Marissa Meyer Winter Event Re-Cap (November 20th 2015) + GIVEAWAY

 

Graphic from Marissa Meyer's Website. 

On Friday, November 20th, my father and I made the 4+ hour trek out to Petoskey, to McLean and Earkin Booksellers. I went straight from school into the car, grabbed my books and left, hoping that we would get there in time.

Marissa Meyer was here, and so was Winter. 

Ms. Meyer in front of the bookstore display! (From the Fierce Reads Snapchat)

The Lunar Chronicles is one of my most favorite book series of all time. I have done reviews of ALL of the books in the series (which you can find on my blog) and every single one of them impressed me SO much. I had to drive up to see her for this event, as I wasn't sure that I would get another chance.

After the long drive, my father and I finally made it to the event. Thankfully, I wasn't the only person that received the memo that this was a Lunar BALL and not just a casual, book signing event. (I did spend the whole car-ride terrified that I would be the only one in a fancy, long dress!)

When I got there, this bookstore was so quaint, and they were decked out for the festivities. They had a caramel apple bar, a Lunar Chronicles Tattoo station, free hot cocoa, and of course, the infamous Fairest endpages on a giant backdrop that Ms. Meyer would stand in front of.

The Caramel Apple Bar! (From the Fierce Reads Snapchat)

Did I mention that ALL attendees received a goodie bag as well! Because we (technically) pre-ordered Winter, we also received some of the pre-order swag! I was so happy to see that the Winter touch-screen gloves were in the bag, along with some of the Lunar Chronicle Tattoos! 

That's right! We were able to get the PREORDER SWAG! I was SO happy! (From Ms. Meyer's blog)

Since we walked in right as the event was about to start, we quickly took our seats! I was happy to see that Ms. Meyer was mingling with the event guests and taking pictures in the "photo booth" they had set up (even though at the time I just made eye contact with her and was really too nervous and scared to say anything!)

A compilation of some of the pictures taken at the event. (From Ms. Meyer's Twitter!)

The event was a blast! Marissa Meyer told us a little bit about Winter, which, by the way, took her two years to write and publish. She told us about when she finally typed the end on her computer and sent the file off to her editor that she just sat down and started crying (No, don't cry! Happy tears!)

Ms. Meyer in front of the amazing backdrop, telling us about Winter. The backdrop is even more beautiful in person! 

After that, she decided to tell us one of the stores from Grimm's Fairy Tales, and also decided to tell us the story of the first time that she was introduced to them. (She also said that she might be a little obsessed with them, but I am not going to blame her (because I am too!)).

When she was five, she went to go see the Little Mermaid in theaters. She loved the movie, and would sing all of the songs, she had a HUGE crush on Prince Eric, and she thought that if she sat in the bathtub long enough, that she might become a mermaid too.

Her grandmother, knowing that she loved the story, gave her a copy of the "Grimm's" version of the same story. Spoiler here, for those who have not read this version, but the Prince actually ends up marrying another girl and the mermaid ends up dying.

"Thanks, Grandma!" as Marissa Meyer said. We all gave a hard laugh at that one. She said she ended up reading the rest of the fairy tales because Disney lied to her about The Little Mermaid, and she wanted to know what else she was missing out on.

At this point, she thought she would read another Grimm's story, this time, being a little more fitting to the Winter release by reading that of Snow White. I'm not going to type out the full story here, but as Ms. Meyer said so eloquently, "Disney lies, a lot". There was also an adorable little girl in the audience who said "I know the story!" and Ms. Meyer continued to "consult" with the little expert toward the front to get the facts of the story straight.

Another picture of Ms. Meyer speaking to the crowd. She knows how to tell a story!

(The little girl, I think, knew the story of Sleeping Beauty from Disney, but it was still SO cute to see her "help" Marissa Meyer in telling the story. This was the highlight of my night!).

After this retelling, we had a short costume contest, where the prize was a bound manuscript of Winter! You know, the ones that say confidential on them, and are only for certain, very select people?

Sadly, I didn't get there early enough to be "pre-selected" for the costume contest, but there was a girl there who managed to encorporate all of the characters into her costume who won the manuscript. There were also some adorable Disney Princess gowns, as well as a father cosplaying as Dr. Ekland. Ms. Meyer said she has never seen a dad cosplay before! Everyone did such a good job with their costumes.

