just another layer of what I was trying to say about girls on the stories that they're allowed to tell.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Well, I loved him as a narrator in part, because kind of going back to how, you know, just setting the book in the time period that it set in, he feels like such a product of this time period, and of this small town, you know, he's just a very upstanding, you know, Christian boy, very polite to his elders, respectful. And I felt like that gave a great depth to the things that he would say as a narrator. And then the things that you could kind of read between the lines that he's not saying, the things that he's thinking, but he's too proper to actually go there. Was he difficult narrator for you? Or did you find that you fell into his voice really easily?
Speaker 5:No. Michael was a real, he was a real pleasure. Honestly, I got to spend the time with him character. He was still agreeable and he was so polite to me to work with, um, and his, he wants to be a journalist, you know, and what I was another thing that I noticed when I was watching a lot of these true crime documentaries, and I was listening to conf murderers, give their confession and like give their accountings of these terrible things that happened. What I noticed is hot, these people are not storytellers. Like many of these killers not good at just laying it down. It was like, this is the worst thing I've ever heard, but it's also kind of boring the way you're telling me that it happened. So, um, so I started thinking like, you know, okay, not everybody is a storyteller, maybe Marie herself, isn't much of a storyteller, but actually she turns out to be a fine one. But I was very lucky in that. I think Michael turned out to be a fairly competent journalist. Like he wants to be one. And I think if he goes along that path, he'll, he'll be successful because yeah, his voice was very strong and he did everything I wanted. He's just so sweet. I mean, he's, he's the sheriff son. There's actually a moment in the start of the book where it's revealed that his previous girlfriend only dated him because her dad was a Reverend and she needed to like ease him into the idea of her dating the Sheriff's son first because he can do no wrong and then I'll dump him. And I can date whoever I want after I, Reverend father used to it. So yeah.
Speaker 4:Promiscuous girls. Um, so I want to go back a little bit, cause you're talking about, um, listening to these murder tapes of murderers in their confessions. And I, as you said before, you, it must've had to do a ton of research. Was there anything that really like sticks out in your memory that you remember as like, you know, any like really creepy or weird facts that you came across?
Speaker 5:Um, not necessarily creepy or weird facts. What, what stood out for me this time? And I mean, I watched serial killer stuff and true crime stuff quite frequently, but what stood out for me this time in this research was, are you familiar with like the slender man attacks? No, it was several years ago. Uh, when slender man was big on creepy pasta and these three girls, I think they were from the Midwest or maybe Pennsylvania. Um, they were friends and they were like 12 or 13 and they thought slender man to summon him. They had to kill their third best friend. So they brought her into a park and just like stabbed her like 17 times.
Speaker 4:I do remember hearing about this town. Yes. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 5:And if you hear, like, if you listen to them, when they're saying, you know, oh, well, and then what did you do? Well, I was stabbed her and, and, and you stabbed her? Yeah. I stabbed her. I stabbed her like, like 10 times, you know, was it's so dis like they've disassociated completely from the act like this had to be a very jarring, traumatic act. But if you hear it in, in their confession, in their voice, it's, it's complete. There's nothing there. It's just monotone it's yeah. Then she bled like it's no, it's like, it's no big deal. So I'm like my goodness, you know, how, how people who have gone through trauma, the different ways that they have to disassociate from it to survive. And, um, a lot of that went into Murray's character.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I can totally see how that might have influenced her character. I'm really curious, you know, you mentioned Michael wanted to be a journalist and you know, if he goes down that path, do you think he'd be a pretty good one? Um, without giving anything away, we obviously don't want to do any spoilers, but the ending is fairly open to interpretation and to some guesswork. Um, I'm really curious. Do you feel like you have an idea of what happens to these characters?
Speaker 5:I do. I know. I know what really happened. I mean, I have to write I'm I'm the writer I have to know. Um, but I, I made a promise to myself when I started writing that I would never actually say because people have their own opinions and that's kind of the point. Um, the reason that I left it, the ending open-ended was because in part, because of Carolyn few gate, she was convicted, but she always said, no, I'm innocent. I was a hostage like to this day, she's still alive. Um, and she just asked most recently, she just asked for a pardon, think in 2006, because she says she was innocent and everybody involved is dead. So what do we have? We don't know, even though we have a conviction and we have all the evidence that came in the trial, you know, there was still room for doubt. So even though we as humans, we really like to have answers about what really occurred when something like this happens. We don't really, it's really just them and the victim who knows what actually occurred. And we just kind of have to make up our own minds. So also, I mean, a big part of the book is, you know, about truths and the subjective nature of it and how people need to make their own sometimes. And yeah. So yeah. Yep. I know it's going to drive some people up the wall.
