Ask the Author: Lily Sparks

“HMU if you have questions” Lily Sparks

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I *loved* The Merciless King of Moore High, will we get a sequel? I'm crossing my fingers. It was one of my favorite, unique reads of last year, and I thank you for writing it. (Who would have thought court intrigue in a high school ala The Tribe would be so fun?)

Lily Sparks Thank you so much for reading Merciless King of Moore High, and for this question.

MKMH was always plotted as a series. Due to fluctuations in the publisher's structure, however, the first book will have to meet a certain sales threshold for that series to continue.

Like all authors, I do everything I can to promote. I do giveaways on tiktok, promote it on podcasts, and I have a video game coming out shortly that I've poured all my promotional resources into, which I hope will move the needle in our favor. The publisher has also been really great about book tours and promoting it to bloggers and even doing a cover reveal, which I did not have with the TKC series.

But it's hard to promote any book, let alone one that starts off from a pretty complicated premise, as a virtually unknown author. And the threshold is high, and the time to meet it is short. So please tell your friends to check it out!

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Dear Mrs. Sparks, I just finished reading Teen Killers Club and I absolutely love it. I wanted to ask you if there will be a 2nd book? If yes, when will it be released and, if you can say, what will be the title? If I am not mistaken when someone asked you that question before you did say the title will be 'Tenn Killers Club II: HIDE +SEEK. Did it change? Sorry I am not caught up.

Lily Sparks Hello!!! Thank you for this question & for loving the book.
There IS a sequel, it will be out 8/9/22, and it's called...

TEEN KILLERS IN LOVE!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

It's available on Netgalley now & starting to rack up reviews!

& In very exciting news it is getting a third an final book.

I sold the second book as "Teen Killers 2 Hide + Seek" but as a book moves along the publishing journey lots of things change and one of those things is usually the title. I am always in favor of a shorter title & this one is very to the point.

Thanks for asking a question & I hope you add TKIL to your TBR pile :D

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Hi Mrs. Sparks! First, I want to say that "Teen Killers Club" is one of my favorite books I've ever read due to your unique writing style and lovable characters. The second thing was what's your writing process? Do you do a lot of research or do a lot of planning before writing? I thought I would ask because I respect you as a writer. I often have trouble as a beginning writer with the writing process.

Lily Sparks
Thank you so much for this question!
And what a compliment. Nothing makes me happier than when people enjoy Teen Killers Club. Of all my writing its my most personal & heartfelt & people who get it are my people.
My process starts with a really detailed outline. I break the story in a broad arc and then break down what happens in every single chapter.

However in the actual writing, once my characters are solid, I sort of set them down and see what they do. This is my favorite part of writing, I really feel like a camera following the characters around and recording what happens, and so often they surprise me. I give my characters total permission to re-write the story according to what they truly are and this usually lands me in a place more organic than what I've planned.

For example, [spoiler] in my first outline of Teen Killers Club, Erik was the big bad and Signal had to kill him in the Star Barn at the end to protect Javier. But then in the writing, Erik kept making the case for why he was not such a bad guy after all, and in listening to him the theme of the book and the series became much clearer.

Hope this is helpful. Everyone has their own different way they write and whatever gives you the most happiness per minute is the way to follow.

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