This week the Literature Monsters had the exciting opertunity to quickly interview one of our favourite 2011 debut authors as well as the mastermind behind The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: Michelle Hodkin! Now before we start the interview why not learn a little bit more about Michelle and her spectacular novel.
About the Author:
Description for the novel:
Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.
There is.
She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.
She's wrong.
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer hits shelves on September 27th, 2011 and believe us when we say that this is a novel worth every penny spent. You can also read our triple review of Michelle's novel here. Now without further ado onto the interview!
Megazarooni: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is such a uniquely thrilling novel and definitely one of my absolute favourites! What inspired you to write Mara's story and did you plan for her to have a pseudonym from the beginning or was it added in after to make her more mysterious?
Michelle Hodkin: The short story is that I had an idea for a novel on May 15, 2009, that was inspired by some true events that occurred previously. The long story and why I chose the name "Mara" for her is going to be posted on www.maradyer.com when it goes live!
Megzarooni: It’s inspired by true events? That’s really amazing! Now you’ve got me curious as to what in Mara’s story could be real! I can’t wait to read/learn the full story and thanks for answering my question Michelle C:
Brittknee: Noah Shaw is by far one of my favorite male characters of all time after reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. He's very humorous, romantic, serious and a very charming character. Did someone you know inspire you to write him, or were these traits made up in the depths of your mind?
Michelle Hodkin: I think that to a significant extent, everything I write about is inspired by something real. So take that as you will :)
Brittknee: I think that's really spectacular. I hope I meet the person that Nick Shaw has been impersonating one day! haha :)
Megazarooni: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is such a uniquely thrilling novel and definitely one of my absolute favourites! What inspired you to write Mara's story and did you plan for her to have a pseudonym from the beginning or was it added in after to make her more mysterious?
Michelle Hodkin: The short story is that I had an idea for a novel on May 15, 2009, that was inspired by some true events that occurred previously. The long story and why I chose the name "Mara" for her is going to be posted on www.maradyer.com when it goes live!
Megzarooni: It’s inspired by true events? That’s really amazing! Now you’ve got me curious as to what in Mara’s story could be real! I can’t wait to read/learn the full story and thanks for answering my question Michelle C:
Brittknee: Noah Shaw is by far one of my favorite male characters of all time after reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. He's very humorous, romantic, serious and a very charming character. Did someone you know inspire you to write him, or were these traits made up in the depths of your mind?
Michelle Hodkin: I think that to a significant extent, everything I write about is inspired by something real. So take that as you will :)
Brittknee: I think that's really spectacular. I hope I meet the person that Nick Shaw has been impersonating one day! haha :)
Kaependragon: First off, I want to applaud you on writing such a brilliant and fantastic novel and on creating such in depth and connectable characters! I love your writing style and Noah Shaw is a dream boat. My question to you is how difficult or easy was it to switch between writing the suspense build up and pacing yourself through the novel?
Michelle: I’m not sure it was entirely conscious; I think that the original idea for the book was laced with tension, so that helped a ton. But the first draft of the novel took place over the course of six months, which didn’t suit the story at all, and it took the [wise] suggestion of one of my first readers to help me see it. Once I shortened the timeline of the book and made other nonessential cuts, my hope was that readers would feel compelled to turn the pages. So I’m glad you felt the way you did!
Kaependragon: Thank you for answering my question! I can assure you that all the revising and time you spent on this novel was worth it! I'm just one of many who really couldn't stop reading! I wish you luck on your future projects!
The Literature Monsters would like to thank Michelle Hodkin for taking time out of her busy schedule, especially with Mara Dyer releasing next week, to answer our interview questions! We would also like to thank Michelle Blackwell from Simon & Schuster Canada who offered us the opportunity to interview Hodkin as part of a blog tour for the novel.
