REACHED Tour — Miami
Ally has been touring around the U.S. promoting REACHED. Her stops have included Houston, Miami, Bethesda/D.C., Raleigh and more. I was lucky enough to see her at Miami stop, where she shared the following tidbits:
Her favorite scene…
The opening scene of Matched was her favorite scene to write in the entire trilogy. She always knew what she wanted that scene to look like and it did not undergo a lot of changes between the first and final draft. (She describes is as “prom gone wrong.”)
On writing REACHED:
She would write a character until she could take the plot no further with that character, and then write the other two to catch up. Like, she would write Cassia, for example, and then write Xander and Ky up to that point in the story, then see from there who could move the plot forward and write that character until she could take the plot no further…
On writer’s block:
If she gets stuck or gets to a point where she is not having fun with the story she is writing, she will set it aside and work on a another story that she is writing — a story that is not for publication, just for her. Eventually she will be ready to get back to the main story. Or, she turns to the hamper she has in the room that’s full of socks, and tries to match them up until she is motivated and ready to continue writing her story.
On shaping her characters:
One way she learns more about her characters is to step aside and write a scene for them where they are in real life. It helps the character to become clear when they are outside of the story and in a completely different setting.
And that’s just some of it! The crowd asked a lot of great questions and we really got some great insight into Ally. Afterwards, she signed books and took pictures with everyone who wanted to.
Now your turn: were you able to make it to any of the REACHED tour? Let us know about your experience in the comments or send us an email at thematcheddepartment@gmail.com.
Ally Thanks Her Fans on Her Blog
Tour stop at Anderson’s in Chicago/Naperville. Photo credit: Cayt O’Neal.
I want to thank all of you wonderful readers for your supportive emails, comments, tweets, etc., this past week. They are always great, but this week they’ve been especially supportive, and I am so grateful. Being in the public eye is not an easy thing for me and you make it easier/less scary. You make it possible. I know it is a big investment of time to read a book/series, and I appreciate it more than I can say that you would be willing to give your time to these books and characters.
And for those of you taking the time to post reviews on your blogs, or on Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc.–that’s an additional amount of time taken, and I am VERY grateful for that too.
Also, word-of-mouth cannot be overestimated–when you take the time to tell someone about a book you love (whether it’s mine or not!) that does the reading community and us as a culture a great deal of good. You’re letting people know that books and stories are worth their time.
THANK YOU.
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and please know how grateful I am for each of you. It has been wonderful to have a chance to see some of you on tour last week, and I’m very excited to come to Houston, Miami, Bethesda/D.C., and Raleigh next week!
Love, Ally
Win Lots of Free Swag!
Have You Seen the REACHED Trailer Yet?!?
It’s here! The REACHED trailer is live on EW.com! Click here to watch it on EW.com, but be sure to come back here and tell us what you think about it!
Party it Up with the MATCHED Party Event Kit
The official MATCHED site has a fun new party event .pdf kit that you can download. You should check it out! There’s lots of cool stuff in it, such as:
- A recipe for MATCHED cake pops (which look delicious!)
- MATCHED series and Ally Condie facts and trivia
- How to create REACHED inspired flowers
- MATCHED trilogy FAQs
- Poem writing tips
- A Sorting Game
- A calendar of events
My favorite part of the kits was the calendar because when I looked at it I learned that Ally Condie is coming to my town on the REACHED book tour! What’s your favorite part of the kit?
Also, if you DO have a MATCHED party, send us your pictures at thematcheddepartment {at} gmail {dot} com. We’d love to see them, and we may even post some!
See the REACHED Trailer Before Breaking Dawn, Part Two
Are you planning to see Breaking Dawn: Part II, the final movie in the Twilight Saga, when it comes out in November? If you are, be sure to get there early, because the REACHED trailer will be showing before the movie!
The trailer will also be showing on the ABC Family channel on Monday, November 19th.
How excited are you to see the trailer on the big screen and on your television?! Think you’ll have the read the entire book by then?
The Matched Trilogy on Pinterest
Looks like the Matched Trilogy is now on Pinterest, courtesy of Jenna Weir:
Pretty cool! Have fun pinning, and let us know what some of your favorites are.
Official REACHED Trailer and First Three Chapters Revealed
Eeek!! REACHED is three weeks away! We are so excited we can hardly stand it!!
Well, if you are beyond yourself with excitement like we are, you’ll be happy to know that Entertainment Weekly is doing its part to help ease the pain of the wait. On Wednesday, October 24th they will revealing the official trailer for REACHED. Then on Thursday, October 25th they’ll be sharing the first three chapters!
Note that both of these dates are tentative, so just stay tuned!
Now excuse me while I go do my happy dance!
(How excited are you? Let us know in the comments.)
Photo credit: cassia_by_leabharlann on deviantART
