Interview with S.A. Bodeen + Giveaway of The Compound

     I'm a big fan of S.A. Bodeen's work, so you can imagine how excited I was to get to ask her a series of questions in form of an interview. Here's her answers, and below is a giveaway for you to enter, free of charge!

Question 1.)  How did you get the idea for The Compound? Do you remember where you were; what you were doing?

Answer 1.) I’ve always had a fascination with nuclear war and what the survivors would go through. I had actually just given up on writing novels ( I had written nine and they were all terrible) but I had this great idea and thought I would give it one last try.

Question 2.) I remember reading The Compound in, like, the fifth grade, and then again in eighth grade for Book Talk [Even though we were supposed to choose a book we hadn't read before... oops :)] I really enjoyed the story, and two of my closest friends did as well, but when my mother and grandpa read it, they thought the story was dark... out there... and Rex angered them. They hated the book. Why do you think the differences in age caused different opinions? 

Answer 2.) I have no idea why, but I find it interesting. And I have heard from adults who loved The Compound. If we all liked the same book, there would be like four books.



Question 3.) Which book did you enjoy writing the most? The Compound, The Fallout, The Gardener, The Raft, Shipwreck Island?

Answer 3.) I’m not sure any of them were fun to write. I think Shipwreck Island was enjoyable because middle grade is so much shorter that I finished a book in half the time of YA. Now that was enjoyable;)

Question 4.) How long did it take you to write The Compound?

Answer 4.) I did the first draft for National Novel Writing Month in 2005. Then it took me another five months of revision to finally get it readable. After it sold, there was a solid 14 months of editorial revisions. Luckily, I learned a lot writing that book so subsequent books have taken far less time in the editorial revisions.

Question 5.) Who was your favorite character from the Compound books?

Answer 5.) Eli.

Question 6.) How long did it take for The Compound to be accepted by a publisher? The Fallout?

Answer 6.)The Compound sold to the second place my agent sent it. And The Fallout sold as soon as we sent the synopsis to my editor.

Question 7.) The Compound was released in 2008; The Fallout in 2013. Was there a specific reason for the five-year wait?

Answer 7.) I never planned to write a sequel, I thought the story was done. But then after four years of visiting middle and high schools and constantly getting asked what happens next, I decided maybe I should find out.

Question 8.) Do you have a favorite book?

Answer 8.)The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is one of my favorites.

Question 9.) What's your one piece of advice for teens who aspire to be authors, other than WRITE, WRITE, WRITE?

Answer 9.)  READ READ READ. REVISE REVISE REVISE

 

    Win a finished copy of The Compound by S.A. Bodeen! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post, and on Sunday night, I will put all of your names in a jar and draw one at random. You may only enter once, but if you follow me on Twitter and/or Like my page on Facebook, and tell me in your comment that you did so, I will put your name in the jar a second and/or third time. I WILL be checking to verify that you did Follow/Like.