Ask the Author: Leah Scheier

“I'll be answering questions about my upcoming book YOUR VOICE IS ALL I HEAR, coming in 2015.
I'm also happy to answer questions about SECRET LETTERS.” Leah Scheier

Answered Questions (21)

Sort By:

An error occurred while sorting questions for author Leah Scheier.

Thanks Miss Scheier. I think it would have been difficult to edit for you and your editor, as it has a simplicity in characters and plot. And simplicity is difficult to achieve? Currently reading, "Save the Cat! Writes a novel" and it is helping me a lot. It seemed that you know autism well in this case, and how it affects families, friends and doctors, both positively and negatively. A great easy read. :)

Leah Scheier :-)
Thank you!

flag

like
Comment

Hi Miss Scheier, Currently writing my first novel, and I stumbled across your book "Rules of Rain". It was wonderful, and my first e book, read in two days. Not bad for me, as I am getting into reading again. It made me miss my autistic nephew more. Have you learnt somewhere how to write this way (your voice) or is it innate?

Leah Scheier Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed Rule of Rain! Honestly, I never took writing classes; I just learned by doing. So I guess you could say my voice just came naturally to me?
Reading constantly certainly helps too!
Sorry about the delayed response-- I forgot to check this section of Goodreads. :-)

flag

like
Comment

Is there going to be more books like Secret letters????

Leah Scheier Hi Ariel, I'm afraid not- the publisher was not interested in publishing a sequel. I've been working on other novels since SL was published. Your Voice is All I Hear came out in 2015. Rules of Rain came out a year ago. Thank you for your question!

flag

like
Comment

Sorry for asking but one more question? So I saw that you wrote another book called Rules Of Rain about autism , have you thought about writing another book on any other books on other disorders like down-syndrome or PTSD? Sorry about my comment on our last discussion I was thinking about something else and put Leah instead of April😬!

Leah Scheier Hi Sandra, Sorry for the delay in answering; I forgot to check the "questions" area of GR.... I have written two more novels, but they are not about mental illness as YOUR VOICE IS ALL I HEAR was, or about neurodivergence, (RULES OF RAIN). I try to write novels about topics that I have experience with. I've worked with patients with mental illness as well as with young adults on the spectrum, but my experience of Down syndrome is limited to just a few patients. I also have very little experience with PTSD. I would definitely be interested in reading novels dealing with PTSD and I think representation of Down syndrome is very much lacking in literature--so I would love to see more of that as well. I just don't believe I am the best writer for the job in this case. Hope that answers your question!

flag

1 like · like
Comment

I LOVED!!!!! Your Voice Is All I Hear!!! It was one of the best books I’ve !EVER! Read. So here goes my question! Will there be a sequel to Your Voice Is All I Hear?

Leah Scheier Thank you so much! I am so glad you connected with the characters in my novel. I meant Your Voice is All I Hear to be a standalone novel--meaning, I didn't set it up for a sequel. I wanted to leave Jonah and April's future together up to the interpretation of my readers and many of my readers have written to me telling me what they believed would happen for them. Some believed that they had gone through too much to end up together, while others insisted that they would find one another again. What do you think?

flag

Hi, will Secret Letters have a sequel ? I love your books.

Leah Scheier Thank you for writing for me! So glad you loved Secret Letters! I'm afraid the publishing company isn't interested in putting out a sequel at this time, so I have moved on to other projects. My second novel, Your Voice is All I Hear came out in September 2015. It is quite different than Secret Letters, and is intended for older YA audiences (fifteen and up) but I hope you'll check it out as well. It's about a teen girl whose first love is diagnosed with schizophrenia.
I am also working on other novels; my third, Rules of Rain will be released December 1.

flag

like
Comment

I loved SECRET LETTERS. Is it a stand-alone novel or will there be a sequel?

