Title: Gone Too Far
Author: Natalie D. Richards
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: 6th January 2015
BLURB from Goodreads
Keeping secrets ruined her life. But the truth might just kill her.
Piper Woods can't wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She's sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone's sure it's suicide, but Piper remembers Stella's name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse.
Drowning in secrets she doesn't want to keep, Piper's fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished...
Piper Woods can't wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She's sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone's sure it's suicide, but Piper remembers Stella's name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse.
Drowning in secrets she doesn't want to keep, Piper's fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished...
PURCHASE LINKS
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
What is the name of your latest book,
and if you had to summarize it in less than 20 words what would you say?
Gone Too Far is my newest book and
it’s due out January 6th!
Woohoo! For my twenty word
summary, I’m going to go a little cryptic with…
A
photographer who sees too much.
A
mysterious invitation to make someone pay.
A
vigilante game with an unimaginable cost.
How long does it usually take you to
write a book, from the original idea to finishing writing it?
Great question, but sadly there’s not a
consistent answer! Six Months Later took
roughly six months to write and another month or two to edit. Gone Too Far also took about six months to
write…the first time. LOL! This book required a tremendous amount of
work. Everything is very tightly woven,
so it needed a lot of editing passes and very careful evaluation. It was rough, but worth it!
How long have you been writing? Who or
what inspired you to write?
I’ve been writing seriously for about
eight years now, but my first book was purchased about two years ago. I always thought it would be amazing to write
books—even as a child, I dreamed of being an author, but then real life
convinced me that I needed a more logical, dependable career. When my mom passed away several years ago, I
started to really think about how precious time is and how vital it is to reach
for the things we want most. It took a
few years, but I think that was the incident that started my writing journey,
so to speak.
Where do you get your book plot ideas from?
What/Who is your inspiration?
My book ideas usually come in
flashes. Sometimes I’ll have a dream
that will inspire me. Often I’ll have a
scene flash into my head, almost like a movie.
I call them my inspiration scenes.
This is what happened for Gone Too Far—I saw a scene of Piper getting
the text message “Send me a name. Make
someone pay.” After those scenes happen,
my brain starts asking a lot of questions and a story comes together.
How do you come up with the Title and
Cover Designs for your book/books? Who designed the Cover of your books?
I can’t take credit for the titles or
covers of Gone Too Far or Six Months Later!
LOL! My original titles were both
changed for those books, which is fine by me. My amazing editing and
promotional team at Sourcebooks Fire is terrific with finding title ideas that
work. It’s definitely a collaborative
effort, but they have the best suggestions.
;-) The art team at Sourcebooks
handles my covers and I couldn’t be more pleased with what they come up
with! As authors we submit some cover
concept information—images or colors or what-not that we’d like to see on the
cover, and definitely these elements were included on the cover for Gone Too
Far. I couldn’t be happier with how it
turned out!
Do you choose a title first, or write
the book then choose the title?
Almost always, I write the book and
somewhere along the way the title is decided. But bear in mind, titles are not
my strong suit, so usually they change!
How do you come up with characters names
and place names in your books?
Gone Too Far and Six Months Later are
both set in fictional towns, but all street names, restaurants, etc. are
loosely based on places I’ve lived or visited.
As for character names, I am a huge fan of “feeling” character names
out. I keep saying different ideas out
loud until things feel right. It’s a lot
like naming babies or pets!
Are character names and place names
decided after their creation? Or do you pick a character/place name and then
invent them?
Generally names are decided as I write,
though I’ll typically have main character names decided during the initial
brainstorming stages.
Do you decide on character traits (i.e.
shy, quiet, tomboy girl) before writing the whole book or as you go along?
Some things I know right away, but some
things come to me as I write. For
example, I knew pretty soon that Piper was a photographer, but her family is
very earth-friendly and socially conscious, which I didn’t know until I got to
know her through writing.
Do you basic plot/plan for your book,
before you actually begin writing it out? Or do you let the writing flow and
see where it takes the story?
A lot of people refer to themselves as
plotters (big time planners) or pantsters (fly by the seat of your pants
writers), but I like to call myself a planster.
;-) I do have a very, very basic
plan, which mostly means I know where I’m ending up when I start a book to some
extent. But most of it is flying into
the mist letting the book go where it needs to go.
Do you have a favorite out of the books
you have written? If so why is it your favorite?
I don’t, because I love them for very
different reasons. Six Months Later was
special because it was my first book.
Gone Too Far is special because so many of the characters spoke to me so
clearly. My third book is special
because it’s set in a town I adore.
Do you have a favorite character from
your books? Why are they your favorite?
Tate is probably my favorite character
of all time. He’s a secondary character
in Gone Too Far and I’d love to explore him more. He’s sort of damaged and confused and there’s
just a lot going on that I’d like to understand better.
If you had to choose to be one of your
characters in your book/books which would you be? And why?
Piper, because she’s strong and
generally calm (which I’m not!) and she’s a really talented photographer, which
is kind of amazing to me.
What can we expect from you in the
future? I.e. More books of the same genre? Books of a different genre?
I have two more teen thrillers coming
out with Sourcebooks, though I don’t have titles or release dates yet, but I’ve
got other projects I’m working on as well, some YA, some middle grade, and some
adult stuff.
Are there any New Authors you are
interested in for us to watch out for? Why should we watch out for them?
I’d keep your eyes peeled for Pintip
Dunn who has Fit to Die coming out in fall of 2015 and The Hotline in
2016. Also, Meg Kassel who’s coming out
early 2016 with The Black Bird of the Gallows.
I’ve read bits of these books and just adored them. Plus, the authors are lovely.
Thanks so much for having me! It was lovely to be here!!
Thanks so much for having me! It was lovely being here -- can't believe it's already this close to launch day!! Ahhhh!!! :-)
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