Marissa Meyer with E.C.Murray

When Marissa Meyer was interviewed at the Bologna Children's Book Fair (Bologna, Italy) in 2012, she called herself a "fairy tale geek.” Meyer’s own story is reminiscent of a fairy tale. Her debut novel, Cinder, garnered a five book deal with Macmillan Books and the sale of movie rights. Not bad for the thirty-year old, “Tacoma Author of the Year.”

Marissa, congratulations on your phenomenal success. Cinder was a pleasure to read, even though I rarely read dystopian stories, fairy tales, or YA books. Was it fun to write? How long did it take, including revisions encouraged by your agent and publisher (if there were any?)

Thank you! This series has been a blast to write. I sometimes feel like I took all my favorite things—fairy tales, Star Wars, Sailor Moon, Firefly, epic tales full of adventure and romance—and crammed all those influences into one story. I’ve also become very attached to my cast of characters in the course of writing the series, and it’s been such a joy for me to watch them grow and take on lives of their own.

Cinder took me two years to write from the day I started to the day it sold to Macmillan—during that time I was also working full-time as an editor in Seattle and taking classes toward my Master’s degree. Once I was working with my editor at Macmillan, I spent probably another month revising and tweaking the manuscript, though her requested changes were pretty minimal compared to the revisions that I’ve heard a lot of authors will do after their book sells.

Why do think you’re drawn to fairy tales? Do you think they represent some sort of archetype since so many appear in different forms in cultures all over the world?

Absolutely. Fairy tales speak to us on a very human level—our hopes, our fears, our dreams. “Cinderella” is of course the ultimate rags to riches story, and that’s something we can all connect with. The idea that no matter where we are in our lives, it’s possible for things to get better. The desire to move up in society, to find stability and happiness, to earn our happily ever after. I also think it’s so interesting how these tales have been around for hundreds (and in some case, thousands) of years, and yet we’re still finding ways to make them new and update them for our modern sensibilities.

At what point in writing Cinder or in receiving feedback, did you think, “Wow! I’ve really got something here?”

It comes and goes, that feeling, but honestly I think I felt it the moment I had the idea. It happened when I was falling asleep and I had a dream of Cinderella retold through the eyes of a teen cyborg—I was so excited that I had to get out of bed and start taking notes. That enthusiasm for the idea never waned. I knew from the beginning that I would have to write this story and attempt to get it published.

Of course, there were days when I would think I was just fooling myself and that no one would ever want to read this story. (Heck, I still have days like that!) But there was always this undercurrent of passion that I could return to when I started to doubt myself.

You earned a degree in creative writing from Pacific Lutheran University. How did your school studies help you to write your books?

Getting a degree in creative writing was like taking a crash course in “how to write when you don’t feel like it,” and “how to suck it up and take criticism gracefully,” and “how to revise, because everything needs revisions even when you don’t think it does.” My courses at PLU really forced me to take my writing seriously. Though I’d been writing since I was a kid and posting many of my stories online when I was a teenager, I hadn’t given much thought to criticism or revisions until my grade depended on it. And then you throw professor-imposed deadlines into the mix and suddenly it’s like having a job—you have to write a short story by Friday, you have to turn in three drafts of revisions, you have to listen to your peers’ criticisms and figure out which criticisms have value and which don’t. Those are now skills that I use every day.

Aspiring writers learn that the path to becoming a successful author is: learn to write well, write a query to an agent; the agent queries a publisher, the publisher accepts or not. Was this your path? What were trials and errors before you queried? Any unpublished books?

Yes, this was exactly my path—no magical tricks! A lot of aspiring writers seem to think that getting an agent is the hardest part, and I think that’s because there are a lot of intimidating statistics that go along with that part of the process. (Fewer than 1% of books that are queried get representation, or something like that.) But really, the difficult part is learning the craft of writing. There’s no short cut. You study plot structure and characterization and dialogue and world-building and pacing and conflict. You write and write and write and revise, revise, revise. The thing is, too many writers try to rush this stage because they get impatient to be published, but that’s how you become that 99% statistic. Take the time to write the best book you’re capable of. Then write another. And then another. You’ll get better every time. So that was the biggest trial for me. Studying the craft and being patient enough to really perfect Cinder as much as I could before I started to query it.

As for unpublished books, I had a handful of novels that I’d started writing but never finished. Cinder was the first that I ever got to “The End.” That said, I wrote fanfiction for a Japanese anime called “Sailor Moon” for about ten years and wrote (and finished!) over 50 works in that time, many of which were novel-length. So I feel like those were my unpublished novels. That’s where I learned to tell a complete story.

Has there been anything difficult in your success as a New York Times Best Selling Author?

There are a million rewarding elements of being a best-selling author (it still feels weird to say that!), and it continues to feel surreal when I think about it. It does come with challenges though, probably the toughest of which is the amount of pressure that comes with success. There was a time when I was only writing for me—I only had to worry about my expectations for the story. Now there are hundreds of thousands of readers all over the world who are waiting to see what will become of these beloved characters, and… honestly, I try not to think about it too much, because it’s a sure way to stress yourself out. It’s important to me that each book satisfies readers and meets their expectations, but I also need to stay true to the story and the characters and myself as a writer. It’s dangerous when you start having too many voices in your head. You need to learn to tune them out and get back into the story.

What part of your success has been most exciting?

Being able to say that this is my job. I get paid to daydream, to play, to write. How many people can say that? I feel lucky every day.

Your Web site lists your publicist. Was this person assigned by your publisher? Do you pay her or does your publisher?

Yes, my publicist is with the publisher and was assigned to me. She’s been an amazing advocate for my books and I feel very lucky that my series has been a priority for my publisher since day one. Not every author is given this treatment, though, which is why many authors also hire freelance publicists to help with their promotional efforts.  

Can you tell us anything about the Cinder movie?

At this time, the film rights have sold to a Hollywood studio and they have a script written and are currently looking for a director. That’s been the status for over a year, though, so I’m learning that it’s a very slow process. I’m optimistic, though. I would love to see it become a movie, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

 Thanks so much for the interview. Congratulations on writing such intriguing books and being Tacoma’s Author of the Year, Marissa. Thanks so much. Readers, learn more about Marissa on her Web site http://www.marissameyer.com/