>> Stephanie Merry:
Good afternoon. I'm Stephanie Merry,
the Book World editor at the Washington Post
which is a charter sponsor of the National Book Festival. First -- >> Alexandra Bracken:
Yey, wee [laughter]! >> Stephanie Merry:
First, a word of thanks to the Co-Chairman of the
festival, David Rubinstein, and the other generous sponsors
who've made this event possible. If you'd like to add
your financial support, please note the information
in your program. We'll have some time after this
presentation for your questions. And I've been asked to
remind you that if you come to the microphone, you will
be included in the videotape of this event which may be
broadcast at a later date. Our guest this afternoon
is Alexandra Bracken. >> Alexandra Bracken: Hello. >> Stephanie Merry: Alex sold
her first novel while still in college. And she has since had a prolific
career publishing roughly a novel a year since 2010
including <i>The Dreadful Tale</i> <i>of Prosper Redding </i>, <i>The Darkest Minds </i>which
was just turned into a movie. >> Alexandra Bracken: It was. >> Stephanie Merry:
And the novelization of <i>Star Wars, A New Hope </i>. It is my extreme pleasure to
introduce Alexandra, Alex. >> Alexandra Bracken: Alex. >> Stephanie Merry: Yes. >> Alexandra Bracken:
Thank you, guys. >> Stephanie Merry: Yes. >> Alexandra Bracken:
This is my first time at the National Book
Festival and I am like, "Wow, this is amazing!" I feel it's so lucky,
this is right here. >> Stephanie Merry: Oh, I know. I'd love to start with sort of
the beginning of your career because not many authors
[inaudible], you know, sell their first book
while still in college. So how did that happen? >> Alexandra Bracken: So I was
one of those kids that knew from a really, really young
age what I wanted to do. And then, I think like
one of the secrets of being an author is
that you have to be like a little bit deluded, like
you have to like have this, you know, just titanium
confidence because so much of becoming an author and
writing is getting rejected, like you get rejected
from editors and agents. You get rejected by readers
who don't like your books. Like it's a lot of rejection
so you really have to love it and believe in yourself and
believe that it's a possibility in the face of very dire odds
of ever having a book published. But I knew from a really, really
young age that I loved writing and it was because of
my third grade teacher. Did you ever have to
do something like this where you would write like a little short
story and illustrate it? And like my teacher stapled
it together and then bound it with cardboard and
contact paper? >> Stephanie Merry:
Or laminated? >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah. >> Stephanie Merry: Beautiful. >> Alexandra Bracken:
Like I wrote a book. This is amazing! And I want to do this forever. So I knew from a really
young age but I wrote a lot of fan fiction while I was in my
high [laughter], middle school and high school phase. And then when I got to college, I had never written
an original novel or original long-form
story before. And so, it was National
Novel Writing Month. How many of you guys
participated in NaNoWriMo? Yeah. So I was like,
"I'm going for it!" Like it's not already
challenging enough to be a freshman in college
like I'm double major. I'm going to do the
NaNoWriMo too and write 50,000
words in one month. And I just became
obsessed with it and I really wanted
to make it work. I almost think I wanted
to prove my dad wrong because he wanted me to be a
lawyer so badly [laughter]. And I went through. You guys, I went through. I took all the LSAT courses
and I was like, "Oh, okay." Like my dad always says, you
know, you -- he's very -- he was very conservative
in that he wanted us to build a solid
financial base first. Also, he's like, "Become
a lawyer and then later in life, do what you love." And I was like, "No! I'm going to do it now." But I wrote and wrote and wrote. And I finally sold my book
in my senior year of college. It was actually the second book. The first book got
rejected by everybody in the kid lit industry. >> Stephanie Merry: And that
was your NaNoWriMo book was the first one? >> Alexandra Bracken: That
first NaNoWriMo book was like a, you know [laughter]. I feel like one of my friends
like very sweetly sent it off to one of those -- I hate --
it's called Vanity Presses. But that's I think, the
actual term for it is when you send it off and they
make it into a book for you. And I was like, "Why
did you do this? I'm going to through
it on the fire. Get rid of this. No one should ever read this." But yeah, it was -- it
was a really quick journey but the reality of
being a writer is that you cannot support yourself on writing alone unless
you have this insane, crazy deal right
out of the gate. And so I worked in the
publishing industry for about five years and would
write only on the weekends. I wrote the entire <i>Darkest
Minds </i>series that way, keeping really crazy hours
like I'd come home from work at 6:00 P.M. and then
write until 4:00 o'clock in the morning and
then go to sleep and then write all day Saturday. That's how -- that's like
the level of delusion that I had and determination. So one part delusion, one part
determination, one part love. >> Stephanie Merry: Yeah and
I want to hear a little bit about the fan fiction. >> Alexandra Bracken: Oh my God. >> Stephanie Merry: Because
you opened up that box. I mean, I didn't -- >> Alexandra Bracken: The worst
thing about the fan fiction is that it's still online
because -- >> Stephanie Merry:
Everyone's like typing into their phones right now. >> Alexandra Bracken: I know. Oh my God, you guys. It's because I used like a
Hotmail account and I forgot that I would have to -- you know, the old Hotmail
account before Gmail like I delete -- I think I
deleted that account and so now, I can't access the
fanfiction.net account to go in and like delete everything. So every once in a while, I'd
like wake up in a cold sweat at someone discovering my like terrible Sailor Moon
fan fiction [laughter]. I wrote a lot of Star
Wars fan fiction too and a little bit
