Writers on Writing: Alyson Noel

Today we have special New York Times Bestselling Author Alyson Noel with us! Her book ‘Blue Moon’ was released yesterday. It’s the second book in her Immortals series and she has recently signed a six book contract for the series. Thanks for joining us, Alyson! Let’s get started.



What is your brainstorming process for a new book?



Well, it’s not a very formal process—it’s more of a fermenting process! I’m always on the lookout for new story ideas, and often steal right from my own life. Though once I decide on a premise, I slowly add to it—deciding on a location, a cast, jotting it all down on scraps of paper as I research whatever needs to be researched, all the while waiting for that first line to come, and when it does, I start writing, and I don’t stop until it’s finished.



Can you explain your typical work week day?



I pretty much write all day, every day. In the mornings I drink green tea, answer e-mails, blog hop, and basically indulge in hours of deep procrastination until I can put it off no longer and start going over the pages I wrote the day before—editing along the way until I reach the end and begin writing new stuff. I pretty much keep at it until it’s time to call it a night and join my husband for dinner.



Tell us about when you made the decision to write.



I knew I wanted to write ever since I read Judy Blume’s, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, in sixth grade. I’d always been an avid reader, but Judy Blume was the first author I’d read who wrote the kind of books that I could directly relate to. But aside from some really bad poetry written in junior high, short stories in high school, and some writing classes over the years, I mostly just talked about writing until the tragic events of 9/11 hit and I was working as a flight attendant in NYC and with the massive pay cuts and early morning bomb checks that ensued, I thought a career change might be in order. So I enrolled in some online writing classes, finished a manuscript I’d started years ago, found an agent, and sold it in a two-book deal to St. Martin’s Press.



What suggestions do you have for aspiring writers?



Well, I wish I had something truly inspiring to say here, some kind of magic bullet, but the truth is, perseverance and a willingness to revise will take you a long way!! Publishing is a tough business, one that is always changing, and the road to publication is often long, bumpy, and riddled with rejection. But if you really want it, you just get keep going. And know that it only takes one “Yes!” to get you where you want to go!



Tell us about what you’re working on right now and what we can expect from you in the near future.



I just finished the third book in the IMMORTALS series, SHADOWLAND, and am about to begin work on the fourth book, which I refer to as UNTITLED BOOK #4—though hopefully we’ll come up with something a little more catchy closer to the pub date!



Wow, I totally can’t wait for more Immortals books! Thanks again for sharing, Alyson. Congrats again on your new release and for stopping by! As for you, readers, you can pick up a copy of ‘Blue Moon’ at your local bookstore or here.

Alyson Noël is the #1 New York Times, and USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly Bestselling, award-winning, author of FAKING 19, ART GEEKS AND PROM QUEENS, LAGUNA COVE, FLY ME TO THE MOON, KISS & BLOG, SAVING ZOE, CRUEL SUMMER, FIRST KISS (THEN TELL)- an anthology, and the IMMORTALS series including: EVERMORE, BLUE MOON (July 09), SHADOWLAND (Feb 2010), and two more titles for 2010. Her books have won the National Reader’s Choice Award, NYLA Book of Winter Award, NYPL Books for the Teenage, TeenReads Best Books of 2007, Reviewer’s Choice 2007 Top Ten, nominated for YALSA’s Teen’s Top Ten Award, chosen for the CBS Early Show’s “Give the Gift of Reading” segment, and selected for Seventeen Magazine’s “Hot List” and Beach Book Club Pick. She lives in Laguna Beach, CA with her husband.