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All Our Yesterdays
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Q&A with Cristin Terrill - Author of "All Our Yesterdays" April 4-6th
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All Our Yesterdays was my favorite book of 2013! I loved how all of the characters were complex and flawed, but were so easy to become invested in and to root for. My favorite thing about the book is that nothing was ever black and white. You understood the actions of each character, even when you didn't necessarily agree with them. It is definitely a book I recommend to everyone! :) Since this book had so many amazing characters, my question is: Who was your favorite character to write for and why?
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This was definitely an interesting read! I like the plot/storyline...I haven't read anything like this before :P I've never been to interested in time travel, but I do like this book!
My questions are: How in the world did you come up with an idea to do a book like this?
Do you believe time travel is possible?
My questions are: How in the world did you come up with an idea to do a book like this?
Do you believe time travel is possible?
I haven't read the book yet but it's high on my 'to-read' list and the plot seems really interesting! *--*How did you start writing in the first place?
Did you ever felt discouraged and like everything you wrote was awful? If yes, how did you get through that?
I loved this book, and all the characters were just perfect in my case, they were flawed and that's what made them real. I also loved the whole theme of the book, time travel is one of those things that keep me interested. My question:
In your next book, if your making one. I mean Goodreads told me that there would be a second one so, yeah. Anyways will you explain more of the world that was changed because of the Doctor?
I'm planing on reading the book but I want to know: Was there a hard part for you to write in the book? or what was the hardest part to write?
My question is:How did you fix plot holes and edit your novels while on a deadline for a publisher?
This books seems unlike anything i have ever read. PS great job on the cover. I love it!My question is
Where did you find inspiration for this book, and espcially the characters?
I couldnt figure out how to put in it boldMy Question:
When you were writing did you already know how the story was going to end for James or was that just the way it happened, but not really planned out?
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My Question:
When you were writing did you already know how the story was going to end for James or was that just the way it happened, but not really plan..."
it's fine, I got it ;) Thanks! Feel free to ask as many questions as you'd like :D
I've always wanted to meet or talk or whatever to a real author so when I found or you was doin this I was like *squeal*,serious fan girl moment but yeah anyways ....
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Who is your favorite author?
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Do you have authors you want know of and really want to meet?
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What is your favourite part of having a book published?
Did you base any of the characters in the book off of people you know in real life?
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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for having me and for reading my book! I'm really looking forward to answering your fantastic questions. Ally - Who was your favorite character to write for and why?
It changed. Originally Em was my favorite. Her voice was the first one I heard and was the clearest to me for a long time, and I had a lot of fun with her toughness and her internal conflict. But after I did a pretty significant overhaul of her character for the second draft, I came to really love writing in Marina’s voice. It was really interesting and kind of freeing for me to write a character who wasn’t necessarily likeable on the outside but who I knew had a good heart underneath. And of course Finn was always fun to write!
Miss Amazingness - How in the world did you come up with an idea to do a book like this?
The book came from a lot of places — lots of little ideas coalescing into one big thing after bumping around in my brain for a long time — but I had three main sources of inspiration:
The plot came from watching THE TERMINATOR on cable late one night when I couldn’t sleep. I was only real half-awake as I was watching, and started to think what if the killer robot from the future was the good guy? And then, because I’m a YA writer, I thought what if it was a teenage girl instead of a robot?
The main emotional through-line came from looking at pictures of myself when I was in high school and realizing that I was way cooler than I’d thought back then, when I was convinced I was a hideous loser. So that became Em's relationship with Marina and her motivation for wanting to change Marina's future.
The arcs of the romantic relationships came from a theory I have about teen television, which is that the best friend/brother of the heroine's obvious love interest almost always ends up being a better love interest in the long-run. I wanted to see if I could replicate that dynamic in a book.
Miss Amazingness - Do you believe time travel is possible?
Most physicists agree that time travel to the past is probably not possible, so I don’t think we’re in danger of something like the plot of AOY ever actually happening. But time travel is definitely real and happens around us all of the time.
