Ask the Author: Bethany Neal
Answered Questions (6)
Bethany Neal
Hi Mariana,
Thank you so much for your question and for reading My Last Kiss! You've made my day. :)
There's actually an interesting story behind how I found out who the girl on the cover is. When my publisher (Macmillan Teen) revealed the cover on their blog, I was reading the very generous/excited comments and saw one of them was in Russian. Crazy, right?
So I stalked out the commenter on Facebook and discovered she was a Russian photographer named Anna Koshechkina. Further stalking lead me to a series of photos she'd taken of a gorgeous girl with ethereal flowing hair on a desolate beach, and it was Cassidy!
My cover designer Elizabeth Clark purchased rights to the photo then worked her magic removing a ring on the model's left hand, splicing the image to reflect Cassidy's ghostly amnesia & adding spooky trees to evoke the setting of the story.
Super crazy cool, huh? You can find Anna on DeviantArt @afamjaowy, 500px.com & Facebook. And please do. Her photos are stunning.
Happy reading,
B*
Thank you so much for your question and for reading My Last Kiss! You've made my day. :)
There's actually an interesting story behind how I found out who the girl on the cover is. When my publisher (Macmillan Teen) revealed the cover on their blog, I was reading the very generous/excited comments and saw one of them was in Russian. Crazy, right?
So I stalked out the commenter on Facebook and discovered she was a Russian photographer named Anna Koshechkina. Further stalking lead me to a series of photos she'd taken of a gorgeous girl with ethereal flowing hair on a desolate beach, and it was Cassidy!
My cover designer Elizabeth Clark purchased rights to the photo then worked her magic removing a ring on the model's left hand, splicing the image to reflect Cassidy's ghostly amnesia & adding spooky trees to evoke the setting of the story.
Super crazy cool, huh? You can find Anna on DeviantArt @afamjaowy, 500px.com & Facebook. And please do. Her photos are stunning.
Happy reading,
B*
Bethany Neal
Music is a big inspiration for me. Especially listening to new bands sparks my creativity.
Bethany Neal
I got the idea for MY LAST KISS from Metric's song "Help I'm Alive." I was fascinated by the idea of being alive as a problem that you would need help for.
Bethany Neal
Be confident in your writing and take it seriously. If you don't, you can't expect anyone else to.
Bethany Neal
It's a tie between living vicariously through my characters and meeting readers.
Bethany Neal
Firstly, that dirty little phrase isn't allowed to be uttered in my house. Writing is tough enough without visualizing a giant block of creative kryptonite sitting between me and finishing my novel.
However, dry spells do occur and when they do my fail safe is to go back and reread what I've already written. That usually gets me back inside the characters' heads and back on track with the story. I find that writer's block is only ever two things: 1) You're trying to force writing the wrong story or 2) You've lost sight of your characters.
Happy writing!
However, dry spells do occur and when they do my fail safe is to go back and reread what I've already written. That usually gets me back inside the characters' heads and back on track with the story. I find that writer's block is only ever two things: 1) You're trying to force writing the wrong story or 2) You've lost sight of your characters.
Happy writing!
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