It's been more than a week since #SarahJMaasinPH and I still haven't moved on; because oh my god, that event was literally THE BEST one I have ever been to. March 13th will always hold an insanely special place in my heart because it's the day my fellow Filipino Firehearts got to experience that all consuming joy and elation I felt when I first met Sarah at BookCon last May 2015. Now, 10 months later, I got to see Sarah again (minus the tears but plus the mini-freak out the night before). I think #SarahJMaasinPH was also the most intense and heavily guarded events National Book Store has ever had because the number of people that camped out was insane. The event was on a Sunday (registration starts at 10 AM) and there were already people outside the bookstore as early as 5:30 AM of Saturday. I have so much respect for everyone who camped out because I don't think I could ever do that no matter which author it is (and trust me, I'm already a huge Sarah J. Maas fan). Not sure if you guys know but I run @ThroneofGlassPH on Twitter and you would not believe the number of tweets I got late Saturday asking me to update as to how many persons there were already in line (since there was a 350 person limit), meaning that I got 40% sleep that night and had to function on Starbucks the next day.
While I may not have camped out like the other Filipino Firehearts, I did get up extra early to hand out swag to the first 200 persons in line and holy crap, when I got there, there were over 200 persons in line and it was just around 7 AM. It was crazy but also exciting because I got to see how insanely dedicated Sarah's Filipino readers were.
Here are the pieces of swag I had to give out.
Me handing out swag to people in line. I got super nervous because
I thought I left the buttons at home and I hella panicked, lol. Also,
had a feeling that some people thought I was a total weirdo. 😂 #ohwell
With my Twitter friends, Pam (left) and Karen (centre).
Them bouncers tho. They were legit super awesome and cool.
Sarah was the first ever author to have bouncers at the event.
#queen
After I finished giving out swag (with the help of my lovely friend, Hazel of Stay Bookish), Kate (The Bookaholic Blurbs), Hazel and I crossed over to Greenbelt for some much needed caffeine. We met up with the other bloggers there and then made our way to the bloggers forum. Unfortunately, I missed much of the pre-forum fun because I had some other very exciting business to attend to but it was so great to see my blogger friends and chill with them.
A little selfie at Starbucks with my buddies, Kate (left) and Hazel (right).
We were at Starbucks when I found out
that #SarahJMaasinPH was a trending topic!
WOOHOO.
Sarah passionately answering a question.
Here are some things we learned during the forum:
If Sarah could change certain parts of the Throne of Glass series, she would because she'd constantly be editing the book if she was left to her own devices and then she'd never be able to release a book every year if that happened (which is why she has an editor to go back and forth with about the books and keeps her at a certain pace).
As she writes, Sarah learns something new not just as an author, but also as a person.
She wrote Throne of Glass when she was sixteen and the next two books between high school and university.
Sarah's favourite book of hers is usually the one that's about to be released because it symbolises how much she's grown as a writer (she actually panics every time she writes a draft, she normally seems bad to her, she constantly agonizes over every book she writes).
Sarah has the biggest mouth ever (according to her). She had so much anxiety over the Empire of Storms title release because the two graphics (the teaser and the title one) were side by side on her phone and she was scared that she would accidentally post the title graphic instead of the teaser one on Instagram.
Her childhood was filled with different foreign fairytales and if she could write a retelling it would be of Vasilisa the Beautiful (Sarah was so into Russian folklore that she took a class on it in college) but the inspiration for the retelling hasn't hit her yet but she's hoping it does. (Baba Yaga from Vasilisa the Beautiful inspired the Ironteeth witches.)
Sarah is a hybrid of a pantser and a plotter: She likes to know how the story will start and end (as well as what epic and romantic events will happen) but as the story flows, she likes to listen to her characters and let them guide her. Usually, when Sarah loses interest in a project she's working on, it's because a character has stopped speaking to her or she's stopped hearing what they have to say and she has to revisit.
Regarding ships, she had one in mind that she wanted to get to but also wanted Celaena to guide her (she didn't want to force Celaena into boxes to serve the story), she listened and let Celaena speak to her.
In the novellas (see The Assassin's Blade), she listened to Arobynn when it came to sending Celaena off to the desert (it was something she never saw coming).
