Recap: Victoria Aveyard's Book Signing Event in Manila

It has been months since we get to attend to a book signing and talk to our blogger friends again since #CTCinPH book signing event. So imagine our excitement when last February, National Bookstore announced that Victoria Aveyard, author of Red Queen, will visit here in the Philippines for a two day book signing event. YAY! 

Last Sunday, March 6, Victoria arrived almost exactly as the forum was scheduled to begin–which was awesome because we were super excited to meet the person behind the powerful and amazing Red Queen series. 

Read on to know what we learned about Victoria Aveyard, her books, and her writing process during the fun and informative Q&A!

• Victoria Aveyard’s advice to aspiring writers is you need to finish your first draft. Write the end at the end. Don’t edit yourself too much, give yourself the benefit of the doubt.
• It usually the world or an image that comes to her first when writing her books.
• The most important part for her when writing is the characters. She believes that character is what makes a reader stay in the story. So it is very important to create characters that readers could relate to.
• In terms of writing high tension scenes, Victoria says that that was the “easy” part for her, those were her favorite part to write. And romantic scenes were her weakness and she thinks that writing kissing scenes is harder than a long battle sequence. Victoria’s advice for aspiring writers who wanted to write these scenes was to read stuff like that and see how your favorite author do scenes like that and sort of internalize the language of those scenes.
• The quiet scenes are always the hard one for her. Scenes which are sort of regrouping after something bad happened. In Red Queen the entire middle of the book is really very difficult for her. Because a lot of it was build up and lot is learning of the world.
• The first screenplay she ever wrote was a zombie western apocalypse.
• In other news, Universal studios has the film option to Red Queen. Victoria says that she have met all the producer, the director and everything that they wanted is happening right now for the story.
• Her top 3 fantasies: Lord of the rings, which she had the book for two years until the pages fell apart. Harry Potter and Song of Ice and Fire, which had a lot of influence with Red queen.
• She learned all story telling trick she knew from film school. Victoria says that from film, pacing is totally key, you need to get on your scene as much as possible. Knowing your audience is very important. In terms on which one she prefers between Film and Novel she says that she prefers the one which she wasn’t writing at the moment.
• Victoria’s inspirations for her names came out of thin air originally but she wanted to put sort of romance in there. So what she does is she did a lot of Latin translations of words like Air or water. For abilities, she looked for Wikipedia and just sorted out the abilities that she would use in the story that would reflect each characters.
• As far as literary betrayals go, one of the things that inspired her was Game of Thrones. Another one that really hurt for her was Serius Black and Dumbledore deaths. She also said that taking away the mentor or the one you lean to be is one of the storytelling 101.
• In terms of writing, Victoria said that she want to keep writing until the day she died. After Red Queen she probably would do some more screenplays to keep muscles working meaning switching from medium to medium. She also want to continue writing fantasy. After Red Queen, she is signed to one more book to HarperCollins.
• She likes genre mashups. Victoria tag herself as a kitchen sink writer and just write the story she likes.
• More of emotional journey can be expected in Mare’s story in the latter books.
• The scientific background or explanation when Silver and Red split both ways was actually a result of nuclear warfare and mutation a couple of thousand years before this world happen.
• As per Victoria they were still not set on the title of the 3^rd book. A couple of characters who were not in Glass Sword much would probably be in the 3^rd book more.

After the Q&A we lined up to have our books signed and interact with her one-on-one.

Of course we can't pass the opportunity to model Red Queen and Glass Sword in flesh (haha)

JM of Book Freak Revelations, Salve of Cuckoo for Books and Kevin of Tomebound

Victoria was such a cool and nice person, she even let us take a video message for our friend who didn't get to attend to the signing!

With some of our bloggers friends <3 (Photo by Algel of Tea-rrificreads)

Victoria Aveyard with the PH YA Book Bloggers! (Photo by Kate of The Bookaholic Blurbs)

After the event we then went to the Public Signing. The photos below didn't do any justice to the people who went to the event. As per NBS, there were around 1200 and more people who attend the signing, CRAZZZY! I think no one ever expected, not even NBS that there will be so many readers who will attend, I mean they had to cut the line to 1200 and this was just in Manila signing! #PoweofBookLove

To end this recap we just wanted to thank National Book Store for making all these awesome events happen and to Victoria for being such a great person!

