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Math and Mysterious Moments with Nova McBee · WriterCon

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Speaker 1: This week on the writer Con podcast, I get asked this.
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Speaker 2: Quite a bit, and one of my top pieces of
0:07
Speaker 2: advice is don't rush the process. Practice your craft, get
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Speaker 2: your craft down so that when you enter this very
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Speaker 2: competitive ring that you can be a contender.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to writer Con, a gathering place for writers to
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Speaker 1: share their knowledge about writing and the writing world. Your
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Speaker 1: hosts are William Bernhardt, best selling novelist and author of
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Speaker 1: the Red Sneaker books on writing, and Laura Bernhardt, Award
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Speaker 1: winning author of the want ln Files book series.
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Speaker 3: Thank you, Jesse Ulrich he their writers, thanks for joining us. Well,
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Speaker 3: big announcement for me today. Although I've been teasing this
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Speaker 3: for a couple of episodes, I was supposed to wait
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Speaker 3: until there was an official announcement in publishers Lunch because
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Speaker 3: that's a big deal in the book world, I guess.
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Speaker 3: But it's out now, so I'm free to talk about
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Speaker 3: my forthcoming book, which is a real change of pace.
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Speaker 3: This is nonfiction titled The Superman Wars The Battle for Truth,
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Speaker 3: Justice and the American Way. Now, as we're recording this,
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Speaker 3: the new Superman movie is about a week away, so
1:23
Speaker 3: I'm not going to get close to that. Sorry, enjoy
1:25
Speaker 3: the movie, and then come back next summer when my
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Speaker 3: book is released, so you can learn where this character
1:31
Speaker 3: came from. It's a book I've been writing and researching
1:34
Speaker 3: for a long time. We're taking a deep dive into
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Speaker 3: the life of Jerry Siegel, the writer, the seventeen year
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Speaker 3: old eleventh grader who came up with the idea for
1:45
Speaker 3: a Superman brought in his best friend Joe Schuster to
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Speaker 3: draw it. Superman was the first superhero and launched an
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Speaker 3: entire genre, which is obviously still very popular today. Plus
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Speaker 3: he created a boom for the barely off the ground
2:01
Speaker 3: comic book book industry, which is of course also huge today.
2:05
Speaker 3: But sadly, Jerry found himself severed from his character by
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Speaker 3: his publishers and not of work, which led to seven decades, yes,
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Speaker 3: seven decades of litigation. This sounds like a book. Maybe
2:20
Speaker 3: somebody with a legal background should be writing. Also, somebody
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Speaker 3: geeky enough to really love Superman. So watch for that
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Speaker 3: summer of twenty six though. I'm sure I'll be talking
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Speaker 3: about it constantly between now and then, And I've got
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Speaker 3: another thriller coming out between now and then too. But
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Speaker 3: now you know the big secret I've been working on. Now, Laura,
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Speaker 3: you're somebody who has actually read an early draft of
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Speaker 3: this book, and you are not, would to be fair
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Speaker 3: to say, remotely interested in comic books remotely, so I
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Speaker 3: won't ask you if you liked it. Some people might
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Speaker 3: feel you're not completely objective there. But did you learn
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Speaker 3: anything from reading it?
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Speaker 1: Gosh?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, it reads, you know. I love I love documentaries,
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Speaker 4: and I like I like true crime, which isn't necessarily this,
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Speaker 4: although it is kind of a crime how they were
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Speaker 4: treated in my opinion, So yes, this reads like a documentary.
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Speaker 4: It was fascinating. It's very gripping. When I wasn't reading it,
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Speaker 4: I wanted to get back to it that evening so
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Speaker 4: I could see what happened next. And I'm still thinking
3:26
Speaker 4: about it. I still think of the characters in it, characters,
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Speaker 4: the people in it. They're not characters. The people in
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Speaker 4: it almost like someone that I knew and I am
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Speaker 4: being cared about, Yeah, cared about, and I was very
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Speaker 4: unhappy with how they were treated. And I think most
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Speaker 4: people can can probably connect with that, being that that
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Speaker 4: underdog and wanting better.
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Speaker 3: Right, Well, that's that's why it's the Superman Wars Jesse.
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Speaker 3: Just so you know, I was thinking about doing this
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Speaker 3: in the lucasfilm universe, but the Star Wars Wars just
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Speaker 3: didn't sound right.
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Speaker 1: So well, I like how you know, like the fight
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Speaker 1: over Superman set a present for every other comic book
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Speaker 1: character that also seemed to have a lawsuit between It's
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Speaker 1: true and then other people.
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Speaker 3: It is literally only because Jerry and his family kept
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Speaker 3: fighting that Eventually, many years later, other comic book creators
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Speaker 3: like Jack Kirby and others started to see some justice.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, happened with Batman too, right.
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Speaker 3: Similar story with Batman. But we'll save that for a
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Speaker 3: different part after I write that book. Then we'll come back.
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Speaker 4: To it's touched on in this book. I can say
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Speaker 4: I know about that. Is it touchdown?
