I am SO EXCITED to share my recent phone interview with Blood Red Road & Rebel Heart author Moira Young with you guys today! Recently myself and couple other bloggers had the chance to chat with Moira over the phone about Rebel Heart, which is out TODAY!!! This is a cut and paste of the transcript from our phone interview. You'll be able to read what the other bloggers asked via their sites today.
Ms. Moira Young: Blood Red Road tells the story of Saba, an 18 year old girl living in the Dust Lands, a vast, dry, lawless place. It starts off with her search for her kidnapped brother and goes on from there.
And it's basically a hero's journey. A western set in the future, I think, I would describe it as, amongst other things.
MMs: Moira, what do you feel is an important characteristic in a heroine?
Ms. Moira Young: What do I feel are important characteristics in a heroine? Well, there are a number of things, and I would call Saba a hero rather than a heroine. I feel like a heroine is slightly diminished. It's not using the root word hero, so it's obviously standing to one side. So, I call her a hero, a female hero.
And the main attributes that she has to have are determination, resourcefulness, and courage. And probably the most important hallmark of a hero is self-sacrifice, willingness to give up something of importance to you for the greater good.
MMs: Thank you. I can definitely see Saba having all those characteristics. And I like your definition of a hero, too. I agree. I should have said hero, not heroine.
Ms. Moira Young: It's surprising how many people wouldn’t think of calling a female character a hero, that they automatically would call her a heroine. But that always has a lady tied to the railway tracks feel to me.
MMs: I'm gonna have to change my vocabulary and not use heroine any more because I like that.
So, your characters have grown quite a bit in the sequel. Which of your characters surprised you in terms of how much they've grown and changed with Dust Lands?
Ms. Moira Young: Surprised? When I started to write Rebel Heart, I really didn't know what was going to happen at all. My starting point for the story was that everyone would obviously be somehow changed and affected by what had happened to them during the action of Blood Red Road. And I really didn't know where the book would go or what would happen within it.
I think the biggest surprise to me was Saba, actually. All I knew is that there would be fallout from what had happened in the first book. You can't go through the sorts of experiences she did without having some kind of major reaction to it once everything quiets down a bit.
So, she did surprise me, I must say, as the book went on. I admired her a lot for hanging in there because it was very, very tough for her.
And she made some interesting decisions, which were surprising. So, yes, she constantly surprises me.
MMs: Thank you very much.
Ms. Moira Young: That's all right. My pleasure.
MMs: Moira, I have a question outside kind of the more technical questions that we've been asking, which I've loved. And I love asking this question because I like hearing what authors say. If you could pick any fictional character of yours and add them into your series, who would you pick and why?
Ms. Moira Young: Oh, my goodness. That’s the hardest question anybody has asked me tonight. That is so unfair. Do you know what time it is here, Katie? You are such a mean person. I'm in my pajamas. I've been up since 6:30. Right.
Let me think now. That's quite a good question, actually. But, it would take me a while to think of this, and I'll give you an answer, and then I'll think, no, that's not the right answer at all.
Do you know who I'd like to put in just because she'd probably be really annoying would be Scarlett O'Hara.
Can you imagine how annoying she would be in this book? What would Saba make of her with all of her fiddle--dee-dee's and--oh, my goodness me’s.
MMs: I think she would annoy most everybody in the series.
Ms. Moira Young: She really would, but she'd be tramping after them, complaining and wanting this and that and demanding things. It would be pretty hilarious, actually.
MMs: That’s the first time anybody's ever mentioned Scarlett. I love that answer. Thank you.
Ms. Moira Young: I just think she would really upset things, and the whole thing would grind to a halt. And they'd end up, I don’t know, eating fried chicken and sewing dresses for her or something.
MMs: Now, I'm gonna end up reading book three picturing Scarlett in the book at some point.
Ms. Moira Young: Well, I do have a strange little idea about my characters, which is that when I leave them, they're like a bunch of actors on a set. And when I leave them for the day, they all go, is she gone, yeah, she's gone, and then they sit and they put their feet up and they read newspapers and they become very theatrical. I don’t know if you've ever seen actors when they're in the dressing room or heard them or anything like that, but they gossip. And people who play very butch characters generally are quite, you know--they might be gay.
So, you'd get the very camp one who plays a very masculine one and you'd work against type. And people knit. I imagine that's what they do when I'm not around, you see. But, I think that just might be my very strange mind.
MMs: Not at all.
Ms. Moira Young: Not at all, they say, backing away from the phone.
MMs: Thank your Moira for chatting with us. Thank you Chelsy for making this interview possible.
Ms. Moira Young: Thank you very much. It's been absolutely great talking to you all. Thanks a lot for your questions.
Ms. Moira Young: Thank you very much. It's been absolutely great talking to you all. Thanks a lot for your questions.
About Rebel Heart
Nothing is certain and no one is safe in the second book in the highly praised Dust Lands trilogy, which MTV’s Hollywood Crush blog called “better than The Hunger Games.”
It seemed so simple: Defeat the Tonton, rescue her kidnapped brother, Lugh, and then order would be restored to Saba’s world. Simplicity, however, has proved to be elusive. Now, Saba and her family travel west, headed for a better life and a longed-for reunion with Jack. But the fight for Lugh’s freedom has unleashed a new power in the dust lands, and a formidable new enemy is on the rise.
What is the truth about Jack? And how far will Saba go to get what she wants? In this much-anticipated follow-up to the riveting Blood Red Road, a fierce heroine finds herself at the crossroads of danger and destiny, betrayal and passion.
It seemed so simple: Defeat the Tonton, rescue her kidnapped brother, Lugh, and then order would be restored to Saba’s world. Simplicity, however, has proved to be elusive. Now, Saba and her family travel west, headed for a better life and a longed-for reunion with Jack. But the fight for Lugh’s freedom has unleashed a new power in the dust lands, and a formidable new enemy is on the rise.
What is the truth about Jack? And how far will Saba go to get what she wants? In this much-anticipated follow-up to the riveting Blood Red Road, a fierce heroine finds herself at the crossroads of danger and destiny, betrayal and passion.
Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.
Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.
You can find out more about the series by visiting the Dust Lands Website.
The GIVEAWAY:
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Big Honcho Media, I've got this awesome Dust Lands prize pack to giveaway. To enter, please fill out this form below:
** Rafflecopter is having some technical difficulties. If the giveaway form isn't showing up, please go here http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YWIyYzBmMWMyNTk4MzcwNWNkMzU1Y2FhYjM0NDM3OjQz/ to enter.