S.M. Reine has been so gracious to stop by the blog and answer a few questions for me in regards to her writing and her debut novel Six Moon Summer! So, without further ado:

________________________________________________________ 

Thanks! Books are such massive, sprawling creatures that it’s hard to pinpoint which little seeds grew into the story. Six Moon Summer was one of those things I tried and failed to write for years until it finally clicked in my head. I guess all my embarrassing experiences at Girl Scout camp have to have contributed! But let’s not talk about that.

No, this book was pretty easy to write. Now that you mention it, I recall that the concept of the incremental transformation was the main inspiration for the entire story. Although I’m a fantasy writer these days, I’m a horror girl at heart, and the idea of slowly turning into a monster sounded so much worse than simply becoming one. Seeing the horrible end coming and being helpless to stop it is way scarier.

Cassidy. I was the weird girl who drew on her arms in high school. I was much friendlier, though.

Yes and no. I don’t consciously pull from my experiences, but when I go back and look at old manuscripts, they feel autobiographical. I bet my therapist would love to read my books. Ha!

I hope the ending leaves them feeling a little bittersweet and that they’ve enjoyed the ride. Such a ridiculously small people enter the realms of classic literature that I don’t really aspire to that kind of greatness. I just want everyone to have an awesome couple of hours (or days) reading my book where they can forget about life.

YA lit tends to be more brief than adult literature (or at least, it was until Harry Potter came around; it’s trending longer these days) and I love how writing short books forces you to boil a book down to its critical parts. No room for fluff. I wanted to write something short and pulpy like Christopher Pike or Tamora Pierce’s books.

I used to have a process involving several glasses of wine and music, but now that I’m a mom, I don’t have the time! Writing has to be snuck in any time I can distract the baby for a half second. Even while I answer these questions, the baby is whining in his Jumperoo and wondering why the heck I’m paying more attention to the laptop than him. I wager I have about five seconds to finish this before he needs me!

Everything I write should be read while listening to Depeche Mode. Totally.

Right this second, I’m reading “Christine” by Stephen King, but I just finished “The Mumbo Jumbo Circus” by Jane George. It had that sense of wonder I adore in a great YA book and really colorful characters. I highly recommend it.

They can expect things to keep getting worse for Rylie. Ha!

Actually, yes. I’m developing a platform for an adult urban fantasy series I’m thinking of starting to release in spring 2012. I don’t want to talk about it too much yet, though! It’s still in the foetal stage.