Speaker 4:I like it though. And as a writer, I appreciate, I think it's a daring decision when someone chooses not to tie everything into a neat bow, but this is, I think the exact sort of book that requires that. And I love that it leaves that bit of mystery at the end.
Speaker 5:I hope, I hope so. I hope
Speaker 4:So. I want to switch topics, um, a little bit, well, not topic so much, but just kind of a broader Kraft slash career question. You went from writing three dark crowns, uh, w four books and two novellas and multiple protagonists and subplots and huge world-building and murder and betrayal on and on and on to writing this book, you know, single narrator, much quieter story of standalone. Why, what was that like for you?
Speaker 5:And it's slim, right? It's just, it's only like 20,000 words and
Speaker 4:Then you're done. Yeah.
Speaker 5:You think that it would be like a breeze, but actually all these bodies was, was quite difficult. And, um, I remember when we were on that writing retreat together at the end of it, we all gave our word counts and mine was like pathetic. And you had written like a novel and you're like, I can't remember what you said. And you're like 30,000 and I'm like eight. Um, so all these bodies, every word, you know, it was very carefully and very deliberately chosen. So if I got a thousand words a day out of it, I considered myself lucky. It was, it just wrote a lot slower. And as for why a standalone and why, like this will, for one thing, it had been waiting to be told for a really long time. It had put up with four years of murdering Queens and just, you know, like waiting there for me to do something with it. So I had to, and also I realized that my first book, uh, was a standalone and then an address in blood was a duet. And the goddess ward was a trilogy and three dark crowns was a quartet. So I thought, well, I can go for five or I can start back over and starting back over just seemed like much more manageable. I mean, did you feel the same way when you moved from the trilogies to instant karma? Like it was,
Speaker 4:I did know instant karma felt like such a palate cleanser book for me. Um, and something, yeah. One and done, you know, you tell the story, you enjoy it, have fun with it and then move on. Um, and I found it to be really refreshing. Um, but then at the same time, as soon as I was done with that, I felt like my brain was like recharged and like, okay, ready for something bigger again.
Speaker 5:It's exactly, exactly. Cause after we're in these big worlds, you know, our, our brains have only been there really actively. Um, and I, I needed a palate cleanser. I needed some time away. I needed some time to shift gears and you know, yeah. So that was, that was all these bodies. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And do you know what you're going to be doing next? Are you moving into a big epic world? Again?
Speaker 5:I am. Yeah. Um, uh, it's, it's, it's another fantasy series and right now it's code name is Amazon jeopardize. It's like
Speaker 4:Really pre-order that
Speaker 5:It's like we're Amazons and you know, like it'd be one was an Amazon and he had to train this little anecdote and Amazon, you know, up and yeah. How to join the order. So that's basically what it is. Um, and I'm also writing a new series of books set in the universe of Buffy the vampire Slayer. So that's what I'm doing now. Um, I don't know if it's called Frankie the vampire Slayer, the series, or if it's like the first book is called in every generation. So, and that's been another pallet cleanser because that's basically like fanfiction and
Speaker 4:That's so fun. It's so much fun. I love it. I cannot wait. I know we probably have some questions waiting for us, but before we get to Q and a, um, I would love to wrap this up with our traditional happy writer bonus round.
Speaker 5:Yes. And then can I add one question onto the end for you?
Speaker 4:No, not allowed your event. Kindara yes, that's fine. Okay. Here we go. Journalists or police, detective
Speaker 5:Journalist. You seem
Speaker 4:So disappointed about,
Speaker 5:Well, I feel like police detective is a much more exciting, but journalist yeah. Ghost
Speaker 4:Or vampire
Speaker 5:Vampire, I think go sometimes get such a sad rap like it, like, I always wonder, like what if you get stuck in the place that you died and what if you die at a Walmart? Like just, oh my, I get very, very nervous about that. So definitely the most
Speaker 4:Interesting Walmart in the country.
