Have a question that you’ve just been dying to ask about the ASHES Trilogy? Or my cats? The husband? Why I routinely count cats if I’ve been gone awhile? Or questions about any of my other books: DROWNING INSTINCT, THE SIN-EATER’S CONFESSION, DRAW THE DARK?
Then this for you.
From 11/11-17, you can post your questions on YA Book Lovers Unite here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1518979-ilsa-j-bick-author-of-ashes-q-a. I’ll be dropping in a couple times a day.
So come on down! Don’t let me get too lonely over there, okay? I’m waiting to hear from you 🙂
Hi Ilsa,
Just finished monsters and absolutely loved it! But just wondering if there will be another book? I know it is a trilogy but just thought there might be another as it was left open at the end.
Thank you!
Georgia
Hey, Georgia, glad to hear it! The answer is . . . depends. I wrote a whole blog entry about that here: https://www.ilsajbick.com/?p=2354
Oh darn! I’ve got a question about DROWNING INSTINCT I wanted to ask. Now I see that post and think: “Great, too late.”
Can I put the question all the same?
Of course, you can, Ayla.
Okay. Great.
So there is the sentence I don’t relly get. At page 3 you wrote that there was nothing. It sounds to me like it has a major meaning, but I have no actual clue what it could mean.
Can you explain it to me if there is a major meaning? Or is there none?
Oh, and what do you bake? Just pies and cakes or cookies and little things as well? And also bigger things?
Sure. ERs are very noisy places. After you apply electroshock to start up the heart, we always used to go very quiet, waiting for the heart monitor to start blipping again. So that’s what the nothing is: everyone waiting, nothing coming from the heart monitor. Meaning, no heartbeat.
I bake principally cakes and pies. Not much of a cookie person, though I make a mean gluten-free salty oatmeal 😉
It’s not Mitch, whose heartbeat they’re waiting for, is it?
You know of fanfictions?
Well, since they’re trying to revive him…
Fan fiction? Sure; of course. In a way, that’s how I got my start, by writing Star Trek.
Hello, Ms. Bick, I am a reader from India, and I was completely and utterly moved by your book. There are many questions regarding the book that intrigued me, and I was hoping whether you could shed light on them:
-Did you ever consciously place Mr. Anderson in an age bracket? I mean it is implied that he is quite young, but the reason this compels me is because it is easier to rationalize the circumstances Jenna and Mitch are in if he is younger, and if the dynamics they found themselves in were different, maybe the relationship wouldn’t be a societal ‘taboo’ and,
-Talking about the ending, it is suggested but not actually proven that either Mitch or Mrs. Lord have died…also while Jenna’s character arc sees enormous growth over the course of the novel, her fate after this incident is largely left to interpretation…how important is it for you, as a novelist to not decisively seal a character’s fate as a given and hand that agency to the reader, in other words, to allow them to choose their ‘happy’ from the ‘ending’?
Thank you =)
Hello, Sharanya:
Thank you so much for getting in touch. I’m so pleased you enjoyed the book.
To my mind, Mitch is between 30-35, and therefore not that young because I didn’t want people to be able to rationalize away their relationship. I really wanted the taboo to be right there, in your face, and for people to question that.
Ah, the ending . . . I think a fan once said that I like to torture my readers because my endings are almost always ambiguous and open to multiple interpretations. As a writer, it’s really important to me not to close off options. If a story’s gotten under my readers’ skin, then I want them to have the freedom to imagine what happens next.
Thanks for writing 🙂
I loved the ashes trilogy soo much, I finnished reading it ages ago but what the future holds for Alex, Tom, Chris, Wolf and Ellie still occupies my mind. I know it’s a trilogy but would you ever consider writing one last book? It would be so awesome:)
Glad you like it [and tell all your friends 😉 ]. As far as your question goes, though, I’ve written about that. Read this: https://www.ilsajbick.com/?p=2354.
Thank you:) I have another few questions as well if that’s okay:) Your my favourite author and your books always grab my attention from the very begginning and one day I would love to write a book, How did you get into writing? How do you come up with good ideas? And if I were to write a book when I’m a bit older what advice would you give? Sorry to bother you;)
How I got into writing is too long and involved to go into; let’s just say that I did. As for good ideas, I have tons of crappy ones. Basically, you read a lot, come up with ideas, and throw most of them away. As for advice, the best I can give isn’t even really mine, but courtesy of Robert Heinlein and Robert Sawyer. I blogged about it here: http://adr3nalin3.blogspot.com/2012/01/so-you-wanna-be-contender.html Also, take a look at the second half of Stephen’s King book, On Writing. Nice stuff about craft.
Sure would love to see a fourth book to Ashes. The last one left too many questions. Would you consider a pov short story from Wolf’s perspective? Thank you
Glad you liked the series! Anything is possible; I talk about that here: https://www.ilsajbick.com/?p=2354