~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Debutante Profile
Name - Cynthia Hand
Debut - Unearthly ( Goodreads )
Genre - Paranormal
Blog - HERE
Website - HERE
Twitter - HERE
Cynthia Hand is a debut YA writer who grew up in southeast Idaho (very near the Wyoming border) and she still has a soft spot in her heart for that beautiful part of the country. She currently live in southern California with her husband and son. She also teach courses in creative writing at Pepperdine University
Dream Debutante Dress -
 |
| Cynthia's dream dress :) which she will wear silver shoes and sparkling earring :) |
Author's Own Message ( ie when they talk about themselves :P)
From as far back as I can remember, I’ve loved books and reading, and I wrote my first short story (about a fairy being born in a tulip) when I was around six or seven years old—pretty much as soon as I could write. I kept writing stories all through grade school, most of them wildly fantastical musings on witches, fairies, dragons, mermaids, or other supernatural beings. None of these stories ever won the annual short story competition where the lucky young writer got to meet our local Idaho/Wyoming author Kenneth Thomasma, who was the author of one of my favorite books at the time, Naya Nuki: Girl Who Ran. I was crushed every year. I learned early on that if you wanted to win the writing contest, you should write stories about that time your parents got their car stuck in the snow on the side of a mountain just before dark. You should not write about a group of unicorns fighting to take over an island from an alien invasion. But I kept writing about unicorns anyway. Because it was fun.
Unearthly was my first time writing about angels, more than twenty years and a whole lot of school later. And I didn’t know I was writing about angels, at first. It started with me getting this girl’s voice in my head (hearing voices is usually a bad thing, for the general public, but for writers it’s when all the good stuff happens. . .) telling me about her purpose on earth. I thought, Huh, your purpose on earth. Intriguing. Tell me more, brain, tell me more. And then I lit on the fantastic image of a boy standing in the trees during a forest fire. And from that point on the story just seemed to unroll in front of me.
The angel connection came about when I asked the WHY questions. Why does this girl have a specific purpose on earth? Why does she think she’s supposed to save this boy? And I thought, Because she’s a hero, silly, and then I had one of those writerly flashes of genius where I remembered this obscure little passage from the Bible where it talks about the sons of god and the daughters of men, which is commonly interpreted as angels and humans, and how back in Genesis times they married and had children, and those children were the “heroes of old.”
Lightning strike! Wouldn’t it be awesome, I thought, if this girl is part-angel? How’s that for a head trip: Yes, sweetie, you’re one part human, one part divine being. No pressure or anything.
So that’s how Clara’s story began. It’s been quite the wild ride, full of pinch-me moments. I’ve become very, very grateful to that voice in my head. I love to write because writing is full of surprises. You can do so much more than you ever thought you were capable of. You can explore the world in an entirely new light. You can learn to fly!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ahhh the story behind the story. I write, when I feel like it but my ideas don't start with voices...I wonder if that's the reason I never finish them.... nah, it has something to with unimaginative mind :P Thanks Cynthia for the insight on the story behind the story. I think I'm more than intrigued about Unearthly now...
Badass Bookie xx
It's so inspiring hearing the stories of how authors came to be. Thank you for sharing your own story, Cynthia. And the dress is simple and will look very pretty for the debs. :)
ReplyDeleteThis dress is gorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteI like this story. I'm always fascinated to hear how an author begins a book, how he/she finds the story which makes us turning the pages greedily! It sounds so easy, so natural for some people (but I know it's not!)
I hear voices too, Cynthia, you are not alone.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous dress!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post! It's interesting to hear how your mind put together the angel connection in Unearthly. :)
Simple and classic dresses are the best it 's elegant thanks for hosting the events and awesome posts kudos to you badass bookie. As you said now iam now intrigued. It's sounds amazing and it interesting to hear the authour's message which i enjoyed :D
ReplyDeleteAwesome creation story! I love how it came about in bits in pieces. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful dress too. I have the perfect pair of silver shoes for it.
Cute dress!Thanks for letting us know about your story!
ReplyDelete-Danna
omg!! what a gorgeous dress!!! and what a wonderful story!
ReplyDeletehi
ReplyDeleteI love that dress, its beautiful! Thanks for sharing your story Cynthia.
ReplyDeleteLove the cocktail dress.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Really looking forward to her book.
ReplyDeleteI always find it interesting to hear about the creative process or brainstorming that occurs in developing a book. And that dress is absolutely fantastic--def something I'd pick & wear myself.
ReplyDeleteI like that dress a lot!
ReplyDeleteCute dress and it's great to see how Unearthly began. I'm looking forward to its release!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to start reading Unearthly--and I'm very jealous of that dress, whether or not she actually has it, because I adore it.
ReplyDeleteI love the dress i bet it would look lovely on Cynthia. i would love to read Unearthly :)
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with those voices, muses get really strong when they want to be heard.
ReplyDeleteI love this dress, cute and short.