Make sure to also check out our recap for Sarah J Mass Book Signing Event here in Manila soon!

(Photo by NBS)

Victoria Aveyard's signing recaps:

Algel of Tea-rrific Reads

Kai of Amaterasureads

Precious of Fragments of Life

Leslie of  Bibliophilekid

Kevin of Tomebound

Salve of Cuckoo for Books

Color Pop Fair at National Book Store(10/24/15)

Color Pop Fair at National Book Store

National Book Store, in partnership with Lifestyle Channel and SM Mall of Asia, will hold its first ever “Color Pop Fair” on October 24, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Main Mall Atrium, SM Mall of Asia. Admission is free for all events and workshops. Registration starts at 10 a.m.

Enjoy a Saturday of free, fun-filled coloring activities especially designed for adults who are artists-at-heart.  Learn basic adult coloring, shade selection, blending techniques, choosing the right coloring materials and other great coloring tips. Participate in the day-long art workshops. Choose from Zig Kuretake adult coloring demo by Iris Babao Uy, The Secret Techniques in Making your Coloring Look Professional by Alex M. Roxas, Mapedize your Bookmark – DIY Adult Coloring Bookmark, Creating Gradients with Chameleon Pens by June Digan, Sharpiefied Coloring with Carlo Arezza, Stabilo Adult Coloring Demo by Mark Dean Lim, The Art of Doodling and Stuff – A Create and Collaboration Workshop by Nelz Yumul, Coloring Tips from the Googly Gooeys by Tippy Go, Tips on Doodling and Adult Coloring by Kerby Rosanes, Marvy Uchida Basic Coloring Demonstration by Tepai Pascual, and many more.

All coloring sheets and materials will be provided. Plus! Get 20% off on all imported adult coloring books at the event only. Color your world and join the fun at National Book Store’s Color Pop Fair.

The event is made possible in partnership with Artline Stix, Colleen, Dong-A, Faber Castell, Marvy Uchida, Stabilo, Sharpie, and Zig Kuretake.

See posters or follow National Book Store on Facebook for more details. Shop online and buy eBooks at nationalbookstore.com. For reservations, call 8888-NBS (627) for calls within Metro Manila, 1-800-10-8888-NBS for calls outside Metro Manila, or text 0998-8888-NBS and 0917-8747-269. The National Book Store hotlines are open Mondays to Sundays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Follow National Book Store on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@nbsalert). Tag #NBSColorPopFair to join the discussion.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where is Color Pop Fair?

The Color Pop Fair will be on October 24, 2015 at the Main Mall Atrium, SM Mall of Asia from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Is there a registration fee?

No. There is no registration fee. Admission is FREE.

When will the registration be?

Registration starts at 10:00 a.m. and will continue throughout the day. Each guest will be asked to fill out the registration form upon arrival. Venue capacity is limited. Seats are on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS.

Will there be coloring sheets and coloring materials provided?

Yes. You can choose from several designs of coloring sheets. Coloring pens will also be provided and for sharing. Kindly return the coloring pens so others can use it afterwards.

Can I bring my own adult coloring books and coloring materials?

Yes, as long as the coloring books and materials were purchased from National Book Store, NBS Express and Powerbooks.

Book Signing Tour: Christine Brae, Tarryn Frisher, and Colleen Hoover in PH!

‪#‎NBSevents‬ ‪#‎CTCinPH‬ Join bestselling romance and new adult authors Christine Brae, Tarryn Frisher, and Colleen Hoover for book signing events on September 12, 2015 at 2 p.m. in The Gallery, Ayala Center Cebu, on September 13, 2015 at 2 p.m. in the Lower Ground Event Center, Mega A of SM Megamall, and on September 19, 2015 at 5 p.m. in the National Book Store booth at the Manila International Book Fair, SMX Convention Center. Registration starts at 10 a.m. for all events. Only books purchased from National Book Store, National Book Store Express or Powerbooks will be accommodated. 

Click on the link for more details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1049877441713489/.

What: Christine Brae, Tarryn Fisher, and Colleen Hoover Book Signing Tour

When: September 12, 2015, 2 p.m.

Where: The Gallery, Ayala Center Cebu

When: September 13, 2015, 2 p.m.

Where: L/G Event Center, Mega A of SM Megamall

When: September 19, 2015, 5 p.m.

