Authors ARE Rockstars: Becca Fitzpatrick!

The awesome bloggers behind Fiktshun and Two Chicks on Books have put together a wonderful group of authors for their Authors ARE Rockstars tour.  I was so ecstatic to see that I would be hosting the lovely Becca Fitzpatrick.  I have had the chance to meet Becca a couple of times now and she is one of the nicest people I have ever met.  It also doesn’t hurt that her books are fantastic and I’m totally in love with all of her characters.  Let me tell you, I am beyond excited for the release of Finale this year!  And without further ado, Becca’s interview!

We think authors are amazing. You are our rockstars. Do you have an author or authors that you look up to or are inspired or amazed by?

Laurie Halse Anderson, Diana Gabaldon, Jenny Han, Veronica Roth, S.E. Hinton, and Kristin Cashore, to name a few.

You mentioned falling in love with storytelling in kindergarten, but it wasn’t until third grade when you saw Romancing the Stone that you decided you wanted to become a writer. Once you made that decision how long was it before you wrote your first story? And what was that first written story about?

I remember writing plays a lot in elementary school. I held auditions during recess, and the cast practiced at my house after school. My teachers were kind enough to let us present our plays during class. In fourth grade, I wrote a girl-meets-boy short story. I blatantly named the hero after the guy I had a crush on—Jeremiah

What is your favorite part about being a writer? Is it creating the characters or world? Is it being able to get lost in your imagination? Or is it something else?

I love writing the first draft of a story. At that point, I’m not worried about editorial feedback or readers’ expectations. I just let go and have fun.

Your Hush, Hush series ends later this year with an appropriately titled book called Finale. Of all four books in the quadrilogy, which was your favorite to write and why? Which was the most challenging and why? And which story do you feel the most connected to? And why?

I really enjoyed writing both Silence and Finale, because I felt like I was in my element. I think, by the time I wrote the third and fourth books, I’d learned how to tell a story. Crescendo was the hardest (aren’t sophomore novels always?), and I feel most attached to Hush, Hush, I suppose, since it was the first. I gave that book everything I had. It was my first big break.

If you had to pick just one favorite character in your series, who would that be and why? Who was your least favorite character and why? And is there any character that you would have written any differently now that you’ve reached the conclusion of your series?

Favorite character is Vee. She reminds me of two of my childhood friends—wild, obnoxious, crazy, and so much fun. Least favorite character is Hank Millar, with Blythe Grey running a close second. I think those two should end up together. If I could rewrite the story, I’d probably give Detective Basso a bigger role earlier on. I didn’t fully understand his part in the overall story until the final chapters of Finale. But by that point, it was too late to go back and change things in the earlier books, obviously.

Hush, Hush is your first series. And while Finale is yet to be released, you’ve likely already had to say goodbye to your characters. How tough was it to say goodbye? Were you happy to let them go or was it a bittersweet experience? And if you could say one last thing to, or about, your characters, what would it be?

It was hard. I didn’t expect it to be quite as hard as it has been. I’m trying to work on a new project, and focus my energy there, but I don’t think I’ll fully be able to say good-bye to the Hush, Hush characters until after readers have read Finale. Right now I’m sort of in that limbo stage, where I know how Patch and Nora’s story ends, but until my readers have finished Finale, I’ll be holding my breath and letting that world hang around in the back of my head.

Your debut series was wildly successful. Were you surprised at its success? Was the road to publication fairly easy or were there bumps in the road? If you could give one piece of advice to new writers starting out, what would it be?

I received just shy of 100 rejection letters for Hush, Hush over the five years that I sent the book to agents and editors. I thought it would take a miracle to get the book published. What it really took was timing, luck and persistence. A note to new writers: Be patient. Work hard. Believe in yourself. Try to stay positive. Some things are out of your control.

Is there anything you can reveal to fans of the series about Finale? If you had to sum it up in under ten words what would you say?

I can do it in four words: All hell breaks loose.

Now that Hush, Hush is completed, can you tell us what your next project is about? Will there be more fallen angels in the near future? More bad boys like Patch?

I’ve been working on a few things. Lots of danger, suspense, romance, and plot twists, but no fallen angels. And who wouldn’t want another bad boy?

Fallen Angels, Avenging Angels or Guardian Angels? Guardian Angels

Bad boys or good boys? Both!

Happily ever after or happily never after? HEA

Love triangles or soulmates? Soulmates

Romancing the Stone or The Jewel of the Nile? Romancing the Stone

Roald Dahl, Carolyn Keene or Laura Ingalls Wilder? Ack! Roald Dahl and Laura Ingalls Wilder

Write at night or write during the day? Whenever the house is quiet

Write in silence or write with music? See above

Print, audio or eBooks? Print

Thanks so much to Becca for stopping by!  If you haven’t started the Hush, Hush series now is the perfect time!  Oh and don’t forget to check out the rest of the amazing stops on the Authors ARE Rockstars tour!

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15 comments

  1. Oh you’re so lucky to have met the author twice! And I am so happy there’s a fourth book, am terrified to see what happens when “all hell breaks loose” and sad to see it end.

    Thank you so much for being a part of the tour and hosting this seriously amazing author who has written such a fantastic series and some very lovable and memorable characters.

    You’re a rockstar too!

  2. I’ve met Becca Fitzpatrick too, and the talk, Q&A & signing she did was so much fun! 😀
    Thanks for hosting the awesome interview! I’ve read Silence just a few weeks ago and can’t wait to get my hands on Finale.
    Also, loads of thanks and kudos to BF for keeping at it after all that time and all those rejections! It was definitely worth the effort in the end 🙂

  3. Amazing interview! I’m a huge fan of the Hush, Hush series. (Mostly for Patch, but Nora is great too!) I’m always astonished when I see the author of such a wildly successful series talk about such a lengthy path to publication. So glad Ms. Fitzpatrick didn’t give up… I can’t imagine my bookshelf without Patch and Nora!

  4. Love the interview! I only just read Hush, Hush like.. yesterday! I think I might be going to one of her tour stops in the UK in November. 🙂

  5. Oh GOD!!! Becca freaking Fitzpatrick…

    I’m going to have a heart attack.

    She’s one of the authors who brought me back to reading *-*
    I just… can’t even ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZXXXXXXXXXXXXXXZZZZZZZZZZZ

    I’ll just go now *-*
    Before I start bawling or something 😛

    Thanks for the interview!!!

  6. I love how she was writing plays in Elementary school and doing auditions at recess! That’s so cute.

    I love this author – will you read her next books? They’re thrillers I think.

    Lovely interview 🙂