I had a reader leave a review for WRECKED today on Amazon that really got me thinking … about how books can open up dialogs about different things. Sometimes important things.
If you've read WRECKED, you know that issues of teen survival and teen sex come up, along with social cliques and other high school junk kids often have to deal with. I must confess … I just wrote the book from the perspective of my former teenage self, not really thinking about all the ways this story might get parents, kids, teachers, friends and family talking about stuff. But I think it's pretty cool that someone might do that after reading my books.
If you've read WAR OF THE FAE, you'll probably see a couple underlying themes there too. Maybe even things to talk about. I won't say what they are here, but if you want to discuss it, by all means comment below.
I didn't put any themes in my books on purpose; I can't take credit for being that organized or that “deep”. But I can see for myself that they ended up there anyway. My characters have minds of their own. And I guess I believe that deep down, whether you're human or fae or “other”, you're going to deal with a lot of the same problems and conflicts that will naturally arise in a place where people have different belief systems, morals, codes, environments, etc.
Whoa! So, that's enough of that philosophical stuff for today! Hope you're enjoying all the freebies I've given away over the last few days. Now I'm off to write another series … Apocalypsis…
WAIT!! Dont start Apocolypsis until you finish Full Measure!!!!! PLEASE!!!!
One of the themes I find in War of the Fae that is very interesting to me is spirituality. I don’t mean religion. I mean a connectedness and appreciation for all living things and earnest desire to be a good person and to do what’s right. Let’s get a discussion going on that one!
And, Aiden, if you like ‘chick lit’ you’ll read Kat Lee, too, and love it just as much. My friend, Greg, is looking forward to it because he knows that Elle cranks out great stuff regardless of the genre.
I will keep it in mind 🙂
I don’t really know what genre I am into most but Elle has a bit of everything in Her work and her style alwayd keeps me reading feverishly 🙂
And speaking of dialog, I don’t feel like I belong to a fan “club” because I never hear from any of your other fans (see what they’re saying and being able to comment). Maybe you could put a “share/don’t share” choice on your fan club page so that we could interact
I hear what you’re saying, and I’ve considered putting a forum on the site for readers to interact, but in the end I decided not to. I might change my mind. I just don’t want readers to think that I’m watching over their shoulders or something, which I’d obviously be doing if the forum was on my own website. Now, that being said, I do watch very closely what my readers say. I’m on Amazon.com, Goodreads, Shelfari, Twitter, and anywhere else people are talking about my books. I comment like crazy about things people say, so obviously I do like a lot of reader interaction. I just don’t know the right answer for this dilemma. I’d love a reader forum! Nothing would please me more than to see people sharing things about my books with each other. But I just don’t think *I’m* the person who should provide that forum. Does that make any sense? No easy answer here, for me at least! xoxo Elle