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lucienarcheron · 7 months

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SJM Live Event 9.26.2023

This was so fun! I loved the questions and rapport between Christian Lauren and Sarah. Below is a recap of what was discussed :)

She looks great!

They met years ago when SJM was still writing TOG (on book two)

COURTOFMASS helped narrow down the questions so AYY fandom

CL likes to see when people try to summarize the SJM’s books so they asked SJM to summarize CC

SJM’s palms were sweating (LOL) and she summarized it as “a mix of urban fantasy, fantasy, fantasy but modern world - kick ass snarky heroine who goes on a journey of self-discovery and healing with hot ass dudes and hot sex”

“Doesn’t look any family members in the eye” because of her smut (lol)

SJM doesn’t look at any theories. “I say no in the most loving way”

She doesn’t have social media on her phone so she’s not lurking around on the internet. She just wants to stay in her creative bubble. Every now and then a friend will send her something “lol look at this crazy theory”

Creating CC / what was that like?

It was a year-long process and ongoing as she was writing it. She’s back living in NYC and growing up in the city inspired a lot of this book. The idea came to her on a plane while on tour (possibly HOF) and she heard a piece of music, and saw Danika’s voice reaching out to Bryce. It’s when she burst into tears and Bryce came to life (she’s told us this before). She kind of worked in reverse as it unraveled in her mind. It’s something she thought about for years and it was her “fun” / side project. Over the course of a bunch of years, until TOG was starting to wrap up, she kept coming back to it.

This was the story she wanted to tell because she loved Bryce and Hunt so much by that point. It was over the course of years daydreaming about this story and peeling away the images of the story. She had a lot of fun writing this book.

How does she keep track of the worlds she creates?

Publisher has an official bible which they constantly reference and she has an awesome editor that remembers all the important stuff and small moments/lines. She has a terrible memory in real life but SJM keeps all her stories occupied in her brain. Also keeps a bunch of notebooks.

We don’t know much about Hunt’s origin so are we going to find out about his parentage and background in the next book?

We will learn more about Hunt in the next book. As for his well-being, “I make no promises. I’m not saying anything about anything.” LOL. “I will say that when I was working on HOSAB my editor and I were thinking about what was the most horrible thing that could happen.” Originally she considered him getting his wings chopped off again but her editor was like “what can be worse” and it’s the slave tattoo again. A new level of trauma for him to unload in the next book. “He has a lot of room to grow and shit to deal with it. Poor Hunt, he’s in for a journey coming up.”

Will we find out more about the Autumn King? Does he connect to the Autumn Court?

Yes, we will learn more (about him not necessarily yes to the Autumn Court connection). “He’s not a father in any way.” In the process of writing and editing, he’s become one of her favorite to write because he’s so horrible and terrible. He’s capable of doing the right thing but doesn’t. He’s just a fucked up, horrible person. It’s a lot of fun to put opposing characters in a room to see what happens (bryce vs autumn king). It’s so satisfying for her to see a woman get one up on a douchey asshole.

Ruhn question - Some headcanon in the SJM fandom (that I didn’t quite catch but it made them all laugh) Something about Ruhn and vibrators? Sarah nearly fell down the stairs laughing about this. Now that she’s thinking about sweet Ruhn and where he is, she feels bad. (SARAH NO).

Talked about her writing process - Sometimes she will write a whole draft and realize it’s not what she wants. When she was working on HOFAS, she was going through some shit (didn’t want to elaborate) and she wrote the whole thing but then she didn’t like it. She was “meh” about it. She knew she hadn’t found the right story and it wasn’t good enough. She is very intense about her writing and wants to put her very best writing out there.

There’s a little bit of an extra gap between the books because she had her baby but also she went through the first/second round of edits with other things going on that she wasn’t in the right space. She felt like she needed to throw out the whole thing and start over. She wrote a brand new draft in 4-5 weeks and then she found the story. A couple of scenes stayed from the first draft but almost of it is new. She never wants to put out any work she doesn’t believe in. “You can’t fix a blank page.” so it’s all part of the writing process for her.

For example, the book she’s working on now - spent the whole day writing a scene but she doesn’t like it and it’s part of the process.

