Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Sarah J. Maas’ event at Blue Willow Bookshop. The lovely Kate from Ex Libris moderated and had us all laughing. We began by playing a game seeing if anyone could pronounce the names and locations from the Throne of Glass series correctly.
Sarah then talked about the origins of her character’s names. I loved her explanation for Celaena. It goes back to The Last Unicorn a classic fantasy novel by Peter S. Beagle and a 1982 film by the same title. There was a harpy named Celaeno trapped by a traveling witch in her midnight circus. The harpy was her most prized capture and the most dangerous of all the mythological creatures the witch had in her circus. Celaeno in Greek means the ‘Dark One’ so Sarah always thought it would be an excellent assassin’s name. Being a child of the 80’s that movie had a major impact on me too.
Sarah spoke about her journey to being published and her writing process now. She said she doesn’t use outlines (they crush her creative soul) but she does use music, movie scores in particular, as a backdrop and inspiration. She said without knowing it she had been outlining to some degree with her song choices. She associates certain scenes with songs and so moves them up or down her playlist according to where it falls in the story.
Kate did an amazing job moderating and Sarah J. Maas was funny, incredibly likeable and personable. It was a blast. If you follow My Friends Are Fiction you’ve seen the Lego cover we did for Crown of Midnight. I had a few printed up and had them signed. Sarah loved it and totally recognized it when I went up to get her to sign my books. Was a really awesome moment. Of course I gave her one and am keeping one for myself…but I have one for a lucky giveaway winner.
This is an international giveaway:
So jealous!! I hope you had a blast at the event, Superb recap and thank you for the awesome giveaway!
My pleasure! It was a really great event and Sarah is amazing 🙂
Agreed! Dying for book #3!
Me too!!! And I forgot to add this to my post but she said it’s going to be a much longer series than 3 books. I forgot the exact number, 7 I think!
That just made my day, along with the news that Benedict Cumberbatch is going to be in Star Wars :O
I’m so jealous and so happy that you go to meet her! I’m sure you must have had a blast!! Thank you for the amazing giveaway and for figuring a way to make it international!
Yep, I figured it’s not everyday I giveaway signed Lego art so why not do it international. You guys don’t get most signed book giveaways.
It sounds like a great event! I wish I could have been there. I didn’t know about the Celaena’s name origin, so thanks for sharing. And it’s so cool that she recognised your lego cover! I’m glad you had a good time. 🙂
Must admit…that was one of my blogging highlights! Thanks Sam <3
Yay, great recap! It was such a fun event, and I loved the name game Kate did! Also, I recognized you from your blog, but I was too shy to come up and say hi. 🙁 Maybe next time?!
wha, wha, what!? You. Were. There?! Why didn’t you say hi! I am the most awkward, shy person in the world. Don’t ever be shy in saying hi. Yes, to next time! Will you be at ATBF?
Yay! Sounds and looks like you had an amazing time 😀 So glad that you got to meet her, but also jealous, cause she sounds amazing. Love the pictures 😀 And omg. Perfect giveaway <3 thank you 🙂 (Psst, on the last way of entering, I only wrote Carina Olsen. I follow you via email and bloglovin <3) Thank you for sharing Kristen 🙂
It was an amazing time! I’m so happy you like the giveaway! I totally know you follow so no worries 🙂
Great recap! I had such a blast and I love the Lego cover! So cool!
Thank you Kate! It was so much fun to actually talk to you in person this time around. You did a great job moderating and can’t wait to say hi at ATBF!
It sounds like an amazing and fun event. Really looks and sounds like you had a blast. Thanks for sharing it with us and for this fabulously awesome giveaway!! <3 xoxoxoxo
Thank you Kamla! It really was so much fun. Glad you are excited about the book and picture
I met Sarah on Wednesday and she was SO AWESOME. Author of my heart/spirit animal! ;D She is so approachable and friendly. I was surprised that I wasn’t really nervous talking to her. I’m glad you had a fun time!
(Not entering the giveaway because I have my own signed copies. :D)
She is amazing! She was so funny and so darn sweet. I thought I would be too (and I was still a bit awkward) but she was much easier to talk to than I expected. Thanks so much Cee! So happy you got to attend a signing too.
I’m so jealous! That is awesome. I just started Crown of Midnight and I love it already. I’m glad the Sarah was so great!
I loved CoM! Thought it was even stronger than the first. I think the entire series will continue to grow and be completely amazing.
This is so great! I always hear about Blue Willow Bookshop, and you’re so lucky that you have a bookstore nearby that hosts all of these wonderful authors! I hope you get the opportunity in the future to share all of your Lego art with the book authors.
Thanks for sharing the details of this event!
Oh us too, us too. I can’t wait to see A.G. Howard again to show her (in person) the Unhinged cover. I really had a great time at this one and yes, I am so, so lucky to have Blue Willow Bookshop!
Ohhh…she’s going to love it!!!
I’m dying here. I love Maas’ work and I’ve been Lego obsessed for years. This is flippin’ brilliant!!!!
Yay! I’m so glad you like the Lego art 🙂 We are obsessed with Legos so just had to turn some of our fave characters into Lego form. thanks for stopping by and entering!
Love the Lego artwork!
(Also, sorry if you’ve had about a million entries from me – Rafflecopter and I are fighting over whether or not I actually have an account with them)
I *love* the lego covers you do. How exciting for authors to recognize them! 😀 I’m behind on visiting my favorite blogs so I missed the giveaway, but I love this cover nonetheless. 🙂 Oh, also, did I know you lived in Texas? Great recap!