LOTS OF SAD THINGS IN EMPIRE OF STORMS. Sarah: "I'm so evil." (You are, Sarah, you are.)
There are a lot of secrets in A Court of Mist and Fury (Sarah wrote ACOTAR back in 2009 when her agent was on maternity leave and wrote ACOMAF around that time as well). When she sold A Court of Thorns and Roses to Bloomsbury, she had a lot of time to really build layers and secrets in ACOMAF as she was editing it. The Night Court is layered with secrets. (Eeeeeee!) And ACOMAF will feature a lot of old and new characters. There are also action sequences in ACOMAF that are sort of disgusting but really fun. Lots of sexy times in ACOMAF that its tag line should be "Now with 400% more sexy times!" (Sarah banned her family from reading it because she'll never be able to look them in the eyes.)
She can't talk about the characters involved in the Target exclusive of A Court of Mist and Fury. (You can pre-order/read about it HERE.)
The map in ACOTAR was kind of blank (which was intentional) but it gets a bit more filled in ACOMAF and even more in book 3. The map is a reflection of Feyre's scope of the fae world and how much she knows about it.
The best writing advice she'd received isn't about the technical parts of writing but about being in a community of writers. She wouldn't be where she is today had other authors not reached out to her. Sarah also does whatever she can to give back to aspiring writers in thanks to those who have helped her; it's a circle and chain where every writer is connected. (Mandy Hubbard really helped her out, reaching out to her on FictionPress and offering help.)
Celaena came to Sarah's head fully formed but she had to get to know Celaena, starting from the smallest of details (what food Celaena likes, etc). In the first draft of ACOTAR, Feyre wasn't an artist, it was when she sold ACOTAR and her editor told her to get deeper into Feyre's character that Sarah noticed the way Feyre described and saw the world; Feyre noticed the texture and light in things, she saw things with an artist's eye. Sarah was able to build her character up with that, Feyre giving up her passion for art for/to feed her family.
When writing about strong heroines, Sarah wants to write women who are real people, about women with different strengths. (She believes that there is strength in kindness. And that she quiet ones are sometimes the strongest.) Sarah talks about Elide Lochan (from Queen of Shadows) and how she's handicapped but learns to cope with all the stuff that happens to her emotionally and uses her mind and observational skills more (especially in Empire of Storms). Because Sarah likes to write about different kinds of women with different strengths, she still gets excited over physically strong women, which she manifests with Celaena (whom Sarah writes into epic battle sequences and make her do badass stuff and still survive).
To get into a character's headspace, Sarah listens to music. Heir of Fire was the darkest she had to go and she listened to a lot of Kanye. *SPOILER ALERT (for Crown of Midnight)* (When Nehemia died, Sarah imagined her best friend dying to really get there. It was the worst thing ever.)
Every time she writes a sad scene, Sarah always cries a lot. *SPOILER ALERT (for The Assassin's Blade)* When Sam died, she had to walk away from writing not because of his death but because her heart broke for Celaena. Even though Sarah says she enjoys her readers' tears, she actually suffers with her characters because she has to get into their heads and feel everything they're feeling.
It was so exhausting for her to write Heir of Fire because of how much she cried (she calls it the Migraine Book because she cried so much). However, Heir of Fire will always have a special place in her heart because she opened and pushed herself in ways she hadn't done before.
She cried a lot while writing Empire of Storms.
ACOTAR is set in a UK/Ireland type of place but in terms of writing the different fae in her books, she tries to deviate from just one place. Sarah researched all kinds of fae all over the world (she went into a Wikipedia spiral that just went on and on). The Naga came from Hindu mythology, some were inspired and some she made up on the spot. In ACOMAF, there's the Weaver in the Wood (she doesn't know where in her offed up head it came from but it was also kind of inspired by Hansel and Gretel.)
She wanted to write about about murder faeries and not about cute ones. Lots of horrible things are going to happen in ACOMAF. Also, it was fun for her to write about Feyre going against those types of faeries.
The Filipino readers have helped the fandom grow so much.
Sarah's biggest dream was to see her book in the shelves while being a New York Times bestseller was a dream she was secretly hoping for and she didn't see it coming.
