Fan Mail and Hope
Q. Do You Get Much Fan Mail?
A. I do. It seems like a lot to me, at least. Even though the first book in the Birthmarked trilogy has been out since 2010 and the fuss around the release of the third book has died down, readers are still finding Gaia’s story for the first time, and some of them send me the nicest notes. This week, one reader told me her teenage son had recommended Birthmarked to her, and reading the series with him had brought them closer. Another reader told me her set of girlfriends had read the series together and they just loved it. Another wrote begging me to please write another book in the series.
It’s hard to describe how heartening it is to hear such kind words. You see, I didn’t know, back when I was writing Gaia’s story, that someone today would like my story enough to send me an email. I wrote it in doubt, finding my way uncertainly, taking risks that didn’t always work, and I’m doing that again now with my next novel. I am into the sixth draft of this book, and the last act is not behaving. Sometimes I’ll be writing and deleting, and writing more and deleting more, and then I’ll look up to check my inbox and get a little jolt of encouragement from someone who liked what I did with my last novel. It gives me hope that I’ll get through this revision and someday, someone might like this book, too.
ohh! any update on when the next book is coming out?? which genre? plot infos? anything? i’m happy with any crumb you might throw my way 😉
Joe ~ Thanks for asking. I’m writing a futuristic YA novel due out in the fall of 2014. So far, I haven’t figured out a way to describe it, and the title is not yet fixed, but I’m working on it.
All best,
Caragh
I just finished the bookmarked series and absolutely loved it. I love the characters and the interesting genetics and science plot. It was nice to read something so neat and actually pretty realistic.
My question…. have you thought of extending the trilogy? I think the way it ended left it wide open for at least one more, plus an explanation on that interesting final line of the last book 😉
More more more!!!
One more thing I forgot to ask, how do you find copies of Tortured and Ruled? I can only find tortured on kindle and cannot find ruled at all 🙁
Bre ~
I’m so glad you enjoyed the series. Thank you for your kind words. I have no plans to write another book about Gaia, but I have written a few notes about possible trajectories for her story after the end of Promised. Those notes will appear as extra material in the paperback of Promised.
You can find “Tortured” and “Ruled” on Tor.com at the links below.
All best,
Caragh
http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/12/tortured
http://www.tor.com/stories/2012/09/ruled