After that, she said she had time to do a short little Q&A before the signing started. I did my best to capture the questions and her responses below. She was a little surprised because all of her questions had to do with her characters!

I do want to let you know that I am paraphrasing a bit here, so these are not her exact words! I did my best to capture all of what she was saying but sometimes it was tough!
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Which character do you relate to the most, or which character do you feel has the most of "you" in them? 

MM: I relate most to Cress. Basically, the two of us are just crazy fangirls. I also often see myself using imagination to escape reality sometimes.

A funny story, when my mom was reading one of my books and she was introduced to Cress, and how she would sometimes pretend to be something that she was not, my mother came to me and said "Marissa, is this what you are doing when you space out sometimes?" "Yeah....". I definitely have to say that I am a lot similar to Cress.

Who is your favorite character in the series? 

MM: *after taking a minute to ponder this question* I don't really have a favorite character in terms of who I love the most. It's like asking a mother to pick a favorite between her children. I will say that the most fun character to write was Captain Thorne. He knew exactly who he was from the first page. Sometimes, if I wanted Thorne to do something in the series, it would be difficult to "reel him into" the scene. He would be like "Nah, I'm off to be AWESOME!"

Who gave you the most trouble in terms of writing as a character?

MM: Well, most, if not all of the characters in the Lunar Chronicles tended to reveal themselves slowly to me. It wasn't until the second or third draft that I know who they really are. Jacin was a tough cookie to crack, mainly because he is withdrawn from the rest of the world and covers his emotions as a defense mechanism. He wants to protect himself, his family, and the ones that he loves. It's really a protection mechanism.

Oh, jumping back to the previous question, along with Thorne, Iko was a character who knew who she was from the start, so I had no trouble writing her either.
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After the Q&A, the signing line started. I elected to wait until the back of the line, because I had so many books that I wanted her to sign. I think she was a little shocked that I wanted all of my books personalized (even the three copies of Cinder that I own and the two new copies of Winter that I now have), but that's okay. Book nerds understand.

I had a lot of books for her to sign, and she said it was a very impressive collection! 

I do have to say that I wish I talked to her a little more when she was signing my books. She saw my Spanish edition of Scarlet, and I told her that I went to Spain to get it (not just to get it) and I said that I wish they had the other books in the series too but that was the only one they had. She then asked if I got any other books in Spain, which I then told her about how I collect different editions of Harry Potter.

Beyond that (and asking if I could take a Cress comb from a swag pile), we didn't really talk much. She asked how I got an ARC of Cress, and I told her that I blog too. "Well, that explains it!" she laughed a little, especially at my "personalization" of Cress.

"Aces, is that all hair?! (Thorne is all yours!)" 

This may be the best book personalizing/inscription ever. 

She told me that she wasn't sure that she could write Thorne is all mine legally, but she would anyway. I laughed a little bit too.

I do wish I wasn't as nervous to talk to her, but I would say that the book event was a pretty good day. It is difficult meeting one of the authors that changed your life and helped you through so much with her books and knowing exactly what to say to her. I also battle with anxiety and other things, so I would say that going to this book event was a good first step.

So, Ms. Meyer, if, on the off chance that you are reading this, I really wished I could speak with you more. I'm sorry that I didn't speak too much when you were signing my books. I hope you know how much of a positive influence on my life that you have had, and your books have helped through some very tough times. Thank you so much for writing a book and characters that I can relate to and find myself in. I also hope that you really enjoyed Michigan and will consider coming back in the future!

Bucket List: Meet Ms. Meyer. Checked off! I had so much fun at your event, and I hope you did as well! Thank you so much for writing such an AMAZING series!

GIVEAWAY!

With that being said, I was able to grab an extra tattoo sheet from the launch. I know it's not much, but I also know that a lot of Lunar Chronicle fans would be dying to have it if they didn't preorder Winter.

Please look at my GIVEAWAY POLICIES page to make sure that you are eligible to enter this giveaway. This giveaway is US ONLY (unless you are willing to pay postage, then you can email me/tweet me and we can work something out if you win - but please, if you are international, email me before you enter.

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xoxo,
Sheridan