My small but perfect piece of Forever.: Day 1 of BookCon 2015

2 weeks ago, I attended the second annual BookCon event at the Javits' Convention Center in NYC. Last year I attended alone and was very jealous of the young fans who were helped out by their parents. So I invited my mother to attend and we had an amazing time! Thanks to my VERY productive day at BEA, I had breathing room in my Saturday schedule at BookCon. Here is my Day 1 experience:

After standing in the chutes of Queue Hall (1C) for the showfloor and running into Carolyn from the BookCon App, I headed straight for Penguin to get in line for Charlaine Harris.

Charlaine Harris (Day Shift)

Craig Burke (@BookHopper) of Penguin tweeted when I picked up J.R. Ward's The Bourbon Kings ARC

I Love the Cat in the Hat!

BookCon partnered with WORD Bookstore this year. Many publishers required the purchase of a book in order to get into an autographing line. I stood in line to buy 3 books for over an hour and a half. My mother got into line for Gayle Forman and held our spots while I bought our books. The staff handling the lines never checked for receipts and I was not given one when I paid with cash. It was all on the Honor system.


Me, Gayle Forman (Just One Day, If I Stay) and my mom

As soon as we were done with Gayle's signing, we noticed a very busy line. I ran into Donna (who I stood in line with at Charlaine Harris) who let me know that it was for Marissa Meyer and Leigh Bardugo (2 hours before their signing).

almost 3 hours of waiting for Marissa Meyer (Cinder)! Totally worth it!

After that signing, I went straight to Hall 1A to get in line for the Truth or Dare panel with Marissa Meyer and Leigh Bardugo. It was HILARIOUS and so much fun!

Marissa was dared to act like Thorne for 1 minute

Marissa was asked: "What do you want fans to take away from your books?"
~that romance exists, book boyfriends are the best, strong female characters to embolden the reader

Leigh was asked: "What do you love most about Marissa's books?"
~book boyfriends, the best men who treat a woman right!

Leigh was asked about "writing good or evil characters."
~write characters that surprise the reader, wanted a dictator that you could follow, characters that are left up to the reader to decide if they are good or bad, keep the reader guessing and the moral compass spinning

Marissa was asked about "favorite Lunar book."
~best: Winter- so hard to write, love/hate; most fun: Cress! Thorne cracks her up

Leigh was asked: "Do you miss the Grisha Trilogy?"
~no, they are still with me, Six of Crows is in the same world, set 2 years later

Marissa was asked about "her next project."
~Titled Heartless, it is a prequel to Alice in Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts loves to bake. She is pushed into marriage with the King of Hearts but had fallen in love with the Joker. The Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat are present in her book.

Leigh was asked: "if any Grisha Trilogy characters pop up in Six of Crows?"
~there are a few goodies, cameos, we will hear about those characters. Six of Crows will have a sequel.

Marissa was asked about "her most embarrassing moment."
~she doesn't embarrass easily

Leigh was dared to free-style rap one of her characters. Here is the Darkling:

Marissa was asked: "What do you love most about Leigh's books?"
~they have been friends for years and she feels like a creepy stalker, Nikolai, world building, mythology, history, bold female leads that are still flawed

Leigh was asked: "How are the characters different between the Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows?"
~in 6, these are kids looking to survive, not the chosen one. 6 shows a different side to Grisha abilities

Marissa was asked to create a character, Angelina Bronx, on the spot.
~beautiful and she knows it, back stabber, and she has a invisible pet dragon named "JoJo"

Leigh was asked: "Do you read reviews?"
~when Shadow and Bone was published, she read them all then cried in her closet. There would be glowing reviews that included "but..." and could only see the "but..."

Marissa was asked if she consciously included diverstity.
~the issue is more for-front now, but not during her writing process. She had diverse friends and is was natural to include them. She loved anime and had a black friend who she attended ComicCon with and she had no one to cosplay as

Leigh was asked: "Do adult YA readers deserve criticism?"
~shaming is wrong, if we didn't shame boys to not like girl things, how much better would the men of world be?

Marissa was dared by Leigh to sing the Lunar Anthem

(which she made up on the spot ;)

Leigh was asked: "Who was the most annoying character to write?" while Marissa stood on one foot.

~Zoya, love her but she's a pain in the butt

Marissa was asked if she had any crushes on her male leads?

~every. single. one. of. them. by the end of a book, she is a swooning mess

Leigh was asked: "What do you want readers to take away from your books?"

~Leigh recalled a fan encounter where the fan said that Alina made her feel brave about how she looked; find escape

Marissa was asked: "Do you like to write good or evil characters?"

~drawn to good, but enjoyed writing Levana's story

Leigh was dared by Marissa to sing a song with a Russian accent

Marissa was asked: "Do you ever read fanfic?"
~when she found out that Lunar fanfic had been written, she ran around her house screaming! Life had come full circle. She did read 1 story from Kai's perspective and never again after. It started to shift her thoughts. She does check to see how many have been written though.

Leigh asked Marissa a truth: "first kiss?"
M~ 18 and it was horrible

Marissa asked Leigh a truth: "premise for worst/cheesiest story?"
L~twin assassins with golden eyes, the boy was named: Blood

Leigh confided that Toyla was inspired by The Rock (Dwayne Johnson)

Marissa dared the audience to never be swayed from loving what you love.