Where: National Book Store booth, Manila International Book Fair, SMX Convention Center

Limited to 200 slots only

Registration starts at 10 a.m. for all events. 

ABOUT CHRISTINE BRAE

Christine Brae is the author of ‘Light in the World’, ‘His Wounded Light’, ‘Insipid’, and ‘In this Life.’

ABOUT ‘LIGHT IN THE WORLD’

Affected by her parents’ highly publicized divorce, Isabel grows up isolated and alone, with a resolve to never fall in love and repeat their mistakes. 

When Jesse Cain enters her life, she falls hopelessly in love with him, and every sadness she’s ever felt is washed away by his intensity and passion. But people change as they grow up. Things can never stay the same forever.

Jesse and Isabel fight to stay together, determined to hold on to what they once had. Isabel wonders if a second love can ever be enough to make her forget her first.

‪#‎NBSnews‬ Pre-order Christine Brae’s (@ChristineBrae) THE LIGHT IN THE WOUND only at http://www.nationalbookstore.com.ph/the-light-in-the-wound

ABOUT TARRYN FISHER

Tarryn Fisher is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of five novels, and is currently working on two more (Marrow and the second installment of Never Never). She is the co-founder of Clothed Caption, a fashion blog she runs with her friend, Madison Seidler. Tarryn resides in the Seattle area with her family. She loves rainy days, Coke, and thinks Instagram is the new Facebook. 

ABOUT ‘THE OPPORTUNIST’

Dear Caleb,

You forgot me? How do you FORGET someone who grated your heart up like a block of cheese?

I’ll tell you what I’m GOING TO DO; I’m going to pretend that we’ve never met. Then, I’m going to make you fall in love with me again. We both know I’ll do anything to get what I want. I’ve never claimed to be a good person. If there is truth in me, it is you. Please don’t remember me…..please.

Love,

Olivia

Olivia Kaspen is a sharp tongued manipulator used to always getting what she wants. With just one exception-Caleb Drake, the one she foolishly let slip away. After a chance encounter brings Caleb back into her life, Olivia finds herself wanting a second chance with her first love, and asking herself how far she is willing to go to get him back. Her only problem is a red head named Leah, Caleb’s new love. Olivia must fight for what was once hers, and in the process discover that sometimes love falls short of redemption.

#‎NBSfinds‬ THE OPPORTUNIST: A NOVEL by Tarryn Fisher (@Tarryn__Fisher). Available for P449 (Trade Paperback) in National Book Store. Shop online: http://www.nationalbookstore.com.ph/the-opportunist-3782362….

ABOUT COLLEEN HOOVER

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of contemporary novels such as ‘Slammed’, ‘Point of Retreat’, ‘This Girl’, ‘Hopeless’, ‘Losing Hope’, ‘Finding Cinderella’, ‘Maybe Someday’, and ‘Ugly Love.’ ‘Ugly Love’ is now being turned into a film that is being tagged as the next ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’ Colleen Hoover is also the co-author of ‘Never Never’ along with Tarryn Fisher.

ABOUT ‘CONFESS’

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a new novel about risking everything for love—and finding your heart somewhere between the truth and lies.

At age twenty-one, Auburn Reed has already lost everything important to her. In her fight to rebuild her shattered life, she has her goals in sight and there is no room for mistakes. But when she walks into a Dallas art studio in search of a job, she doesn’t expect to find a deep attraction to the enigmatic artist who works there, Owen Gentry. 

For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is keeping a major secret from coming out. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything important to Auburn, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it.

To save their relationship, all Owen needs to do is confess. But in this case, the confession could be much more destructive than the actual sin.

‪#‎NBSfinds‬ SLAMMED by Colleen Hoover (@colleenhoover). Available for P599 (Trade Paperback) in National Book Store. Shop online:http://www.nationalbookstore.com.ph/slammed-a-novel.html.

We hope you guys are excited as we are! See you there!!

‪

Recap: Leigh Bardugo Book Signing in PH

Almost two weeks ago on June 21st, we had the spectacular time meeting Leigh Bardugo and learning so much about her Shadow and Bone series, as well as her new book set in the Grisha world, Six of Crows. It was once again a pleasure to be invited by National Book Store to the forum where we got to meet the other bloggers again after two months, and of course converse with another of our favorite authors. Read all about this meeting and more below!

