Today I have the lovely Artemis Hunt on my blog to provide the As to my Qs about her book Snow White and the Alien which I reviewed earlier this month. It's a great story and you can read my full review here.
How would you describe Snow White and the Alien in a tweet (140 characters)?
Tangled meets the Day the Earth Stood Still!
Where did the idea for Snow White and the Alien come from?
Emmm... from Tangled actually. I loved (100X) the movie, and immediately wanted to write an updated version of a fairytale. Then I began to wonder how these medieval folks would cope with an alien invasion....I mean, we modern folks would have difficulty coping with one, talk about people who have only pitchforks and swords!
It hasn't been done before, and I hope I succeeded.
Snow White has undergone somewhat of a character overhaul from her fairytale origins. How did you go about creating the characters of Snow White and Aein?I studied the original Grimm fairytales. There are plenty of sites for that. Did you know the original versions which led to the Grimm collections are very, very dark?
I don't really like the character of the original Snow White. She was too passive, and she was only 7 years old! I like active characters, who seize opportunities and are in charge of their lives and events around them.
Since Aein was an alien, I immediately set out to make the reader empathize with him. (You be the judge if that worked, but a lot of readers tell me it did!) I made him an underdog in his own world, crippled, but determined to rise above his disabilities. We all can identify with characters like that.
Then of course I morphed him biologically in a chrysalis into a gorgeous youth in our world. We all can identify with desiring someone like that too!
What kind of research did you undertake to write Snow White and the Alien? Did you find out anything particularly interesting?
The fact that all the original stories (around Europe) that led to the legend of Snow White were really dark. There's a version of the dead princess in a glass coffin in almost every European country.
When and why did you decide to take the plunge and self publish your book? Did you always plan to publish it?
I took the plunge 2 months ago. I wanted to try self-publishing, thanks to Joe Konrath! If I didn't try, I would never know, right?
In the meantime, I queried Snow White as well. I told myself if I didn't get a 50% hit rate, I'd self-publish it. I didn't get a 50% hit rate, so here it is. (I actually got 20%). I have still some requests pending that I didn't fulfill because the book is already out on Amazon.
Is Snow White your favourite fairytale?
Hmmm....I think that would be Cinderella. But where Disney movies are concerned, it's Tangled.
What is the story behind the cover?
It's my (agented) friend and beta's idea! She wanted a Twilight vibe, but to suggest it's different from Twilight, there's no apple but a moth in the girl's hands. Any sort of insect is very significant in my story.
If you had room on your shelf for only 3 books, what would they be?
Haha, I'd just buy a computer (which I have), and put it on my shelf! That way I'll have 1000 books!
I've stopped reading physical copies already. I'm a bit of an environmentalist. But if I have a shelf for only 3 books, I would cram The Blind Assassin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the first Harry Potter.
Apart from Snow White and the Alien, what is your top teen fiction recommendation from 2011?
From 2011 itself? Oh dear, I'm still catching up with the older publications. I'm reading Wither by Lauren DeStefano. I read Incarceron by Catherine Fisher but wasn't in love with the characters.
Do you have any hints for what we can expect from the next book?
In the Snow White canon? An all-out alien invasion, and how the medieval people must employ their wits to cope with it! Snow White, being the rightful ruler of her kingdom, must lead the assault, and Aein must decide whether his allegiances lie with the woman he loves, Snow White, or his own beloved family and people.
I love conflict!
But my next book is part of my Ether World Chronicles series. It's called The Hunt for the Catalyst, a completely original contemporary YA fantasy. It will be released within the next month. I hope you will consider reviewing it too.
I certainly would! A huge thanks to Artemis for doing the interview and I hope you enjoyed it.
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