While she was still on FictionPress, she used to write FanFiction of her stories (*ahem* smut *ahem*) wherein Rowan and Celaena would end up together because back then, that version of Throne of Glass did not lead in a direction wherein the two would be together.
Chaol's arc has always been tied with Dorian. He loves Dorian more than anyone else and he would choose Dorian before anything/anyone.
Sarah originally wanted to bring Manon and her Thirteen later in the books but knew that if she wanted to get Manon and the Thirteen where she needed them to be, she would need to bring them out in Heir of Fire. (Sarah's editor told her to cut out the ironteeth witch parts in Heir of Fire because the book was too long but she really pushed for them to stay.)
She wanted the Thirteen to reflect the different journeys they'd been on. (Ghislaine is black and it's not a big deal because they're so used to being mixed and it's normal for them.) And when it came to the gay characters, Sarah loved the idea of two lovers and the Thirteen who have had each others backs for a hundred years, they represent a different kind of love. She would love to write Thea and Kaya's story one day.
Sarah had a Wiccan phase as a teenager.
Her fear of the number thirteen was channeled into making the Thirteen (Sarah first made a list of names and then added different histories and characteristics for each).
Sarah didn't see Asterin's backstory coming/didn't know where it came from but knew that Asterin would be a part of the "baller, epic moment" she had planned, it was just her listening to her character. She can't write a novella about Asterin's life because it'll be like writing The Assassin's Blade plus Asterin tells her story beautifully on her own.
Whew, that was a lot! It was so much fun getting to interview Sarah and pick her brain a little (okay, a lot). All the little tidbits she told us only makes me more excited for ACOMAF and Empire of Storms. And after that fun Q&A, a lot of us got our books signed, Sarah was gracious enough to sign three books each for us and take some photos as well. (Get ready for a flood of photos in 3... 2... 1...)
Sarah signing my copy of ACOTAR.
She actually asked if she could start calling me Lou
and I freaked out because eeee, I have a nickname! Lol.
The Hardest Selfie Ever 13.0 feat. THE QUEEN
The #KaiSelfie! Totally beats the Oscars selfie.
#Relationshipgoals right there.
Chilling with #PapaMaas, nbd.
The #PapaMaas hashtag actually started as a joke between me
and my NBS friends but then we decided to just roll with it
and it's amazing how popular it's become.
At BEA 2015.
10 months later.
Sarah asked me if I wanted a proper selfie with her and I said,
yes, of course.
A gif of my interaction with Sarah.
She signed my Polaroid of the two of us.
She also waited to see how it turned out,
exclaiming that we were so cute. So I gave her
a copy. ❤️ AND MASSIVE HUG
A group photo of the bloggers with Sarah and #PapaMaas.
And here is Sarah's message to the Filipino Firehearts (cue fangirl tears and flails):
(Hi! I'm Lou, lol.)
After that insanely amazing and fruitful bloggers' forum, my #TeamActiveRomance besties (Ly of Defiantly Deviant and Michelle of The Twins Read) and I headed over to our usual lunch place, Chili's. It was so much fun catching up with the two and talking about everything under the sun. We were all pretty high from the forum, gushing over how kind and beautiful Sarah was (we were all starstruck, really). It was an awesome lunch, as always.
#TeamActiveRomance (minus Geraldine and Nicole, boo)
After our eventful lunch, Lyra and I parted ways with M and the two of us went over to Glorietta 1 for the actual event. The 350 slots filled at around 9 AM (an hour before registration) and all the attendees were just chilling at the event area. Took a bunch of photos with people I frequently tweeted with online and also others who recognised me from my blog and even strangers who just wanted a photo, I totally felt like a celebrity. Lol.
A part of the crowd.
Me with Feyre and Celaena!
(Best. Cosplayers. Ever. The Feyre one is 10000% on point.)
Sam Cortland back from the dead.
SO happy to have finally met Danielle, whom I absolutely LOVE
chatting with on Twitter.