Brace yourself, because I’m about to go full physics nerd here: basically, time and space have an inverse relationship with each other, so if you’re traveling very quickly, time actually slows down for you. So if I were to take a plane to China, I would have aged slightly less by the time I landed than everyone who stayed on the ground, so in a sense I would have time traveled very slightly to the future. If you increase the speed exponentially, like on a spaceship, you could leave Earth in 2050, be gone for five years, and come back in 2150 so that you’ve essentially traveled 95 years into the future.
Ritta - How did you start writing in the first place?
I actually didn’t grow up wanting to be a writer. It was something I did as a hobby when I was young, mostly fan fiction, but I had no aspirations to be a professional. I grew up wanting to work in the theatre and that’s what I did, but my mom didn’t think that was a good job for me and was always suggesting alternative careers. More than anything, she wanted me to be a novelist, which I just thought was RIDICULOUS. But one year when I was about twenty-five, I decided to write a novel just for her for Christmas because I knew it would make her cry and she would love me more than my little sister, the usual, so I spent about nine months writing this really terrible book and then had it printed up and gave it to her. Through that process, I discovered I actually liked writing novels, so I wrote another, which got me my agent, and then a third, which was ALL OUR YESTERDAYS. And now my mother is very smug.
Ritta - Did you ever felt discouraged and like everything you wrote was awful? If yes, how did you get through that?
YES. More days than not I feel like what I’m writing is terrible, and this is true of every single writer I know. It’s the rare day when I like “this is awesome! I’m totally nailing this!” But I’ve learned now that those feelings are just part of the process and you have to push through them. You have to get sucky words down on the page before you can go back and de-suck them.
Neha - Will you explain more of the world that was changed because of the doctor?
I’m so sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t answer this question!
Andrea - Was there a hard part for you to write in the book? or what was the hardest part to write?
There were lots of hard parts. One of the hardest scenes was definitely the one in the beach house where all six characters are together in the same room. The pronouns alone in that scene nearly killed me. It was really hard to try to make it clear who was actually talking while also making it read smoothly. Plus it’s a really emotional scene that I had no experience to draw from since I’ve never been face-to-face with an assassin version of my future self.
But the scene I probably rewrote the most times might surprise you. It was actually the first scene from Marina’s perspective, where she’s talking with her friends Tamsin and Sophie. I struggled so much with that scene even though there’s nothing particularly difficult about it on the surface, and it’s the scene that when I reread now, I cringe the most.
Renée - How did you fix plot holes and edit your novels while on a deadline for a publisher?
Well luckily that wasn’t much of an issue with ALL OUR YESTERDAYS since I did all the plot-hole fixing and most of the editing before it was sold to a publisher. It underwent relatively few changes in the editorial process at Disney, so what you read is very similar to what I initially submitted to them. But otherwise, the answer is you just work as hard as you can and hope for the best!
Aisha - Where did you find inspiration for this book, and espcially the characters?
I think I pretty well answered this in my above answer to Miss Amazingness, but let me know if there’s anything you’re still wondering about and I’ll try to answer more specifically!
Annie - When you were writing did you already know how the story was going to end for James or was that just the way it happened, but not really planned out?
I’m very much a planner and can’t start writing a book until I have pretty much the entire plot figured out, so I always knew that’s how it was going to end.
Okay, I'll be back in a bit to answer the rest!
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Rachel - Who is your favorite author? Shakespeare. I have a masters in Shakespeare, so I think that pretty much goes without saying. I don’t think there has ever been or ever will be again a writer with his level of genius.
As far as contemporary authors, that’s a really tough one. HIS DARK MATERIALS is my favorite series, so Philip Pullman is definitely on the list. I always buy whatever Maggie Stiefvater or E. Lockhart or Patrick Ness or a dozen others are writing the day their books comes out. I can’t pick!