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Speaker 3: Bob Kane benefited because Siegel and Schuster went first, But
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Speaker 3: of that way, Okay, this is the time of year
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Speaker 3: when we always focus on our annual writing conference, writer Con,
4:56
Speaker 3: which is Labor Day weekend at the Hilton Scurvin in
4:58
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City. If you listen to the last podcast, you
5:02
Speaker 3: heard us interview Laurie L. Dove, best selling author of
5:07
Speaker 3: Mask of the Dear Woman, and she's keynoting at the conference,
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Speaker 3: and today in this episode we're chatting with another writer
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Speaker 3: con keynote speaker. See we have one at the end
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Speaker 3: of each of the three days of regular sessions, and
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Speaker 3: on Sunday, No, it's on Friday. You're going to hear
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Speaker 3: from Nova McBee. Nova is the author of a young
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Speaker 3: adult action adventure series called Calculated. Three books have been
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Speaker 3: published so far to great acclaim, and there's a film
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Speaker 3: adaptation of the first book currently in pre production. But
5:43
Speaker 3: we will talk to Nova about all that and much more.
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Speaker 3: But first the news news story number one. As a preface,
6:06
Speaker 3: I should point out that last episode we took a
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Speaker 3: very deep dive into AI and now we're all sick
6:12
Speaker 3: of it. So no one is allowed to mention AI today. Okay, team,
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Speaker 3: If you do, you have to put a quarter in
6:18
Speaker 3: the swear jar or something like that. Our lead story
6:22
Speaker 3: this time is much happier news Book con will return
6:27
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty six. I'm particularly excited about this. I
6:30
Speaker 3: think this is great news. Just to be clear, this
6:34
Speaker 3: is not the same as book Expo, which is the
6:37
Speaker 3: annual trade show for professionals in the industry. This is
6:40
Speaker 3: for fans. This is the equivalent of a Star Trek
6:43
Speaker 3: or Comic Book. You a fan convention but for people
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Speaker 3: who like to read. This show started I think in
6:53
Speaker 3: around twenty fourteen or so, but it disappeared during the
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Speaker 3: pandemic and never return But now it's back bay Be
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Speaker 3: April eighteenth to nineteenth and twenty twenty six going back
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Speaker 3: to New York City and the Javit Center, Laura, you
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Speaker 3: and I have been there a couple times, right, yep.
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Speaker 3: It is the best convention space in the world, and
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Speaker 3: they're going to have book signings and discussions, book club meetups,
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Speaker 3: workshops on sprayed edges a hot topic these days. They're
7:22
Speaker 3: having a Fantasy Ball and much much more. And it's
7:25
Speaker 3: being hosted by Reid Pop, the same people who put
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Speaker 3: on the annual New York Comic Con, which is now
7:32
Speaker 3: the most highly attended comic con in the USA, so
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Speaker 3: they probably know what they're doing. What's motivating this, of course,
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Speaker 3: is this huge surge with book talk, the section of
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Speaker 3: TikTok where people actually talk about books that has put
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Speaker 3: many people and books on the bestseller list and basically
7:52
Speaker 3: has reshaped modern genre publishing. So well, many people on
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Speaker 3: TikTok earning their book fandom into a profession, tapping into
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Speaker 3: the energy and enthusiasm of legions of young readers. Laura,
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Speaker 3: I think we should go. How about you?
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Speaker 4: I'm in, Yeah, I'm in. I mean, let's be honest.
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Speaker 4: Any excuse to go to New York. We've gone to
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Speaker 4: Comic con before and absolutely loved it. I enjoy a
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Speaker 4: good convention.
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Speaker 3: But we will probably go again now that I have
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Speaker 3: a Superman book to talk about.
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Speaker 4: Yes, we should, and we should. But now book book
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Speaker 4: X well, yes, a conventional about books. Of course we
8:36
Speaker 4: should be there. I'm totally in. Plus also new York City,
8:40
Speaker 4: you know, an excuse to get up to New York City.
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Speaker 3: See what would it talk to take to get you
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Speaker 3: out there?
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Speaker 1: Listen as listeners and watchers of the show. Now, I
8:47
Speaker 1: might not be a writer, I'm an avid reader, so
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Speaker 1: I'm down. I mean, I guess it depends on which uh,
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Speaker 1: I guess who's coming to talk?
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Speaker 3: Maybe?
8:56
Speaker 1: But like a book convention sounds awesome.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I know that you're exactly who this is for us,
9:01
Speaker 3: not professionals. He's the speaker at Author Nation, you know,
9:09
Speaker 3: in November, which is the new thing for essentially the
9:13
Speaker 3: self published. And so why their speaker is the guy
9:18
Speaker 3: who's furthest from self publishing on Earth. I don't understand,
9:21
Speaker 3: but apparently he's doing that, so maybe he can come
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Speaker 3: here too, but I doubt it. Okay, news item number two.
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Speaker 3: Here's a phrase I never thought i'd say before, marginalia mania.
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Speaker 4: Now didn't.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, try and say that three times fast. I won't.
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Speaker 3: Marginalia mania, which has gone big on the aforementioned book talk,
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Speaker 3: the part of TikTok where people talk about books. You
9:46
Speaker 3: already knew that, But how you're going to feel about
9:50
Speaker 3: this story depends on probably what kind of reader you are.
