Hey hey! This is actually pretty late because I got these answers a while back, but this was the earliest slot I could find. SO MY APOLOGIES! But something you should know--After reading VESSEL, I fell SO in love with Durst's writing, so I definitely recommend her books!
Fiction Freak: If you had the choice of being stuck in Vessel or Conjured's world, which would you pick and why?
Sarah Beth Durst: I loved writing about Vessel's world -- it's this beautiful desert with wolves made of sand that hunt inside storms, serpents made of unbreakable glass that fly through the sky, and gods who walk across the sand in human bodies. But Liyana's clan lives a nomadic lifestyle and has to worry about drought and invasion.
I like living in a house.
Also, I like not dying from drought.
Conjured takes place in a world like ours, but Eve isn't from our world. She doesn't know where she is from. Or who she is. All she knows is she's in the witness protection program, she has bizarre powers, and every time she uses her powers, she has terrifying visions of a creepy carnival.
The dangers in Conjured come more from Eve's situation than from the world itself. So I think I'd choose Conjured's world... so long as I'm just a random bystander with zero involvement at all in anything creepy or deadly.
I like living in a house.
Also, I like not dying from drought.
Conjured takes place in a world like ours, but Eve isn't from our world. She doesn't know where she is from. Or who she is. All she knows is she's in the witness protection program, she has bizarre powers, and every time she uses her powers, she has terrifying visions of a creepy carnival.
The dangers in Conjured come more from Eve's situation than from the world itself. So I think I'd choose Conjured's world... so long as I'm just a random bystander with zero involvement at all in anything creepy or deadly.
FF: You're first adult book is coming out in October right? How did you feel transitioning from YA to Adult? And do you think fans of your YA would love THE LOST?
SBD: The reason that I wrote The Lost as an adult novel is that The Lost centers on the theme of loss, and I wanted a heroine who had experienced some loss and was at a place in her life where her life felt empty and adrift. I do think readers who enjoy my YA books will also enjoy The Lost.
But I'm actually not so much transitioning to adult as doing both at once! Moving forward, I plan to write two books a year: one for adults and one for teens. My next YA (Mind Over Magic) will be coming out in fall 2014 from Bloomsbury/Walker.
Also, there has actually been a change to the pub date for The Lost. The publication schedule for the trilogy was recently re-worked such that the three books could come out in more rapid succession. The Lost, The Missing, and The Found are now scheduled to be released in June 2014, December 2014, and April 2015. More about this here: http://sarahbethdurst.blogspot.com/2013/08/big-changes-afoot-for-lost-trilogy.html
But I'm actually not so much transitioning to adult as doing both at once! Moving forward, I plan to write two books a year: one for adults and one for teens. My next YA (Mind Over Magic) will be coming out in fall 2014 from Bloomsbury/Walker.
Also, there has actually been a change to the pub date for The Lost. The publication schedule for the trilogy was recently re-worked such that the three books could come out in more rapid succession. The Lost, The Missing, and The Found are now scheduled to be released in June 2014, December 2014, and April 2015. More about this here: http://sarahbethdurst.blogspot.com/2013/08/big-changes-afoot-for-lost-trilogy.html
FF: You've mainly written standalones--why is that?
SBD: I love both standalones and series. With series, you don't have to say goodbye to the characters and world that you've grown to love, which is great. With standalones, you can have a complete experience in a single serving.
As to why I've mainly written standalones... It's merely due to the size of the stories that I've wanted to tell so far. I remember when I was in high school, I had a teacher who would assign essays and reports without giving any length requirement. When asked, she'd always say, "It should be as long as it takes." At the time, I found this immensely frustrating. But now... I get it. Every story has a certain natural length.
As to why I've mainly written standalones... It's merely due to the size of the stories that I've wanted to tell so far. I remember when I was in high school, I had a teacher who would assign essays and reports without giving any length requirement. When asked, she'd always say, "It should be as long as it takes." At the time, I found this immensely frustrating. But now... I get it. Every story has a certain natural length.
FF: What are some of your favorite lines from CONJURED?
SBD: "Lie. Lie to everyone until you know the truth."
"Don't be afraid, Eve. Not of this. You can be afraid of spiders or snakes or airplane crashes or a zombie apocalypse... but don't be afraid of yourself."
"Eve raised her hand toward the birds on the wall. 'Fly,' she whispered. The birds detached from the wallpaper."
