(Just a heads-up: this post WILL be long because of the photos. I did not make a vlog for this event so I went all out with the photos. Enjoy!)
Last Sunday I got to meet the author of one of my most favorite series, James Frey! And no, Frey is (apparently) not pronounced "fray" like in pray but rather like "fry" as in, I'm frying some French fries for Philip J. Fry "fry". Yup. I know. MIND = BLOWN.
PART I: THE WAITING
Anyway, this book signing event must be my most dedicated one yet because aside from the fact that I had nine books to be signed, I arrived at the venue (Glorietta 1, Makati City) at 4:15 AM! And what did I get for arriving at 4:15 AM, you ask? Not chairs of course! I'm officially giving up right now. If arriving at 4:15 AM won't let me be seated in one of, like, seventy chairs, I don't know what will. And I ain't campin' out unless the author's in my Authors I Am Willing To Camp Out For list (which are technically just JK Rowling and Rick Riordan). And speaking of camping out, at about 1 AM of that day, I woke up and while checking Twitter I saw that 60+ people were already camping out since 10:00 PM of the previous day! (January 31) And I also heard that James Frey heard about this and paid the campers a visit + he bought them more than 5 dozens of J.Co donuts! Now that is an author worth camping out for!
Well, now. Enough about them. Back to me hahaha. I arrived at 4:15 AM and sure enough, lots of people were already there, sleeping soundly on their makeshift beds that they laid on the ground. My excitement went down while seeing this but what cheered me up instantly was the fact that I had a better spot in the line this time around, compared to my spot during Marie Lu's book signing event.
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| The line that quickly formed after we arrived, which made me thankful that I arrived at 4:15 AM. My spot was just outside J.Co this time around, a few meters nearer than where I was during #MarieLuinPH. |
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| The Makati sunrise made waiting a bit more relaxing. |
Once we came in, the line for registration was a struggle once again since we were made to line up at National Book Store's stairs! We had to go all the way up to their third floor and down again. I guess that was their way of maximizing their space? I dunno. What I do know is that people weren't amused. I could tell by the looks on their faces haha.
Upon knowing that 60+ people were already camped out outside by the time we arrived, I never thought that I would get this signing pass number! Plus, they gave out cards signed with "Pittacus Lore's" signature too, which was so awesome.
And of course, I would never forget taking the customary stage photo!
After everyone has been settled to their seats/floor spots, the second half of our waiting finally began. I don't know how I did it but I did it. I waited while seated on the cold hard ground for 4 hours straight!
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| Just look at that face. That, my friends, is my "mah butt be hurtin' but I ain't givin' up" face. |
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| While waiting, I got a hold of an Endgame flaglet, thanks to my cool book signing friend Niaowie, whom I met during Alex London's book signing event. |
Not much different from other book signings I attended, don't you think? But this time I did something completely different. I made not just one but three friends! (Which to me is so many already haha) This guy named Jae was behind me when we were seated on the floor, and we quickly got acquainted. He was a cool guy and what made the situation even cooler was that it was his first book signing! I don't know why but he told me that he hoped it won't be his last. I sure hope not because I'm hoping we meet in another book signing again, Jay! It was nice meeting you!
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| As usual, my phone decided to be a party-pooper again and did not focus properly. Sorry, Jae! |
Minutes before James Frey arrived, people filled up any available space on the ground that they could find and before I knew it, my view of the stage was blocked. I decided it was time to make my move and I YOLO'd my way to the aisle, a mere couple of meters away from the stage, and sat down on the ground. There, I met two cool book signing veterans, Trixie and Kate! They were so cool and we had a very nice chat about book signings and book blogging. I couldn't help but feel flattered since they were asking for tips on how to start a blog, and here I am, just a college freshie, while Trixie already has a job and Kate is a graduating student. *blushes in a corner*
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| (From L-R) Me, Kate, and Trixie. It was so much fun talking to them! |
PART II: THE SIGNING
When the clock struck 2, James Frey finally came! He awesomely sat down for an interview with National Book Store's resident book signing interviewer, Yvette Fernandez. He entered the venue while recording us in his phone haha. Trixie, Kate and I were so blown away with how much we were near him, and we couldn't help but feel starstruck!
And because I love you guys, I recorded the whole interview again. But since I have a crappy phone and had a crappy vantage point, it isn't pretty much post-worthy (which is also one of the reasons why I can't make a vlog) which is why I just transcribed it and wrote all the important stuff I could hear.
Some interview Q&A's between Yvette and James:
What got you started on writing YA novels?