With my other Twitter friend, MJ (center) plus her friend (left). 😘
It was so great to meet my fellow Filipino Firehearts, they were all so enthusiastic and lively. So after I took photos with practically everyone, I stood by the door to wait for Sarah's arrival. People were screaming because every time they saw a car stop outside the store, they'd assume it was Sarah. But then a black car pulled up and oddly enough, Sarah saw me standing by the door and waved at me (she has eagle eyes, lol). And here is a short clip of the chaos that ensued when Sarah walked in:
I freaked the hell out when she called me out. It was definitely a deer-in-the-headlights moment for me. I was so flattered and honoured but I really did not know how to react. There was definitely some internal screaming/crying/blushing going on inside of me. Easily one of the greatest moments of my life.
The fan questions were insanely amazing (a lot of ship questions), there were a number of Throne of Glass and A Court of Mist and Fury questions (everyone was pumped for ACOMAF, #TeamRhys over here). And so the signing portion started and I sat by Sarah, talking photos of different interactions between Sarah and her Filipino Firehearts. My heart soared every time Sarah would reach over and hold on to her reader's hands and tell them something special (I promise that I did not eavesdrop). There were people who cried, who laughed and all of them were inspired and enthralled by Sarah's open-heart and genuineness.
Sarah talking to a fan.
#PapaMaas had his own signing line. He was Mr. Popular.
Dead pool dropped by to say hi.
I wonder if he'll make a cameo in any of Sarah's books.
Sarah with the awesome, awesome cosplayers.
And thus concludes my phenomenal #SarahJMaasinPH day. I will never ever forget March 13th. My one dream when I first met Sarah was to be able to share that beautiful experience with my Filipino Firehearts and I did because of NBS. I have so many people to thank for making that day/experience so special; I have never ending thanks to the amazing National Book Store team for making this girl's dream come true (Chad and JB -- you two are the actual best, to Louie, Miss Malou, Sheza and whomever else I may I have missed, thank you for all that you do!). My lovely blogger friends, Lyra and Michelle, I am so happy to share this moment with you and thank you for understanding my flailiness. Kai (Amaterasu Reads) and Kate, thank you for the photos! To my Twitter friends, @dncueco, @karenchii, @pamelamraz (who also runs @ThrnsAndAll), @castergurl and whomever else I may have missed, our Twitter conversations never fail to make my day and I am so happy to finally have met you all; I hope your experience with meeting Sarah was everything you thought it would be and more. Thanks to my mom for driving me hella early to the venue because she knew I had to be there early -- thanks, ma! Love you!
Last but never, ever the least, thank you so freaking much to Sarah J. Maas for saying yes to visiting our beautiful country. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for everything, Sarah! I am crossing all my fingers that you make it here again one day, the Philippines misses you greatly. So much love to you, Sarah.
Incase you were wondering what books I got signed, I had ACOTAR, Throne of Glass and of course, Queen of Shadows signed. Why Queen of Shadows? Other than the fact that it's my favourite book of Sarah's at the moment, my name is in the acknowledgements. I freaked out so much when I found out (I jumped around my house and my mom thought I was a loon).
My copy of Queen of Shadows plus my Polaroid. I love how
imperfect the picture is, it makes it all the more special to me.
Me in Queen of Shadows. Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Sarah and #PapaMaas's special message to the Filipino Firehearts.
And here it is, the giveaway (the only reason some of you are here, lol). To start things off, this giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY (yay!), just fill out the form and you're good to go! Wondering what you'll win? Look below:
This hella awesome Sarah J. Maas themed swag pack!
(You even get an elusive Prythian Court button.)
I have another giveaway for you guys, you can win an A Court of Thorns and Roses prize pack (which includes a paperback of ACOTAR, a bookmark and a tattoo). This giveaway is open to residents of US/CAN/UK/AUS.
It was such a huge honour to have been invited to meet and interview Victoria Aveyard. Personally, I was really fascinated with the idea of the Red Queen series and it definitely got me all kinds of excited when National Book Stored announced that they would be bringing Victoria Aveyard to the Philippines. But even more than the excitement of meeting the talented New York Times best-selling author, March 6th was another chance for me to see my dear blogger friends (I had not seen them for more than three months!). It was such a fun and chill day and I enjoyed every minute of it. (It was a great break from the pressures of college life.)
