I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Bethany Griffin's upcoming book, The Fall, so I jumped at the chance to be a part of its blog tour...and today I get to share my post with you all! I've also shared the tour giveaway with you all...so don't miss it! :D
I was super lucky and got to interview the lovely author of The Fall, Bethany Griffin! :D I hope you love it! :D I've put my questions in bold, and Bethany's answers are right after them. :D
Without further ado, here's my interview with Bethany Griffin!
Welcome to Burning Impossibly Bright, Bethany! I’m so glad to have you here, and I’m extremely excited for the release of your newest book, The Fall!
The Fall, and your previous two books, The Masque of the Red Death and The Dance of the Red Death, were inspired by works of Edgar Allan Poe. What is it about Poe’s works that you find inspiring?
Maybe it’s the time period when I was introduced to Poe- middle school—when I was still quite impressionable. Maybe it’s the atmosphere, the darkness, the hopelessness of Poe’s work? Maybe it’s just that I think Poe can be difficult to get into, and in some ways I’m providing an introduction for teens of a certain age to Poe. Maybe it was just a reason to delve into dark gothic literature. Regardless, I’ve enjoyed every moment of writing these books!
Other than Poe, what influences do you have towards your writing?
Well, I read a lot of Anne Rice when I was younger, and I think some of her imagery really made an impression on me. I love
The Time Traveler’s Wife, and so I’m going to say that maybe the idea for writing
The Fall in a non-chronological order was influenced by the brilliance of that book. I was also heavily influenced by my mom’s shelves of gothic writers, Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, Susan Howatch. I bought a ton of those books at library sales during my college years and still have quite a few of them.
What’s your writing process like? Do you listen to music? And if you do, I’d definitely love to know some of the songs you listened to while writing if you’re up for sharing them! :D
I actually don’t listen to music while I’m writing; in fact I’m very good at tuning music out when I’m thinking, which is why sometimes I get into my car and find my music blasting. When I’m thinking about writing, I often listen to soundtracks, or atmospheric things like Portishead, or The Cure. I have a soft spot for Nine Inch Nails and Tool and the Smashing Pumpkins as well.
My actual process…is that I curl up with either a notebook or my laptop. I get up and walk around a lot. I switch from writing by hand to typing, to walking around to jotting down ideas again. Does that sound crazy? I spend a lot of my writing time stretched out either on the couch in my office or on the chaise lounge on my back deck, typing away. But I always have a notebook and pen at hand, and I’m always ready to take a walk around my neighborhood to either mull over ideas or clear my head.
I tend to move around a good bit, and pace, and sometimes talk to myself during the drafting process. Later when I’m revising I’m much more still, focused, and unmoving.
As an avid reader, I’m always looking for new books to read, so do you have any recommendations?
This is a loaded question for me. I took 2013-2014 off teaching, so I finally finished the 16k pages of the
Wheels of Time, re-read
Dune, and the Kushiel’s Dart series, and a ton of epic fantasy I hadn’t had time for! I also re-read the first 5
Outlander books and then read numbers 6-8 for the first time. I hope to reread Naomi Novik’s
Temeraire books soon. At the same time, I was working on a degree in school library media, and I do love my YA, so I read and loved …
Winterkill by Kate Boorman, I re-read the
Curse-worker series by Holly Black, just started re-reading the
Raven Boys/The Dream Thieves in preparation for the third book in the series, have read everything by Katie McGarry,
The Program and
The Treatment by Suzanne Young, and just finished
Half Bad by Sally Green. Oh, and All of Jessica Spotswood’s books, and
The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd. Taking a year off work was great for reading. I also discovered Susannah Kearsley, whose books are something of a throwback to the gothic books I read during my teen years.
With Hallowe’en coming up this month, it’s the perfect time to read those creepy and mysterious books. Do you know of any great Hallowe’en reads?
One of my favorite Halloween reads is
Shadowland by Peter Straub. There’s something completely surreal about that book, as well as being ever so creepy, and I love it. The books that scare me the most are those that delve into the darkest parts of human nature.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is probably the darkest book I’ve gotten through, and I still refuse to think about certain parts of that book. Other YA books in the spirit of Halloween that I’ve enjoyed are
The Forest of Hands and Teeth books by Carrie Ryan,
I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, and Rick Yancy’s
Monstrumologist series. Really, I think any book where I feel the main characters might not make it, are the ones that scare me (
Game of Thrones, anyone?) Impending doom to characters scares me, and for that reason I make my creative writing students read the opening of Stephen King’s It. There are several scenes in that book that are too dark to even deal with. One of them deals with cruelty to animals…nope can’t deal with that.
And my last question, what advice do you have for other aspiring authors?
Write because you love to write and you can’t not write. The publishing part of the process isn’t what makes you happy. Writing books makes writers (at least me) happy. Obviously, we write to put the work into reader’s hands, but…if you can find it in yourself to be fulfilled by the writing and let the publishing part just be a step in the process, then I think you will be much more likely to retain your sanity. Other than that, it’s partly talent, partly timing/luck, partly hard work…and a really good idea doesn’t hurt, either!
Thanks again for stopping by Bethany!!! And The Fall comes out on October 7th….that’s just four days away, so HAPPY EARLY BOOK BIRTHDAY! :D
About the Book
Title: THE FALL
Author: Bethany Griffin
Pub. Date: October 7, 2014
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pages: 432
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads
Madeline Usher is doomed.
She has spent her life fighting fate, and she thought she was succeeding. Until she woke up in a coffin.
Ushers die young. Ushers are cursed. Ushers can never leave their house, a house that haunts and is haunted, a house that almost seems to have a mind of its own. Madeline’s life—revealed through short bursts of memory—has hinged around her desperate plan to escape, to save herself and her brother. Her only chance lies in destroying the house.
In the end, can Madeline keep her own sanity and bring the house down? The Fall is a literary psychological thriller, reimagining Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Fall of the House of Usher.
About Bethany:
Bethany Griffin is a high school English teacher who prides herself on attracting creative misfits to elective classes like Young Adult Literature, Creative Writing, and Speculative Literature. She is the author of HANDCUFFS, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, DANCE OF THE RED DEATH, GLITTER AND DOOM, and THE FALL. She lives with her family in Kentucky.
GIVEAWAY
- 1 Grand Prize- A Poe Prize Pack with a Raven Scarf, Necklace, Candle, and a signed hardcover of THE FALL and a signed bookmark! (US Only)
- 3 Signed Hardcovers of THE FALL and signed bookmarks (International)
TO ENTER FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:
TOUR SCHEDULE
Week One:
Week Two:
What do you think?
Did you enjoy my interview with Bethany Griffin?
Does The Fall sound like something you'd like to read?