of Harry Potter. What else did I write? Yeah. >> Stephanie Merry: Yeah. >> Alexandra Bracken:
It was like a good mix. >> Stephanie Merry: So how
long are you, you know, sort of gestating these
ideas before you were getting them out? I mean, you are producing
books really, really quickly. >> Alexandra Bracken: Yes. >> Stephanie Merry: So like for
the <i>Darkest Minds </i>, let's say, how long were you
sort of thinking about the story before
putting it to paper? >> Alexandra Bracken: So
I've gotten into this. I would say and I think a
lot of authors would agree, you're always working
on three books at once. You're always kind of
-- you're drafting one. You're editing another one and then another one is
getting ready to be published. Like that's the --
that's the reality of publishing a book a year. It's like, oh my,
this is so many books. So many words. But it depends. Sometimes, I really
have found that if I try to write an idea too soon
before it has had enough time to bake, it goes nowhere. I feel so frustrated with it. I don't understand it. I can't connect with
the character. And like connecting with the
main character is the most important thing to me. If I don't relate to my
character on an emotional level or understand their emotional
arc then the story feels like a dud to me
and I give up on it. So with <i>The Darkest Minds </i>,
that series took me about -- there was a year between
when my debut novel, <i>Brightly Woven </i>which is now
out of print, RIP Egmont USA. >> Stephanie Merry: Oh no. >> Alexandra Bracken: It was
a very sweet little fantasy that sold absolutely
nothing [laughter]. >> Stephanie Merry:
But it got you. It gave you a start. >> Alexandra Bracken: Again,
that [inaudible] a delusion. I can do it. Like I can slay it. It's going to be fine. And so, it took me like another
year-and-a-half to like come up with an idea that I really
loved and developed it enough and that -- while I was working
on <i>The Darkest Minds </i>series, I was thinking about <i>Passenger</i>
and <i>Wayfarer </i>which was the next series. So now they kind of overlap
and it's fun to kind of cheat on the drafts that
you're writing with like the new shiny idea
that you want to write next. >> Stephanie Merry:
And are you kind of -- are you kind of wedded
to the characters? I mean, you were talking
about how you have to really love the
main character. So how are you kind of
thinking about the characters? How are you dreaming them up? >> Alexandra Bracken: Sometimes,
it sounds very frightening like sometimes, there's
just a voice in your head that just kind of
starts talking to you. It's like one line
and you understand that character's
voice really well. With <i>The Darkest Minds </i>series,
and I have not experienced this with any of my other books, it was like Athena
springing in from Zeus' head. They were like fully formed. I knew exactly, like I knew
weird details about their lives like I had known
them as real people. I just have like
such a good sense of who those characters were. But a lot of the time,
I really do sit down and interrogate the
character and I love -- is anyone familiar with
John Truby, his work? So he wrote a book
called <i>Anatomy</i> <i>of a Story </i>and he really
changed the way that I think about characters and setting up
a character arc because he talks about two different needs
that the character has which is a moral need
and a psychological need. And the psychological need is
how they're hurting themselves without realizing it and
how they're interacting with the world. And the moral need is how
they are hurting the others around them without
realizing it. And that arc is like the
journey to the realization of how they need
to change and why. So I think about
character a lot that way. Sometimes, I just like -- I love giving characters really
big arcs where they start in one place and then end in
a completely different place. And oh, it just feels
so rewarding. But I don't know
about you guys, I -- characters are the
most important element of any story to me. If I'm not connecting with
the character, it just -- like even when I, as a
reader, if I am not connecting with the character,
I put the book down and really have learned. Like I'm an Outlander
fan and I will like follow those
characters through anything at this point [laughter]. Like through the most
painful of circumstances, it's been many years now, I'm
still reading those books. But it's because I
love the characters. So if you can hit upon a
character that people love, it really makes a
huge difference. And I think that's why<i>
The Darkest Minds </i>broke out where my debut novel didn't. >> Stephanie Merry: And do
you know going into something that it's going to be a
series and how do you know, when you're doing a
series, like when it's over? >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah,
that's a good question. I still really love the trilogy. I think that's just the natural
way that we have ingrained in us of thinking about story and
thinking about how to break up the character's arc. But sometimes I know
like from the outside, I'm like this is only two books and so duologies are really
a lot more difficult to write than I thought they
were going to be. Just because you -- it's such
a different way of breaking up the story and you really
almost do cut one major story down the middle but then the
first half has to resolve itself and the second half
has to pick up. It's a fine balancing
act with the duology and I think you just have more
room to explore in a trilogy. But sometimes, I'm like
-- like with this book, I was like, this
is a standalone. This is definitely a standalone. Her arc completes itself but there are some [inaudible]
thoughts, you know, plot threads that are still open but for
the most part, it's standalone. So sometimes, you get a
sense and then other times, you really are sort of
surprised when you reach the end of the story, I would say. >> Stephanie Merry: Do you normally know how
things are going to end when you begin or is it -- >> Alexandra Bracken: Yes. >> Stephanie Merry: Okay. So you've had it mapped out? >> Alexandra Bracken:
Yes, I love endings. Endings are my favorite
