Today is our stop on the Saving Mars blog tour. Thank you so much to Cidney Swanson for answering our Five Questions!! I hope I got the right song!! :)
Book Links: Goodreads l Barnes & Noble l Amazon
About the author:
Cidney Swanson is a full-time writer of Young Adult Sci-Fi and Fantasy including The Rippler Trilogy and The Saving Mars Series. SAVING MARS was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best of 2012. Cidney is fond of saying that for her, “Every Day is NaNoWriMo!” When not writing, she’s easily distracted by shiny things such as books with raised foil on the covers, cleverly packaged bars of chocolate, or stars set against an inky night sky. She lives in rainy Eugene, Oregon with her family.
Five
Questions:
1. Why
did you choose to write in the Young Adult genre?
All my fave reads are YA. Even once you’re
done being a young adult, there are just so many firsts that happen and I think it makes that time of life really
stand out from other times of life. Most of us have our first kiss, our first
true love, our first time behind the wheel, first time out past curfew, and so
many other “firsts” at that age: things that make those years memorable. And
for a writer, it is a really cool period of life to chronicle.
2. Who
is your favorite character you have written and why?
Probably Ethan Jaarda from Saving Mars.
He’s not the main character—he is the MC’s older brother, and he is on the
autism spectrum. He’s brilliant and brave, but he’s also different. I have a
handful of friends on the spectrum, and I so
wanted to do justice to their uniquely beautiful souls and how much wonder
they’ve brought into my life. I’ve gotten lots of email telling me I’m on the
right track with Eth. (Whew!) Oh, and he’s the person Jess has to choose about:
will she save her brother or save Mars?
3.
Describe a typical writing day for you:
I am always in either edits mode or first
drafting mode. But my work schedule is identical. Sit down at the computer.
Tell myself I will not check FB,
twitter, email, etc. Disobey myself. Tell myself that I have been vewwy, vewwy
bad, and start writing/editing. I take a break for lunch and some stretching,
then back at it another couple hours. I try to keep up on fanmail, etc., in the
evenings after dinner and before a soak in the hot tub. Rinse and repeat daily.
4.
What are you reading at the moment?
Ally Condie’s Crossing, Martha Brockenborough’s Devine Intervention, Michael Wallace’s Kingdom of the Bears, and a couple of writer-craft type books.
5.
If you turned on your iPod now, what would be the song that played?
Hee hee! Um…the song from Tangled that they sing to each other in
the boat with all the floaty lights in the sky. I think it’s called something
like, “Now That I’ve Found You,” maybe? It just makes me wee-hee-heep tears of
joy every time. And that is not a bad thing.
That video and song are just adorable. Making me want to re-watch Tangled.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're reasons for writing in YA are many of my own reasons for adoring the genre despite being in my mid twenties. :)