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Lindsay Eagar

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September 2011

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Hi Lindsay! I was wondering how much planning do you do before you begin writing a book? I usually do quite a bit of planning, but I recently watched one of your interviews and you said that you wrote the first draft of Hour Of The Bees in 10 days! I feel like planning takes so much time. So my question is: do you do a lot of planning before you jump in and begin writing a new novel? Thanks!

Lindsay Eagar Hi, Sydney! Thanks for reaching out and asking.

So I have now finished eight novels. If you had asked me this after the third one, I would have said, …moreHi, Sydney! Thanks for reaching out and asking.

So I have now finished eight novels. If you had asked me this after the third one, I would have said, "I plan out everything." If you had asked me after I wrote BEES, I would have said, "Planning doesn't work for me; I have to jump in without knowing anything." If you ask me today, I will say: every book is different.

Some of my books have needed extensive planning--there's one project that I have almost 100k of just planning and plotting and mythologies and histories and cultural studies for the fantasy world and only about 20k of the actual book written so far. Other ones, like BEES, come to me quickly, and I write them almost as quickly as I am thinking about them.

I would say, though, that I tend to require a happy medium between planning and not planning: I try not to write a book until I have at least five plot points or scenes or even moments (they don't have to be significant to the story, but they help me remember the story I'm trying to tell). I also recommend at least knowing your ending before you start--sometimes it's really hard to know how to end a thing when you've just pantsed 85k.

Always remember that anything you do can and will be undone in revision, so drafting is the place to play away! Experiment! Stray from your outline if your characters are begging you to meander.

Best of luck! xoxo(less)

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First off I seriously loved Hour of the Bees, it was so good, and I really enjoyed seeing a character in a book with my name! Also, are you currently writing anything new? And if so what's it going to be about?

Lindsay Eagar Hi, Karoleena! So good to hear from you. Thank you for reading my little book. I'm thrilled to hear that you liked it.

I'm so glad you found a name-mat…moreHi, Karoleena! So good to hear from you. Thank you for reading my little book. I'm thrilled to hear that you liked it.

I'm so glad you found a name-match for yourself! I love the way you spell yours. :)

I am writing something new--a couple of new things, actually! I am always working. (Being a writer is kind of like signing up to have homework forever, grrr.) My next book is another middle grade called RACE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. It is very different from BEES, but it's a book I worked on before I wrote or sold BEES, and it's very special to me. It's about marine biologists and pirates and sharks and forbidden love and candy and asks, "If you knew you were dying, what regrets would you have? What would you try to do?" It will be out in October of 2017 (and actually it should be up on Goodreads by now. Hmmm.)

My next book after that is another middle grade about a mother and daughter who are looking for Bigfoot. It will be out fall of 2018.

And I have a few more things cooking after that, but I can't talk about them quite yet!

Thanks so much for reaching out! Happy reading.(less)

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Lindsay Eagar’s books

Average rating: 4.11 · 9,496 ratings · 1,845 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	Hour of the Bees 4.18 avg rating — 7,015 ratings — published 2016 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Patron Thief of Bread 4.20 avg rating — 876 ratings — published 2022 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Race to the Bottom of the Sea 4.13 avg rating — 735 ratings — published 2017 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Family Fortuna 3.04 avg rating — 403 ratings — published 2023 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bigfoot Files 3.69 avg rating — 283 ratings — published 2018 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Made Glorious 3.79 avg rating — 175 ratings — published 2024 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The pickpocket and the gargoyle 3.82 avg rating — 17 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Patron Thief of Bread 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Lindsay Eagar…

Quotes by Lindsay Eagar (?)

“Stories don't end," he says. "They just turn into new beginnings." (pg. 123)”
― Lindsay Eagar, Hour of the Bees

tags: beginnings-and-endings, stories

21 likes

“It is a big world, full of things that steal your breath and fill your belly with fire...But where you go when you leave isn't as important as where you go when you come home.”
― Lindsay Eagar, Hour of the Bees

tags: coming-home

17 likes

“Things are only impossible if you stop to think about them.”
― Lindsay Eagar, Hour of the Bees

tags: possibilities

16 likes

See all Lindsay Eagar's quotes »

Polls

We have read a lot of wonderful books this year, but have we missed your favorite?

What book should we read in December?

Please write in your choice. As always, you may write in titles, provided the book is a 2023 Newbery contender and already published.

Odder by Katherine Applegate

27 votes 31.0%

The Patron Thief of Bread by Lindsay Eagar

18 votes 20.7%

Alias Anna by Susan Hood (write-in)

12 votes 13.8%

How to Build a Human: In Seven Evolutionary Steps by Pamela S. Turner

10 votes 11.5%

The Passport Project: Two Sisters Ditch Middle School for a Life-Changing Journey Around the World by Kellie McIntyre

7 votes 8.0%

Falling Short (write-in)

5 votes 5.7%

Odder (write-in)

3 votes 3.4%

My Life Begins by Patricia MacLachlan (write-in)

2 votes 2.3%

passport project (write-in)

1 vote 1.1%

Parron thief (write-in)

1 vote 1.1%

The Passport Project: Two Sisters Ditch Middle School for a Life-Changing Journey Around the World by Kellie McIntyre (write-in)

1 vote 1.1%

87 total votes

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