Once Upon a Time - Out of all the authors you know, who is your favorite?
Like, as a person? That’s just impossible to answer because almost every author I’ve ever met has been fantastic. Just off the top of my head, Jessica Spotswood is a good friend of mine, and she’s a total sweetheart and lots of fun to be around. I once accidentally stalked Patrick Ness on a train and now we’re kind of buddies, and he’s really nice to me even though I’m still kind of star-struck and idiotic around him. I could literally go on all day. Authors are just generally pretty cool people.
Once Upon a Time - Do you have authors you know of and really want to meet?
Sure, tons! Of course I would love to meet the biggies like JK Rowling and Suzanne Collins. I met Philip Pullman super briefly at a signing once but would love to have an actual conversation with him.
What made you decide to make All Our Yesterdays a series and not a stand alone?
Rachel - Who or what inspired you to take on writing as a career? I think I pretty much covered that in my answer to Ritta!
Rachel - What is your favourite part of having a book published?
Probably interacting with readers (of any books, not necessarily mine), either through the emails I get or hanging out at conferences or doing things like this.
Rachel - Did you base any of the characters in the book off of people you know in real life?
Nooooo. I think that way lies danger. ☺ For characters, I’m mostly inspired by OTHER characters I love. I take bits and pieces from other characters and form them into a kind of Frankenstein’s monster. For instance, Em has a little bit of Sarah Connor’s DNA in her, while Finn has some Logan Echolls. But they become more and more of their own person as I write them and less cobbled-together elements of others.
Once Upon A Time - I got your book today Thursday night. So I was wondering what should I expect coming from this book. I heard great things about this book and wondered who you would recommend this book to?
I’ve been told that people seem to enjoy the book more the less they know about it going in, so I don’t think I should tell you anything to expect. As far as who I’d recommend it to, that’s kind of hard to answer without feeling really full of myself! “I recommend this to people who want to read THE BEST BOOK EVER!” Um, I guess I’d say I think it’s good for people who like a fast-paced plot, who like a little romance but don’t need it to be the dominant aspect of what they read, and who want to think a little but not a ton.
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"What would you change?
Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.
Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.
Marina has loved her best friend, James, since they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it... at least, not as the girl she once was. Em and Marina are in a race against time that only one of them can win.
All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice."
Here's the link to All Our Yesterdays: All Our Yesterdays
Since this is our first Q&A I'll explain how it works. You can write a little fangirl paragraph or whatever to the author and then if you could put your question in bold, that'd be great. I'll compile the questions in this post and cross them off as she answers. Keep the questions mature and reasonable please! HAVE FUN :D
Questions:
Ally - Who was your favorite character to write for and why?
Miss Amazingness - How in the world did you come up with an idea to do a book like this?
Miss Amazingness - Do you believe time travel is possible?
Ritta - How did you start writing in the first place?
Ritta - Did you ever felt discouraged and like everything you wrote was awful? If yes, how did you get through that?
Neha - In your next book, if you're making one. I mean Goodreads told me that there would be a second one so, yeah. Anyways will you explain more of the world that was changed because of the Doctor?
Andrea - Was there a hard part for you to write in the book? or what was the hardest part to write?
Renée - How did you fix plot holes and edit your novels while on a deadline for a publisher?
Aisha - Where did you find inspiration for this book, and espcially the characters?
Annie - When you were writing did you already know how the story was going to end for James or was that just the way it happened, but not really planned out?
Rachel - Who do you look up to?
Rachel - Who is your favorite author?
Once Upon a Time - Out of all the authors you know, who is your favorite?
Once Upon a Time - Do you have authors you know of and really want to meet?
Rachel - Who or what inspired you to take on writing as a career?
Rachel - What is your favourite part of having a book published?
Rachel - Did you base any of the characters in the book off of people you know in real life?
Once Upon A Time - I got your book today Thursday night. So I was wondering what should I expect coming from this book. I heard great things about this book and wondered who you would recommend this book to?