9:53
Speaker 3: I know some people would sooner die than actually dog
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Speaker 3: ear a page in their books, much less in the margins.
10:01
Speaker 3: I've got to admit that I have done both on occasion,
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Speaker 3: like when I'm doing research or when I was studying
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Speaker 3: for a test, and it didn't really traumatize me. But
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Speaker 3: now people are doing it to their books and talking
10:14
Speaker 3: about it on book talk or books to gram, which,
10:18
Speaker 3: as you probably already guessed, is the same thing. But
10:21
Speaker 3: on the Instagram world they've got entire subgroups devoted to
10:27
Speaker 3: people talking about what they call tabbing, meaning annotating books,
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Speaker 3: and the degree of intensity that some people bring to
10:35
Speaker 3: this is remarkable. Some book talkers have like color coded
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Speaker 3: systems where they go through highlighting their books, you know,
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Speaker 3: pink tabs or highlighters for the romantic moments or blue
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Speaker 3: highlighter foreshadowing. Some people scribble in the margins when they're surprised,
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Speaker 3: like holy smokes, I guess or whatever, exclamation points, or
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Speaker 3: they draw hearts around the really spicy or romantic passages.
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Speaker 3: And apparently for some people this annotation is just as
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Speaker 3: essential to them now as sharing shelfies, that is, showing
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Speaker 3: what's on their bookshelf, or writing reviews about books. Laura,
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Speaker 3: does this sound like something you would ever do? Or
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Speaker 3: does this just sound like homework?
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Speaker 4: And I would never take away from someone's joy of
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Speaker 4: experience reading a book, So if that is how someone
11:37
Speaker 4: enjoys it, they should absolutely do what makes them happy.
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Speaker 4: But no, not for me. When I start reading, I
11:43
Speaker 4: just hop in and I read and I unless I'm
11:47
Speaker 4: a textbook is different. So sure when I was working
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Speaker 4: on my degree it might be a little different, but
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Speaker 4: I'm just not want to not want to write in
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Speaker 4: a book that feels wrong to me.
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Speaker 3: Well, I mean, when you are studying for your test,
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Speaker 3: you underline thing. It's just I think in part because
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Speaker 3: the very act of underlining kind of causes you to
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Speaker 3: think about it again, so you're more likely to remember it.
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Speaker 3: But uh, and are these people going to read these
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Speaker 3: books a second time?
12:19
Speaker 5: I don't know.
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Speaker 3: But or is it just that they're all book professionals
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Speaker 3: now as influencers and it gives them something to take
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Speaker 3: a picture of.
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Speaker 4: That seems more likely to me. I just like to
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Speaker 4: be submerged in a book like I just I just
12:34
Speaker 4: read it and experience it, and it's all. It's all
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Speaker 4: in here. I don't mean something external to be able
12:42
Speaker 4: to enjoy a book.
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Speaker 1: But that's that's it for.
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Speaker 4: That's the thing I think what Bill is saying, Maybe
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Speaker 4: it's to share it online. It's and the younger generation
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Speaker 4: does so much more, sharing images and memes and videos.
13:03
Speaker 4: They share so much more, not even necessarily on socials.
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Speaker 4: I think that they text to each other a lot more,
13:09
Speaker 4: so they could have a group chat book club. And
13:13
Speaker 4: maybe that's kind of how they're discussing it. Remember, they
13:16
Speaker 4: were in COVID lockdown for a long time and had
13:19
Speaker 4: no choice but to move everything online, so maybe it
13:23
Speaker 4: shouldn't be a surprise that we're seeing this develop. But
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Speaker 4: I think maybe also what you think and Bill, that
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Speaker 4: it's something to post on the socials and be able
13:31
Speaker 4: to share in that regard.
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Speaker 3: Well, what I like best about all of this, both
13:36
Speaker 3: of these stories relate to basically, young people are reading
13:40
Speaker 3: books and talking about it because it's a cool thing now,
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Speaker 3: and that makes me very happy. Okay, well, yeah, it's
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Speaker 3: just that not everybody else knew it, but yes.
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Speaker 1: We knew it.
13:57
Speaker 3: All right, let's talk to Nova McBee no the m B.
14:02
Speaker 3: Welcome to the podcast.
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Speaker 5: Thank you so much for having me, happy to be.
14:06
Speaker 3: Here, So glad you're here, and so glad you're coming
14:10
Speaker 3: to writer com this year too. Okay, traditional first question,
14:14
Speaker 3: if you could offer writers one piece of advice, what
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Speaker 3: would it be.
14:20
Speaker 2: I get asked this quite a bit, and one of
14:22
Speaker 2: my top pieces of advice is, don't rush the process.
14:28
Speaker 2: Practice your craft, get your craft down so that when
14:32
Speaker 2: you enter this this very competitive ring, that you can
14:38
Speaker 2: be a contender, you you can stand out. And so
14:41
Speaker 2: for me, I took years perfecting my craft and learning
14:44
Speaker 2: about the industry, learning about which path I wanted to take.
