Author Interview with Caragh M. O'Brien (#2)

How would you describe Promised in ten words or less?

Let me first say thanks, Zoë, for having me by to answer a few questions. It was just about a year ago that you interviewed me for Prized, and it’s nice to be chatting with you again.

≤10 words about Promised: Gaia returns home to fight, suffer, love, and lead.

You recently released a short story, Ruled, that takes place between Prized and Promised, told in Leon's perspective, much like Tortured was between Birthmarked and Prized. What made you decide to tell some of the Birthmarked story in Leon's voice and how was it different from writing Gaia?

The stories posed a unique challenge. They were supposed to deliver something about the Birthmarked world without containing spoilers for the subsequent novels, and also I wanted them to matter. Setting the stories between the novels and jumping to Leon’s head made sense, especially since I’d heard from readers by then that Leon was a favorite character. Writing from his perspective was more difficult than writing from Gaia’s mainly because I didn’t know him as well, but also because he’s a very guarded, private character. It was interesting for me to play around with conveying how he felt when he rarely expressed it openly. I liked that. I especially liked in “Ruled” how he felt something, couldn’t express it, then Gaia figured him out anyway, and he knew she knew. Incomplete communication was an element of their relationship that I always found satisfying to explore.

Now that the final book in the Birthmarked Trilogy, Promised has been published, do you think the story is complete? Or can readers hold out hope that another Birthmarked short story may be published in the future?

The narrative truly ends with the last chapter of Promised, and I gave considerable thought to what conclusion would resonate best for the series. That said, I do find that certain characters keep knocking, as it were, and there are some poignant possibilities that tug at me especially. I don’t think I’d have enough to turn into a novel, though, and a short story would feel too flimsy. So that’s it. Thanks for asking, but the project is finished. We just have to imagine what comes next.

How was writing Promised easier or harder than the previous books in the trilogy?

Promised was easier in that I had so much more to work from already, and I’d been thinking about its problems in the back of my mind for a long time before I started writing, so I didn’t agonize as much over the first draft as I did with, say, Prized. It was harder in that I had essentially two casts of characters to combine, one from each of the preceding books, and it was difficult to let some favorite characters shift to the background. Worst of all was letting some truly awful things happen to characters I care about. That still bugs me.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Sure. Be sure you’re writing to fascinate yourself.

Are there any authors that have especially inspired you? This could be during your journey writing the Birthmarked Trilogy, or as a writer in general.

I’m inspired all the time, usually by whatever I’m reading at the moment. David Levithan’s Every Day sucked me in a few weeks ago and I’m still pondering it. I like books that take risks, like his does, and I like when it’s clear that the writer is having a ball writing. Kate Burak’s Emily’s Dress and Other Missing Things is also delightful and strange and intense. It feels very personal, somehow.

After having spent years immersed in the dystopian societies of Birthmarked, do you see yourself continuing in the genre in the future?

I enjoy writing about the future, which puts me squarely in sci fi, and I’m definitely sticking with YA.

The question I have to ask...now that the Birthmarked Trilogy is finished, can you share anything about what you have planned next?

I have not figured out a coherent way to talk about what I’m writing next, but I have started another futuristic, YA project, and I’m working with the same editor and team at Roaring Brook. I’m so happy to be on board there.

Thank you so much, Zoë, for having me by. I love that your questions are so thoughtfully focused on the books. You always make me think, and that makes me happy!


Caragh M. O'Brien is the author of the dystopia Birthmarked trilogy that includes  BIRTHMARKED and PRIZED and PROMISED. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ms. O'Brien was educated at Williams College and earned her MA from Johns Hopkins University. She has resigned from teaching high school English in order to write full-time.

Thanks so much to Caragh for stopping by In The Next Room again! To learn more about her dystopia trilogy, stop by her website. To read the In The Next Review of Birthmarked click here, for Tortured click here, for Prized click here, and for Promised click here. To read last year's interview with Caragh, click here.

Author Interview with Caragh M. O'Brien

The title of the first book in the series, Birthmarked, is both literal and highly symbolic, is the meaning of Prized also so complex? Are there any hints you can give about its origin?

Let me first say, Zoe, you’re so nice to have me by for a visit during my blog tour. Thank you for such an interesting variety of questions. They’ve really encouraged me to ponder.