Victoria Aveyard was gracious enough to let us put her on the hot seat and grill her about her writing and creative processes, book 3 and other fun things.
My lovely blogger friends looking beautiful and glamorous.
V. Aveyard answering questions.
Here are a few things we learned at the bloggers' forum;
Victoria's advice for aspiring writers is to finish the first draft, no matter what and how long it will take as long as you get to the end. Also, just keep writing and don't edit yourself.
She also mentioned that action sequences and high tension moments are her most favourite parts to write (being a screenwriter, explosions and battle scenes are pretty much in her blood) and that she'd love for someone to teach her how to write romance because those are difficult for her.
Instead of starting with characters or the plot of the story, Victoria first started with the image of a girl in an arena about to be executed but instead kills her captors with lightning. To her, world-building is the most important aspect of a story and she asked herself "What world would this place take place in?" when she saw that image of Mare. Also, to Victoria, characters are extremely important because they give the story a personality.
In terms of different exciting sequences in her book, Victoria learned every story-telling trick in film school. To her, she has to constantly up the ante per book to keep that excitement because first and foremost, she is an entertainer ready to act for her readers.
Her top 3 Fantasy book/series are: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (carried around a battered copy of the book), the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (she grew up with that series), and The Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin (because of the way he twists fantasy tropes, has no distinct protagonist/antagonist and the shades of grey morality he depicts in his books, Victoria tried to reflect that kind of value in Red Queen).
If she were to choose between writing a book or screen-writing, she would choose whichever she's not working on at the moment.
A lot of the names in Red Queen came out of thin air but Victoria also wanted to add a Roman twist to them. She usually translates words online.
In regards to the different powers/gifts featured in the book, she Wikipedia-d a complete list of superpowers and chose which ones she liked best/worked well with the plot.
The origin of the powers will be delved further in the future books.
There's no title yet for Red Queen 3 but it starts immediately after Glass Sword and is a revelation book for Mare. She learns to trust not only others but also herself.
And that's it! I would have loved to go to the official even but holy crap, there were 1,200 attendees. It was such a huge shock to everyone but I'm glad that it turned out to be such a successful event. So just keep scrolling for more photos + a giveaway!
The infamous Kai selfie with the bloggers +
V. Aveyard!
Good luck! (Please refer to the Terms and Conditions for any questions regarding the rules or feel free to tweet/email me if you need anything.)
I will never get tired of the amazing and tireless National Book Store team for being so selfless and so generous. I am so honoured to call you my friends. Shout out to Chad, JB, Miss Malou, Louie, Sheza, Miss Maan and whomever else I may I have missed, thank you for bringing Victoria Aveyard over here and for everything. Huge thanks to Victoria for signing everyone's books and for all the fun! So much love to my blogger friends, I love you all! (Thanks to Kai from Amaterasu Reads for the Kai selfie photo + audio). And last but never the least, my parents for always being so supportive. I love you to pieces.
I cannot even tell you how much I looked forward to the Marie Lu event. Not even enough, seriously. After a ridiculously hell-ish week in school, only getting the magic email in my inbox and the thought of meeting the Marie Lu got me through it all. By Saturday, I absolutely could not contain my excitement, I legit almost peed myself because I was that excited to meet her. Fortunately, I was able to hold in all bodily fluids (thank you, Lord). And when Sunday finally came, it was glorious.
They don't just look pretty, they smell good too.
Upon arriving at an undisclosed venue, I was met with the cheers of my fellow book bloggers and the sight of a lovely Marie Lu book display. Of course, seeing the pretty books piled together only added to my excitement and all that was really left was the wait. Luckily, I had the amazingly crazy companionship of my blogger friends and the wait didn't seem as long. And finally, the guest of honor arrived with a special introduction from our ever fabulous host, Chad Dee.
Marie and Chad looking very sharp
(from the back row, lol).
And with that, the forum quickly began. And here are a few things we learned from the interview:
If anyone had asked Marie who she was most like in the books, she'd have told you Day pre-Legend and June post-Champion.
Marie is least like June because June is very left-brained while Marie is more in touch with her creative side. Also, in the scene wherein June goes into a very deep discussion about paper clips and their elements, Marie had to read a whole Wikipedia page about paper clips for about an hour or so just for that dialogue.
