Author Event: Ream of the Unknown Panel

This past Thursday, I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Realm of the Unknown Panel at the Irving Public Library! The author in attendance were: Beth Revis, Marie Lu, Jackson Pearce, Andrea Cremer, and Rosemary Clement Moore as the moderator.

This event definitely has to be one of my favorites that I’ve ever attended! In one word, all the authors were hilarious! There was SO much laughing going on, everyone was cracking up.

Anyways, let's get onto the actual event! Before the event itself started, people were just talking and eating some refreshments. I picked up a delicious cupcake that was so cute!

See the A Million Suns cover in the cupcake? It’s actually a little ring. So adorable!

Anyways, the event started shortly after I arrived. Rosemary, the moderator, started with some basic questions, and then the authors each took a turn to answer. This is my first event where I actually took some notes at, so I have lots to share with you all! Here’s some of the things that they said…:

---

• Beth started writing in 5th grade. It took her 10 years to get published [after she started writing more seriously.]
• Marie didn’t realize, at first, that books were actually published. She thought they were made in factories.
• Jackson at one point in her life wanted to be a veterinarian. This dream was crushed when her grandmother told her that she would have to put animals to sleep.
• Andrea thought that writers lived in their parent’s basements.
• Andrea actually has a PHD in Modern History.
• Beth wanted to be an astronaut, but learned that it involved a lot of math, which she isn’t very good at.
• Andrea wanted to be a marine biologist, but then she saw Jaws…
• Jackson wanted to be in the circus! She auditioned for a circus, but they rejected her. She juggled fire for her audition! Why didn’t they accept her?!
• Both Jackson and Andrea think strong women are very important. They wanted to write something with a kick-butt main character.
• The Redwall series really influenced Marie. She says she loves fantasy and sci-fi, and she’ll never really stray from those genres.
• Marie begins writing with a character, and then builds a world around them.
• The world of Legend was inspired by a map that Marie saw. It showed what the world would look if freshwater would disappear and sea levels would rise.
• The world of Nightshade was based on the past. Andrea used her knowledge of modern history to create the world and backstory.
• Beth, on the other hand, didn’t know the backstory of her story at all. Her editor asked for sketches of Godspeed, but Beth actually didn’t have any. So she had to copy a ship…
• Across the Universe was originally set on a cruise ship, but Beth changed the setting.
• Beth said that Across the Universe was considering quitting writing, and that this was going to be the last ditch effort. Marie also had a similar story.
• Jackson said that all authors have a box of rejected novels [the exception being Andrea].
• Andrea went through an identity crisis while writing. She thought she had the perfect life, since she was a professor teaching Modern History. She used to write late at night and in her free time. She eventually quit her job to write full time.
• Authors get very little say in their covers. Beth was told about her new cover change the day before they were revealed.
• Andrea thinks that strength comes from self awareness. Characters that literally kick butt are strong, but so are characters that recognize their faults.
• Jackson loves outlining, but Marie is really bad at it.
• Beth had a really annoying and talkative student named Ben. So, she killed him off in the first book [she really enjoyed doing this, the scene is like 5 pages long]. All characters that she kills are former students of hers.
• Andrea does not enjoy killing characters, but both Jackson and Beth really enjoy it. But Jackson and Marie agreed that they couldn’t kill animals in their respective stories.
• Beth said that there’s a gory death scene in Shades of Earth that she loved writing. She read it to her husband, who commented on how gory it was. [This scares me! Who’s going to die?!]

---

Picture time! I do recognize that these are all really bad, probably because I used my phone camera and was sitting in the third row…

Left to Right: Andrea Cremer, Jackson Pearce, Marie Lu, Beth Revis

Andrea Cremer and Marie Lu listen as Jackson Pearce talks

Beth Revis!

Rosemary Clemet Moore mid-smile. =)

I actually have many more pictures, but this post is getting pretty long, isn’t it?

---

Anyways, after the authors were finished talking and everyone finished asking questions, it was time for the authors to sign our books. It was great to talk to the authors one-on-one, they were so amazing.

Such a fabulous event! Thank you to the Irving Public Library for hosting!

Have you ever attended any events? Have you met any of these authors before? What do you think about what they said? Leave your thoughts in the comments!