Speaker 5:I mean, I guess Walmart's, it's going to be there for a long time and the changing, but That's true.
Speaker 4:Uh, Matt McBride or Lish McBride,
Speaker 5:You know, I didn't even realize that I'd use her last name until I was in draft two. Okay. With this
Speaker 4:Page one and I was like, oh cool. There's going to be someone named after me too.
Speaker 5:It's just it. You know, what it was is because, um, when I had Matt McBride, who's the editor of, uh, the local newspaper when I had him in my head and I was picturing him. I pictured that old actor, Matt McCoy. So I'm like, well, I can't call him Matt McCoy clearly because I'm like Matt, Matt, and Matt McBride. It just popped out. I'm sure because I know Lish, but yeah, but I mean, between the two, I mean, we have to choose lists. Right? Of course
Speaker 4:I should hope so. Not that I didn't like Matt McBride. What is your favorite writing snack?
Speaker 5:My favorite writing snack. I actually, I don't eat when I'm writing. I have coffee and it is the only coffee I allow myself. So that should be considered a snack. Also the sheer amount of sugar I put in it. It should definitely be considered a snack.
Speaker 4:Yeah. What about boozy drinks? Is that like just for events or is that a writing method as well?
Speaker 5:Just for events. If the writing day is really, really long, I might have like a glass of wine towards the end of it. But then the writing really tapers off quick.
Speaker 4:We've learned this about ourselves. If all these bodies had a theme song, what would it be?
Speaker 5:Oh gosh. I mean, it has to be something from the 1950s, wouldn't it?
Speaker 4:And I don't
Speaker 5:Know any of that. So maybe like a polka, polka, Boca, you know, like one of those just, and it'd be like ironically upbeat while everybody was getting worse.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. One that came to my mind was like werewolves of London, but I don't know, not vampirey enough to where
Speaker 5:I like, you know, it has the same vibe. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Uh, what is the best writing advice that you have ever received?
Speaker 5:Get it on the page that was given to me by, um, one of my, my masters tutors, which, you know, it's something that we've heard before, but she phrased it in such a way that it made so much sense. Like of course you have to have something on the page. I can't grade it if it's not on the page. So, you know, I can't grade it and I can't read it. So it has to be actually I have to do the writing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, that's good. And I think some of us forget sometimes when we get stuck in our heads with make it perfect. It must be great. How am I going to capture all these emotions? And it's like, no, you can't, you can't worry about that yet. Just get it down.
Speaker 5:Yeah. It's hard to overcome that feeling of knowing that it isn't perfect and you're going to have to do so much to it despite working so hard on it the first time, but that's just something we have to do.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's a part of the process. Uh, lastly, obviously tonight, a lot of people here already big fans of yours. Um, but for people listening to the podcast who may not be familiar with your books, um, and want to go check you out, where can they find you?
Speaker 5:They can find me on Instagram, mostly Kindara Blake. Um, I'm on Twitter, but it's mostly for drew for doom scrolling at this point. So if you asked me a question on Twitter, I'll get back to you, but I'm not, I don't post a lot. And then I have like my website Kindara blake.com. Oh, can I get, can I ask you your question? Yes,
Speaker 4:Sure.
Speaker 5:Yay. Okay. I actually wrote this one down on my phone, like ages ago when I thought of it. So a while ago I noticed that you were introducing the girls to Twilight. Oh yeah. Getting their reactions to the men of Twilight. So I wanted to know what your reaction would be. So if you could go on a date with Edward or Jacob from Twilight, which would you choose and how would that date go?
Speaker 4:Okay. Is it an option to say I'd like to go on a date with Bella's dad.
Speaker 5:Oh, Charlie hits different now.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm totally team Bella's dad, but if I have to choose one of the two, then I will, if that's like a requirement of this,
Speaker 5:I think, you know, we can go down this, this, um, Charlie's dad path, because that would like make you bell as stepmom. Like Bella.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's just, I mean, he is so he's mature, he's, you know, rock steady and kind and compassionate. And um, what was Edward? I mean, as when I was young, a teenager, I was totally team Edward. Um, but in all of my years and wisdom, I honestly don't think that either of the relationships are very good relationships. I think that she could do better.
