Ask the Author: Mia Siegert

“Got a question about JERKBAIT, my writing, or me? Ask away! :) ” Mia Siegert

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Mia Siegert *laughs nervously in author and Word/Scrivener* Noooothing...
Mia Siegert This is legitimately the COOLEST thing ever and I'm so flattered you want to give it a go! I hope you're able to post it somewhere like Archive of Our Own or something because I'd love to see a link or something when you're finished! You're going to do an awesome job with whatever you do!!!

I'd love to see your creativity with it but if it helps as a starting point, Synthetica was an RP I created with a friend that was heavily influenced by the animes Yami no Matsuei/Descendants of Darkness (op: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSPcs... ) (Jay very much was inspired by Hisoka) and Angel Sanctuary (which is so old and admittedly WTF at so many parts and it is very violent, these days it's very difficult to find online which is disappointing because the OP was really clever with things like the Coca Cola can falling). Both sources of inspiration are very, very dated and sort of have the core heart of 90s/early 2000s anime and trying to push the limits of what was acceptable at the time--it's hard to imagine now how progressive it was at the time!

If it helps, a huge part of the Synthetica premise was a typical heaven/hell apocalypse and the idea of saviors. Heaven and hell were each to present their own representative, who was meant to be predetermined. Except there was a HUGE problem on Heaven's end, which of course they didn't share with Hell, being that the representative was dead. So in some Angels being Bad News, they called upon a lot of scientists and volunteers from earth to have bionic experiments done on. Jay, being the good ragdoll cinnamon bun he is, volunteered immediately and the scientists Dr. Ian Godby and Dr. Aaron Swatson worked on him, implanting bionic wings so they could fly, and there was a bit of a love story that developed with Jay and Ian (with Aaron being the jealous best friend), and the angel of secrets Raziel who decided Jay would become the savior, and, being the angel of secrets, neglecting to tell Jay (or anyone) that he was a replacement. Lot of fighting stuff with Jay getting in danger, Ian often saving him, and then people wondering "Oh, maybe Ian should be the savior instead, hahaha" then, "Wait, maybe he really should be."

I hope that can be of any help for some launch points--you don't need to stick to anything at all! I think it's such a cool and creative idea and I hope there's some way that you can share it because I'd love to see (and also my publisher Lerner/Carolrhoda Labs would definitely love to! Fanwork is so cool).
Mia Siegert Great question, Rebekah!

Originally it was an assignment for a creative writing class I took in undergrad. It was vastly different then--still twins, but Tristan was a lacrosse player and Robbie and artist, and Jimmy was "getting married."

I forgot about that short story for years. Not long after I finished grad school, I picked it up and wrote a draft in 2.5 weeks. I showed it to someone prematurely and they were like, "Oh, I didn't know you wrote YA!" I didn't even know what YA was at the time. Immediately, I dove into reading as much as possible and the story evolved. IRL I was a high schooler in the HUGE era of Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, and countless others in the New Jersey Devils when we kept winning cups. I thought about maybe changing the story up, making Robbie a promising hockey prospect who's grappling with his sexuality because he desperately wants to be drafted and how dangerous a place it can be.

With Tristan, some of my influence with the change came from my love of musical theatre. I made a few winks to some friends in Broadway shows and really talked with my editor a lot about toxic masculinity. It emerged from there and the idea of being the exhibitionist versus the voyeur.

Thanks so much for your great question and giving my book a chance. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! My next YA, SOMEBODY TOLD ME, will come out in April, 2020, and I hope it will meet the expectations of JERKBAIT readers like yourself.

Best,
Mia
Mia Siegert Thank you so much!!!
To answer your question, Yes! :)
Mia Siegert It sort of just came to me. I try to let the writing dictate the story rather than me dictate what I'm writing so it's a little more organic. :)
Mia Siegert I hope so!!! :)
Mia Siegert You know those bad, rainy days where people are miserable? Give that to me. The worse the storm, the better I sleep. The better I sleep, the more refreshed I am. The more refreshed I am, the better I create.

As well, I think water as an element is very purifying and lends way to creativity. Perhaps because with the astrological alignment as a Scorpio being ruled by water there's some cosmos behind everything. Whatever it is, it hasn't failed.
Mia Siegert Stay humble and always say thank you.
Don't assume you're always right but steer clear of advice that doesn't ring true to you.
Brutal honesty usually isn't actually honesty--it's usually someone's excuse for being a jerk and pretending they know way more than they do.

As well, don't give up.
Mia Siegert The finished product. Seriously, there's a sense of pride in completing something.
Mia Siegert Lots of tea, chocolate, reading (for pleasure), and switching to a completely different story triggers my creativity almost immediately. Sometimes all it takes is stepping away from the novel to remember what your novel is actually about and why you're writing it. I'm the type of person who gets super obsessed with what I'm writing to the point where I often can't sleep so these breaks are immensely helpful, especially when I'm on a tight deadline.

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