part of any book, not just because it's finally
finished but also because it's like the culmination of all
of these emotions and all of the action and then bringing
that character to the new place and discovering who they are. So I have to know exactly how
the story ends because I have to know what I'm building
towards and that -- it's usually I even know the
very last beat of the scenes. Sometimes, I'll go ahead and
I'll write that last scene at the end of the Word document
and leave it there and just like keep writing towards
it, eventually hit it. >> Stephanie Merry: Okay, so we
have to talk about the movie. >> Alexandra Bracken: Okay. >> Stephanie Merry: The
movie, very exciting, that you had a book
turned into a movie. >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah. >> Stephanie Merry: And you
know, how did it come about? Tell us a little about that. >> Alexandra Bracken: It's -- I'm still trying to figure out
how to describe this experience. It's very surreal. But it's like there are
wonderful aspects of it. There are horrible
aspects of it. It's just such a
-- such a unique -- words are failing me which is
not great because I write words for a living [laughter]. It's just such a --
almost I need like time to process it a little bit but<i>
The Darkest Minds </i>was optioned by Fox and 21 Laps
all the way back in 2011 before it was published and for many years,
it just sat there. And they did nothing with it. And I will be the first
to confess that -- do you guys know what
a film option is? Do you want me to
explain it very quickly? So the difference
between a film option and someone buying the rights is that the film option is
essentially the studio or the production company paying
to reserve the exclusive rights to eventually maybe
buy the full rights. So it's sort of like a
way that they can pay less but not let anyone else have it. And it's for a set
amount of time. And so the option, it's just -- it's really like six
months to 18 months? Sometimes, the options are
really longer, like years long. But it's -- it's really a
gamble because you never know. And most authors, like myself,
do not have any sort of control like you can be like, "Well, I
would like to have it written into the contract that I
can review the script." And they're like, "No." Like you really don't
unless you're, you know, Suzanne Collins and
Stephanie Meyer. I don't think you have a
ton of negotiating power. So they optioned
it back in 2011. Everyone, literally everyone I
talked to including my agent, my editor, other
writers, they were like, "Well, it's -- that's great. But like a lot of
books get optioned and they never see
the light of day. So just prepare yourself for that emotional journey
and disappointment." But again, delusion. >> Stephanie Merry: Yeah. >> Alexandra Bracken:
Like I don't know, there's still a chance. Maybe I'll stay hopeful. And then they just kept renewing
the option over and over again. And I was very cautiously
optimistic. And then the craziest thing
was there would be like years in between getting
little bits of news about like Chad being hired as a
screenwriter and them, you know, going back to the studio. The studio is suddenly
interested again. And then when it
finally happens, it all happens in
like five minutes. It just goes like this
and then it's like -- so you don't really have time
to process it in the lead up. But yeah, it was --
it took them five, six years to eventually
make the movie. And then all of a sudden, they
decided that the time is now. >> Stephanie Merry: And
did they consult you at all when they were writing
the script or is it like you have given your
baby to them and it's like, "Okay, it's yours now." >> Alexandra Bracken:
So I early on, I got lucky because Chad
Hodge, who's the screenwriter, you guys might know his work from <i>Wayward Pines</i>
and <i>Good Behavior </i>. He adapted those for the screen. He and I had many
conversations very early on about the characters and
the story and how it might -- it might break down on
the screen and he asked me for my opinion on different
changes he was thinking about and that sort of thing. And he did not have to do that. That was -- he wanted to do it
because he likes other writers and feels like writers have to
protect other writers especially in the Hollywood sphere
because as I've learned, Hollywood writers
get treated horribly in like their work can be
completely changed on them and they still have
their name on it. And you're like, "Like I
didn't write any of this because you guys
rewrote it all." It's a very strange process. >> Stephanie Merry: It makes
you appreciate writing novels, right? >> Alexandra Bracken: Yes. >> Stephanie Merry: Yeah. >> Alexandra Bracken: And
so I -- he was like -- because the studio, okay. I feel like I had to prove to
the studio that I was not going to like go ballistic on
them at the drop of a hat. Like I really had to prove
to them over the years that I really had to prove
to them over the years that I could be, I could
be accepting of changes. I felt like I had
auditioned as a normal, sane person for them [laughter]. But it's really -- they
really didn't want me to read the script so like it
was a fight through the script. Yeah, so this was -- I don't
think I even read their shooting script which at that point,
had gone through so many drafts and had gone through all
the notes from the studio, all the notes from the
director, everything. I didn't read it until
like they started shooting. So this is the [inaudible]
of involvement that I had at that point, yeah. >> Stephanie Merry:
And then, did you go -- were you able to go
to the set at all? Or what's it like? >> Alexandra Bracken:
That's it but okay. So what, I'm trying to
remember who said this. It was number of [inaudible]
they were work adapted. What's his name? I'll tweet it later [laughter]. I forgot. I feel I have
to source this quote. But he was like this -- Hollywood likes to
pretend authors are dead until they absolutely can't
protect anymore [laughter]. So I didn't get invited to the
set until the last two days of filming [laughter]. >> Stephanie Merry: Oh, why? >> Alexandra Bracken: Again, I think they really
