Guest Interview with Hilary Wagner - author of NIGHTSHADE CITY!

Dearest Readers,

I apologize for my blogging delinquency, but boy do I have a treat for you! Today I have an interview with Hilary Wagner, the debut author of NIGHTSHADE CITY, published by Holiday House. In the ramp-up to publication, NIGHTSHADE has been garnering incredible buzz, including a super duper blurb by Rick Riordan (who said, among other things, "…expect great adventures in Nightshade City") and a mention in Publisher’s Weekly’s “Debuts to Watch.”

I just started NIGHTSHADE this weekend and the writing is amazing, characterization gripping. Will post a full review when I am done. Without further ado, here is a Q&A with Hilary, who is doing a blog tour which started at Jen Blom’s blog at www.jaekaebee.blogspot.com. As I am in the throes of revision myself, I sought some advice about revision…

1. Thanks so much for stopping by at this amazing and busy time, Hilary! How many times did you revise before you got an agent, after you got an agent, and after you got a deal?

I started querying a little bit, even got some requests from agents right off the bat, but I quickly realized I needed to take out half the book. There was a whole above ground story line going on, that was just too much. So I rewrote the book, edited again, and was good to go. It sounds pretty straight forward, but took a lot of hard work to rewrite. My agent thought my manuscript did not need editing, so I was on sub about a week or so after I signed! After I got my deal, I'd say we had one major revision and then about three small ones after that, just making sure we caught everything. My editor, Julie Amper, was really insightful and encouraging, which made the process pretty pain free!

2. What did you think was the strangest thing that someone suggested you revise?

Wow, that's a good question! But there was actually nothing too strange about the revisions. Everything made perfect sense. There was nothing that left me scratching my head.

3. What was the hardest revision suggestion to implement?
My editor wanted a key element of the plot changed--which had to be carried throughout the entire book. It took a lot of thought to come up with a good solution--a good reason why the characters had to do what they did, but it was so much better than I had. My editor is a kindly slave driver and it totally paid off! Every time, she'd say, "We're so close, but..." ;)

4. Did you ever reject any revision suggestions? If so, why?

I'll be honest--I didn't but I did! I revised everything my editor wanted to revise, but I did it my way. She would suggest a solution that might work, but in the end, I would usually come up with my own. She always told me I can choose not to do certain edits, after all I was the author, but given that this was my first time around and I knew of Julie's reputation as an editor, I took all her advice to heart. I will soon be working with her on Book II of the Nightshade Chronicles, which releases next year, and I cannot wait!

5. Some people love revision and some people hate it... Which camp do you fall in? If it's the latter, how do you get motivated to revise?

I actually enjoy the revision process. For some reason, I find it therapeutic. I'm an artist too, and editing is like putting the final touches on a painting. You spend all this time and energy making something out of nothing and now you have this organic thing that you created! Now that the tough part's done, you want it to be perfect and spending time correcting pesky flaws and adding those finishing touches is to me the best part!

I find it amazing that Hilary's novel was bought with NO INITIAL REVISIONS, a testament to her writing skills and the immediacy of her story. I predict an amazing debut! For the next installment of her tour, go to Wendy Cebula's blog tomorrow.