Book info:
Title: The Big F
Author: Maggie Ann Martin
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: August 29th 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Danielle effed up. Big time.
Danielle’s plans for the future were pretty easy to figure out… until she failed senior English and her single college application was denied. Suddenly she’s in hot water with very few options, because honestly who applies to a safety school when their mom is a semi-famous “college psychic”?!
Determined to get her life back on track, Danielle enrolls in her hometown community college with a plan: pass her English class and get back into Ohio State and her mother’s good graces. Romance isn’t on her radar… until she reconnects with her childhood crush and golden-boy-next-door, Luke.
Between family drama, first love and finding her own way, Danielle can’t help but feel a little overwhelmed. Thankfully she has her friendship with the snarky and frustratingly attractive Porter, her coworker at the campus bookstore, to push her to experience new things and help keep her afloat.
One thing’s for sure: This time, failure’s not an option.
Author Interview:
1. What does your writing process look like? Do you know the whole story when you start? Or do you just start writing and go with it (seat of the pants writing)? If you plan it out, how do you do that? Outline, notecards, post-it-notes, etc.?
I’m a gal who loves a good plan. So it should be no surprise to anyone that I am most definitely a big fan of outlines. When I come up with a new idea, I like to completely outline the book so that I have an idea about where the story is going. Granted, things might change as I’m actually drafting that alter the outline, but I work better when I know where I’m headed and how I’m going to get there.
Each book is a little different for me as far as outlining goes. For The Big F, I used a digital outline that lived and evolved on a Word doc. For my project that’s coming out next summer, I covered an entire wall in my bedroom with plot sticky notes.
2. How do you come up with your ideas for your stories?
A lot of my ideas stem from real-life situations. I wrote The Big F while I was in college and I was feeling a lot of the same pressure as Danielle to decide right that second what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I like to imagine the “what if?” throughout my day, and a lot of times, those become scenes or ideas for new stories.
3. How long have you been writing?
As long as I can remember! I always liked to write the book that I wished I was reading right that second. I still think that way when I’m working on a project!
4. What tips do you have for aspiring writers?
Write all the time! This could be fanfiction, a book blog, recaps of your favorite TV shows—be constantly perfecting your craft and finding your voice in whatever way possible.
On the flipside, read all the time. Learn from the books that you hold closest to your heart, and learn from the books that you absolutely hated. They both have valuable lessons inside them.
5. Some favorites:
Books/authors/genres
Books: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Authors: Jane Austen, Jenny Han, Becky Albertalli
Genres: Contemporary, High Fantasy, Paranormal
Movies/TV Shows
Movies: Stuck in Love, Titanic, Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging
TV Shows: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Game of Thrones, Gilmore Girls
Music
Bastille, Panic! At the Disco, Lorde
Food/Writing snack
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup mini’s!
Author Bio:
Maggie Ann Martin hails from Des Moines, Iowa but moonlights as a New Yorker. She has a shiny new BA in English and Journalism from the University of Iowa, the most welcoming literary community in the world. When she is not writing, you can find her binge watching TV shows or passionately fangirling over fictional characters on the Internet. The Big F is her debut novel.
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