GIVING AWAY BOOKS!

Adopt an ARC! Check out this list! (PH Only)
  • ARC Review: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
  • ARC Review: The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver
  • Review: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
  • Review: Karmic Hearts by Jhing Bautista
  • Review: The Conspiration of the Universe by Kenneth Olanday

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Storm Blog Tour: 7 secrets of Storm

I cannot believe this is the last stop. And that this is the last day for the blog tour. It's been such an awesome tour and we get to read a lot about the book and the Merrick brothers *coughgabrielisminecough* but all good things must come to an end and as the last stop, I'm sharing some of the things you might not know about Storm.

And I want Gabriel's shirt. Or him. Or both. No, he can lose the shirt, but I want him. Okay, I'm gonna stop now.

Enjoy~

SEVERE WEATHER WARNING: 9 Bloggers, 9 Days, 1 Epic Storm

1) Hunter wasn’t always Hunter.

In the original manuscript, Hunter’s name was Garrett. It was a very last minute change to switch to Hunter (the books were already sold, and we were writing cover copy) and it was mostly because I was starting to get confused seeing Garrett and Gabriel. The names just looked too similar. Why did I choose to change Garrett’s name? Well, because Gabriel is so … Gabriel. A lot of names were in the running before we settled on Hunter. He could have been Sam, Blake, Brett, Stone, Salem, and Cai. But now he’s just so … Hunter. He couldn’t be anything else. Hunter never gets a last name in Storm, but in Spark, you find out his last name is Garrity, a homage to his original name.

2) I didn’t name my characters after my family.

I named my family after my characters. Sort of. I originally wrote about these four brothers in high school, and they essentially had the same names. I always liked the name Michael when I was a teenager, and I used to go around telling people that I would one day marry a man named Michael. Sure enough -- I did! When I started writing Storm, I thought about changing the names, but Michael was just so … Michael. I couldn’t change his name. When I got pregnant with my first son, I wanted to name him Christopher, after the character. But Christopher Kemmerer is just too many -ers, so I named him Nicholas instead. (My second son is Samuel Christopher. So I got it in there somewhere.)

3) Becca’s mom is the only character based off someone in real life.

And she’s based off my mom, who is also a Registered Nurse who works nights. (Though my mother doesn’t work in the ER.) My mom is totally the type of woman who would give one of my friends a house key, or make two plates and leave them in the fridge, or do anything for anyone, just because they needed it. She’s an amazing woman.

4) I never went to high school with boys.

I went to a very small, all girls’ Catholic high school, with a graduating class of 56 students. I did have a boyfriend for one year in high school, who broke my heart brutally by breaking up with me (because I wouldn’t go all the way with him), and then coming to see me during intermission of a drama club performance, just to tell me he’d found a college girl to hook up with. I mean, honestly. That was the end of that. But I love reading reviews where people ask if I’m secretly a teen boy in disguise, because I never had a lot of experience around them! (Though I do have a teen stepson now, and he’s awesome and delightful and nothing like the unruly Merricks.)

5) There’s a scene where Gabriel wears a tee shirt that has a screen print of a truck on it, and the caption is, “My other ride is your mom.” I went through a LOT of tee shirt websites trying to find the perfect shirt for Gabriel. Some other contenders? “Get your tickets to the gun show.” Or, “Stand back. I’m a professional.” How about, “I support recycling. I wore this yesterday.” My absolute favorite, which made me giggle for about five minutes, but I shot it down because it was probably too risque, was the picture of an ear of corn, with the caption, “It ain’t gonna shuck itself.”

6) Drew McKay is a real person.

Well, he’s a real person, but he is NOT a model for the character. I don’t really know him other than through Facebook, and his real name is Andrew McKay. We met years ago playing City of Heroes online. (Yes, we can all pause for you to acknowledge that I am secretly a dork.) When I was coming up with names for characters, I must have just read a comment of his or something on Facebook, because I had half the book written before I realized, “HOLY CRAP. I named this character after a real person.” I joked about it to him (the real guy, not the character), and said I would change it, but he said he didn’t care. I was like, “No. Dude. You don’t understand. This guy is no good.” But he wanted it to stick. So it did.

7) The trash talk was the hardest part of the novel for me to write.

I’m the kind of person who hears a slang term and has to Google it. Seriously, when I was in fifth grade, some kid asked me if I knew what a condom was, and I said, “Isn’t it kind of like an apartment building?” I thought he was talking about a CONDO. My husband is a super nice guy, so I’d ask him to help with trash talk, and he’d have nothin’. I probably spent more time on the tiny scenes between male characters than on any other part of the novel.


Schedule:


Monday 23rd April:  Chris/Becca/Hunter Interview - Read Me Love Me Bookmark Me
Tuesday 24th April: This or That with the Boys of Storm - Shiirleyy’s Bookshelf
Wednesday 25th April: Fantasy Casting - saz101
Thursday 26th April: Brigid Q&A: YOU ask the questions! - Eleusinian Mysteries
Friday 27th April: Keeping up with the Merrick Twins + Review Roundup - Badass Bookie
Saturday 28th April: Storm Excerpt - Forget-Me-Not
Sunday 29th April: Video chat - Book Probe
Monday 30 April:  Chris Interview - Reading Wishes
Tuesday 1st May: Guest Post by Brigid: Five Secrets of the Elemental Series - Amaterasu Reads

Giveaway Packs:

  

International Prize Pack 1:
Elemental (ebook) + Storm + Spark preorder 

International Prize Pack 2: 
 Elemental (ebook) + Storm + Spark ARC

International Prize 3:
Copy of Storm + Spark Pre-order



Australian Prize Pack: 
Storm ARC + Spark preorder

Australia/New Zealand Prize Packs (10 winners):
1 copy of STORM + 1 STORM book jacket  + 1 SPARK book jacket
Thanks to Allen & Unwin and Brigid!!