Speaker 5:All right. Yeah. Dave, with Charlie, I bet.
Speaker 4:And they would probably not be like super exciting. I don't know. I don't know if you'd know what Charlie does. We'd go fishing or something
Speaker 5:And it'd be really charming and totally chill. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I like charming and chill. How about who would you go?
Speaker 5:Oh, well, uh, um, I used to say Jacob, because of the dog sledding that we could do, that would be amazing, but now I'm, you know, I'm older and I think I would go on a date with Edward and just make him carry me around in his back everywhere, because I mean, that seems really convenient. Yeah. He really moves and you're just
Speaker 4:Right. Or even just like experience like the flying through the trees for like one day. That would be pretty awesome.
Speaker 5:I'd probably get really sick afterwards,
Speaker 4:But it'd be worth,
Speaker 5:It'd be worth it. You just have to do it. Everybody should do at once. Like offer that experience package.
Speaker 4:If you ever runs out of the other things to do
Speaker 5:Right. He's gotten time. He's got
Speaker 4:All right. Should we do some Q and a?
Speaker 3:Yeah. I've got a lot of great questions. Um, this has been so fun. I've just been kind of like laughing in like this little corner of my room. Uh I've so enjoyed this and I know that our, our readers have to, there's lots of questions. I don't think we'll be able to get to them all, but, um, I'm going to hit a couple. So, um, oh, this is from an anonymous attendee. Um, they say you talk about Michael, like he's a real person. Do all of your characters feel like real people to you or only some, and I'd love to hear the answer. Both of y'all if, if you were willing.
Speaker 5:Uh, yeah, for me, absolutely. All of my characters are real. All of my worlds are real. I believe in the multi-verse theory and everything that I'm writing down is happening concurrently somewhere. So I'm just described,
Speaker 4:I love that. I don't really think of my worlds as existing, but definitely by the end of the writing process, all the characters feel very real. Um, not always at the beginning. Um, it sometimes can take me a couple of drafts to feel like I've really gotten to know them and have feelings for them. Um, but by the end, they all very much feel like real people.
Speaker 3:And this is just a question for me, kind of working off of that one. I'm like, how do you say goodbye? Or are they just always with you? Do you have this just kind of like posse all the time?
Speaker 5:And that would be like, they wouldn't, they would annoy me, like it would be bothersome. Some of these characters would not. So no, it is. It's hard to say goodbye at the end of the book. That's, that's why it's, you know, sad. And I still wonder sometimes like, why don't they check in why they tell me what they're up to? I'm like a mom one away from college and yeah. Cause I wonder often what calves from an address and blood is doing. And I know he had way more adventures and I'm kind of irritated that he hasn't told me any of them.
Speaker 4:That's a great point. I, yeah, kind of similarly, they don't usually hang around. Um, but for me it is sad saying goodbye, but I'm always looking forward to the next project. And so by the time I'm wrapping something up, I'm so eager to get started on the shiny new thing that I'm really excited about.
Speaker 3:That makes sense. And it's like, same with readers too, you know, like, you know, you fall in love with these characters and then, then it's over and you're sad about it, but put them there. There's the next, next new book. So, um, I mean, it's not quite the same, but I think that we could all kind of empathize a little bit. Um, okay. So we're running out of time. So then maybe three rapid fire questions for each of y'all if that's okay. Um, okay. So first, um, favorite true crime podcast. If you have one favorite, one that you like,
Speaker 4:I can't think of the names. Like I have some that I have really loved, but I don't know what the names of them were. Um, oh gosh. So there was one that my husband and I listen to, this is supposed to be rapid fire terrible. And I'm not even able to think of who the name of the okay. Go back to be Kindara do you have,
Speaker 5:Um, I don't have like a name of a podcast, but I've gotten really into like shows about podcasts or about like true crime writing. So like, I was very into the HBO documentary about Michelle McNamara and her hunt for the golden state killer. I'll be gone in the dark. That was just fantastic and so fascinating. And so like just timely, like they had a bonus episode where they sentenced the guy and it doesn't get more timely than that. Um, and also I've been watching the second season of truth be told, which is about like a true crime podcast or, but she's not a real one.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm, it's gonna drive me nuts that I can't think of this one that we watched. It was based on a local story here in Washington. Um, but the guy murdered his wife and then later ended up murdering their two children and horrible, tragic story. Um, but the, the podcast itself was fascinating.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, we shouldn't give like other podcasts airtime on your podcast and shame on me. It was a good question. I think a good question yet. Um, you stumped them, so, um, okay. Next one. What is your favorite supernatural creature or being
Speaker 4:Well, I'm fresh off of writing gilded, which is based off of a lot of Germanic mythology and folklore. And one of my favorite new creatures is the NEF crap, um, which it means night Raven and they are pretty much Ravens that don't have eyes and have like really tattered wings. And if they don't like you, they will pick out your heart.
