Ann Equals Awesome

This morning at work we had a breakfast for YA superstar Ann Brashares. I’ve read and loved every one of the books in the Sisterhood series, and so it was a real pleasure to see her in person and have her sign a copy of the latest book Forever in Blue.

First off, she’s absolutely gorgeous, and had just come from her appearance on Canada AM, so the first thing she said was something along the lines of ‘that explains all the makeup.’ (And I’m probably paraphrasing).

She spoke for a few minutes and then someone asked if she wrote the books chronologically or if she wrote each character separately. And, in fact, it’s the latter. Brashares has colour-coded cue cards for each character and maps out what’s going to happen to each of them in one fell swoop. She spends as much time as she needs with each one, notes out all of their scenes, and then spreads out the cards all around her house to plot out the book.

It was inspiring to hear her speak about her creative process. She writes the books in that way because she feels that every character deserves her full attention, which I was fascinated with because it’s not the way that I write at all. I might try it though considering she’s finished, ahem, many books and I’ve never completed a one!

And Carmen is her favourite character, which sort of surprised me. But when I went up to talk to her and get my book signed, I told her that Bridget, being a motherless-daughter herself, had a special place in my heart. She also asked me a lot of questions about me and what I did at the company etc., etc., and I said, “I’m not here to talk about me!” And then we laughed. As a writer, she told me, she’s always more interested in other people’s lives than speaking about her own. Delightful, I say, absolutely delightful!

On the whole, she’s just wonderful, well-spoken, intelligent, everything you hope and expect an author to be…