Between Day and June, June is more of the rebel because she chose to sacrifice and change her whole life (instead of choosing to live the sheltered and luxurious life she did) for Day and the cause.
Marie used to work in the video game industry at Disney and yes, princess games and also Prince Caspian (yum!) were involved. She chose that route instead of attending law school. (That is also where she met her Elector Primo. #kilig) She also thanks her experience in the video game industry for the very cinematic and badass action scenes in her book.
Marie actually doesn't know what happens after Champion but she is very optimistic. *hint hint*
Marie turned in the first 100 pages of the original draft of The Young Elites and her editor strongly disliked *cough*hated*cough* it but Marie asked for a second chance because she could not imagine a life wherein she could not write a Fantasy novel.
The original protagonist of The Young Elites was a goody two shoes guy with Clark Kent tendencies aka he loved everyone. Adelina was originally the villain of the original novel and since Marie enjoyed writing her the most, she decided to rewrite The Young Elites in Adelina's perspective.
Marie grew up reading a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy so she knows that she will definitely be staying between those two genres.
Marie can only write while listening to music with either no lyrics or sung in a different language but anything she can understand messes with her train of thought. Also, she loves writing in trains even though she has only done it once.
Before she writes any of her books, Marie draws her characters to properly get a visual and characterization from them.
Marie answering some questions.
Well, that's it! And now, onto the fun part: the book signing.
Marie signing this very shiny book.
Marie drawing on my copy of Prodigy.
Marie drawing on my copy of The Young Elites
Celine's (Two Ends of a Bookshelf) doodled copy of The Young Elites.
(Yes, that is indeed Adelina and Enzo smooching.)
Marie and I complementing each other's prettiness. Lol.
Srsly tho.
The Hardest Selfie Ever 8.0! Holy crap, we've done that many? Also,
welcome to the family Sab (Sab the Book Eater)!
And after all that fun, we took our last shot of the day.
Group photo! Whoot.
I then ate at Chili's with my #TeamActiveRomance baes.
Then off to the public signing we went!
Marie Lu's stage. Very comfy looking couches over there.
Honestly, it was very difficult getting into the book signing itself because by the time we got there, there were over 700+ people in attendance, and the crowd just kept growing. I was amazed at how they were able to fit that many people in their store. But seriously, looking at that crowd.
A bit of the crowd from above.
A bit of the crowd from the side.
People waiting by the doors for Marie Lu to arrive.
Fans cosplaying as Marie Lu's characters! They look awesome.
I seriously look up to all the people who waited for Marie Lu. The earliest bird in attendance arrived at 9:30 AM the day before, that is so crazy but admirable at the same time. #dedication I wish that I had gotten more photos from the book signing but I just couldn't, I tried to penetrate the crowd but they were tight. Lol. Here are the last of the pictures I took:
I seriously had so much fun but by the time I left for good, I was exhausted. The walking, the wait and the heat killed me but meeting Marie Lu and seeing my blogger friends was worth all those things. I had an amazing time and it was a pleasure to meet Marie Lu, seriously.
My signed copies of Marie Lu's books.
Let us happy cry and fangirl together.
As always, there are so many people to thank and I will do my best to get everyone. The biggest thanks goes to National Book Store, their team (Sir Chad, Sir JB, Sir Louie, Miss Loraine, Miss Malou and everyone else I may have missed, thank you so much) and to Marie Lu for agreeing to come to the Philippines (please bring your hubby next time, lol). Thanks to Kai (Amaterasu Reads), Kate (The Bookaholic Blurbs) and Jesselle (The Lifelong Bookworm) for the pictures! A big smoochy thank you to my #TeamActiveRomance babes, I love you all. Seriously. And last but never the least, my parents for supporting me and for everything and God for blessing me and also for everything. Thank You.
For more Marie Lu love, check out Marie's message to her Filipino fans:
And gorgeous Champion-inspired nails done by Nicole (The Twins Read), feel free to talk Nicole and her awesome nail creations at
Also, be sure to watch our Facebook page (link here) because we will be doing a Marie Lu giveaway soon. Thanks for reading, y'all! Have a great week! :)