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Speaker 2: So when I stepped in, I got noticed really quickly.
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Speaker 3: That's a really great message to give too, because I
14:53
Speaker 3: think a lot of people and you know, kudos to
14:57
Speaker 3: you for having confidence, not you, but people in general.
15:00
Speaker 3: But then it doesn't happen overnight, because it almost never
15:04
Speaker 3: happens overnight in the writing world, and people get frustrated.
15:08
Speaker 3: Better to just don't expect it to happen overnight. Probably
15:11
Speaker 3: not the way it's going to work.
15:13
Speaker 5: It does craft.
15:16
Speaker 2: Nothing happens overnight. I worked years to perfect my craft.
15:20
Speaker 2: I waited years for an agent, but I did get
15:23
Speaker 2: noticed the minute the day I started querying, I had
15:26
Speaker 2: top requests the day I sent out grade because I
15:30
Speaker 2: studied the industry, what a query should be, what a
15:34
Speaker 2: first chapter should be, what a book should be, and
15:37
Speaker 2: I was I excelled at just practicing and reaching that
15:41
Speaker 2: high standard.
15:43
Speaker 5: But it did not happen overnight.
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Speaker 2: Years to perfect those things, to learn those things, and
15:49
Speaker 2: then once I stood into it, this is the first
15:52
Speaker 2: book it has proven that taking your time matters, because
15:58
Speaker 2: it's one countless of wards. It's going to film it.
16:02
Speaker 2: For me, I was like, wow, I'm so glad I
16:04
Speaker 2: didn't rush the process because I had years of other
16:06
Speaker 2: books or other ideas. So yeah, that's kind of my
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Speaker 2: great message.
16:13
Speaker 3: So I think you're currently in Seattle, right, but I
16:18
Speaker 3: read in your bio that you've lived it says more
16:21
Speaker 3: than half your life in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
16:24
Speaker 3: What's sent you traveling all around the world?
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Speaker 2: Oh gosh, that is that's such a long question.
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Speaker 3: But you weren't collecting research for a book then?
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Speaker 5: Lovely eventually I was, and I've done quite a few things.
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Speaker 2: But you know, I really believe we each have a
16:45
Speaker 2: very unique calling on our life, and that was mine,
16:47
Speaker 2: and I stepped into it. I was eighteen, already had
16:52
Speaker 2: a year of university under my belt because I did
16:55
Speaker 2: an advanced program. So when I graduated high school, I
16:57
Speaker 2: was done.
16:59
Speaker 5: In a shall.
17:00
Speaker 2: I had no peace to just go straight to university,
17:03
Speaker 2: and I felt the voice of God saying leave the country,
17:06
Speaker 2: and I did, and it was the best decision I
17:09
Speaker 2: ever had in my life. It sent me on the
17:11
Speaker 2: biggest adventures I could possibly. That's why I write adventure
17:16
Speaker 2: stories all over the world mission if possible, because I
17:19
Speaker 2: have lived a life that I love, and I think
17:21
Speaker 2: it's just because it was that was what I was
17:23
Speaker 2: supposed to do. And I love languages, culture, food, of
17:27
Speaker 2: all kinds and really a fantastical life.
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Speaker 5: I did go to college, eventually did get into great.
17:35
Speaker 3: And probably all that travel has been more useful for
17:38
Speaker 3: your writing, but.
17:39
Speaker 5: You never know, absolutely, and opportunities all over the world
17:44
Speaker 5: and traveling and encountering different peoples in the way they
17:48
Speaker 5: think world views. It sharpens you, it keeps you young.
17:51
Speaker 5: You're like a child because you have to relearn all
17:53
Speaker 5: kinds of things like even like how do you use
17:57
Speaker 5: the bathroom again?
17:59
Speaker 1: You know, what is that?
18:00
Speaker 5: Or how do you take the bus?
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Speaker 2: Like You're just constantly learning, and it's such it's so good.
18:06
Speaker 2: I think for the heart, for the brain, for just
18:08
Speaker 2: understanding people. It's been an amazing line.
18:11
Speaker 3: Agreed. Okay, you were holding these up a second ago.
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Speaker 3: Tell us about your trilogy Calculated.
18:18
Speaker 2: Yes, Calculated, simulated Activated. Well, as I mentioned, they're very
18:25
Speaker 2: much a mission impossible type series. Prodigies, high stakes, billionaires, smugglers,
18:31
Speaker 2: forbidden romance, love, you know, family, loss, It has it all,
18:38
Speaker 2: and it takes place in you know, Shanghai and Seattle,
18:41
Speaker 2: because I'm from Seattle, Tunisia and Seattle, Finland and Seattle
18:46
Speaker 2: and all over the world. The fourth one is I
18:49
Speaker 2: can't disclose the location. It's secret for the fourth book,
18:54
Speaker 2: of course, Yes.
18:54
Speaker 3: I get back when that comes out, so you can
18:58
Speaker 3: talk about that.
19:00
Speaker 5: Love to talk about that. It is.
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Speaker 2: It is by far the most anticipated book of the series.
