INTERVIEW: Amy Bai

mood: giddy
pandora/ipod: "lose control" by james

The marvelous and amazing Elana Johnson has organizized a little PAY IT FORWARD blog chain featuring interviews by pre-published authors and I am lucky enough to be participating! I have four author interviews lined up this week (only four, because I am participating in another group blog event this Friday...) All four are amazing writers whose work I've had the extreme pleasure to read. All four I've also had the honor of meeting (and drinking with) in person.

Monday, March 29 - Amy Bai
Tuesday, March 30 - Bryn Greenwood
Wednesday, March 31 - Tracey Martin
Thursday, April 1 - Debra Driza

At the bottom of each interview, I'll link to all the other awesome writers participating in this event. Be sure to check out the interviews! They should all ROCK!

~~~~~~~~~~

Amy Bai writes Urban Fantasy and Epic Fantasy. She hails from Maine and is currently between agents. Though not for long. Because I've read the novel mentioned below and trust me, it is made of awesome.

1. What is your novel about? If you pitch it to me in iambic pentameter you get bonus points.

AMY: I think this is, if it's anything even remotely identifiable as meter (and that's definitely a question), probably dactylic hexameter-- but I tried. :-)

WEAVE is an urban fantasy
with violence and snark galore
misfortune and guilt haunt my MC
'cause her mom died when she was just four

then one day she finds out she's a fairy
but not the fun wand-and-wings type
with a touch she can blow up a TV
so much for that "Tinkerbell" hype

and there's more: turns out she's a Gatekeeper
doomed to guard all the doors in the 'States
and her dead mom's some kind of grim reaper
--it's a bitch, when you're weird, to find dates

her freak kid sister Molly can see stuff
and believes she'll die drowned in a lake
sadly, saving her could be a bit rough
changing fate is no quick piece of cake

so there's plenty of blood and disaster
I've had fun writing this, I'll admit
I just have to learn to revise faster
so some publisher can --oh please!-- buy it.


2. What do you love most about your main character?

AMY: There are a lot of things to love --well, maybe not love, but be deeply amused by, anyway-- about Dari. My favorite, I think, would have to be how completely pitiless she is in her views of herself and others. She learns, over the course of the book, when it's wiser to keep her mouth shut-- but even at her most desperate, terrified or miserable, her take on things always has a slightly uncharitable edge. She might almost be unlikeable if she weren't applying the same ruthless perspective to herself.


3. What's the one think you wish you'd known at the beginning of the writing/querying/publishing process?

AMY: Oh my god, where do I start? :-)

How important it is to take your time, and be sure of yourself, your writing, what you want. I did everything too early.

~~~~~~~~~~

PAY IT FORWARD PARTICIPANTS:

Elana Johnson
Lisa and Laura Roecker
Beth Davis
Leah Clifford
Victoria Schwab
Kirsten Hubbard
Carrie Harris
Kim Harrington
Suzette Saxon & Bethany Wiggins
Amy Holder
Kathy McCullough
Tiffany Schmidt
Susan Adrian
Dawn Metcalf