As for titles, I struggle with them, so I’m glad you think these work. The best titles invite someone to read the book and then take on resonance once the reader is further into the story. A member of the art team at Macmillan, Anne Diebel, came up with “Birthmarked” after I’d already suggested two hundred possibilities that didn’t work, like “The Baby Quota” and “The Freckle Code.” For “Prized,” I tried for a concept at the center of the novel, where girls are valued because of their scarcity. If you’re a girl, that might sound like a good thing, but there is a lot of unfairness when one group of people is prized over another, and the title matches how complicated things get for Gaia.

Did you always want to be a writer or was it something you discovered later in life?

This question is surprisingly difficult to answer because “be a writer” means two different things to me. I started keeping a journal in 7th grade and read everything I could get my hands on, so I was a writer in the real sense of the word long before it occurred to me that I could try to be a writer for my job. That discovery happened my senior year in college. Then life continued, you know. I’ve always written regardless of what other jobs I’ve had, and now with the Birthmarked trilogy, I’m a writer for my job, too.

How did teaching high school impact the kind of young adult book you decided to write?

Teaching undoubtedly helped my writing because I witnessed my students first-hand when they grappled with issues of injustice, so I knew they’d be drawn to complex moral stakes in a novel. I also gained a clear sense of how quickly readers can become bored, and how unforgiving they are once that happens, so I wanted to write a book that would be fun to read with a fast pace, adventure, and unexpected twists. Being with teens daily convinced me I never have to hold back in any way just because some of my readers are chronologically younger than I am. I hope Gaia captures a little of the bravery and resourcefulness I knew in so many of my students.

How would you describe Prized in ten words or less?

Ha! Here goes:
Gaia fights a matriarchy, guys, the environment, and her heart.

Any hints about what we can expect in Promised? (I had to ask!)

I’m deep into the 7th draft of Promised right now, and it goes to copy edits at the end of October, so it’s very much on my mind. You’re the first one who’s asked about it online, actually. I suppose the third book is what happens when the first two books collide. Yes. That’s what it is. It’s pretty intense, with some heartache and a bit of gore. My favorite things.

 
Prized Code #12: O


Caragh M. O'Brien is the author of BIRTHMARKED and PRIZED, two novels in a dystopia trilogy which will end in 2012 with PROMISED. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Ms. O'Brien was educated at Williams College and earned her MA from Johns Hopkins University. She has resigned from teaching high school English in order to write full-time.

Thanks so much to Caragh for stopping by In The Next Room! To learn more about her dystopia trilogy, stop by her website. To visit the rest of the stops on this book tour, click here.

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien

I was in a bit of a dystopian mood while waiting for my chance to read the second book in The Hunger Games Trilogy, so I decided to give Caragh M. O'Brien's debut Birthmarked a try. Not only did I satisfy my craving for a young adult book with a powerful female lead in her fight to save her family against strict government, but I also found a novel that was really well done, and certainly more than just another author hopping on the popularity train. 

Birthmarked takes place after climate change has left the world destroyed and two groups of humans living either inside or outside of a wall on the north shore of Unlake Superior. For those inside the wall, life is good, while those on the outside are poor and undesirable. Scarred since childhood Gaia Stone is definitely one of the outsiders, and along with her mother, she works as midwife where her job includes "advances" a certain number of infants inside the wall each month in order to meet a quota. However when Gaia's parents are arrested and she is forced to take over her mother's responsibility she finds her questioning the system as travels inside the wall in an attempt to save her parents. When she is arrested and imprisoned Gaia is forced to draw on strength she didn't know she had as Birthmarked offers some powerful warnings about what our future made hold.

One of the things I loved about Birthmarked was that Gaia wasn't picture perfect beautiful, and that she was strong despite that, not defined by her disfigurement or exempt from normal teenage troubles like thinking about a boy and trying to fit in. Also, with so many love triangles in current YA literature including The Hunger Games it was pretty refreshing to read a book where not only is romance not the main concern, but when the subplot is introduced the girl is only interested in one guy. I admit I did find the actual stuff about the code a little silly and predictable in how it was unraveled, I was hoping for something a little more comple, but it is also not why I was reading the book and I'm happy that O'Brien is a better writer than cryptographer which is something I can't say for Dan Brown. 

Writing this review a month and a half after I first read the book, it has managed to stay with me. Certain flaws have also become evident, it was definitely predictable at times and the ending is clearly meant to lead into the sequel, but Birthmarked was also a definite page-turner based on a well-realized premise and a plot that keeps the reader enthralled. Birthmarked is a fantastic beginning to another new dystopian trilogy and it is certainly one I recommend picking up- I'm already looking forward to the sequel Prized expected to be released in 2011. ****

Number of Pages: 362 pages
Published: March 2010   
Source: Ebook
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