• When ask if Leigh had to choose one amplifier, she said that she can’t imagine killing one because she’s a huge animal lover. Although if she really had to, she’ll choose firebird.
• In terms of collaborating with somebody, Leigh would love to write with Laini Taylor because she thinks that Laini’s an amazing writer and like her as a person too. They also have different process, Leigh outline while Laini is very much about writes and then she reads what she writes and then goes back to it and she think they might kill each other because of it (haha). She would love to write with JK Rowling too just to meet her but probably spend the whole time just watching her.

• Aside from high fantasy, Leigh has a horror story coming out, Slasher Girls & Monster Boys and it was one of her favorite covers of all time it is so creepy and weird. Leigh also has a story coming in Stephanie Perkins new anthology which comes out next year the Summer days, Summer nights. She really enjoys writing set in our world with a magical element and she sees herself writing that more in the future.

• Leigh said that she would never cut a steamy scene. She outlines and It’s pretty rare that she cut scene and her books tend to get longer on her vision that there are gaps that has to be filled in. In Siege & Storm there were a bunch of events that original accredit as a battle scene that gotten to be a hundred pages long and the book was getting too long so Leigh took a bunch of the events which she imagine in Siege and Storm and put it in the middle of Ruin & Rising and reconstruct it.

• Leigh has this dream of having a secret fan fiction acct and write secret sexy fan fiction characters.

• Leigh is a huge GOT fans and most of what she grew up on is medieval England which she loves and with that she wanted to do something a little different and take her readers some place a little bit different.  1800s Russia felt like the right thing for her world. She wants to have this tension between the rise of modern technology and magic.

• Writing and conceptualizing Six of Crows has been different for Leigh since the setting was fully existed in Leigh’s mind before she even sat down and writes it while in Shadow and Bone it is basically how the politics work, the magic. Six of Crows also have 5 different POVs, there’s flashbacks, heist, prison break, romance. Shadow & Bone was a classic “chosen one” story where ordinary girl discovers power leads revolution and Leigh wanted to write about people who were not chosen ones which the kids in Six of Crows portrays, they’re not kings or queens, they’re not looking for revolution they just wanted to survive. And Kaz the leader doesn’t have powers he was the toughest, the smartest most brutal kid in the room. She really feels that this is a different process different journey and it was really fun.

• When Louisee asks Leigh to make a haiku, to describe Six of Crows:

“Six deadly outcasts.

One impossible heist, YEAH!

You should order it.”

• After writing Six of Crows Leigh said that she will have to take a little break from the Grisha world. She also said that she MIGHT write a book for Sturmhond but it won’t happen for a few years but she always know what his story is and who’s going to end up with. There was so much darkness in the book that Sturmhond has this confidence and optimism who is basically keeping Leigh company that’s why she loved writing about him.

• As to what inspired Leigh on the Grisha world, it was when she used to be a makeup artist and got invited in a Halloween party and ended up doing make up 3 hrs straight for free. Instead of going out she opted out to stay at home where she was staying and fell asleep, when she woke up it was pitched black, country dark. She was completely terrified and when she calm down, she then realize that no matter how old you get, how smart you are the fear of the dark never really goes away,. And she thought what if darkness is a place, what if you have to fight the creature lurking on it, and all the idea from the trilogy really sprang from that initial moment.

• Leigh intended the Darkling to be appealing and sexy. She always felt the most dangerous people in our lives walk in being beautiful, charismatic and they manipulate you to become attach to them and the challenges on writing Darkling was to keep him hot, and you have to judge him not by what he says or how compelling he is but what he actually  does.  Leigh also said that if she read this book on her younger years she’ll absolutely picks Alina with Darkling together but she believed that’s what fan fiction is for.

• Darkling is a main love interest. One can be a love interest and an antagonist; it’s up to the reader to choose or not to choose. Leigh said that she is definitely a team story and can’t understand how mean people to each other over these fictional characters and just hope that all is Team Book. She doesn’t set out to write love interest but set out to write characters.

• There’s a possibility to write a novella about Alina’s origin but probably post Stormhund book.

• Leigh created languages to suit the moment of the world. She always wanted to be accessible to the reader and there are definitely things she would do differently in Shadow and Bone. Ravka takes its cue from Tsarist Russia, Kerch takes its cue from the Dutch Republic of the 1700s and Fjerdan is Scandinavian analog. In general she tends to take use from existent culture languages to keep things consistent but she also gotten a lot braver on her word buildings.

