From the Book:
With Scarlet, the new installment in Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles, the author fuses influences from stories as disparate as the Grimm fairytales and Star Wars to create a brilliant world of magic, adventure and seductive locations. Here she shares her wishes for an ‘ideal’ writing day and the lengths she’d go to remain surrounded by books.
YoungAdultMag.com – Interview with Marissa Meyer
YOUNG ADULT: What are your earliest memories involving writing?
Marissa Meyer: When I was four or five I told a story to my mom called “Rosie and the Rosebush.” It was about a little girl (Rosie) who one day fell into a rosebush and ended up in the world of the roses. She had lots of fun running around playing with all the magical rose creatures… and I assume she eventually went home but I don’t remember for sure. My mom typed the story up and printed it out for me so I could illustrate the pages, so I consider that my first “book.”
YA: Tell us a little bit about your latest work. What is different about Scarlet and what does it bring to Lunar Chronicles series?
MM: Scarlet is based on “Little Red Riding Hood.” It continues the story began in Cinder, as Cinder attempts to escape from jail and stay one step ahead of the evil queen that wants her killed. Meanwhile, readers also meet Scarlet, an 18-year-old girl who lives in southern France and whose grandmother has recently gone missing. The only person willing to help Scarlet is a streetfighter called Wolf—and as anyone familiar with Little Red Riding Hood knows, Wolf is totally trustworthy.
As the stories begin to intersect, Scarlet discovers that she has some uncanny connections with Cinder, including a mutual enemy: Queen Levana.
YA: Take us through a typical writing day for you.
MM: I’m still working on “typical,” but an “ideal” writing day would be: Have coffee with my husband in the morning while I check my email, read blogs, and spend some time on Twitter and Facebook. Then retreat to my office and work on whatever the work-in-progress is for three to four hours. In the afternoon, do some promotion or business work (blogging, promo videos, work on my newsletter, answer more emails), and go to the gym. Evenings are for relaxing and reading.
YA: Does travel/being in new places contribute to your inspiration/process?
MM: Absolutely—every new experience influences us in some way, and you never know when a memory will resurface and contribute to something you’re working on. (I went to China when I was 13 and, while I wish I could have gone back for true research, I was glad to have that experience while creating New Beijing!) That said, I wish that book tours allowed for more time to explore. Sadly, I often get to see only a city’s airport and bookstore before I’m off to the next location.
YA: What were your specific influences for this book? Films, literature, TV, other stories?
MM: Obviously, fairy tales have been a big influence, both the darker Brothers Grimm stories and the Disney movies I grew up with. Many science fiction elements came from a childhood love of Star Wars and a more recent love for Joss Whedon’s Firefly (why oh WHY did it get cancelled?!). And most people who are familiar with Sailor Moon can pick out my influences from that too (it gave me the seed of the idea for the kingdom on the moon and a lost princess).
YA: If you hadn’t become an author, what path would your career have perhaps taken?
MM: I always knew I would work in books—I have a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and a master’s degree in publishing. When we sold Cinder I was working as a freelance proofreader, which I enjoyed, so I may have continued with that. Or I think it would have been fun to be a publicist or agent, or maybe even open a bookstore. Anything to keep me surrounded by books!
“Cinder’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.
Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.
As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.”
http://marissameyer.livejournal.com