Emily White: Interview and Elemental ARC Giveaway

Friday, January 27, 2012






Welcome to the kickoff of the very first Spencer Hill Press Giveaway Week! For those of you that don't know about Spencer Hill Press, here's a little background. Spencer Hill Press is an independent publishing house that specializes in science fiction, paranormal romance and urban fantasy for the Young Adult audience. 

With a host of talented authors and dozens of fantastic titles under its belt, Spencer Hill Press has become a veritable powerhouse. And, as luck would have it, yours truly is hosting the fantastic crowd with a whole bunch of goodies for all of you! Be sure to follow the week (through Sunday), and check out the great features and giveaways!
Welcome, Emily White, author of Elemental
Find Emily: Blog. Facebook. Twitter.

1. Can you describe your perfect place/time to write?

Hmm...definitely on my living room love seat between 10:00 in the morning and 1:00 (that's when my kids are napping :) ). 

2. When did you decide that becoming an author was your goal, and why? 

I've played around with writing since elementary school. I have lots of loose sheets of paper lying around with unfinished stories on them (all of them written on my parents' old type writer--you know, the one that came in a big honking suitcase). But I don't think I really took it seriously until my second year of college. That's when I realized that, not only could I write for fun, but I could make it my career too. 

3. Why YA? 

For a long time, I didn't write YA. In fact, up until a couple years ago, I didn't even know a YA genre existed. I guess I was a lot more like boys growing up. I went right from MG to adult. The funny thing is, I did make some exceptions in my reading. I used to love the Sweet Valley High series, but I never really thought about it as belonging to the YA genre. But a couple years ago, I was in the middle of writing a book geared towards adults, feeling stuck and not knowing why, and I read Twilight and I literally had an epiphany moment. I can't even describe how blown away I was. Ever since, I've completely devoted my writing to YA and, out of everything I've read lately, this genre has taken up about 95% of it. I love the emotion involved in YA. Adult books have high stakes and great stories, too, but YA is about the character, the emotion, the soul deep down at the heart of the book. It makes you feel first love again. It gives you promises, and sometimes it rips them away. There's a newness to everything in the Young Adult genre, those earth-shattering first experiences you can't always get in Adult or even MG sometimes. 

4. How long did Elemental take to write, and was there anything crazy or special about the process?

ELEMENTAL went through a few phases and it took a little over 2 years to write. It was the book I'd been working on when I had my YA epiphany. So ELEMENTAL actually used to be Adult. It had a different name and everything. The Adult version took over a year to finish. And I didn't like it. I knew something was wrong. After the epiphany, I completely rewrote it in 3 months, and I changed the title. But other than that, there was nothing too crazy. I wish I could say I'm one of those authors who needs to travel the world to find inspiration (though maybe my husband would fall for that...hmmm... :) ). And I don't have any interesting quirks I have to go through to coax my muse out. I'm pretty boring. I just sit down and write. I will say, though, that at least one of the locations in ELEMENTAL was inspired by a country I'd been in during my deployment overseas. 

5. Describe Elemental in five words or less, please! 

Contain the monster within. 

6. Is there anything else you'd like to tell your readers? 

Just thanks for listening to my ramblings! And if you'd like to friend me on Facebook or stop by my blog, please do! I would be very honored. :)



Emily has graciously offered an ARC of Elemental, pictured to the left, as well as some sweet swag including a signed t-shirt, bookmarks AND a surprise prize! 

This giveaway is US & Canada ONLY, and it will end promptly at midnight EST on February 4, 2012

 As always, you do not have to be a follower to enter, but it is always appreciated! 

 Still want to enter? Click HERE to fill out the form!

11 comments:

  1. Emily, congrats on your book - I can't wait to read it!

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  2. Wow, she re-wrote the whole thing in 3 months! That's really impressive. It would take me so much longer to write a book I think:) It would be interesting to read the adult version she started with and see what pieces she kept and what changed overall to make it a new YA story. Thanks for the interview Melissa and Emily!

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  3. The cover of this novel has me incredibly intrigued. I can't stop staring at it and wondering about the story. Congratulations Emily!

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  4. Thank you again for having me, Melissa! And thank you, everyone! :)

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  5. What an interesting interview! As one who reads YA only occasionally, I was really interested to read her take on what makes YA different from adult novels..

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  6. OMG, I so agree. I love adult, but YA hits upon so many emotions that are firsts. Plus, there are so many hormones that everything seems so much *more*. It's one of the reasons I love it. It's like an emotional high...even when the emotions are tortured and painful. It's just....excellent! *sigh*

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  7. That is a great way to think of the difference between YA and adult books- it's the emotions, the first time love, the newness of everything it's all more powerful. Maybe that's why it appeals to me so much. Thanks for the giveaway!

    Heather

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  8. Amazing interview! Thanks for the giveaway:)

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  9. darn straight YA rocks! :P
    less than five months until may! YAYYY!!!

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  10. Hi Emily! A few things I'd love to say:

    1. Great cover! Love it.
    2. Contain the monster within. ---> Love this too. Makes it sound like I want to read it!

    3. Love your words about YA books. I used to read primarily adult fiction books, and I still love them, but I agree with everything you say about YA. So now I read *mostly* YA. Everything in it is so real and fresh and new and lovely.

    Thanks for the interview, your thoughts, and your gracious giveaway opportunity!

    And thank you Melissa, as always! xoxo

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! I always do my very best to return the favour :)

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