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!








28 comments:

  1. Sooo I haven't read Storm yet but I love all these facts! The Drew McKay bit makes me smile, and the trash talk... Oh, my life in high school. It was exactly like that. I didn't know what anything was. Terms in my national language, too... Even if they were slang, I was like, "Wait, sorry, what?" and got everything wrong.

    Thanks for the post! (;

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  2. Ahhh this is AMAZING. <3 This is absolutely fascinating! To think that Brigid ended up writing a book about four brothers considering she'd never actually gone to a school with boys. WOW.

    And I hope that fucker went and got fucked. D:< LOSER. High school boyfriends can be such dipshits.

    Oh I'm rubbish when it comes to trash talk. HONESTLY. My friend can't believe that I don't know so many terms that apparently someone my age 'should know by now'. Okay, REALLY? WHY SHOULD I KNOW THESE THINGS. *sigh*

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  3. This looks great! Cant wait to read Storm :)

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  4. What awesome insight into Storm. I love it! And the fact that the trash talk etc. had to be researched makes the book that much more impressive! Congrats, Brigid, on a fabulous debut. Great interview.

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  5. Thanks for the inside facts :D It's always fun to read those! :D And I absolutely agree with your friend, I wouldn't want my name of the book, even if it was a bad character. :D

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  6. Okay, you can have Gabriel. I want Chris. But anyway, awesome interview. Hunter is such a great name. Kinda better than Garrett. :D

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  7. Nooooo! The end! Don't want it to end! It's been a ton of fun. All the posts are amazing, as is Brigid and all you incredible blggers <3

    I LOVE this post! I did originally think that Brigid must have named the characters after her family haha. Seriously, fate with the Michael thing or what?!

    It's so insane to think she's never had a ton of experience living around teen guys (like in high school, etc) because wow... I honestly can't think of another author I've read who's made me believe so much in the 'teen boy' personality and their relationships. But she's obviously had experience with at least one jerk =\

    LOL I freaking LOVE Gabriel's shirts. Um, he can totally wear the corn one when he meets up with me on the weekend. We can chat about it and.... do ..... stuff. Heh.

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  8. Oh, wow, this is interesting. I really like hearing the scenes behind the book. I think I like Gabriel out of all the boys, already!

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  9. Interesting. I really can't wait for this book! Or series!

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  10. The final post was the best from the tour. It was great tour and thank you for the giveaway,
    Artemis

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  11. +JMJ+

    This is probably my favourite post from the entire tour! =D

    I, too, have heard that Brigid does the voices of her teen boy characters particularly well, so it impresses me even more to learn that she went to an all-girls high school! Now, I really can't wait to read Storm. =)

    PS--And what was wrong with that ex-boyfriend, aye???

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  12. Wow, that's funny that she went looking for T-shirt designs. Those all sound SO Gabriel.

    I'm always amazed when she mentions she went to an all-girls high school. The brothers' voices are so genuine that it's hard to fathom!

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  13. I'm so excited to read this book!!! Thanks for the great tour :D

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  14. NO! SAY IT AIN'T SO! We can't believe this is the end of the blog tour!! But such a great way to end it! We love all these little insider gems from Brigid. We STILL think she has five hot bois locked in her basement and forces them to interact with each other for her authorly amusement! So, now what? I guess we just wait impatiently for Spark and the Storm movie to come out? Excellent job Amaterasu and all the bloggers and Brigid of course!! You guys like so totally ROCK!!!

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  15. Nooo, it's the end of the tour!!! Makes me sad. But hey, what a way to end!!! I cannot believe some of these secrets!! You did go to school with boys?! That must've been hard. But then, not all of us are hormonally-driven females. Oh and Garrett is a cool name, I like that too. But I think the name Hunter fits Hunter better than the name Garrett.
    Thanks for the LAST STOP!!! :)
    Alyssa Susanna

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  16. AAAAAAAAH! NOOOOOOOOOO! I can't believe it's all over *sobs* *passes the tissues*

    But what an EPIC note to leave it on! I LOVE this post--thanks for sharing it, Kai!

    I still can't believe that Brigid's had no brothers, no boys school, no nothing. It's amazing.

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  17. Best secrets ever! Thanks for the post!

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  18. Thanks for sharing the secrets. Very nice post.

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  19. This interview is hilarious! It was good of Brigid to go through tons of T-shirts to find the perfect one for Gabriel. BTW, I like the name Hunter a lot better than Garrett :D
    I can't believe this is the last blog post of the tour! :C

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  20. I'm loving these facts! I wish more authors would spill! I'm supremely glad you chose 'Hunter' for the name. Its suits so perfectly! And I LOLed so much at those shirts!! Awesome picks!

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  21. Love this post so much! I agree with Gabbie, I wish I could hear this kind of thing for all my favourite authors - it's soooo interesting.

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  22. LOL! A CONDO. Oh my. That is just precious.

    Hunter is a great name!

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  23. I like the quote on Gabriel's shirt. :D
    Thanks for the fun facts! Really enjoyed reading them and some downright made me LOL.

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  24. LOVED the secrets. THANK YOU for sharing.

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  25. Thanks so much for the giveaway! It's been on my wish list and then after your review I've been wanting to read it even more.

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  26. This stuff is so cool to know! I loved Storm and having to wait for Spark just might kill me ._.

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  27. Adorable interview, especially reading about Drew xD

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