Author Crush Friday: Cindy Pon
Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.
We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to Cindy Pon, author of Serpentine (September 8, 2015; Month9Books). Thank you for talking to us today, Cindy! We’re honored! As an added bonus, Month9Books is giving away THREE eBooks of SERPENTINE International. If you want to win, post in the comments below.
GLITTER: Tell us 5 random facts about yourself.
CINDY: 1. I am a certified diver.
2. Even though I’m afraid of the ocean.
3. I have taken a hot air balloon ride.
4. I’ve visited more than a dozen countries.
5. I prefer pastries to chocolate.
GLITTER: Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer.
CINDY: I started writing short stories in high school, then stopped all throughout my twenties. I finally returned to it after I had my two kids back to back, and remembered my love for creative writing. I needed something to call my own again, and started on Silver Phoenix, my first novel.
GLITTER: In Serpentine, what was your favorite chapter/scene to write and why?
CINDY: Tough. I would say the scenes in which my heroine Skybright is roaming the forests at night in her serpent form. It is very liberating for her, visceral, and earthy. Those are the times when she is connected to nature.
GLITTER: Serpentine is loosely based on Chinese mythology. How did you come up with the idea for this story? Why do you feel you had to tell this story?
CINDY: I had a serpent demon as a monster trying to seduce and lure one of my characters in Silver Phoenix. A casual reference to the “lady serpent demon” during revisions by an editor made me wonder, what if my next heroine IS the serpent demon. What would be her story? This coupled with my fascination for monstrous beauties are the main inspirations for Serpentine. I loved the metaphor of a teen girl changing into something unrecongizalbe to herself, and searching for her true self despite societal/cultural/personal expectations placed on her. It is something we all have to contend with, but truly relavant in the teen years, I believe.
GLITTER: What one message do you want readers to walk away with?
CINDY: The importance of finding yourself, and being true to yourself.
GLITTER: What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
CINDY: Not so much criticism, but it is hard as an author when the reader interprets the story as something entirely different than what you intended as the author. It’s inevitable. Reading is a very personal experience, and we all read with our own filters. Once the story is out there, it isn’t your own any longer as the writer. The best compliment is the opposite, when a reader understands your story exactly as you had intended. That is like magic!
GLITTER: What are you working on now?
CINDY: Serpentine’s sequel, releasing in Fall 2016!
Cindy Pon is the author of Silver Phoenix (Greenwillow, 2009), which was named one of the Top Ten Fantasy and Science Fiction Books for Youth by the American Library Association’s Booklist, and one of 2009′s best Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror by VOYA. The sequel to Silver Phoenix, titled Fury of the Phoenix, was released in April 2011. Serpentine, the first title in her next Xia duology, will be published by Month9Books in September 2015. She is the co-founder of Diversity in YA with Malinda Lo and on the advisory board of We Need Diverse Books. Cindy is also a Chinese brush painting student of over a decade. Visit her website at www.cindypon.com.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Tumblr | Instagram
CLICK THE LOGO BELOW TO GET INSTANTLY
ON NOOK OR SUBSCRIBE OR BUY A SINGLE COPY
Or find your national STATE NEWSSTAND!
Editorial Director | Writer | Tweet me @heatherriccio
