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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Author Interview: Jennifer Nielsen, the Author of The Transcendence Series

Jennifer A. Nielsen
The Runaway King (The Transcendence Series #2) 
had recently came out. Well, like a couple months ago....
and I interviewed the author! ;D 
The Runaway King is the sequel of The False Prince,
which I had no idea that they were part of the Transcendence series.

My review of The Runaway King.



1. Who is Jaron based on? He has such a cocky personalty, is it from someone you know?

Jaron is a creation solely from my imagination, which is probably a good thing because I'd pity anyone who had to try to parent him! And yeah, he can be cocky at times, but I think the bigger his troubles get, the humbler he becomes too.

2. When you first wrote The False Prince, did you think about adding romance there? It seems romance isn't a big part of book 1, which I liked very much.

I did consider including more romance, but really, this is intended to be a middle grade book so the romantic elements are more on the back burner. I do think as the series progresses, there is a sense of the romance growing, and personally, I like to see that slow burn. That said, I've been surprised to know mow many of my middle grade readers are invested in which girl Jaron will end up choosing. I tend to think the better question, is, now that they both know how difficult he can be, is either girl willing  to take him?

3. Are you a big fan of medieval times or dystopian? (i think The Ascendance Trilogy is more of a medieval time book. Right?)

For book genres, I love them both. The Ascendance trilogy is definitely medieval, a time period which has always fascinated me and which I think inspires a ton of story ideas, but I also love books set in dystopian times.

4. Are you happy to be known as a writer? When someone hears your name and go "Ooh I know her!! She wrote..." How does it feel?

I think it's awesome to meet really enthusiastic fans. i love to talk with them and hear their thoughts about the story. But it can also be crazy at times. Good...but crazy.

5. What is your favorite scene or quote from The Runaway King?

A scene that really stands out as a favorite for me is when Jaron is climbing the cliff wall and realizes, maybe for the first time, how much he has to lose if he doesn't finish his fight. As much as he hurts and as hard as that climb is, Jaron has to make the decision that he will get to the top and claim back his kingdom. For me, I think it is one of his most noble moments. 

6. When you started writing The False Prince, did you make up your mind that it was going to be a trilogy? I learned some authors actually wanted their books to be stand-alones, but their fans wanted more.

When I first started writing, I had it plotted out as a stand-alone. But the more I got into it, the more I realized that the world was much larger than a single book. So it was offered to the publishers as a stand-alone, but when I learned Scholastic liked the idea of making the story into a trilogy, I was thrilled.

7. Did you have fun writing The False Prince and The Runaway King? I know writing can sometimes be a drag but writing Jaron's personality got to be fun. ;D

Writing this series has never been a drag. I can be as surprised by what Jaron might do or say next as readers sometimes are, and with the other characters, this has been great fun to write. I love this world.

8. Do you tend to plan write or are you more of a straight on kind of girl?

It used to be that as started a new project, I would know how the story began and ended, but not much  about the journey in between. Now, in working with an editor, I've needed to be more of an outliner. It took some work to change those habits, but I'm very glad I did. Outlining has made my writing time more efficient, and helped me know from the beginning whether a story really has a strong enough concept to make it worth writing. 

Well, thanks so much to Jennifer Nielsen for being here today! It was a joy to interview you and read your answers~ ;D 


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