Speaker 3:I hate that.
Speaker 5:I love them so much
Speaker 3:That you can die. Um,
Speaker 5:I dunno, I guess it'd be like a tie between like vampires and gods. They're both fun and you know, they've been done so many different ways and I like them pretty much every time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's true. Um, okay. I think I had one more, but um, oh, there's so many good ones. Um, well rather than me just kind of mumbling a lot around, maybe we should do the oh, okay. No, I found it. Um, okay. What were your favorite parts to write in all these bodies in gilded without again, no spoilers, if you can.
Speaker 5:Um, And all these bodies, I really liked writing Percy Valentine. Uh, Percy Valentine is Michael's best friend and he's just like the sweetest dopiest thing that you've ever met. And I just loved it every time that he walked on the page, he's stupidly loyal, so loyal. It's not even a question and he's so supportive and around town, he's kind of got this reputation as being like the clown and not too smart, but actually he's a very intuitive and sensitive person. So I love Percy.
Speaker 4:Uh, my answer is the same for every book that I write. And that's the kissing parts. I just really love writing romance.
Speaker 3:That's great. I feel like that's a lot of, people's like kind of fears. Um, so I'm glad that you enjoy it. I know other authors kind of dread that part, but
Speaker 4:All I'm all that I care about. I just am writing the whole book just to get to this point.
Speaker 3:And you're like, I'm holding their podcast called the kissy parts.
Speaker 5:Um, they're just as Chandler, I find them more challenging than like big action scenes. So I am consistently impressed by Marissa's ability to write like an innovative kissing scene with just the right amount of yearning and focus points. Like I noticed that I know that I'm like,
Speaker 4:It's funny. I do start to worry now, you know, 15 books in that I'm going to start repeating myself. Like how many ways can you describe that?
Speaker 3:Oh, well, I mean, both like writing a big epic scene or a kissing scene, but both of those sound really scary, but I feel like more people have like experience with, with one and, and with the others, maybe that's why it's more intimidating. But anyway, um, this has been really, really fun. Um, I'm really honored that we got to host your debut event. Um, or what do you call it pub day event at, uh, I'll I'll pass it off to y'all and then we'll, we'll say good night, I guess. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for hosting us. It was really fun. Thank you, square books and thank
Speaker 2:You for letting
Speaker 3:Me be a part of it. Oh, thank you for joining me. Oh yeah. Thank you. Both for writing books, um, makes our job really easy. They're fun to sell. I know they're fun to read and we're just so grateful for all you do, and thanks to all of our readers for, um, enabling all of us to do what we love, which is, uh, talk about books. Um, so I guess with that, we will wrap it up and, um, you'll take care maybe next time we can do this in Oxford, but, um, in the meantime, uh, we look forward to reading more of your work and I'm rambling. It's hard to say goodbye. So push the button. Okay, bye.
Speaker 2:And there you haven't can Darra and me and all things gory and spooky and vampiric[inaudible]. This was a perfect book for this time of year, which happens to be my favorite time of year. Again, we were hosted by square books would love it if you can support them in. Thanks for hosting us. Uh, of course always love it. If you can support your own local independent bookstore as well, or you can check out our affiliate store at bookshop.org/shop/marissa Meyer. Next week, I am so excited. I will be joined by a co-host who happens to be the winner of our recent survey. And together we will be interviewing one of this podcast. Most requested guests, Marie Lu, talking about her new duology sky hunter and steel striker. Please be sure to subscribe and follow us on Instagram. You can find us at Marissa Meyer author and at happy writer podcast until next time stay healthy, stay cozy and whatever life throws at you today. I do hope that now you're feeling a little bit happier.
Speaker 1:[inaudible].
