Amy Plum-Interview with the Author
With the May 2013 final installment IF I SHOULD DIE in Amy Plum’s Young Adult Revenant series, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce the author and ask her some questions about the series and life in Paris, France.
TRC: Hi Amy and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the May 17,2013 release of IF I SHOULD DIE, the third full-length storyline in your
young adult Die For Me series.
We would like to start with some background information. Please tell us something about yourself?
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Amy: I grew up in Alabama in a super-religious family. When I was eighteen I went as far away as I could imagine (Chicago). And realizing that wasn’t far enough, I went even farther once I graduated (Paris). I taught myself to read when I was 4, and books have been my life ever since. I have two kids who refuse to speak English because they know I understand them when they speak in French. And I have a thirteen year old Ridgeback-mix (dog) name Ella who was very happy to move from New York City (she’s a rescue dog) to the French countryside where she chases cats and lizards all day.
TRC: You are currently living in Paris, France-The City of Light. Aside from the obvious ambiance, culture and fashion, what was the precipitating factor behind your move and eventually your decision to remain in France?
Amy: I went to France when I was 22 and FELL IN LOVE with Paris. Like crazy mad I-must-live-here in love. So I found an office job through an American company and moved here when I was 23. My five years in Paris furnished me with the most amazing experiences, many of which I used in the DIE FOR ME books. Kate kind of re-lives my twenties, minus the evil zombies.
More recently I was living in the countryside, in the Loire Valley, which is really beautiful but really boring. Every time I visited Paris I got this rush like I had drunk 20 coffees, and walked around its streets trying not to smile too big. (And thus look like a crazy tourist.) So last year I took the plunge and moved back to the city that I love. And now I will never leave.
TRC: How much of an influence have your experiences in Paris France had on the DIE FOR ME series?
Amy: Every place I talk about is a place that I’ve been. Which helps with the descriptions! ☺ I kissed a boy on the Pont des Arts. (He was British, and wasn’t immortal, so it didn’t work out.) I rode around Paris on a scooter behind a handsome French artist. I have eaten in the restaurants I describe, have hung out in the antiquities gallery that I stole to be Papy’s, and constantly hang out in the museums that are in the book. Without my Paris experiences, DIE FOR ME wouldn’t exist.
TRC: May 17, 2013 saw the release of IF I SHOULD DIE. Would you please tell us something about the premise?
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Amy: I like to describe my series this way: DIE FOR ME is a romance. UNTIL I DIE is a mystery. And IF I SHOULD DIE is a thriller. There is murder, passion and magic galore, as well as an epic battle between good and evil. That’s all I can say. ☺
TRC: Do you have any plans to continue the series e.g. perhaps with a short story or novella for each of the ‘secondary’ characters similar to DIE FOR HER?
Amy: Well, I wrote DIE FOR HER because my readers voted for it. HarperTeen had asked me to do a novella, and I let my fans vote on which character’s POV it should be from. If HarperTeen asks me to do anything else with the revenants, it wouldn’t take much arm-twisting for me to comply.
TRC: What challenges or difficulties (e.g. logistical, research, geographical etc) did you encounter writing this particular series?
Amy: I’m a “pantser.” (Flying by the seat of my pants.) I don’t outline. I don’t even know what I’m going to write every day until I sit down in front of my computer and start typing. And that is rather stressful, especially when you’re creating a new type of supernatural being who needs rules for functioning and a complete history since the beginning of time. I just had to wait for the story to come to me, and sometimes it took a while!
TRC: You blend a paranormal storyline with the reality of the modern world. How did you keep the plot unpredictable without sacrificing believability or content?
Amy: I thought of a term when I started writing the book: “plausible paranormal.” I wanted my story to feel like it could be happening right down the street from you. Like it made sense enough that you wouldn’t be incredulous if you found out it was true. That for me was important because I really wanted my readers to feel like they knew the characters and live the story with them.
TRC: How thoroughly do you plan out your characters and story before you begin the first draft?
Amy: Zero. ☺ The first thing I thought of for the book was that I would have a female main character. And the first thing I got was the sentence, “Ten days after my sixteenth birthday, my parents died in a car accident.” Everything else sprung from that, and I “met” the characters at the point where they showed up in the storyline.
TRC: Do your characters direct the storyline or do you have a semblance of control?
Amy: They tell me what they’re doing. I just listen the best I can and write it down as truthfully as possible.
TRC: What was/is the inspiration behind the Revenant storyline and the characters we have grown to love?
Click on the links for our reviews of: Die For Me / Until I Die / If I Should Die
Amy: I wanted to write about a supernatural being, but couldn’t find an existent being that I wanted to write about. I ended up mixing “god,” “zombie,” and “guardian angel,” and that’s how the revenants were born.
TRC: Is there anything you would like to have changed in the series now that you look back on the storylines?
Amy: Nope. I’m just happy I got through the whole thing without having the parts I love edited out. The end product is exactly what I want it to be.
TRC: Writer’s block is a very real phenomenon for many writers. How do you handle the pressure and anxiety of writer’s block?
Amy: I don’t get writer’s block. (Knock on wood.) I get lots of days where I don’t feel like working, but that’s because I have a problem focusing. Once I force myself, the stories come.
TRC: What five things would you like to accomplish in the next ten years?
Amy: I would like to be able to start writing 2 books per year and to write a range of YA, middle grade, and adult books. My goal since about ten years ago was to get a story in The New Yorker magazine. Maybe in the next 10 years I’ll achieve that too! ☺
TRC: Who or what has been the biggest influence in your life and why?
Amy: There are so many people who have influenced my life. The person who inspired me to become a writer was probably Madeleine L’Engle, who I met briefly in New York when I was 22. The biggest influence on who I’ve become was probably my dad. He was the cruel dictator type—abusive and intolerant—and I have, both unconsciously and consciously become who I am by reacting against everything he stands for.
TRC: On what are you currently working?
Amy: I am currently working on AFTER THE END, a 2-book series that HarperTeen is releasing starting May 2014. It’s totally different from DIE FOR ME! Set in the U.S. with a different type of magic. 😉
LIGHTNING ROUND
Favorite Food: caramel
Favorite Dessert: crème brulee
Favorite TV Show: I don’t watch t.v.
Last Movie you saw: AFTER EARTH.
Dark or Milk Chocolate: dark
Favorite Flower: for smell—lilacs, for beauty—peonies
Last Vacation Destination—Texas, for a writer’s retreat
TRC: Thank you Amy for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the amazing success of your DIE FOR ME series. We wish
you all the best.
Amy: Thank you for having me! It’s been a pleasure.