What it was like waiting for readers to get to the ending of HOSAB / Another author asked about when she decided to crash her worlds together the author can’t fathom that Sarah didn’t plan this out from the beginning so when Aelin went through the worlds and Rhys sees her - “Are you some crazy genius where all these little breadcrumbs come into your brain or was it intentional?”

Not a genius in any way. Talks about her son and how he says “I’m Sarah J Mask” - her kids keep her humble (lmao). Her son is obsessed with Taylor Swift so it doesn’t matter what she does, she’ll never be Taylor Swift so she’ll never be cool (lol). She loves Taylor and has so much respect for her and now she knows all her songs because they only listened to her in the car. She has the little golden book of TS for her son (LOL). In the eyes of her son, TS is the only creative genius and she is all for it.

When it comes to the ending of this book, she knew for a while and knew these worlds overlapped before she started working on KOA. She knew Aelin was going to crash through these worlds and had already started daydreaming on CC. When she wrote that scene of Aelin, she wanted her to go through the ACOTAR world and see Feysand then had her go through the CC world. When she was really working on CC officially, while daydreaming about it, she got into this idea of the worlds and how they’re all technically connected. She remembered having this “what the fuck” moment of HOSAB’s ending. “I don’t know what’s happening to my body” and everything clicked in. While working on CC1, she was able to plant some seeds.

When she finally wrote the end of HOSAB with Rhys, she cried. Things had just completely gone to shit in CC and “my wonderful Rhys” comes in. One of her favorite parts that she’s ever written.

Will we see ACOTAR characters coming in/having POVs? - “I’m not saying anything about anything.” We will see some of the ACOTAR world. It basically picks up close to where we left off.

Is Dankia really dead - “Um, yeah.” LOL “She is dead and as much as I wish was miraculously living, she’s dead.”

Is Connor really dead - “Yes?” LOL

Does Emil really have no powers? - Passed on answering this. “I like it.”

With magic being weaker in the modern world, do mates mean the same thing in the fantasy (ACOTAR/TOG) as they do in the modern world? - Pass because (they started speaking over each other here but I assume it will be because we will understand more of this in HOFAS).

Is Hunt really Bryce’s mate - “Am I going to destroy some kind of theory?” She answered, “YES, HE IS HER MATE.” She talked about how she’s changed the LI in her other series (the FMC’s first LI not being her last one) but with CC she kept the same LI from the beginning to the end - “If they both make it to the end.” (she’s so mean for this LOL)

When the first ACOTAR book came out, it was hard for her to keep Feysand a secret because people would tell her how much they loved Tamlin and she had to just smile awkwardly about it (lolol).

How much of Bryce’s power has she accessed? - We’ll see in the next book!

They talked a little about parenting and their kids aging and personal stories for a bit.

CL mentioned SJM previously saying that people won’t need to read ACOTAR to read CC and vice versa. Is that statement still true? - “You should read ACOTAR and if you haven’t read ACOTAR and get to HOSAB, it’ll make you want to read it.” She had them put an AD in the back of HOSAB for people to read ACOTAR. She then said, “I do not stand by that statement. I renounce this statement. Read ACOTAR first.” (👀)

Discussed the cover of HOFAS and whether the cover has a dragon head - “I am not saying anything. There are always easter eggs.” She added, “We made sure there were many easter eggs.” It’s probably her favorite cover. It came together so beautifully.

Did she write HOSAB in order? - She’s always super pumped to write her endings. She has to write in a linear/chronical fashion and she dangles the ending as motivation. She was powering through the rest of the book so she could get to writing the endings of HOSAB. It was the same with ACOSF with Nesta in the Blood Rite and saving Feyre.

What were some of the most fun/favorite/hardest scenes- In HOEAB, when Hunt discovers Bryce’s unicorn collection. Sarah has collections of My Little Pony and has been in bidding wars for them. She loves them LOL. Another scene will always be Bryce and Danika doing the drop. She still cries thinking about it. “Call me sentimental, cheesy, or whatever - I believe in our darkest moments we aren’t alone.” That scene means a lot to her.

