I am very excited and honored to have a very PROMISING, TALENTED and AMAZING author, Jessi Kirby with us today to discuss her debut novel MOONGLASS and much more!!
For those who are not familiar with this AMAZING debut novel, can you give us a brief synopsis?Moonglass is a story of confronting the past in order to move ahead. Anna Ryan lost her mother when she was seven years old. In the years since, she and her father have buried their feelings and questions about the subject between them and tried to move on. But when Anna’s dad takes a job transfer to the small beach community of Crystal Cove, things don’t stay buried for long. Crystal Cove is the place where her parents met and fell in love, where the locals seem to know more about her family than she does, and where she finds out that the red piece of sea glass she wears around her neck has a history all its own.
What was your inspiration for this novel? Was it personal?
I’ve got so many inspirations for this novel, each of them personal in their own way. As I wrote, the things I love wove themselves into the story: the beach and lifestyle that goes along with it, the mythology behind sea glass and mermaids, all of these are things that drew and inspired me as I went along.
As far as literary inspirations, there are a few. The first is Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. I read it in high school and then again in college, and both times was simultaneously intrigued and horrified by the image of Edna Pointellier just walking out into the water and leaving her family behind. I never forgot it and always wondered about what she left in her wake. In MOONGLASS, I got to explore that. Anna’s mother left a daughter with a very heavy weight on her shoulders. I’m also fascinated by mother-daughter stories, and two of my favorites are White Oleander and The Secret Life of Bees. Both novels are stunningly gorgeous and paint the mother–daughter relationships in them so rich and full of complexity, that they’re almost mythic.
The main character, Anna, collects moonglass… do you?
The word Moonglass is one Anna makes up when she’s little for the pieces of sea glass she and her mother find by the light of the moon. While I don’t have any moonglass, I do collect sea glass! I’m a little fanatic about, actually. I’ve got jars and jars of it, and no matter how much I find I can’t walk past a piece on the beach without stopping to pick it up. On my last birthday though, I found my most prized piece—a smooth, teardrop-shaped red piece, just like in the book! It’s being made into a necklace as I write this, hopefully to wear on launch day!
I love the idea of wearing a Moonglass necklace for your launch day! (I hope you will share a pic on your blog).
You spend a lot of time setting the scenes, detailing every aspect. How were you able to capture the ocean, the beach, and even under the ocean scenes so perfectly?
The ocean is a huge, lovely, important part of my life. I grew up in the mountains but made for the beach as soon as I could and love it like it’s a part of me. In college I worked as a lifeguard and spent countless hours watching the water, and surfing, and enjoying the beach kind of life. Now I’m lucky enough to live in a place where I can scuba dive in my front yard, run the beach every day, and write with an ocean view. The richness of it is all around me, so those details of it came easy to me.
I am one of those that picks up a book that I may have never heard about largely because of its cover – I love attractive covers. How did you come up with or choose the cover for Moonglass?
I’d LOVE to say I came up with the cover, but I did not. This is the case with most authors, because we’re writers, not visual artists. My publisher graciously asked for my input and even incorporated some of my suggestions, but the cover that you see is the product of a very talented and dedicated team of designers, led by Krista Vossen. I could not be more proud of or happy with what they did!
I read on your blog that you’ve already sent your 2nd book out. Can you give us some clues about it and its release date? I know I can’t wait!!
Yes! I’m currently working through the edits on my second book. It’s due out Summer 2012 and is a road trip story that begins in Texas and ends in California. It’s a bit drama, a bit romance, and a whole lot of adventure.
Sounds Wonderful!! I can’t wait!
As a debut YA author, how have you found the whole process of publishing Moonglass?
Extremely rewarding! From taking a chance and sending it out, to being pushed throughout the editing process to make it the best it could possibly be, to finally holding the real book in my hands, it’s been an unbelievable ride and total dream come true!
Do you have any advice for aspiring YA authors?
Read all you can because that’s the best possible way to study great writing, write every day because it takes practice and discipline, and find a group to share your work with, because you can’t do it all alone.
Do you have anything else you would like to add?
Thank you so much for having me!
Thank you Jessi Kirby for sharing your time and talent with us!
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