Leah Scheier Hi Lexy. Sorry it took so long to respond! I don't check this section of Goodreads as often as I should. I completely forgot about the "ask the author" part!
I'm not planning a sequel to SL at this time, though that was my original intention. (as no doubt you can tell from the ending!) I'm currently working with Sourcebooks on YA contemporary novels (my latest, YOUR VOICE IS ALL I HEAR, just came out in September.) Since the publisher of SECRET LETTERS hasn't asked for a sequel, I am focusing on other projects. I hope you will check them out. Thanks for writing to me! I am so glad you enjoyed SL!

flag

like
Comment

Hi! I read your book, Secret Letters and immensely enjoyed it <3 I wanted to ask: Do you plan on making it a series? Will there be a sequel? Or e-novella/short book? Pls, I hope you do :D

Leah Scheier Hi Gia, Sorry it took so long to respond! I don't check this section of Goodreads as often as I should. I completely forgot about the "ask the author" part!
I'm not planning on making SL into a series at this time, though that was my original intention. (as no doubt you can tell from the ending!) I'm currently working with Sourcebooks on YA contemporary novels (my latest, YOUR VOICE IS ALL I HEAR, just came out in September.) Since the publisher of SECRET LETTERS hasn't asked for a sequel, I am currently focusing on other projects. I hope you will check them out. Thanks for writing to me! I am so glad you enjoyed SL!

flag

Hi Ms. Leah. I just finished your book All I hear is your Voice and it was fantastic and amazing. I hope that there's POV of Jonah so that we can see what's happening in his mind or what he's thinking for April. I like the ending though its not happy ending like the other YA novel I read. Is there hope that will be a sequel for this book? :)

Leah Scheier Hi Jean, Thanks so much for writing to me! I'm so glad you enjoyed my novel. I have had a couple of readers say that they would have loved to hear Jonah's POV as well as April's. While that is a fascinating idea, I don't have plans to write that viewpoint at this time. There are several wonderful novels told from the POV of a person with schizophrenia (CHALLENGER DEEP by Neal Shusterman just won the National Book Award) and I'm not sure an additional POV would add much to this story. Also I'm concerned it would feel a tad repetitive. As for a sequel, I wanted to leave the novel hopeful and open-ended. If you see April and Jonah finding each other again, there is certainly room for that! And if you see them going their separate ways, that's fine too. I tend to the happier epilogue in my imagination, but I can see both endings. Thanks again for writing to me!

flag

5 likes · like
Comment

Are the any of the Characters based on other fictional characters? If so, who is Neville based on?

Leah Scheier Neville Porter isn't based on a specific character in the original stories. There are plenty of private detectives referenced in the Doyle stories, though. There are a couple of characters that are drawn from the Sherlock Holmes canon, most notably, Agatha. I thought she was the most interesting character in the stories whom we actually never meet. (See The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.) Hint: Sherlock Holmes actually gets engaged to Agatha! (while in disguise)

flag

like
Comment

I heard that you are working on another novel, so could you give us a little hint about it? Or is it too early?

Leah Scheier I'm always working on another novel. :-) But if you mean when my next novel is coming out-- September 1st. It's called Your Voice is All I Hear and is about a teenage girl whose first boyfriend is diagnosed with schizophrenia. I hope you can check it out! Thanks for writing to me!

flag

4 likes · like
Comment

Are you hopping to write a seque for Secret Letters?

Leah Scheier At this time I am working on other novels. Maybe one day. :-)

flag

2 likes · like
2 comments

Why did you chose to write the book Your Voice is All I Hear? And can you give anymore description on the book?

Leah Scheier I have always been fascinated by mental health issues, and schizophrenia is an illness that is simply not discussed much. Symptoms frequently begin in late high school or college. I asked myself-- how would it feel to fall in love with a boy and then watch him unravel? That was my inspiration for Jonah and April's story. Thank you for your question, Caitlin.

flag

1 like · like
Comment

is There Going To be a Sequel To Secret Letters???

Leah Scheier Thanks for asking, Ginny. At this time I'm working on other projects. (My second novel Your Voice is All I Hear comes out in 2015) Maybe one day. :-)

flag

This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)

Leah Scheier Maybe one day. My publishing company would have to request one. At this time I'm working on contemporary YA novels (my second novel, Your Voice is All I Hear, comes out in 2015). Thanks for reading Secret Letters! So glad you enjoyed.

flag

What are you currently working on?

Leah Scheier My third novel. Due to my own intense superstitious fears and a crippling lack of self confidence, I never share plot summaries/descriptions about a work in progress. I made that mistake once and then was unable to finish the book afterward. Never again.

flag