thought I was kind of like lose it on them. But it -- but I loved the sets
and I loved meeting the crew. I really loved the
cast in the movie. They were wonderful and they
have really bright futures. But it was like, it was very
clear to me that I'm not going to be involved until promotion
time comes [laughter]. >> Stephanie Merry: My gosh, did you get to at least see
it before like it came out? Or did you take a bunch of
friends to the [inaudible] like you know, premiere? >> Alexandra Bracken: They did
not want me to see an early cut. And I'm kind of glad because I
guess early cuts are a hot mess like I don't think I
realize that they really -- it goes through -- the story
changes a lot in editing. Film editing is really
interesting. And if you've ever -- have
you guys ever seen that movie or not movie, the YouTube video about how editing
saved <i>Star Wars </i>? >> Stephanie Merry:
It's so good. >> Alexandra Bracken: It's so
interesting and I was like, "Wow, this is a really cool way
of thinking about storytelling." Anyway, tangent. They did show it to me early. They showed me the pretty much
final cut in April but it was like the picture was
locked, as they say. So they're like, "We're
just tweaking sounds." And I was like, "Oh, do
you want to meet me back?" No, it's nope [laughter]. Like, cool. >> Stephanie Merry: But you have so many other things
on your plate. So it's fine. >> Alexandra Bracken: Right. >> Stephanie Merry: I mean, it's like you have this crazy
schedule where you're basically like writing a book
a year basically? >> Alexandra Bracken:
Yes, some years, I've written two
books in a year. >> Stephanie Merry: Which
how are you doing this? >> Alexandra Bracken:
I don't want to say a complete
abandonment of my social life but like I get some
really rough patches where because I love writing
so much, I'm willing to wake -- make it work and also,
I'm very prolific. I write very quickly and then
edit very quickly and I -- a lot of authors have a process
that takes them more time and I finally, after
like 10 books in, I finally have a process
where I am very efficient. You know, most of my
deadlines -- most of them -- sometimes, it's not my fault. But you know, it's
-- you really -- you get to a place where
it becomes pretty routine. And so, sometimes, I'm
working on a story, you know, two years before it's
published but it just happens to be published in the
same year as another book. So I've overlapped
into like two books in a year and that's crazy. I don't know how much
I love doing that. I don't really love doing that. >> Stephanie Merry: So what's
the process that works for you? Do you have like a certain
number of pages or words or hours that you have to spend
every day or how does it work? >> Alexandra Bracken: Oh my
gosh, you guys, I don't know if you've noticed this but I write really
long books [laughter]. It's like [inaudible]. >> Stephanie Merry: You
need to stop doing that. >> Alexandra Bracken: My
editor is a really slow reader and I was like, "How
did we find each other?" This is like not
a good situation. But I -- I just love long books. As a kid, I loved
reading long books. As a teen, I loved reading long
books so I feel like this is for all of you out there
who feel the same and want to like live in a
book's world for a while. My processes -- well, I used
to keep those crazy hours. I'm not even joking. I'm pretty sure I had a Mountain
Dew addiction like would go to Mountain -- or would go to
Mountain Dew, I wish [laughter]. I wish go to the mountains and
to collect the dew [laughter]. I would go, I lived when -- this
is when I lived in New York. I would go to the CBS that was
right on the corner which is like so dangerous when you
have a Mountain Dew addiction. >> Stephanie Merry: Oh yeah. >> Alexandra Bracken: It was a
24-hour CBS too so I don't know if there's anything more
shameful than I'd be in like 2:00 o'clock
in the morning, going to buy yourself a
Mountain Dew and nothing else. I [inaudible] so many kids in
that I felt like God was trying to send me a message, "Just
stop drinking Mountain Dew." This is another tangent,
you guys. I'm really sorry. Because I would have kids
come up to me while I was like selecting my three
bottles of Mountain Dew for the weekend, one per day. And they'd be like, "You
shouldn't drink that. That's going to rot
your [laughter]. It was a different child
every time [laughter]. And the guy tried three
times and I was like, "Nope. It's mine." >> Stephanie Merry: I
think one a day shows some restraint actually. >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah. >> Stephanie Merry:
I mean, right? >> Alexandra Bracken:
So you're -- to answer the question about
how I write so quickly. It used to be Mountain Dew
and keeping very strange hours when no one was on the
internet to talk back to me on social media. But now, I keep very
normal hours. I have a dog who reminds
I have to [inaudible] him and have other responsibilities
besides sitting in a chair. And the difference is I write
fulltime now which is -- was always my dream and I feel
very lucky to be able to do it. But it really, those
four years in New York when I was working fulltime
and also writing fulltime and traveling a lot for
work, I was willing to do it because I wanted it so badly. And now, I'm like, "Oh, good. I can see my friends,"
because I don't have to write from midnight to
4:00 A.M. anymore. >> Stephanie Merry:
What was the moment when you realized you could
make that leap from work in publishing and doing this
on the side to making this like your fulltime job? >> Alexandra Bracken: Okay,
this is a little crass. So I feel like it's
impolite to talk about money. But it was when I made twice
as much money on my books than I did at my day job. And I was like, "I really
love my co-workers but I also and I love the health
insurance I have here." [Laughter]. But it really were so then
like balancing income, it was like how much I
had saved at that point in case I never sold
another book. My father made me
deeply paranoid about that kind of thing. So I wanted to just save
a certain amount of money. And my stress levels had