In HOSAB - she loved the opening of the book where they’re basically at a frat party “Wonder where the inspo for that came from” LOL / She loves the little moments of them living their lives and getting to be themesleevs in between disasters. She loved it when Ruhn was super stoned lmao. She also loved the scene with The Hind and Ithan in the bar as well as the end of HOSAB with the Hind revealing herself to her Ruhn; she cried a lot while writing those scenes.

She gets so emotionally involved with her books/characters. Most of the book is what she loves. She needs to be obsessed with her book because she has to read it over so many times and stay in love with it as she rereads it.

She remembers seeing tear stains on copies of her manuscripts. She loves all her characters so much and they make it worth it across all the series. They feel real to her. She’s getting to see them in all aspects of their lives.

Three Bigger Questions -

One of the reasons they clicked as friends is because they have the same fangirl heart - CL loves her passion for things. How does it feel to have this fandom follow her the way she follows her favorites? Sarah mentions how she was a fangirl of CL first.

It feels weird to even say fandom for her books. It’s beyond anything she’s ever hoped for herself. There’s no ego here but she grew up as a fangirl for so many things so it blows her mind that people connect with these characters and worlds and that they mean something to them. She also has a profound sense of gratitude that she gets to do what she loves because of the people who read her books. She’s deeply appreciative of the joy and enthusiasm we bring to the books. It’s a very humbling and moving thing to inspire someone.

Every time she sees someone reading her book, she walks up to them and talks about it apparently! One girl on the street walked by her and Josh and they saw a tattoo of the mountain with three stars and they wanted to ask her about it. Sarah sent Josh to ask her about her tattoo. “He wasn’t cool about it, he just blurted it out.” She then introduced herself but the girl didn’t seem to believe her HAHA. “No makeup and in regular street clothes. I think she thought I was a lunatic on the street. I don’t think she left the encounter believing it was me.” “I’m going to be quiet and not scare people anymore.”

She saw a guy on the subway reading ACOMAF “Is he reading some sexy ass stuff on the subway?” but he was reading it because his gf was reading it.

It blows her mind seeing people read her books in real life just like seeing her book on shelves never gets old.

Now that CC3 is done, what are you working on now?

Currently working on/drafting the next ACOTAR novel! That’s all she will say. She has become so focused and excited writing this book. She described it as the feeling when you’re first obsessed with someone and all they’re thinking about. For the next god knows how many months or “a million years” LOL

#sjm #sarah j maas #crescent city #hosaf #hosab #hosab spoilers #acotar #sjm live

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impossiblescissorspeachpaper · 7 months

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Such a good SJM live. Bryce and Hunt are mates, you do need to read both CC and Acotar series now (lol), and she’s FOCUSED AND OBSESSED WITH WRITING THE NEXT ACOTAR NOVEL!

#a NOVEL not novella you guys #Elain’s book is coming #SJM live

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nikethestatue · 7 months

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SJM is working on Book 5 of ACOTAR and she is super excited about it. Feeels like it’s having a crush.

She loves her FMCS (not male FMCS)

Passed on answering where mating bonds in CC and ACOTAR are the same

Danika and Conor are definitely dead

She still doesn’t like Tamlin

We’ll learn more about Hunt’s origins and the Autumn King

She was writing a chapter and didn’t like it and thought that ‘it wasn’t even good to be a bonus’ (bonuses are not be all end all)

She doesn’t read fan theories

You need to read ACOTAR and CC. It doesn’t seem like you could read one and skip the other

Next book is a novel (not a novella)

Live summary

#SJM live

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velidewrites · 7 months

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I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Sarah J Maas gives off SUCH Gwyn energy 🥹🥹

#she was so positive and stunning and the way she talked about their friendship 🥹🥹#sjm live #sarah j maas #gwyneth berdara

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nestaswhore · 2 years

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maybe sarah …. should’ve kept some of those chapters in so that half the nesta stans didn’t turn around and say fuck u cassian ur cancelled as a nesta love interest for ur behaviour 💀

#sarah j maas #sjm interview #nesta archeron #a court of silver flames #acotar #sjm live

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quinlarhouseholdresident · 7 months

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I know sjm was wondering what was confusing about words she stated in the text🤣

quinlar haters, we’ll see you next book 🤣🤣🤣

#house of sky and breath #sjm #sjm live #quinlar endgame #bryce quinlan #hunt athalar

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houseofhurricane · 2 years

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Here’s my recap of the conversation between Sarah J. Maas and Sarah MacLean to celebrate the paperback release of A Court of Silver Flames! It was a fun conversation with some intriguing hints.

