Day 8 – The Amazing Mindy McGinnis Answers Questions & A Giveaway!

So basically we adore Mindy McGinnis here at Fic Fare! I got an early copy of Not A Drop To Drink and let me tell you…. AMAZING – I was just waiting for everyone else to get the chance to read it so I could flail with someone! The characters are captivating and so real feeling and this felt like something that could happen in the near future so it wasn’t something that you really had to stretch your imagination to put yourself into the characters shoes.

Mindy herself is pretty amazing – she’s always been nothing but wonderful with us here at Fic Fare, offering to do a video book signing/interview with us and just making herself incredibly accessible. We knew we had to include her in our end of the year celebration for these reasons and more!

Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water.

Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn’t leave at all.

Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.

But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it….

ABOUT MINDY

I’m a YA librarian and author, represented by Adriann Ranta of Wolf Literary. My YA debut, NOT A DROP TO DRINK, is a survival tale set in a world with limited fresh water. It will be available from Katherine Tegen / Harper Collins, September 24, 2013.

I’m an avid blogger, posting six days a week to my personal blog, Writer, Writer Pants on Fire, which features interviews with agents, established authors, and debut authors. Learn how they landed their agents, what the submission process is really like, and how it feels when you see your cover for the first time. I also do query critiques every Saturday on the Saturday Slash for those who are brave enough to volunteer.

I also contribute to the group blogs From the Write Angle, Book Pregnant, Friday the Thirteeners, The Lucky 13s, The League of Extraordinary Writers and am a member of the Class of 2k13.

TWITTER / FACEBOOK / GOODREADS / WEBSITE

Now that Not A Drop To Drink is out in the wilds of the book world, are you getting a lot of flack for that one thing that we can’t really talk about because it spoils things?

Yeah, I’ve had some flack – but most of it is of the highly emotional reaction kind, so that’s good. It means people are connecting with the book and characters.

You were recently on the Dark Days Tour… how fun was that?

SO much fun. I was with some amazing women and we had a fantastic time together. I think we were on 6 flights in 4 days, so it could have been a very stressful time. Instead we all had a wonderful trip together!

All the characters in Not A Drop To Drink were so different and interesting, who was your favorite? (Or is that like picking your favorite child? lol)
Actually it’s pretty easy for me to pick, to be honest. Stebbs is my favorite, mostly because he’s the moral center, but also because he was the easiest character to write. Whenever he showed up a scene settled itself.

If you could introduce one of your characters to another character from another book, who would it be and why?

We had a question on the Dark Days tour about who we would romantically place our characters with from another book / medium and it was suggested to me that Lynn and Daryl from Walking Dead would be a great couple. And while that is possibly a good match, it would also probably take each of them about a decade to admit they liked each other, and I’m guessing there’s not a high life expectancy in either of their worlds, so I don’t see that working out.

You’re a Librarian… do you think that has helped you keep a pulse on what kids are looking for in a story?

I think it helps me keep a good watch on the market more than anything, to be more aware of what has already been done in recent memory. As far as what kids are looking for, they’re looking for the same thing as adults – great stories with memorable characters.

What is the last book that you recommended to someone?

I am constantly recommending THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST by Rick Yancey to everyone I know.

Do you read a lot and if so, what are some of your favorite books?

I ready about 80 books a year. My favorite YA books from 2013 would be ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE by Kate Karyus Quinn and CHARM & STRANGE by Stephanie Kuehn.

Speed Questions

Coffee or Tea Coffee

Cake or Pie Both

Chocolate or Vanilla vanilla

Morning or Night Night

Twitter or Facebook Twitter

Sweet or Salty Sweet

Fantasy or Romance No matter my choices, whatever you pair off against Romance, I’m going with that.

Comedy or Horror Very few things are funny – Horror

Real book or E-book Real

Favorite TV Show I miss Breaking Bad desperately

Favorite Superhero Batman – he’s just a dude in a suit. Much more ballsy than having a superpower.

Favorite snack Yogurt

Biggest pet peeve Talking in movie theatres

Dream job (other than author) Librarian!

We have an awesome giveaway – this time we’ll be picking two winners! One will get signed copy of Not A Drop To Drink and some swag sent to you from Mindy and I’ll be sending one winner a hardcover of Not A Drop To Drink. (US ONLY)