Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are stopping by today as part of the Australian blog tour for their novel These Broken Stars. I love this book so much, it’s one of my favourite reads of 2013!! I’ll be posting up a review later this month, but for now, here’s a little about the book:
These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner Published: November 20th 2013 by Allen & Unwin
Format: Paperback, 384 pages
Genres: Science Fiction
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Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy.
It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets to the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.
Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.
Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other's arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder - would they be better off staying in this place forever?
Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won't be the same people who landed on it.
Thanks for making the time to answer these questions for me! I’m so excited to be able to ask you both a few questions about your amazing book, These Broken Stars.
Thank you so much for having us!
1. How did this project come about?
Originally, These Broken Stars was a project we wrote for fun. We’ve always written to entertain each other, and we played with these characters and this world for a long time before we ever realised it might make a book!
2. How does the writing process work? Do you make a plan and then write alternating chapters? Does one of you write a rough draft and the other edit it?
Amie’s an outliner and Meg’s definitely not, so we have to compromise – we have an idea of where we’re headed, and then we work out each section in more detail as we reach it. When we were drafting, Amie took primary responsibility for Tarver and Meg took primary responsibility for Lilac, though we’d often contribute our own character’s dialogue to each others’ chapters. Then, once we edited, we’d both dig into everything, and often we didn’t know by the end who wrote what! It’s definitely a collaboration every step of the way.
3. These Broken Stars has cool concepts like hyperspace travel and terra-forming in it. Can you tell us about the research you had to do for this novel?
Oh, we had so much fun! And we googled some stuff that totally put us on watchlists. We did a lot of reading on terraforming—you’d be surprised how much is out there—and though obviously nobody knows how to travel through hyperspace just yet, we take pride in the fact that there’s no science in our books that’s been disproven yet. In theory, it’s all possible
4. Lots of YA authors now write novellas in their story-worlds between books. Is this on the cards for the Starbound series?
You never know! We certainly know a lot about the backstory of our characters, but for now we’re concentrating on making sure the books are just right.
5. What are the other projects are you working on right now, individually or together?
Meg’s busy putting the finishing touches on book three in her Skylark series – it’s be the sequel to Skylark and Shadowlark, and will bring the series to its conclusion. (Amie: And it’s AWESOME. I am so sorry you all have to wait for it.) Shadowlark just released, and book three will be out towards the end of next year.
Amie’s just sold a new series with Melbourne author Jay Kristoff. The first book, Illuminae, will be out in 2015, and the series was pitched as BattlestarGalactica meets Ten Things I Hate About You.
And, of course, we’re totally brewing something up together. We just can’t tell you what!
Rapid Fire Round:
1. Anything you can tell us about The Shattered World that’s not in the synopsis? Will we see Tarver and Lilac?
Maaaaaaaybe!
2. What are you reading right now?
Amie: After Eden by Helen Douglas
Meg: The Big Con by David W. Maurer
3. You can only use one word to describe These Broken Stars. Go!
GAH! Um…. Heart-stopping! (That counts as one with the hyphen, right?)
About Amie Kaufman
I'm a young adult author from Melbourne, Australia, represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary. I write fantasy, science fiction and all things speculative.
My favourite procrastination techniques involve chocolate, baking, sailing, my dog Jack, gardening, plotting and executing overseas travel, napping, my music collection and reading. Also my husband.
About Meagan Spooner
Meagan Spooner grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day, while dreaming about life as an archaeologist, a marine biologist, an astronaut. She graduated from Hamilton College in New York with a degree in playwriting, and has spent several years since then living in Australia. She's traveled with her family all over the world to places like Egypt, South Africa, the Arctic, Greece, Antarctica, and the Galapagos, and there's a bit of every trip in every story she writes.
She currently lives and writes in Northern Virginia, but the siren call of travel is hard to resist, and there's no telling how long she'll stay there.
In her spare time she plays guitar, plays video games, plays with her cat, and reads.
Thanks again to Amie and Meagan for answering these questions. It’s been wonderful to have them here, and since I love These Broken Stars so much, it’s great to find out a more about how it came to be.
These Broken Stars is published in Australia by Allen & Unwin, and will be available from this Wednesday at all good bookstores and online. Thanks to the wonderful folk at A&U for organising the blog tour, and be on the look-out for a giveaway in the first weeks of December!
Cait
Such an awesome interview! I absolutely loved THESE BROKEN STARS. Tarver and Lilac were amazing (such sparky dialogue). I’m interviewing them on the 20th, and I’m ridiculously excited for it. They are such talented authors.