19:05
Speaker 2: And but yeah, essentially the first book is Count of
19:10
Speaker 2: Monte Cristo meets Mission Impossible, So it is a it's
19:12
Speaker 2: a math prodigy who can do things that no one
19:15
Speaker 2: else can do, and because of that, bad guys really
19:17
Speaker 2: want her. And then she has to understand why she
19:20
Speaker 2: even has this gift and how to use it and
19:23
Speaker 2: find a way to escape.
19:24
Speaker 5: But a lot of things happen along the way, you know.
19:27
Speaker 3: Isn't that always the way with novels.
19:30
Speaker 4: This sounds absolutely brilliant, Like what what sparked this? Where
19:35
Speaker 4: did you? Where did you get the idea for this series?
19:38
Speaker 1: Well?
19:38
Speaker 2: I was living in China at the time, of course,
19:41
Speaker 2: because you know Shanghai and Seattle, and I was reading
19:45
Speaker 2: The Count of Monte Cristo, which is a fascinating classic.
19:49
Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys have ever taken the
19:51
Speaker 2: time to read it, but you're kind of mild.
19:53
Speaker 3: Took about a month, but yes.
19:56
Speaker 2: It takes a while, and it takes you so deep
20:00
Speaker 2: into the psyche that you're like, you can't stop thinking
20:02
Speaker 2: about it for months, Like it's sort of like you've
20:04
Speaker 2: binged this epic life.
20:08
Speaker 5: And I was. I was sort of thinking about.
20:11
Speaker 2: How similar it is to the classic story of Joseph
20:14
Speaker 2: in the Bible. Right, you're betrayed, You're then you're put
20:18
Speaker 2: into this place of power, and you have choices do
20:21
Speaker 2: I take revenge or not?
20:23
Speaker 5: Why was I there? Who am I?
20:25
Speaker 1: Why?
20:25
Speaker 5: Like I thought I had a different life.
20:27
Speaker 2: You know, and like, and I was just putting these
20:29
Speaker 2: things together, and I was like, what would that look
20:32
Speaker 2: like if it was today? I was like, probably China,
20:35
Speaker 2: And like it wouldn't be a boy, it would be
20:37
Speaker 2: a girl, and it would be it would be traffickers,
20:39
Speaker 2: and it would be this and and it would be
20:41
Speaker 2: and it was just like who and why? And like
20:43
Speaker 2: I really came up with that whole idea in a
20:46
Speaker 2: morning and just got obsessed. I wrote out an entire thing,
20:50
Speaker 2: and then, to my to my pain, I decided the
20:56
Speaker 2: character should the main character should be a math prodigy.
21:01
Speaker 5: Not being a genius.
21:03
Speaker 2: I didn't realize how I would ruin myself, I should say,
21:07
Speaker 2: torture myself. I ended up doing countless hours, I mean
21:11
Speaker 2: hundreds and hundreds of hours now on research of math.
21:16
Speaker 2: You know, later on we get down fractals, electromagnetic spectrums, satellites,
21:20
Speaker 2: you name it. And you can't have a simple plot
21:23
Speaker 2: with a genius character. So and I wanted her gift
21:26
Speaker 2: to be based on real math, real concepts, real and
21:30
Speaker 2: you don't need math. But it's like, the way she
21:32
Speaker 2: sees the world is super unique. And that was actually
21:34
Speaker 2: one of the biggest critiques I got from all over.
21:37
Speaker 2: It was like, this is the most unique protagonist we've
21:40
Speaker 2: seen in years, And that was what the movie producer said.
21:44
Speaker 2: They're like, she's so unique the way she sees the world.
21:47
Speaker 2: People are going to want to follow this character. But
21:50
Speaker 2: it took a tortured mind to do the research to
21:53
Speaker 2: make her realistic.
21:55
Speaker 4: You are very kindly referring to her as a math prodigy.
21:58
Speaker 4: I probably would have said math and whatnot. But yeah,
22:04
Speaker 4: that's not something that we usually tend to see. It's
22:08
Speaker 4: usually the you know, the cool person what and now
22:12
Speaker 4: you've said it. Even it even prompted a lot of research.
22:16
Speaker 4: I cannot even imagine that does that play into the
22:20
Speaker 4: the plots? I mean, what, what was it that prompted
22:23
Speaker 4: you to think she's got to be this math prodigy
22:25
Speaker 4: for this to work, or do we just have to
22:27
Speaker 4: read it and find out is there?
22:29
Speaker 5: Well, you should definitely read it. I would love that.
22:32
Speaker 2: Yes, But the math is a huge, huge part of
22:36
Speaker 2: the plot because the things that she can do with
22:39
Speaker 2: math is almost it's almost supernatural, right, she can predict
22:43
Speaker 2: all kinds around, She can predict things with math and
22:46
Speaker 2: the things that that's why these bad guys want her
22:49
Speaker 2: to basically enrich their empire. She has this incredible gift.
22:54
Speaker 2: But when she's taken, you know, sort of like an
22:56
Speaker 2: Edmond Dantes type of moment, you know, into this deep
23:00
Speaker 2: underground because we're talking underground syndicates.