You can also find the recap on my Instagram.

#sjm live #acosf #sjm live recap #a court of silver flames #nessian #nesta archeron #cassian #sarah j maas #sjm #hosab

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deathsweetblossoms · 7 months

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Which books did SJM have on the shelf behind her during this live? Did anyone happen to pick that up? (I just always want to know what books people have and I could not decipher the cover of the hardback under the HOSAB print)

#sjm #sjmass #acotar #crescent city #house of flame and shadow #sara j maas #sjm live

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moononastring · 2 years

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SJM Live 9.8.2022 Recap -

This chat was so fun! Sarah looked so good and laughed so much. Sarah MacLean was an excellent host who asked awesome questions. Here’s what was said:

Starting talking about the world of ACOTAR and when/where it came to SJM

She loves to travel and has always been obsessed with fairytales

She got the idea in 2008/2009 and was out in LA with her creative writing degree

She even applied to BN and they didn't give her a job LOL

She was trying to get TOG to an agent and was brainstorming and was listening to music when she got the inspo for Feyre

She wrote the first two books of ACOTAR while she was publishing TOG

She used to think writing two books a year was too slow for her (LMAO OKAY MA'AM)

She rewrote ACOMAF from its original format after ACOTAR was getting some attention and that's where she got the idea for the prison and what else that could become (seeing it again in acosf)

After she started working on ACOWAR, she started getting the idea for ACOSF. She started writing about what would happen after the war and what would happen with the characters/where they would go

She knew she wanted to write Nesta's story from there

She wrote that bit to help her figure out how to get ACOWAR done because she knew where she needed Nesta to end up at the beginning of ACOSF and set it up in ACOWAR

She's always loved Nesta

Talking about writing "unlikable" characters - which she doesn't like that term at all but she thinks/ties it with the way she writes trauma

On a subconscious level, it's a way to work out some of her own trauma/feelings.

With Feyre, she didn't realize how her anxiety and depression were shown through her character.

When she wrote ACOSF, Nesta's journey with her emotions was similar to her own.

2016-2017 were rough years for her. She felt like she was severally disconnected from herself. and it took her some time to get the help she needed.

When she started with ACOSF, she was in a place that matched Nesta in the beginning. The first time she reread it, it was a painful upsetting experience because she saw so many pieces of herself and the thoughts she had about herself.

This is tangible proof for her that with writing Nesta she climbed out of that hole with therapy and getting help. She saw where she was and how she overcame it. (She's getting kinda emotional here and I love her so much SOBS)

The hike with Nessian was inspired by her in NZ going with Josh because it was her own journey going through one of her rough spots.

She feels like she was walking step by step with Nesta. ( She got choked up here again sobs )

The thing she wanted the most on the journey was inner peace, the same as Nesta. When she was rereading the book she cried so hard at the hike and when Nesta named the sword because that was also what she was looking for (inner peace).

Talking about the community helping the heroine ( both on feyre and nesta's journeys) and talking about found families and how she loves the sense of finding your place and the people you want to be around.

One of the things that have helped her with her own issues is that she isn't alone and has found her own group of people who love her and support her. It's a comforting thing. The feeling of belonging and safety.

For Nesta, she has her sisters but she has baggage, and part of her growth is finding that family separate from her sisters.

Rereading the moments between Nesta/Gwyn/Emerie and how Nesta was worried about them seeing all the "horrible pieces" but they don't walk away was so important for her.

The moment when Nesta makes the decision in the blood rite to stay behind to pay a debt and Emerie tells her there's no debt is such a personal moment/profound because it relates to her bff and how she was also waiting for her friends to leave because of her "baggage"

It was a moment of healing for her that she wanted Nesta to have

( she makes a joke that it seems like it's autobiography LOL but it's not but she felt like she saw her healing through writing and letting Nesta heal )

Talked about Cassian being a hero who doesn't step ahead of her and supports her.

