Here is my review: http://bookaholic-ness.blogspot.com/2012/12/book-review-scarlet-woods-by-brooke.html
This book was amazing, and I finally sent off some author interview questions! And, I got answers!
1- What influenced you to write this book?
I came up with the idea for the book partly because I have woods behind my backyard. I always walked about the woods thinking of cool things that I wished would happen in the trees and so that was what got me into writing this book. I'm also a big fan of history and fantasy so putting both of those together into one story was very fun to write.
2- What gave you the idea of writing about time travel?
I don’t really know how I decided to write about time travel. When I thought of time travel growing up I tended to think about the Back to the Future movies. Writing a time travel story that involves a romance that separates the characters by years in between was really enticing to write about. I came up with the idea of Scarlet Woods back when I was in eighth grade but I could never get the beginning of it the way I wanted it to be until I was in my first year in college, after that the story took off.
3- Are you and Morgan alike in any way?
There are funny things that I could see myself doing or saying that I had put in her dialogue or actions, but for the most part she is far more outspoken than I am. I can be cooky and weird and all but I don’t really stand up for myself and can be a pushover. Morgan is stronger than I am and is not afraid to have people not like her whereas I always would like for people to like me. Morgan also has long dark, auburn hair that I totally envy (my hair is blond). Morgan also likes to read and walk in the woods behind her house which I very much enjoy doing both of those too since I read/write and have woods behind my backyard.
4- Are you, personally, interested in the 19th century?
Yes! I used to daydream about being from another century and thought that I was born in the wrong era since my heart belonged to the romantic age of the 19th century. But as I grew older I have learned to appreciate the time we live in today. Women weren’t well off back in the nineteenth century. They had to rely on men in order to survive. I wouldn’t want that life. I would rather want a man in my life rather than need one. Also I am thankful for air conditioning and movies! The nineteenth century didn’t have those and I would have been lost without them.
5- Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Reread your work constantly! I don’t know how many times I reread my book but it was needed. I’d think I’m finished with everything and thought I had gotten all the errors out but nope there’s always more. Heck there’s probably a few errors in the finished version of Scarlet Woods that I didn’t catch, and if there are it’s not that many because I looked over that manuscript so much that my eyes were drowning in my words almost, but I was happy to do it over and over again since I enjoyed reading it all over again.
6- How is book 2, Scarlet At War, coming along? We, as readers, can't wait!
I’m just about halfway done with it and so far it’s going really well! I already know what’s going to happen and have many ideas already plotted out for the third installment. Since Scarlet Woods was my first book that I had finished the first couple drafts weren’t very good, but now that I have had more experience with my writing process I already know that Scarlet at War will be done much faster than the first one. It will have many of the same aspects from the first book and yet it is very different. Readers will hopefully enjoy all the new things I will bring to the second book and I hope to have it out in 2013.
----------
And yes, that's it! Thanks again, Brooke, for taking so much time to answer these!
The New World by Patrick Ness.