23:02
Speaker 5: Bad guys, bad guys, and she's taken to.
23:05
Speaker 2: The lowest low and and you know, she hates her
23:09
Speaker 2: gift at this point, She's like, why don't we even
23:11
Speaker 2: have this?
23:11
Speaker 5: If I didn't have this, I wouldn't have this horrible life.
23:14
Speaker 5: I wouldn't be here ruining other people's way.
23:16
Speaker 4: Born this way man. That's and it's.
23:21
Speaker 2: Yes, but she has to learn why she was given
23:24
Speaker 2: this gift and how can she actually use it for
23:26
Speaker 2: good and not for evil? And it's an incredible transformation story,
23:31
Speaker 2: but we need to see the way she sees and
23:33
Speaker 2: it's super I mean anything to like she knows if
23:36
Speaker 2: a boy likes her or not using this gift, or
23:38
Speaker 2: if he's going to touch her, you know, to like
23:40
Speaker 2: I can determine what's going to win on the stocks.
23:43
Speaker 2: You know. It's like it's everything from small details to
23:46
Speaker 2: huge life details. And so it's super unique.
23:50
Speaker 5: And when when.
23:51
Speaker 2: We first shared this in Hollywood with like the different screenwriters,
23:56
Speaker 2: they were saying, you know, this is the type of
23:59
Speaker 2: hero we want to see. We don't want to you know,
24:01
Speaker 2: this person doesn't need to blow up the world to
24:04
Speaker 2: save the world, like she's using her mind. And they
24:07
Speaker 2: just said, this is such a unique character today. So
24:10
Speaker 2: that was fun to hear.
24:12
Speaker 4: Very nice.
24:15
Speaker 3: Well. I mentioned, of course earlier that you're coming to
24:18
Speaker 3: writer Con this year. Youre are Friday afternoon keynote if
24:24
Speaker 3: I remember correctly, and I do because I put together schedule.
24:28
Speaker 3: But you're doing some other talks too, right, you remember
24:31
Speaker 3: any of your other topics?
24:33
Speaker 2: Yes, I actually had it on my list over here.
24:36
Speaker 2: Of course now my phone is nowhere to be seen.
24:39
Speaker 3: I got it on way it goes.
24:41
Speaker 5: I have a couple different talks.
24:43
Speaker 2: I'm going to be teaching obviously on the craft of
24:45
Speaker 2: writing and publishing. I love talking about the craft. I
24:50
Speaker 2: love talking about becoming a contender in the publishing industry.
24:53
Speaker 2: My books are incredibly high stakes and fast paced, and
24:58
Speaker 2: it's I love teaching those ticks on those tricks on
25:01
Speaker 2: how to build tension and suspense and mystery. So yeah,
25:05
Speaker 2: we have a lot of good stuff to talk about
25:06
Speaker 2: on writer Con. I love talking with authors and writers,
25:10
Speaker 2: so it'll be exciting and.
25:11
Speaker 3: Fun, fantastic. And you mentioned there there's some kind of
25:17
Speaker 3: film activity going on with this series, right, Can you
25:20
Speaker 3: talk about that at all?
25:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, Yeah, it's very public at this point. One Door
25:25
Speaker 2: Studios option the books, then they bought the rights to
25:28
Speaker 2: the books, then they started developing the screenplays, and now
25:33
Speaker 2: they're moving into production and Belle Avery joined One Door Studios.
25:39
Speaker 2: Wonder Studios has produced a lot of different kinds of
25:41
Speaker 2: movies the different producers there like Polar Express, Rocky Balboa,
25:45
Speaker 2: The Shack, Narnia, Crouching Tiger, Hid and Dragon. They have
25:49
Speaker 2: a long list of movies they've produced. And then Belle Avery,
25:53
Speaker 2: who produced The Meg franchise. She signed up to do
25:58
Speaker 2: the production, so it's it's moved me quickly now. And
26:01
Speaker 2: they optioned all four books in the series. They've they
26:04
Speaker 2: love each one of them, and I mean they are
26:07
Speaker 2: attempting to make this the next young adult franchise. And
26:12
Speaker 2: of course in Hollywood there's no guarantees. Yeah, there are
26:15
Speaker 2: no guarantees in the film industry. There's no guarantees even
26:18
Speaker 2: in the book industry.
26:19
Speaker 5: But that's their goal. So it's it's exciting.
26:23
Speaker 4: Very nice. How do you approach a new project? Do
26:27
Speaker 4: you do you work from an outline? Do you we
26:31
Speaker 4: we call it? Are you a planner or a hanswer?
26:35
Speaker 4: Do you do you identify with one of those?
26:39
Speaker 2: I would say I am very much a mix of both.