What do Rhys and Cassian represent for us as readers because they talk a backseat for their girl was asked and Sarah has to remind herself to write the guys doing something (LOL)

In the original draft she didn't write Cassian with Azriel finding eris

She makes him watch the blood rite through a magic mirror so he can keep an eye on Nesta (LOLOL) There were chapters of Cassian just marveling at Nesta's training (sounds on brand HAHA)

Her editor was like "Um he has to do something" LMAO

She puts the female character first.

The scene with Cassian would rather die than hurt Nesta and she explodes she always had that scene in mind.

She referenced when Amren said "when you explode let it be felt across the world" (I know the wording isn't right but y'all know what I mean) and IT WAS WITH THAT SCENE

About Cassian: "He's so good."

Talked about Feyre's trauma and how Rhys was supporting her journey (Sarah MacLean talks about how important it was for readers to see how Feyre handled leaving Tamlin and his abuse).

Everything is about these men being super supportive

Talked about Josh being her bff and how lucky she has that kind of love and relationship facing things together as equals 🥰

"Everyone deserves a partner who doesn't respects them." (Something also about not always seeing your partner as only good but I missed the exact wording)

She has no interest in writing dudes who tell you to stay at home.

While rereading the series she notes about Rhys: "This man is so hot"

It was fun and refreshing to write Rhys from Nesta's POV

No person is universally loved so Rhys is "perfect" in someway but also not in some ways, esp through Nesta's eyes

It comes from a place where Nesta was jealous of Feyre's found family and people who love her so much and how Rhys also has these people who love him so much because she wants that for herself and wants friends so much. She started with the House.

How much do you save for future books? How much of the idea gets into the book you're working on? Are you cooking future books with current texts?

She knows where the series is going to go with major plots but what she enjoys about drafting and editing is that she has vague ideas and it becomes moments of discovery and those small things link up to overall themes. Sometimes it surprises her when things line up.

With this world in particular (we have a new map in the BN special edition), she left a lot of it blank to fill in while Feyre learns more about the world. She didn't want to box herself in to give herself space to explore it on the continent and etc

A lot of her travels end up in her books because she's inspired. The lake and mask and the Bog of Oorid were inspired when she was on her trip to Ireland. She read about the mythology of the bog road (?)and it scared her

1st Q - Tell us one thing you like about each sister - Feyre: her compassion and that even at her lowest she felt for other people. Unbreakable love and compassion for others and herself. Nesta: she loves so many things about her but to go with something silly, she loves her obsession with smutty books. Elain: she's the quiet dreamer and different sort of strength than her sisters. In her reread of the series, she loves the moment when Feyre went back to the cottage and the way that Elain looked at it with hope and was the stronger one for it.

She loves that Nesta is not scared of anyone. She loves the moment when she sees Helion for the first time and just goes "nope" and keeps walking as well as the moment she points her finger at Hybren

She believes that (heroines and people in the real world) no one is perfect and with Nesta she didn't want to write someone who didn't have moments of growth, moments you regret.

Just because she's done/said some things that aren't nice that doesn't mean she can't grow and reflect and be a better version of herself; when you reflect on why you did what you did, that's when the true growth is and able to move on. You're not doomed to be an asshole forever and any day is a day you can change.

With Nesta she wanted her to go on this journey with room to grow.

It's a way to get characters to grow. She talked about Feyre in the Weaver's cottage because it's a huge moment of growth when she realizes that she's strong and not going down without a fight.

Same with Nesta and the Bog because it triggered her feelings of helplessness and her assault. She realized she isn't powerless.

Sarah threw her keyboard down with a big YES when she finished that bog scene and that last sentence. It felt good because it was Nesta getting to that breaking point emotionally similar to the blood rite journey.

Sarah: Let's be real I would be killed immediately. I live with the fantasy that I could survive. (Same girl).

2nd Q - Why did she choose to write from Nesta's POV?