"Her fingers wrap around my wrist, and she smiles at me. Then she plunges the sewing needle into my arm."
"Don't be afraid, Eve. Not of this. You can be afraid of spiders or snakes or airplane crashes or a zombie apocalypse... but don't be afraid of yourself."
"Eve raised her hand toward the birds on the wall. 'Fly,' she whispered. The birds detached from the wallpaper."
"Her fingers wrap around my wrist, and she smiles at me. Then she plunges the sewing needle into my arm."
FF: If you shared some special ability with one of your characters, what character and ability would it be?
SBD: I love all of Eve's abilities (and they include pretty much anything and everything -- shapeshifting, flight, fire-starting, telekinesis), but I wouldn't want any of them because the price is too high.
FF: What was the most fascinating piece of research you've found so far for your books?
SBD: When I was researching Ice (which is basically "Beauty and the Beast" meets Arctic adventure), I learned that if you cry at the top of the world, your eyelashes could freeze and break off. I love that detail.
FF: do you think your stories have grown from ICE to CONJURED?
SBD: Great question! And I have no idea. But I can tell you that I've become a much more efficient writer. In case there are any aspiring writers reading this... here's something that no one ever told me when I started writing: it gets easier! Never easy, but easier. Once you figure out your writing process, you're able to avoid a lot of the detours and pitfalls that slow things down.
FF: If you matched up each of your YA books' settings to a real place, what would they be?
SBD: A lot of my novels are set in real places... plus magic!
Into the Wild and its sequel Out of the Wild are about fairy tale characters living in secret in the real world... specifically in my childhood hometown of Northboro, Massachusetts, which is in the center of the state (about fifteen minutes outside of Worcester and forty-five minutes from Boston).
For Ice, I mapped out every step of Cassie's journey on a map of the real Arctic. There are GPS readings at the start of each chapter... at least until she goes east of the sun and west of the moon.
Enchanted Ivy is about getting into college... with talking gargoyles and stone dragons and were-tigers. It's set at Princeton University, and I took about 800 photos to get the location right.
Vessel is set in a harsh desert land with wolves made of sand that hunt inside storms and sky serpents made of unbreakable glass... It's a mix of several deserts, including the Sahara and the Gobi.
Conjured takes place in the Boston area, and I put Eve's house in Somerville, near where I lived for a number of years.
I guess this is my way of showing my love for a place... even if I often end up destroying it!
Into the Wild and its sequel Out of the Wild are about fairy tale characters living in secret in the real world... specifically in my childhood hometown of Northboro, Massachusetts, which is in the center of the state (about fifteen minutes outside of Worcester and forty-five minutes from Boston).
For Ice, I mapped out every step of Cassie's journey on a map of the real Arctic. There are GPS readings at the start of each chapter... at least until she goes east of the sun and west of the moon.
Enchanted Ivy is about getting into college... with talking gargoyles and stone dragons and were-tigers. It's set at Princeton University, and I took about 800 photos to get the location right.
Vessel is set in a harsh desert land with wolves made of sand that hunt inside storms and sky serpents made of unbreakable glass... It's a mix of several deserts, including the Sahara and the Gobi.
Conjured takes place in the Boston area, and I put Eve's house in Somerville, near where I lived for a number of years.
I guess this is my way of showing my love for a place... even if I often end up destroying it!
FF: Has a character or plot twist ever surprised you? Or are all your books planned ahead of time?
SBD: I always outline.
And then I re-outline when that outline doesn't work.
And then I re-outline again and again, as often as needed.
Sometimes to stay true to the characters, you need change the story.
For example, when I was writing Enchanted Ivy, I needed my heroine to leave a certain room and go walk through a gate into an alternate world... but she wouldn't leave the room! I wrote the scene a dozen different ways, and none of them worked. So I finally put another character in a coma, and that ended the conversation. :)
And then I re-outline when that outline doesn't work.
And then I re-outline again and again, as often as needed.
Sometimes to stay true to the characters, you need change the story.
For example, when I was writing Enchanted Ivy, I needed my heroine to leave a certain room and go walk through a gate into an alternate world... but she wouldn't leave the room! I wrote the scene a dozen different ways, and none of them worked. So I finally put another character in a coma, and that ended the conversation. :)
Conjured Synopsis
Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember. At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.
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