gotten to like a toxic level because I was traveling a
lot for work and my editor, you know, it's like the
constant push and pull struggle of me writing very long things
and her reading very slowly and then that editorial timeline
condensing like very quickly. So it was -- it was a
balance of I need -- one of these things has to give
and I want to go for the thing that I love and that
I've always dreamed about doing even
though it makes me sad to leave the co-workers I love and to leave my health
insurance [laughter]. >> Stephanie Merry: Do you find,
is there some sort of community of other writers so it
doesn't feel so lonely or how does that work? >> Alexandra Bracken: Oh, yeah. Oh my gosh, so when I
still lived in New York, there would be days
when I -- when I -- I spent a year in New
York writing fulltime because I wanted to
experience New York as a person who could actually go
out and see her friends which did not happen that
much when I was, you know, trying to hold those two
fulltime jobs and make that [inaudible] your schedule. So I would just like go -- I would rotate between the
five Starbucks' that were within like a two-block radius
and would interact with humans at Starbucks and return home. But now, I've gotten much
closer to other author friends and so we have just like a
constant chat going that we kind of check in and out
of throughout the day. And that gives you
some interaction. And I feel bad for my UPS
delivery guy sometimes because I'm like, "Wait, stay
a moment and chat with me. Where are you going next?" >> Stephanie Merry: I haven't
spoken to anyone in hours. I know. >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah, I
can feel myself like especially when you're on a really
tight deadline, you're like, "I think I've forgotten
how to be human." I just want to talk to people
for dah-dah-dah-dah-dah. Like just like word vomit
at them for many hours. >> Stephanie Merry:
We're here for you. >> Alexandra Bracken: Thank you. >> Stephanie Merry: I have to
ask you about the novelization of <i>Star Wars </i>which is so -- >> Alexandra Bracken: Yes. >> Stephanie Merry: -- amazing
to get that gig but also, I mean, a lot of
pressure because -- >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah. >> Stephanie Merry:
-- talk about fans. They are -- >> Alexandra Bracken: Yes. >> Stephanie Merry: -- crazy so
tell us a little bit about how that came about, how it --
did you get a lot of support? Were you terrified? What? >> Alexandra Bracken: I, okay,
so there's some backstory here. Sorry, guys. I'm a bit of a rambler,
if you couldn't tell. Hence why my books are
so long [laughter]. So my dad, from the time
I was in first grade until the time he
passed away in 2012, was a <i>Star Wars </i>collector. And he was a hardcore<i>
Star Wars </i>collector. We went to the very first
celebration when it was outside in Colorado and it was
pouring rain in April. Like that level of devotion. And so I really grew up
with <i>Star Wars </i>and lived in that world, in that fandom. Wrote a lot of <i>Star
Wars </i>fan fiction. From ages eight to 12, I
pretty much only wanted to read <i>Star Wars </i>books. So that was a huge part of my literacy was just
reading <i>Star Wars </i>books over and over again. So I really have always
loved <i>Star Wars </i>. But I got offered
to write this book because my editor knew I
could turn it in quickly because another author had
been slated to write it and she couldn't do it. And she backed out at
the very last minute. So they were like,
"Will you pinch in? You're like somebody who we
know who can deliver it." And also someone who knows <i>Star
Wars </i>and would want to do it in the short amount of time. And I was like, "Me." Well, actually, it
wasn't like that. Because when my editor
called me, I almost said no because it's so much
pressure really. And like I said, I had grown
up reading <i>Star Wars </i>. And I was like, "I don't know if
I can live up to the standards that I have for my -- like for
reading <i>Star Wars </i>books." And the other thing was I hadn't
really watched <i>Star Wars </i>since my dad had passed away
because I associated it with him so strongly. And so, I was like, "Oh, I feel like this is
going to be so painful." And like having to deal with
the promotional aspect will be painful, having to
talk about it. It was great because
if anyone of you, if anyone has lost a person
you know that like connecting with the things that that
person loved is like a great way to connect with them again
even after they're gone. So it had the opposite effect and I'm really glad
I ended up doing it. But I did have to prove myself
to the <i>Star Wars </i>fans. They really are like I wrote,
ended up writing an essay about my experiences
with my dad and growing up as a <i>Star Wars</i>
collector and losing him. And I feel like after that,
people were a lot more sold than they were before because
the <i>Star Wars </i>community is very protective of the
characters that they love and the story that they love. And then I think once they
recognized she is one of us, not an interloper, it was great. But <i>Star Wars </i>fans, as a
whole, are wonderful, you know. >> Stephanie Merry: Yeah. >> Alexandra Bracken: Some
fans are not wonderful. >> Stephanie Merry: Well, yeah,
well especially when you're on social media too which I know
you're active on social media. And anyone can access
you at any time. And sometimes, it's great with
like these amazing people here. But sometimes, it's like
a crazy <i>Star Wars </i>fan. I mean, you never know, right? >> Alexandra Bracken:
Wait, I don't know if you're referencing this but
I just got attacked by a ton of Kylo Ren [inaudible]. >> Stephanie Merry: Oh, I didn't
know that at all [laughter]. What did you do to Kylo Ren? >> Alexandra Bracken:
Okay [laughter]. I tweeted something that
was a joke [laughter]. They really love Kylo Ren
and they are very protective of Adam Driver and I was
like, "I love Adam Driver. I just don't love the
character of Kylo Ren." And yeah, they are
-- that was a lot. I was like, "Wow,
this is like a hive. Like they just keep coming." >> Stephanie Merry:
Oh, yeah, yeah. Once it starts. >> Alexandra Bracken: You know,
I had to mute the words Adam, Driver, Kylo, Ren like
they're still muted because I'm still getting
tweets from they've like discovered the tweet
from a year ago and I'm like, "Oh my God, you guys." >> Stephanie Merry: Oh
my gosh, I'm so sorry. >> Alexandra Bracken: I get it. I know but it's like
that intensity of fandom like on one hand, I'm like,
"Oh my God, you guys." Like it doesn't hurt my feelings
that they're like, you know. I hope every project
you write from now on, fails because you said this,
what we think is an awful thing. But you know, they
love it so much. >> Stephanie Merry:
I know [laughter]. What's the creative process
like with something like that? Because you know, with <i>The
Darkest Minds </i>or your other books, it's like you're
starting from scratch. But in this, you kind of
have to work within a rubric. >> Alexandra Bracken:
Yes, it was really -- it was such an interesting
experience. I asked them to send me the
style guide that they have for all of <i>Star Wars </i>just
because I wanted to read it. That's the level of fan I am. I'm like, "I just want
to see how you guys like classify everything
and break it down." So they told me I could -- what they really wanted with these retellings
were they wanted Tom. Okay, so Tom Angleberger
rewrote -- not rewrote, retold <i>Return</i> <i>of the Jedi </i>and Gidwitz did<i>
The Empire Strikes Back </i>and I did <i>A New Hope </i>. And so they wanted
us to approach it or approach each
story in our own way and put our own spin on it. So I was like, "What
does that look like?" I thought about retelling it
from the perspective of someone who worked on the Death Star. I thought about Adam retold
his in second person and had like a really good spin
on it and all of that. And so I decided that
what I loved most about <i>Star Wars </i>are the
characters so I was going to do a really deep
dive into the characters because like it's still
very surface and a new hope, if you go back and
re-watch it, you're like oh, like why isn't Princess Leia
crying when her whole planet and everyone she
loves gets destroyed? Like what explains her
strength in that moment? Why is she comforting Luke when he loses the guy he's
known for six hours, right? And he's not comforting
her [laughter]? So I wanted to really do fill
in those blanks and so I got to pull directly from the
script, the film script. I got to pull from the
[inaudible] on the script which is really interesting. I had to update some stuff because we don't use
data tapes anymore. I had the Death Star
tapes, stealing the tapes from their [inaudible]. Like okay, I don't think kids
are going to know what that is. And I got to actually
invent new scenes too that also helped
fill in those blanks. And so my retelling is told from a close third
person point of view. It starts with Leia telling
the story then Han picks it up midway through and then
Luke finishes out the story. So it's an interesting
and fun challenge to play with point of view on that one. And you get to work with
the Lucasfilm Story Group. They are the keepers
of the canon. Their level of knowledge about the <i>Star Wars</i>
universe is insane. It is amazing. The story that we always
tell is Adam wanted to know if there were chickens in
the <i>Star Wars </i>universe. It's something you don't
think about, right? So he wanted to know
if there were chickens in the <i>Star Wars</i>
universe because he wanted to write some sort of
new Jedi fable for it. And so, Pablo, who's one of the
story group division members, he sort of like sat back and
like tapped into the database in his mind and was
like, "Eleven." It was like there are 11
chickens in <i>The Return</i> <i>of the Jedi </i>script [laughter]. So he knew that off
the top of his head which is like crazy to me. And he -- then he continues
on because this is -- I love the story [inaudible]. And you can also assume
that there are falcons because of the Millennium Falcon
too somewhere in the universe. So they're wonderful. They, as I learned, are a
wonderful confidence boost because they are not going
to let you fall on your face. They're like, "It is impossible to write a terrible <i>Star Wars</i>
book because they are there to help you and guide you. And the funny, the funniest
part of when I was working on my book was I
wasn't able to -- I like filtered in a little bit
of the expanded universe stuff. I kind of sprinkled it in for
my expanding universe fans now <i>Star Wars </i>legends RIP. I sprinkled some
mentions in it just to see what Lucasfilm Story
Group [inaudible] and get away with since it wasn't
technically canon anymore. And I tried to use Han and Chewie's previously
established back story. And they went in and they took
out all of the references to it. And like at the end, the
last one, there was just like a smiley face and
it was like, "Nope." Like you can't. And so I asked my
editor, I was like -- has anyone not seen <i>The Force
Awakens </i>before I say this? Okay, good. Sorry in advance. It's been a couple of years. So I was like, "Are
you guys going to do a young Han Solo movie?" And he was -- my poor
editor is not a good liar. He was like, "No,
definitely not." I was like, "Oh, no. This means Han Solo is
going to die in this movie because that's the only reason
to do a Han Solo movie is if he's gone from
the main storyline. And he was like, "No." [Laughter] So I kept
the knowledge secret. It was like Obiwan in his cave. I knew something terrible was
going to happen [laughter]. >> Stephanie Merry:
I'm impressed, yeah. So I want to make
sure that we have time for questions from the crowd. We have a couple of
microphones set up here. There is one over
here and there's one over there, if anyone -- >> Alexandra Bracken:
Anybody have any question? >> Stephanie Merry: Who
wants to ask any questions? We have -- all right. Yes, please. >> Hi. >> Alexandra Bracken: Hi. >> One, I understand your
Mountain Dew addiction because I have the same problem. >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah. >> And I was also wondering who,
which character that you created or even on the <i>Star
