E.Lockhart Book Signing Tour

National Bookstore wasn't at all lying when they announced that the author of We Were Liars, Boyfriend List and so much more books will arrive in the Philippines. Readers responded with a series of tweets and hashtags of #ELockhartInPH with no lies at all.

The world was full of reality so to speak, which is splendid.

I was privileged to be invited on the Blogger's Forum which was in a lot ways of fun, excitement and craziness with my book blogger friends as well. E. Lockhart is definitely one of the most cheerful and open author that I met. She tells stories of her life as a high school student up until becoming an author. But the way she talks to us is not like answering the questions coming from a blogger to an author, it is more like talking casually to a friend. 

These are the things the we asked to her...

Q: Out of all the books you've written who is your favorite character?

E.Lockhart: The character of Frankie. My characters have parts of me but Frankie is in lots of ways better than me Like she's a very difficult person. She executes a series of pranks on her boarding school and those are large scale, funny, political and shows up to the social hierarchy of her highschool. Those pranks took a lot of time to figure out. I don't honestly have a mind like Frankie and I need to read tons of books about college pranks and how to do them.

Q: Would you plan to write a dark and mysterious fairy tale retellings?

E.Lockhart: I basically like to create about formats. Writing structural devices was a challenge to me. On We Were Liars the fairy tales that Cadence tells were kind of another structural challenge to me. Like if I should use this particular fairy tales as to advance with the story while not revealing anything too early.

In a kind of sideways way, I won't write fairy tale retelling/stories because I am already finished with the draft of my new book.

Q: Would you consider change the ending if given a chance?

E.Lockhart: I don't have any idea on changing the parts of We Were Liars, not even the dogs. I don't re-read We Were Liars because I am writing a next book. I create a best book she can do and I stop thinking about it. But I would probably change some things and create new ones. But for now, I am thinking the things I can change on my next book.

Q: If you'll be in place with Cadence, would you also do the same thing in the end?

E.Lockhart: If I'll be in Cadence situation, I would also eventually go. You cannot stay in an island forever. You have to go back to the rest of the world.

Q: Can you share to us how you begin to write a book?

E.Lockhart: I was taught to write just like everybody else which was to erase ourselves. So when I came out in college. I found my breakthrough for my voice as a storyteller is like trying to talk to a friend. Because the way friends tells stories, it wasn't actually chronological.. In some cases, we switch from one topic to the other and then go back to the main. It is like going back through time.

When I write, I try to think about the universal emotions of the book. I like to write unusual voice, ways, thinking and points of connection. In We Were Liars, it is family's fighting over property and parental love and approval of younger kids and hearing old people fighting felt powerless. It is a way of heightening the expensive stuffs.

Q: Who is E.Lockhart on her young age?

E.Lockhart: I went to two different high schools. First one is the Northwest School in Humanities and Environment. They did lots of recycling and made a pledge not to buy a car. They were environmentally conscious. Although there was Art and Drama she felt completely miserable and couldn't find a friend. She wanted to love the classes but she didn't.

After that, I transferred into another school. It looks like a college campus, Lakeside. I got into it but she never made any changes to herself, I was still the exact person I was. Eventually I made friends, drama production and prom community. I started from bottom to an unusual hierarchy of high school.

Q: What were the process when you wrote We Were Liars?

E.Lockhart: For the first time, in We Were Liars, I used another Word processor called Scrivener. A lot of writers uses that in big multi-fantasy characters to keep track of. It sees the structure of a book from a bird's eye which MS Word cannot. You can see it from above and you can move the pieces and look at it again. Since We Were Liars is an amnesia book I need to think through the way I had in other novels.

We Were Liars is my  first suspense novel unlike my previous book which are comedic, which is hard for me given the sudden transition. One thing I thought about writing a next book is the truism of the mystery writing as opposed to the suspects. If you don't know what's lie and truth she holds on to that multiple interpretation within those two things. The character were lying to themselves but they don' know why they were lying. 

I wasn't fully confident to share it so early because I didn't know when people begin to suspect about it. She shared it first to fellow author like Scott Westerfield. And I am surprised and delighted the way my readers reacted how they loved We Were Liars!

Whew! That was a long question and answer portion, but believe me the time was so quick when it happened. It actually did seem like she had a lot of stories to tell. 

After that, she signed our copies. I got two of her books that she signed.

 

We went to the public signing right after that, the public hasn't started yet so we were able to capture the setting of the stage.

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH NATIONAL BOOKSTORE AND E.LOCKHART! BEST SUNDAY EVER!