• Life has really changed for Leigh after the success of the Grisha trilogy. 4 years ago she was broke, had a job she didn’t liked, a career she didn’t want to be in, Leigh sort of gotten lost in the way and now she have the job she dreamed having as a kid. Her friend even drew a picture of her when they were 14 yrs. old for her birthday where she was in a book signing (which she still have) and now she travels to a country she have never been before, sit and talk about stories. Leigh’s life has really been different since becoming a published author and really owes it to all the people who read her books. It is the most unreal, magical, incredible thing for her.

After the Q&A, we lined up to have our books signed and interact with Leigh one-on-one.

Dea and Mary Ann with Leigh Bardugo

Random pictures with other Book Bloggers

We also met new people at the event, Kevin(Tomebound) and 

Salve(Cuckoo for Books). They are vloggers which is so awesome!Hi there Leslie hehe!

Finally, a picture with all the bloggers at the event while holding precious SoC arc :)

As per tradition, we went to the public signing venue after the forum and waited with the rest of her fans for the event to start.

We also gather some facts while we were at the public signing. Here are some of them:

• The paperback of Ruin & Rising will have the Darkling prequel story
• In terms of her characters they arrived fully formed in her mind
• Initially she was going to kill Mal but she fall in love with the character and have to keep them live
• She always knew who was right for Alina
• There’s a little bit of Leigh in every character she made. Alina and her share similar humor, they were both pretty pragmatic about life.
• Alina’s relationship with Mal is inspired by her relationships with her friends.
• In terms of writing, Leigh mostly relays her idea to Joanna Volpe (her agent). Leigh also said that one of the inspirations for Six of Crows was when she was driving around LA and she wanted to re watch ocean’s eleven and suddenly has this idea to write about heist, ocean’s eleven meets game of thrones. As for her writing routine Leigh mostly stay 2-3 mos. on her house, order a lot of take out, until the book is done.
• One of the best things for being an author for Leigh was meeting people you admire for years and for her it was Holly Black.
• She always knew that she wanted to be a writer. One thing she does when she had writer’s block is she put her Bluetooth earphones and talks to herself so people won’t think that she’s insane (hehe)
• Leigh recommend to “read everything, never let anybody make you feel ashamed for loving young adult, whether its fantasy or contemporary” and she says to all the people who asks for her advice about writing is “you don’t have to go to a fancy schools to be a writer. All you have to do is read and write, read everything and love books”

• It was really hard for Leigh to balance her writing and promoting.
• As for the updates about the motion picture for Shadow and Bone(YES there is, yay!) though things are moving Hollywood is slow so Leigh doesn’t want to get the readers hopes up until it is really happening.
• Leigh said that she thinks Jai Courtney (Eric from Divergent) would be great to be the Darkling.
• Leigh Book recommendations are: Tamora pierce, Winners Curse (Marie Rutkoski), Graceling (Kristin Cashore) and also Illuminae (there was a twist in the story and felt like she was punch in the gut and recommended highly by her) which she recently read . As for contemporary, she recommends: I’ll Give You the Sun, Eleanor & Park and her recently read the Dumplin’ (Julie Murphy). 

There were also cos players at the event and some of them won Six of Crows Arcs as well as the early birds!

 I mean look at those outfits, they really deserved it.

Photo from NBS

Leigh Bardugo with her Filipino fans (Manila and Cebu event)

Photo from NBS

Our signed copy of Leigh's books

And yes people, that is a Six of Crows ARCs! How gorgeous *sigh* 

To end this recap, here's a message to everyone in the Philippines who poured Leigh Bardugo all the love and support!

Thank You so much again National Book Store for making all these awesome events happen and to Leigh Bardugo!

PS: We'll be attending the next event, Katie Cotugno, Melissa Kantor and Robyn Schneider book signing tomorrow at Grand Atrium, Shangri-la Plaza. See you there!

Leigh Bardugo's signing recaps:

Kai of Amaterasureads

Precious of Fragments of Life

Maricar of Blackplume

Jeselle of Lifelong Bookworm

Leslie of  Bibliophilekid

Chyna of Lite-rate-ture

Kevin of Tomebound

Salve of Cuckoo for Books