Q&A with Gretchen Powell discussion

So I thought it might be fun to list a couple of fun facts for you guys about the book! If you have any questions that pop up, of course, feel free to ask 'em! :)

Fun Fact #1: My inspiration for the names of all the terrestrial characters came from, well, the earth! For the most part, they are all either inspired by or related to minerals, metals, rocks, gemstones, or other earth-related things.

Some of these are pretty obvious: Terra, Mica, Coal, Copper, Gem. But some are a little bit less: Mal (Malachite), Chrys (Chrysalis), Emery (like the mineral that goes on emery boards!), etc. Yttria is actually another term of Yttrium Oxide, a powdered mineral, and that is totally my favorite name transition/pull.

I actually did some research to figure out a lot of these, and kept an ongoing list of words that I thought had potential as names. Fun stuff!

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I didn't notice that about the names -.- and now I feel silly...

Ai Rei wrote: "Do you sometimes act out your scenes either with someone or alone to help with your writing process?"

I don't do a lot of acting out. Sometimes I'll make a movement or play out a gesture by myself just to kind of figure out how to best describe something, but it's not very involved. I got asked the other day if I diagram my fight scenes or anything, too, haha. Might be a good idea to, but I never have employed anything other than a good old-fashioned mental picture! :)

Lara wrote: "Is Adam named after Adam like Adam and Eve? That's pretty damn earthly. "

That was absolutely an influencing factor! You know, that whole "first man" thing, which as you know from the twist, ends up being mildly ironic, hehehe.

So, continuing with the trend... Fun Fact #2!

Well, this is not really so much fun as it is telling of my truly silly and ridiculous side, but the very (VERY) initial planning stages of Terra included a robotic dog that Terra would find in the Dead Woods, and that Mica would fix.

...

I know. I wanted it to follow them around and be an adorable robotic sidekick, because I am 12. Hehe.

They could still find a robotic pup in Book 2 or 3! I'd be totally for that! Because I'm 12 as well :p

Haha yep they could! :D