26:42
Speaker 2: I do love to plot. I have all the major
26:46
Speaker 2: beats in my head already. I know how the story
26:48
Speaker 2: is going to go, I know what's gonna happen, but
26:52
Speaker 2: until I really really find the emotion of the story,
26:58
Speaker 2: the beat that that emotional beat of the story, the
27:01
Speaker 2: deep themes of the story, which takes quite a bit
27:04
Speaker 2: of fanagoning. You know, I'm a non linear writer, so
27:08
Speaker 2: I write out of order. Sometimes I might write first,
27:11
Speaker 2: I write a middle scene. I'll write a scene just
27:13
Speaker 2: to capture the emotion because I need to understand the
27:17
Speaker 2: purpose of the story and the depth of the story. Really,
27:22
Speaker 2: an idea starts sparking, and if I can write some
27:25
Speaker 2: kind of an idea and if it comes together quickly,
27:27
Speaker 2: I'll outline it. But then once I go in, I
27:30
Speaker 2: leave a lot of room for new ideas.
27:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's yeah.
27:38
Speaker 2: I do not lack for ideas. It's it's time to
27:41
Speaker 2: write them all.
27:42
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I never understood why. The main question is
27:45
Speaker 3: where do you get the ideas? Yeah, get your ideas?
27:48
Speaker 3: How do you not? I just don't have enough time
27:51
Speaker 3: to write them all.
27:53
Speaker 4: That's very relatable. Yes, yeah, So speaking of finding the
27:58
Speaker 4: time to write, what does it typical writing day look
28:01
Speaker 4: like for you?
28:02
Speaker 1: Like?
28:02
Speaker 4: What is your process?
28:05
Speaker 5: I am a very I'm an early bird.
28:08
Speaker 2: I would love to wake up before the sun and
28:12
Speaker 2: so I'm a four am, five am raiser. That's where
28:16
Speaker 2: I get a lot of my writing done, a lot
28:18
Speaker 2: of my creativity. I do have three kids and a
28:21
Speaker 2: husband and we do a lot of other things. So
28:25
Speaker 2: once the kids get out of school, I kind of stop,
28:27
Speaker 2: but then I will set up I will set aside
28:29
Speaker 2: time to leave the house for several hours, like at
28:33
Speaker 2: least three or.
28:34
Speaker 5: Four times a week, just to write in the afternoons
28:37
Speaker 5: for two to three hours as well. Okay, but I
28:40
Speaker 5: never write at night. My brain does not work at
28:43
Speaker 5: night time.
28:43
Speaker 4: So yeah, well you can, you can relate to that
28:50
Speaker 4: bill that sounds like you.
28:51
Speaker 3: I can. There's a point when or maybe this is
28:54
Speaker 3: just my excuse, but I keep telling myself, no, this
28:57
Speaker 3: is not the time to write. You're tired, it's not
28:59
Speaker 3: going to be any good. Go to bed, get up
29:01
Speaker 3: the next morning.
29:02
Speaker 5: Now. Deadlines.
29:03
Speaker 2: Deadlines are different, Yes, fame day sixteen hour days for
29:08
Speaker 2: thirty days once.
29:11
Speaker 5: To finish this one.
29:13
Speaker 3: Were you slacking for eleven months or did it come
29:17
Speaker 3: down to the last thirty days?
29:20
Speaker 5: Just that is the way it is.
29:22
Speaker 2: I knew this book was so this book was so
29:26
Speaker 2: important to me, I could not turn it in until
29:28
Speaker 2: it felt right. And again, these books, if you read them,
29:33
Speaker 2: or even read the reviews, you find that they're super
29:36
Speaker 2: layered and complex and everything has to fit together perfectly
29:40
Speaker 2: to make it work. There's like my producer who's read them.
29:43
Speaker 2: They said, there's no fluff, there's nothing unnecessary. Everything fits
29:46
Speaker 2: together perfectly. And as you know, that.
29:50
Speaker 5: Takes a lot of time.
29:51
Speaker 2: And I refuse to turn in a book until I
29:54
Speaker 2: know it's ready, and I'm a deep feeler, until that
29:56
Speaker 2: gut instinct says this book is not ready.
29:59
Speaker 4: No, yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. When
30:02
Speaker 4: you can read from beginning to end and nothing knocks
30:05
Speaker 4: you out of the story and you get to the
30:07
Speaker 4: end and you think, there we go. There it is there, Yes.
30:11
Speaker 2: And I have until I felt that, and it took
30:15
Speaker 2: It probably wasn't thirty days straight, but it was a
30:17
Speaker 2: whole month of sixteen hour days where I was waking
30:21
Speaker 2: up at like three am and I was going until
30:24
Speaker 2: like eight pm.
30:25
Speaker 5: And then it's just there were some days off in between.
30:28
Speaker 5: But this book. WHOA. I don't know what happened.
30:32
Speaker 3: But now you've got the book and it's great and
30:34
Speaker 3: you're holding it in your hands.
30:35
Speaker 2: So and I love it right, Yes, because I love it.
30:40
Speaker 2: And I think all authors should take the time that
30:44
Speaker 2: they need so that at the end they they say,
30:47
Speaker 2: I love this book.
30:48
Speaker 5: I'm proud of it.
30:49
Speaker 3: Yeah. Ext One last question, I'm going to ask what
30:53
Speaker 3: you're working on now or what we can expect next
30:56
Speaker 3: I think you're already hinted there's a fourth book in
30:58
Speaker 3: this series. But I think you've got some other irons
31:01
Speaker 3: on fire, too, don't you.