Wars </i>characters that you relate to most? >> Alexandra Bracken: Oh,
that I related to most -- I think the thing about
characters is that inevitably, each one kind of inherits
something from you. Like within the original<i>
Darkness Minds </i>crew like Ruby, I was a really shy kid. So like a lot of her
introversion and a lot of her feelings of
loneliness, I related to a lot. But like Liam got my sense
of humor and my taste in music, that kind of a thing. So I think, I actually
relate to Etta from <i>Passenger </i>quite a
bit because she was someone who was also very driven
and had her mind set on a specific career
and sometimes, you know, it was very rewarding
and sometimes, it wasn't. So it was really interesting
to explore them on paper. >> Thank you. >> Alexandra Bracken: Thank you. >> Stephanie Merry: Maybe,
we'll swap over to that side. >> Oh, so you talked about
like ending stories and how that was your favorite. But do you also feel that
like empty cone of death after you finished
a book [laughter]. It's not, it isn't
just the readers that have to deal with that. I'm like, what do I
do with my life now? >> Alexandra Bracken: Well, I promise like I think
readers think that when we like kill off a character or
something terrible happens, we're like, ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha [laughter]. I'm like maybe some others are but I'm always like,
"I'm sorry." Like [laughter] the one ending that really got me was the
ending of <i>The Darkest Minds </i>. And I had finished it at like
4:00 o'clock in the morning. And even though I knew
what was going to happen, I just like couldn't fall
asleep because I was so anxious and worried about those
characters and I was like, "Well, hopefully
if I feel this way, readers will feel this way too." But yeah, I do look for some
sort of like emotional punch at the end of the book, just
in case you thought you were in the clear [laughter]. >> Stephanie Merry: Nope,
enter the cone of death. >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah. >> Stephanie Merry: We'll kind
of come back to this side. >> Are you planning on making
another <i>Darkest Minds </i>book? >> Alexandra Bracken:
You know what? I would love to. I was really happy
to finally come back to the world after
how many years? A couple of years. I needed a break because Ruby's
head is a very dark place to inhabit. And I was like, "I
could use a breather and I wanted to [inaudible]." You know, I really wanted
to challenge myself to try to write something
very different and new. But I do want to come back
and explore the world. I'm just -- I haven't made
any like official plans or announce anything yet just
because I'm trying to figure out what the best story
would be and find out, figure out which emotional story and which character
really compels me the most. So yes, hopefully soon. >> Thank you. >> Alexandra Bracken: Thank you. >> Can we get an update
on the scorpion saga? >> Alexandra Bracken:
Oh my gosh. I'm sorry for anyone who
does not know what she's talking about. So I grew up in Arizona. I lived there for 18
years before I went to William and Mary. >> Hu! >> Alexandra Bracken:
Yeah [laughter]. >> Go Tribe! >> Alexandra Bracken: Go Tribe,
[inaudible] bark upon the gale. I, never once in my entire
life, saw a scorpion. Flash forward several years. I moved back to Phoenix
and I live in Phoenix. I grew up in Scottsdale and
so I moved to a neighborhood which I did not realize
has scorpions. And so the first time
I saw one outside, I did not know what to do. I just sort of -- I
tried to step on it. It wasn't working. >> Stephanie Merry: Oh God. >> Alexandra Bracken:
Scorpions play dead. They're so smart. They're terrifying [laughter]. They're -- and so my neighbor across the street saw
me kind of [inaudible]. Like [inaudible] out
like a screaming moppet around this very
tiny little scorpion. And she came over and showed me
how they kill them and was like, you should, you know,
start spraying regularly and so on and so forth. But then, this monsoon
season, we get really amazing, terrifying thunderstorms
every summer in Arizona called monsoons. And I did not realize that
the monsoons drive the scorpions inside. And scorpions can fit into
any space that is as thin as a credit card, in case you
would like a new nightmare to think about [laughter]. So they come through
like light fixtures. They come through vents that aren't sealed
properly on the walls. And so, I kept finding
dead ones in my house. And my dog is very small. He's only seven pounds. So I wasn't worried about me. I was worried about him. And I've hired a company
called Seal Out Scorpions. And they came and
sealed my entire house. It was the most intense day of
them going through every vent, trying to find all of
the different places where they could
enter into the house. And I haven't seen one in the
house since, knock on wood. But so far, it seems okay
and I'm really excited for the weather to
cool off and for them to like hibernate for a while. >> Stephanie Merry: This
could inspire your next -- >> Alexandra Bracken: I know. You guys, scorpions
-- look it up. They're really -- so when they
were doing like nuclear testing out in the desert, scorpions
were the only species that survived that. That's -- it was so hard
to kill and they leave like pheromone trails. So if one comes in, the
rest of them come in. Yeah, they're -- I
hate them so much. I thought I hated spiders and
now, I'm like, "Come, spiders. Kill the scorpions. Fight. Fight to the death." I'm sorry, that was
such a long answer. So far, everything's okay. >> I'm glad. >> So as a young writer and
you published your first book when you were 23. So do you have -- because I know
finding a publisher can be hard. How do you find an editor and
a publisher and just how does that whole process work? >> Alexandra Bracken: So
there is actually a very -- I feel like if we were
seeing younger authors now because there is such a
wealth of information online and there are -- it actually
is a really good breakdown of how this process
works all online. And so it's given
people the ability to then submit their work. And so, anyway, the process