She was the one who needed her story to be told the most and when writing ACOWAR, it was the story that was calling to her

She wanted to dig into that and was obsessed with Cassian so she wanted to write the Cassian romance HAHA

One of the worst moments was when she was doing copyedits for the book at her kitchen with her dad next to her and got to the scene of the BJ and her dad was trying to read over her shoulder

Still hasn't asked her dad if he's read this book and hopes he didn't\

Who knows what characters are coming because there are question marks on the map to reveal new people

She knows who she wants to write stories about and there are so many!!!

There are a lot of moments where she goes "You're the next character/story."

3rd Q - The next acotar book regarding elain. Will we get elain pov / Azriel pov in the next one?

We'll see Elain in "some form" but she's not going to promise anything because she hasn't written anything yet. Didn't mention Azriel at all.

What's coming next: CC3 and she's having a lot of fun writing it

How many books in CC - She's contracted for 3 but said there are 4 houses and each book is named after a house SOOO

The first three books are Quinlar but there are a lot of characters who are walking by and she want to follow them. She has an idea who is next and waiting to see before committing to a spin off.

When TOG was mentioned and the host said it that it technically ended , Sarah said "But is it?" The door is not fully closed on that one.

Every now and then she misses Rowaelin and whole TOG gang

4th Q - (Weirdly worded and longwinded) - We got introduced to Gwyn and lightsingers (and how "evil" they really are) and with Azriel being a shadowsinger, is it a counterpart to that and does that mean that Azriel has a beast form as well?

Sarah laughed and said she loves careful reading. "I don't want to say conspiracy theory….but fan theories let's say"

She hasn't written that book so she won't say anything but A+ for reading lol

Does she have a favorite creature? - She loved the bone carver and kelpie because it freaked her out

She loves music so much. She played piano badly for three years lolol

5th Q - In acosf Gwyn talks about 26 worlds and Nesta finds the harp and the 26th string is time (Sarah smiled big here), could there be room for time travel?

She loves these fan theories, A+ reading. She's not committing to anything and she doesn't know why we ask these kind of questions when she's not going to answer anything (LOL)

Wrapped up with: One piece of advice to any younger writer: hope to be the first one of you. don't listen to anyone that discourages you, fuck them and keep going. Plant your ass in your chair and write the words.

#sjm #sjm live #nesta archeron #acotar #acosf #nessian #cassian #feysand #sarah j maas

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westrangecollectionkoalaposts · 2 years

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if the scenes where cassian is simping on nesta were kept, maybe I wouldn't feel the need to throw him under a bus everytime i read his pov

#and i would still simp neris #nesta archeron #anti cassian #sjm live

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impossiblescissorspeachpaper · 2 years

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The one thing I will take away from that live is that Elain is a quiet dreamer, living in the court of dreams 😌

Honourable mention to the males being SUPPORTING roles.

#sjm live #acotar

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acourtofthought · 2 years

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Sarah J Maas Live with Sarah Mclean 9/8/2022

SJM considers ACOSF the 5th book of the series as she thinks of ACOFAS as the 4th installment however she’s not sure if Bloosmbury would agree.

Before SJM finished the trilogy she began Silver Flames because she wanted to know what happened to characters after.

Nessian’s hike paralleled SJM’s hike in New Zealand. She was in one of her rough spots then and she was in an area that was considered a healing land. She left that trip feeling so much clearer.

Not everything that happened to Nesta happened to SJM but the thing she wanted most was what Nesta also wanted, a sense of inner peace.

On “found” families: SJM has always loved the sense of finding your place in the world and the people you want to be around. One of the things that’s helped her with her own anxiety and issues is when she gets into a state of feeling overwhelmed, she reminds herself that she’s not alone and has a group of people that have her back. For Nesta she’s got two sisters that “are cool” but Nesta has a lot of baggage and part of her growth is being able to find her family and place that is separate from her sisters and that baggage so she can define herself. Where the past isn’t weighing down on her.

On Rhys, Cassian, etc. SJM loves that it’s appreciated that the guys take a back seat. She has to remind herself when she’s writing a first draft to “let the guys do something.” In the first draft, Cassian wasn’t off with Az finding Eris. He was basically watching over the Blood Rite without being allowed to interfere, marveling over Nesta.