31:03
Speaker 5: I do.
31:03
Speaker 2: And it's sometimes hard to talk about because the fourth
31:08
Speaker 2: is a hint.
31:10
Speaker 3: Don't violate any contracts.
31:12
Speaker 2: But no, no, no, it's just it's hard to talk
31:15
Speaker 2: about because I don't know when they'll be out. That's
31:17
Speaker 2: more than the issue. Liberated is done. I got to
31:22
Speaker 2: share a couple excerpts with some very faithful readers and
31:25
Speaker 2: that was super fun.
31:27
Speaker 3: There's the fourth book in this calculated series.
31:30
Speaker 5: Right librated.
31:31
Speaker 2: There's some fun goodies that will be released when that
31:34
Speaker 2: is released, too, and all the readers know what they'll be.
31:39
Speaker 2: And then I'm also working on a new fantasy series
31:42
Speaker 2: and a contemporary series and those of one of them
31:46
Speaker 2: is already on submission, and one of them is in
31:48
Speaker 2: edits right now. So have a couple used to come.
31:53
Speaker 2: Just as you know, publishing is weird. You don't know
31:55
Speaker 2: when those books will actually meet the right home and
32:00
Speaker 2: get on.
32:00
Speaker 3: The right schedule, right right, Well, this has been a
32:04
Speaker 3: delight Nova thanks so much for being on the podcast.
32:08
Speaker 5: Thank you so much, An I.
32:09
Speaker 3: Can't wait to see you this fall Labor Day weekend
32:12
Speaker 3: at Ryder Con in Oklahoma City.
32:15
Speaker 5: We can't I can't wait either, all right.
32:17
Speaker 3: Thanks for being here. To see you later. Yeah, just
32:28
Speaker 3: one parting word, and I bet you already know what
32:30
Speaker 3: I'm going to say. I'm going to talk about writer
32:32
Speaker 3: Con some more. It's August twenty ninth through September one.
32:35
Speaker 3: That's Labor Day weekend. It's in Oklahoma City at the
32:39
Speaker 3: Hilton Scurven, a beautiful, historic and of course haunted hotel.
32:44
Speaker 3: We're going to have more than sixty speakers, more than
32:46
Speaker 3: one hundred sessions. This is the biggest conference we've put
32:51
Speaker 3: on yet, and if early registrations are any indication, it's
32:56
Speaker 3: going to be the best attended one two and it
33:00
Speaker 3: to all that. We've got contests, we've got pitching, which,
33:03
Speaker 3: by the way, no additional cost. All you got to
33:06
Speaker 3: do is sign up pitch agents, publishers, whoever you want
33:09
Speaker 3: to talk to. You can have one on one consultations
33:13
Speaker 3: with people of your choice, manuscript reviews, and a bunch
33:18
Speaker 3: more stuff. You need to check it out at writercon
33:20
Speaker 3: dot com. And here's a tip, because we ran out
33:25
Speaker 3: of T shirts last year. Now We've got the merch
33:28
Speaker 3: store on the writer Con site, so you can get
33:31
Speaker 3: your T shirt beforehand and wear it like I do,
33:36
Speaker 3: and I won't be the only person. Don't let me
33:39
Speaker 3: be lonely, Lara. You going to wear a T shirt?
33:42
Speaker 4: I'm wearing a T shirt right now. Well, I'm wearing
33:43
Speaker 4: a Pulo right now.
33:45
Speaker 3: But yes, absolutely, T shirt, polo ball cap, mugs, whatever,
33:50
Speaker 3: we got it.
33:51
Speaker 1: You can never type of shirt, that's true.
33:54
Speaker 4: That's true. But yes, I'm already wearing one. I'm so
33:57
Speaker 4: excited for it. And there's a there's a beautiful one
34:00
Speaker 4: that I didn't get last.
34:01
Speaker 5: Year that I need.
34:02
Speaker 4: I probably need Katie to hook me up with. Maybe
34:05
Speaker 4: I'll just go buy one off the merch store.
34:07
Speaker 3: That sounds good. And of course, you can never have
34:09
Speaker 3: too many mugs, right so I have.
34:13
Speaker 4: I don't have a mug problem. You have a mug problem.
34:16
Speaker 1: I'm going to buy those Amazon things where you can
34:18
Speaker 1: put it's like a cover on top of one mugs,
34:20
Speaker 1: you can put another mug on top of.
34:24
Speaker 4: Right now, I already stack mugs about that. It's bad,
34:27
Speaker 4: But I'm kind of as bad with T shirts too,
34:29
Speaker 4: because I really enjoy all my writers T shirts writing.
34:33
Speaker 3: I've got a few too, all right, one way or another,
34:37
Speaker 3: you need to come to writer Con this year, and
34:39
Speaker 3: I hope you will. I'd like to meet you. All right.
34:42
Speaker 3: Until next time, keep writing and remember you cannot fail
34:47
Speaker 3: if you refuse to quit. See you next time.
35:00
Speaker 1: Out of a
35:03
Speaker 2: Time