PA #15 Interview with Caragh O' Brien!

Morning everybody!


Some of you may remember the review that I did on Caragh O'Brien's book Birthmarked. This was an awesome book, (which I need to read again, because it was so good). Soon after I finished it, I found Caragh's website. I sent her an e-mail wondering if there was any possibility of doing an interview with her.
To my great surprise she responded very quickly with yes! So I sent her back questions, and waited. And waited. And waited.
Finally, I went to go send her another e-mail, just wanting to ask if she got them, or what was going on, and I realised that I had sent the message to a non existent e-mail address. Whoops. (By the way, my e-mail is stupid, and when it sends a message back to me, saying that the e-mail doesn't exist or whatever, it puts itself in the junk folder. Then gets deleted. Technology. It is dumb.)


So I finally sent the questions to the correct e-mail, and a little bit later, I had the replies! That was quite a while ago, but I have been insanely busy with everything, and I haven't had a chance to post them until now!


So here it goes!!!




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Photo Credit

About Caragh


I wrote the first book in the Birthmarked trilogy while I was on a leave of absence from teaching high school English. Since then, I have resigned from teaching to write full time. I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and for the past 17 years, I’ve lived in a small town in Connecticut with my family. Most of my days are spent on my unglamorous couch, writing and revising, and my work makes me very happy



 How did you come up with your idea for the trilogy? How long did it take for you to realize that your story was “publish-worthy”?

The very first ideas came to me while on a road trip across the country, when I saw a drought in the southern states had dried up the lakes. That started me thinking about how people would respond politically and socially to climate change, and I wondered what sort of people would survive. Gaia’s story emerged from that initial pondering.

About three months into the project, when I was revising my complete draft, I started looking for an agent. I had little expectation that anyone would want to sign me on because I knew the odds of emerging from the slush pile were slim, but I believed I should try, just to give my book a chance. Even after I found my agent, I didn’t truly believe my novel was “publish-worthy” until Roaring Brook offered me a contract. I’ve been unbelievably fortunate.

At what age did you start writing? When did you first realize that you wanted to be published/ When were you first published?

I began keeping a journal in seventh grade, and since then, I’ve written whenever I could. I started thinking about publishing after I finished college and wrote a romance novel. That novel sold a year later, and then it took me another decade to sell my next book. Over a decade? Yipes!!

What does your writing life look like in the future? (Near or Far)

I have several writing projects in different stages lined up. I’m editing the first pass pages of Promised right now, and then I’m writing a short story for the Birthmarked series that should come out this summer. I still need a good idea for that one, frankly. Next, I have a new YA sci fi project that fascinates me, so I’m eager to return to it.

Do you have any weird writing habits/routines?

People are sometimes surprised to learn that I write all day. I try to stop for weekends and family time, but otherwise I’m pretty much always writing. There’s no point stopping what I love to do.

Any advice for aspiring young writers?

Sure. Put yourself completely in the story. See it and feel it and hear it the way your main character does, and then write down what you experience. The time spent in your own mind will be infinitely rewarding, and you’ll never want to resurface into regular life again.

Thanks a lot for doing this interview Caragh!

Emily