July Q&A session, day four!

The euphoniously named hnybrwnmxcn asks: What was the hardest obstacle to overcome while you were first trying to get published?

Myself. Both in acquiring the discipline to write, and in gaining the confidence to try.

Kameren asks: What inspired you to write the Evernight series?

I wanted to write about an unusual kind of high school, and at the time, a boarding school for vampires seemed unusual indeed. Of course, about ten other authors all had the same idea around the same time — but happily, we do different things with the concept, and there’s room out there for all of us (thanks to you guys.) Fundamentally the idea of Evernight springs from the high school I dreamed of when I was in high school: Someplace totally different, far away, mysterious and romantic.

Caila D. asks: Can you tell us anything about what’s to come for Bianca and Lucas!?

Now, THIS is how you ask for spoilers — vaguely, to give me enough wiggle room that I can actually respond! Let’s see: (1) The time gap between HOURGLASS and AFTERLIFE is the shortest of any of the books in the series, just a few hours. (2) We haven’t seen the last of Bianca’s parents or Lucas’s mother, and if you’ve read HOURGLASS, you can imagine how good a mood they’re not in. (3) Either Bianca or Lucas is going to find themselves surprisingly well able to deal with what they’d thought would be a nightmare situation. The other one isn’t going to be able to handle it AT ALL.

Sejlha A. asks: I just need to know how far along you are to finishing Afterlife? Is there a release date in Australia (soon I hope)?

AFTERLIFE has been complete for a while now. (Currently I’m hard at work on FATEFUL.) The box that arrived this morning probably contains my ARCs! It’s being released in the US in March, but I have no idea about Australia or any other international release dates; for some reason, authors are usually the last to know these things. I suggest checking with your local bookseller, who might be able to look it up in an online catalog for you.

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I still have some unanswered questions waiting in my in-box, but that doesn’t mean I’m not taking more! If you have a question, send it to evernightclaudia at gmail dot com, with the subject line “July Q&A Session.” Hope to hear from you!