Sarah Mclean talks about Tamlin being abusive and how Rhys comes in to save her, lets Feyre come into herself and being supportive without telling her what to do. SJM said she’s lucky enough to be married to a guy that treats her like a Rhys. They face things together, it’s never “I’m going to take care of this for you little woman.” She now has that perspective because of Josh. She loves that Rhys always included Feyre in all his dangerous things. She’ll always forever and ever be smitten by Rhys. He was a gift to her.

What was fun was seeing Rhys from a non-Feyre POV. She got pleasure out of how Nesta viewing him. It was refreshing to write him how someone else might see him. They’ll still have things to sort out between them in future books even though Nesta and Rhys are better now. No person in the world is universally loved so Rhys is perfect but also not at times. Nesta may have come from her feelings about Rhys from a place of jealousy. She’s certainly jealous of Feyre and Feyre’s found family even though she can’t admit it to herself at first.

Q: How much when you’re working on the books do you save for future books? How much of the idea gets into the book that you’re working on? SJM says she knows where she wants the series to go and she has plots laid out. But one of the things she loves the most about drafting is she has these vague ideas of the big things but the nitty gritty things might surprise her and open up new moments of discovery (the small stuff). She doesn’t know if anyone picked up on it but with the old map, she deliberately left it blank because with each book that was published, she wanted to add more about what Feyre saw and discovered. But there’s still a lot of the world left blank (like the continent). She knows things about it but it’s still going to be a surprise to everyone else.

The sequence with Nesta and the Bog were inspired by her trip to Ireland. The bog scene is one of the favorites she’s written

Q: Reader wants to know one thing SJM likes about each sisters: A: SJM says Feyre – loves her compassion, even at her lowest she’s still helping others. Love for others. Nesta - She loves Nesta’s obsession with Smut and that she’s not scared of anybody. Elain – She loves that Elain is the quiet, dreamer. She’s got a different sort of strength than Nesta and Feyre. She really loves the moment when Feyre goes back to the cottage she thinks how Elain looked at the cottage with hope while Feyre looked at it with hatred and Feyre realized who was stronger. She got choked up when she read that moment. There are so many things she loves about all of them. Heroines and people are not perfect but Nesta, she didn’t want to write about someone innately good and perfect but we’re capable of change. Nesta has done things that aren’t ok but that doesn’t mean she can’t learn and grow into a better version of herself.

Q: Why did you choose to write from Nesta’s perspective? A: We kind of covered this a little but it felt like she was a character who needed her story to be told the most. Nesta’s story was the one that was calling to her, it was screaming to get out because she was so flawed the first three books and she wanted to dig into that. She’s obsessed with Cassian too so she was excited to write their romance. Her father saw SJM copy editing the scene where Nesta gives Cassian head and SJM was contorting her body trying to turn away from him. To this day she hopes her father has not read SF.

At this point, SJM knows who she wants to write stories about from this series and there’s so many. She’ll be 100 years old when she finishes the series.

Q: Will we be getting Elain POV in the next book? Will we get Az POV in the next book? A: Elain, you’ll get more of Elain in some form in the next book. You will see. SJM hasn’t written the next book. She did not respond to the question regarding Az.

Right now she’s working on CC3 which she is contracted for 3 but she will say there are 4 houses. It’s like the ACOTAR feeling. These first three are Bryce and Hunts story but there are a lot of characters walking by with stories. She has an idea who is next but is waiting before committing for the 4th CC book.

Q: In ACOSF, we got introduced to Gwyn and lightsingers. With Az being a shadowsinger, is the shadowsinger a counterpart of a lightsingers? Does Az also have a “beast” form as well. A: SJM loves careful reading. She has not written that book so she’s not going to say “anything” about it. A + for good reading though and that’s all she’s going to say.

Q: In ACOSF, we hear Gwyn talking about how there might be 26 worlds with the 26th world being time itself. Later Nesta finds the Harp and the 26th string is Time. Could there potentially be room for time travel? A: Again, with these fan theories, good careful reading. She’s not committing to anything, she’s not going to spoil anything. A plus for good reading.

#sarah j maas #sjm live #Azriel #gwynriel #feyre acotar #Elain #elain acotar #gwyn acotar #azriel acotar #nesta acotar #cassian

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