Wednesday, May 3, 2017

THE FALLEN STAR by Tracey Hecht / Author Interview #TheNocturnalsSeries


Today we're thrilled to have Tracey Hecht, author of The Nocturnals series on the blog today. She's stopped by to talk about the third book in the series, THE FALLEN STAR, which was released yesterday. Before I share her Q&A, here's a little bit more about her newest release. 

ABOUT THE BOOK




By: Tracey Hecht
Illustrated by: Kate Liebman
Published by: Fabled Films Press
Released on: May 2nd, 2017
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N
Ages: 7 & up

In The Fallen Star, Dawn, Tobin, and Bismark awaken one evening to a disaster: all of the forest's pomelos have been mysteriously poisoned! As the Nocturnal Brigade sets out to investigate, they encounter Iris, a mysterious aye-aye, who claims monsters from the moon are to blame. While the three heroes suspect a more earthly explanation, the animals of the valley are all falling ill. And then Tobin gets sick, too! The Nocturnal Brigade must race to find answers, and the cure, before the pomelo blight threatens to harm them all.

Read a chapter from the book, here.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW 



The third book in The Nocturnal series, The Fallen Star, just came out. Tell us a little bit about it! 

It’s juicy!  (Ha, no pun intended! You’ll see what I mean…). My writing partner Rumor conceived the story line to include aliens and meteor showers and crazy physiological elements of animals. It was a fun one to write and I think a great read. 

Both The Mysterious Abductions and The Ominous Eye have sympathetic villains. Is this a motif that we can expect in the following books, as well? 

I think for the most part, yes. We tend to show the full range and complexity of all of our characters when we develop them, so most of our villains have some moment of redemption. And I love the villain in The Fallen Star. She’s an aye-aye named Iris and she’s a fun combination of creepy and alluring.

How different does the first draft of the book look from the finished draft? 

It depends. The first draft of The Mysterious Abductions was pretty straight forward, but we really retooled The Fallen Star. We have a really good collaboration going on at Fabled Films, so there are a lot of different points of view during the process and we use that to achieve a stronger story line. 

What are three words to describe The Fallen Star?

Fun, creepy, outrageous. 

What was your favorite scene from the book? Which scene was the most difficult to write? 

It was fun to write the introduction scene to Iris. She is such a menacing and beguiling character, striking a balance in her. The reaction of the brigade was also fun to craft. But I think my favorite scene is where the brigade chases the flowers as they disappear into the earth. You almost want to reach into the text and grab the flowers for them!  

The most difficult scene to write was the climax. There are glowers, blue flowers, Iris, the lemur army, the brigade, the clouds and the moon, etc. There is a lot going on, and many different elements, and yet it's the climax of the book, so it has to be delivered in a very calculated way. I'm happy with where it ended up, though! 

* Questions provided by Saichek publicity. 


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About The Fallen Star Series

In The Fallen Star, Dawn, Tobin, and Bismark awaken one evening to a disaster: all of the forest's pomelos have been mysteriously poisoned! As the Nocturnal Brigade sets out to investigate, they encounter Iris, a mysterious aye-aye, who claims monsters from the moon are to blame. While the three heroes suspect a more earthly explanation, the animals of the valley are all falling ill. And then Tobin gets sick, too! The Nocturnal Brigade must race to find answers, and the cure, before the pomelo blight threatens to harm them all.



About The Author

Tracey Hecht is a writer and entrepreneur who has written, directed and produced for film. The American Booksellers Association chose her first book in The Nocturnals series, The Mysterious Abductions, as a Kids’ Indie Next List pick. Last year, in partnership with the New York Public Library, she created a Nocturnals Read Aloud Writing program for middle graders that has expanded nationwide. She splits her time between Oquossoc, Maine and New York City. 

I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves. ~ Anna Quindlen

Good children's literature appeals not only to
the child in the adult, but to the adult in the child.
~ Anonymous ~