is you write your book. You edit it. You get people to read
it, give you feedback when you're like,
"Yes, it is ready." You write something that's
called a query letter which is essentially a pitch
letter and then you go online and you research all
of the literary agents who represent the age
group and the genre that you're interested
in writing in. So what I did when
I was first looking for my agent was I would look in
the acknowledgments of the books that I really loved and
I would see which agent that they thanked
because I'm like, "Well, if they liked this work, I
think my work is you know, like not the same but comparable
or this is my dream agent." And you just send out those
pitch letters and you hope. It really only takes
one agent saying yes and then it only takes
one editor saying yes. But now, I don't think -- I mean, I was an editorial
assistant and I can tell you, it is very rare for
us to pull something from what we call the slush pile which is an unsolicited
manuscript that gets sent to us in-house. We really look, I think,
public editors look for agent submissions and they
read through agent submissions and prioritize them first. And now, there's almost
more of the gatekeepers and they are the ones who are
filtering out the manuscripts that aren't strong
enough yet to be published and so on and so forth. So your first step
is really looking, finishing the manuscript,
getting it in good shape and then looking for an agent. And I think Agent
Query is still online and it's still a really
good resource for that. That's so exciting. Good luck! >> Thank you. >> Hi. >> Alexandra Bracken: Hi. >> Were there any
characters where you have like specific actors and
actresses in mind for the movie or were there any actors that
you just saw and you're like, "They should play
this character?" >> Alexandra Bracken: No. You know what's funny is
that you -- Ruby, I was -- when I was figuring out what
she looked like, it was like, "She looks like Felicity of -- oh my gosh, why am I
blinking on her name?" Felicity -- >> Stephanie Merry: Huffman? >> Alexandra Bracken:
No on Huffman. The other one [laughter], who was in the <i>Theory
of Everything </i>. >> Stephanie Merry:
Felicity Jones. >> Alexandra Bracken:
Jones, thank you. >> Stephanie Merry: Jones, yes. >> Alexandra Bracken:
Oh my gosh. Sorry, Felicity. I love you [laughter]. I've just seen her in
[Inaudible], that adaptation and I was like, I love her. And so, I was thinking of her
for Ruby but it was so long between when it got optioned
and when it actually got made that all of those actors
like completely aged out that I had thought
about over the years. And every time they would
announce a new actor for the project,
I was like, "Oh, I never would have
thought of that person." But they're kind of perfect. So I will never be a
casting director but yeah. No, I didn't really have
any favorites going in and there was -- I'm
trying to even remember if I suggested anyone to the
director when I talked to her on the phone about it. Probably not. That was a disappointing answer. I'm sorry [laughter]. >> Thanks. >> Hi, so what's your top
advice for aspiring authors? >> Alexandra Bracken: My
gosh, what's my top advice? I mean, I feel like this is
advice you've probably heard before but read everything. One of the really
fascinating things about reading different genres,
even genres you think you don't like is that they teach you
things that you might not expect or that you do expect
but in a very -- gosh, I don't want to say
this -- in a very pointed way. Like for instance, when I
feel like I'm struggling with plotting or figuring
out how to plant clues about a mystery within
the story, I'll go back and read thrillers and read
mysteries and you know, break down how they
pace out their reveals. And reading romance
teaches you a great deal about creating a romantic arc. Can you figure out
what works for you and what doesn't work for you? Reading nonfiction is a
great source of inspiration and helps you develop your
own ideas about the world. So read absolutely everything, even if you don't think
you're going to like it. Keep reading everything. >> Stephanie Merry: We have time for one more question,
over here? >> So what's your number one
way to handle writer's block? >> Alexandra Bracken:
My number one way of handling writer's block? Was that the question? >> Yeah. >> Alexandra Bracken: Okay. I -- so writer's
block is so pesky. It really -- you really
do almost have to figure out your own way of handling it. But what I have noticed
for myself is that when I hit writer's block, it's because I am ignoring
something that is not working in the story and I don't
want to like confront it. So I -- even though it's
counterintuitive, I stop working and I go back and re-read
through what I have. And if -- and try to figure out
what it is that is not working. But sometimes, if it's just
I can't focus on that day or I'm stumped about how
to write it, you know, what to write next in
that particular scene or for the dialogue, I switch. I switch mediums. I'll start writing by hand which
I don't know the psychology of this but it kind of does
something to your brain to either change the way
you're writing or move like physically move yourself to a different location
and write there. Sometimes, that shakes
things loose. You wouldn't think so but -- and sometimes, even
just free writing in a journal is a great way
to kind of unstick yourself. So try those. Always keep like a -- I have my
little writer's block journal where I just write
and write and write. And it's all nonsense
but it's a great way to shake yourself out of that. >> Stephanie Merry: Thank you
for all the great questions. >> Alexandra Bracken:
Thank you, guys, so much. >> Stephanie Merry: <i>The
Darkest Legacy </i>is on sale here. You can get it signed by Alex. >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah. >> Stephanie Merry:
Alex, thank you so much. >> Alexandra Bracken: Thank you. I'm signing in the -- really quick, I'm
signing from 2:30 to 3:30. >> Stephanie Merry:
[Inaudible] 2:30 to 3:30 and watch out for the scorpion. >> Alexandra Bracken: Yeah,
oh my gosh [laughter].
