Ask the Author: Rory Power
Answered Questions (11)
Rory Power
Definitely something to do with music. I went to a conservatory when I was younger, and though I was never very good at composition or performance, music theory is still one of my favorite things to study.
Rory Power
You do not know how deeply I wish these answers could include pictures so that this answer could just be a Jim reaction image.
Rory Power
I tend to think of it like bookends - I have both the beginning and the end in mind, and then it's a matter of building the right middle to get me where I'm hoping to go. Thanks for asking!
Rory Power
Thank you!!! I wrote a (horrible) first draft of the book in four months in 2015, and then didn't touch it for a year. Then in late 2016, I went back to it and rewrote entirely, which took about another four months.
So all in all, eight months, but also two years.
So all in all, eight months, but also two years.
Rory Power
I actually didn't read much as a teenager - I fell out of love with it for a long time, after doing practically nothing else as a kid - which might be a contributing factor in why my favorite book was JO'S BOYS by Louisa May Alcott, weirdly enough.
I definitely wish THE HATE U GIVE (Angie Thomas) and DEAR MARTIN (Nic Stone) had been around when I was a teenager, as well as EVERY HEART A DOORWAY (Seanan McGuire).
I definitely wish THE HATE U GIVE (Angie Thomas) and DEAR MARTIN (Nic Stone) had been around when I was a teenager, as well as EVERY HEART A DOORWAY (Seanan McGuire).
Rory Power
Thanks for asking! The passage that jumped to mind unfortunately will not survive the next round of edits, but I'll share it anyway:
--
Reese reaches down and scratches lightly at the patch of blood staining my jeans. “We could wash that out.”
“With what?”
She rolls her eyes and gestures to the ocean. “Behold, dumbass.”
--
This is perhaps sliiiiiightly misleading in that most of the book is not very lighthearted, but I'm gonna miss this passage, so I figured I'd give it a last hurrah before it disappears from the draft.
--
Reese reaches down and scratches lightly at the patch of blood staining my jeans. “We could wash that out.”
“With what?”
She rolls her eyes and gestures to the ocean. “Behold, dumbass.”
--
This is perhaps sliiiiiightly misleading in that most of the book is not very lighthearted, but I'm gonna miss this passage, so I figured I'd give it a last hurrah before it disappears from the draft.
Rory Power
Thanks, Astrid! The book is set in present day, but given the illness the girls are suffering from, I think of it more as speculative YA than I do contemp YA.
The inspiration for this book came from a trip I took in 2015 to an island in North Carolina. Most of my inspiration comes from landscape, and this was no exception. I was absolutely taken with the island and decided I had to put it (or a version of it) in a book.
And yes, I did go to boarding school! The girls in WILDERGIRLS go to a standard boarding school, while I went to a co-ed conservatory for music, but I wound up drawing a lot on my own experiences nonetheless.
The inspiration for this book came from a trip I took in 2015 to an island in North Carolina. Most of my inspiration comes from landscape, and this was no exception. I was absolutely taken with the island and decided I had to put it (or a version of it) in a book.
And yes, I did go to boarding school! The girls in WILDERGIRLS go to a standard boarding school, while I went to a co-ed conservatory for music, but I wound up drawing a lot on my own experiences nonetheless.
Rory Power
Thanks, Lillian! I really enjoy reading mysteries and suspense novels, and I also work as a crime fiction editor, so putting a mystery at the core of my book felt really natural. I love the way mysteries can lend structure and momentum to a story.
As far as the supernatural angle goes (or IS it supernatural? read and find out and wow I can't believe I just typed that), that was the result of me, every time I sat down to write, thinking, "Okay, but what if I made it a little bit weirder?"
As far as the supernatural angle goes (or IS it supernatural? read and find out and wow I can't believe I just typed that), that was the result of me, every time I sat down to write, thinking, "Okay, but what if I made it a little bit weirder?"
Rory Power
Thanks for asking, Claire! I can't say too much without spoiling anything, but the girls are confined on the island because they've come down with a mysterious, lethal illness that's starting to transform their bodies in strange ways. One girl, for instance, has her hand covered over in silver scales; another grows a ridge of bone down her back like a second spine.
As Hetty, the main character, searches for her missing friend, she discovers the truth about the disease, and about the island's mysterious past.
As Hetty, the main character, searches for her missing friend, she discovers the truth about the disease, and about the island's mysterious past.
Rory Power
Thanks for asking! I'm always working on a bunch of things! Edits for WILDERGIRLS, drafting a new project (and maaaybe drafting a second new project, but we won't talk about that). Plenty more to come!
Rory Power
Thank you so much! WILDERGIRLS stars Hetty and her two friends, Byatt and Reese. The three of them make for a bit of an unstable friendship trio - Hetty and Reese fight even when they don't mean to - but Hetty is loyal to the bone. She's not letting go of her friends, no matter what.
I've always loved exploring the side relationships in friend groups, the people who maybe wouldn't hang out together were it not for a linchpin holding them together. That was what interested me most in setting up these three friends.
I've always loved exploring the side relationships in friend groups, the people who maybe wouldn't hang out together were it not for a linchpin holding them together. That was what interested me most in setting up these three friends.
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