Mostly my career has been writing very serious adult books, and when I came to I Am Number Four, it was sort of like an experiment. I did it with a friend of mine, we wrote that whole (?story?) together, I came up with the idea, and then it sort of blew up. And at that point we had always planned to publish it under a pseudonym which refers to the two of us and it became more and more popular than we ever expected. He only wrote the first book with me and since then it was me and a whole lot of, like, five other writers. But with Endgame I decided to write a whole book and put my name on it. We also always thought it would be cool if, with Lorien, to have the author be inhuman. It was way cooler… would you rather have the author to be me or a ten thousand year-old alien warlord?
How was writing for YA different from writing adult novels?
It’s not that much different. Writing a book is writing a book but really the characters are just younger and you can’t swear near as much… you have to limit yourself from profanity… so those are the only differences. I mean, I think with every book you sit down and decide to write a story… and you try to write a book that’s gonna make readers keep turning pages…
So [Endgame] was really a page-turner. How did you come up with the characters and the situations they are in? How did you plot it all down?
So the way we plotted it out, I wanted to have a book that didn’t have just white American characters. There are enough books with white American characters. As you can see here, I wanted to write a book that has characters from all over the world. So the first second we really just came up with the characters and the story, and we wrote a very short outline. The walls on my office are painted like whiteboard. All walls were whiteboarded. We wrote out the outline for the first three books on the walls of my office. They’re actually still there because I never come up there and if you don’t erase the whiteboard it becomes permanent…. The second book is done, and I don’t know if you know this but we put a contest on Facebook where the fans who came up with the best costume would get their name added as a character in the book. (More about that contest later!)
So you already know who’s going to win?
Yup. We know how the whole thing ends and who dies. (I DIED.)
I’m pretty sure you get very attached to your characters. What makes you decide to kill them off?
You know, part of the fun of writing a book that honestly I think readers sort of like and sort of hate is that you write a character that you know people are gonna love and then you kill them off.
Do you cringe when you write about violence?
Yeah, I mean one of the things about this book is the original draft that we submitted to the publisher was actually far more violent, and that was one of the things that they asked us to dial back. The original draft of the book had more deaths, more mayhem, and it was way worse. And then I tried to read it and I’m like “Hey, that’s not so bad?”.
What books do you read?
I’m reading a book now and I think it hasn’t come out here yet, it’s called Girl on the Train and it’s pretty awesome. Before that I read a book called Redeployment which is a book about the Iraq war. I read all kinds of books. I mean, I became a writer because I love to read books. I’m constantly reading books. I read them on the phone, I read them on an iPad, I read regular books, I think that’s why most people become writers. You love reading books and you love book stores. You guys should be so stoked to have an amazing book store chain like National Book Store!
There are a lot more male readers today, I'm surprised!
Yeah! You know at a certain point boys stop thinking that books are cool but I gotta say, books are fucking cool. Don’t ever stop reading! And to all the boys out there, I’ll give you another tip: girls pick boys who read books. They’re cooler. And for no other reason than that, keep reading books!
Some trivia about James Frey and his work:
- He IS Pittacus Lore! He wanted to keep it a secret but since I Am Number Four has a very large fan base in the Philippines, he, together with Harper Collins decided to reveal Pittacus Lore’s true identity.
- He is the father of two daughters and one son, aged 10, 7, and 4. He hasn't allowed them to read his books yet but thinks that 15 may be a good age for them to read his books.
- He puts his children's names in his books and thinks that it will be a good surprise for them when they start to read his books hihihi. (e.g. Maren Elizabeth from the Lorien Legacies is named after her daughter.)
- He also works in Hollywood and has done some movies and now some TV shows.
- He currently doesn't have a new series in mind because he has four books to be released soon (2 Lorien Legacies books and 2 Endgame books), and four books is four books after all.
- He went to a cockfight in Cebu! A friend of his in America whose parents are Filipino told him to do precisely these three things: ride a jeepney to a cockfight and eat Lechon. He’s done all three, but he strongly refuses to eat Balut! Hahaha!
- Characters who weren’t featured much in the first Endgame book like Alice will have a much bigger part in the second book! Squeee!
- Endgame is optioned to become a movie! Squeee again!
After his interview with Yvette, three lucky audience members were allowed to ask him a question, the first of which was my new friend Kate! She's so lucky!
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| Here was my shameless attempt of getting a picture of Kate and that awesome moment... |
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| And here's National Book Store's photo showing my shameless attempt of taking a picture of Kate. Hahaha. |
The three audience questions:
It seems like you favor the name Sarah. Is there a person in your life that is named Sarah? (Asked by my new friend Kate)
When I was 10 years old, I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, which is a shitty city in the middle of nowhere. My first girlfriend ever was named Sarah. Sarah Furby. And I have no idea where Sarah Furby is today, I haven’t seen her since I was probably thirteen years old.
What can you say about the second Endgame book? Spoiler please. (Asked – more like written – by the girl who cosplayed as Chiyoko. Awesomely in character, mute and all.)
All is could say is… a bunch of more people die. (I DIED. AGAIN.)
So in the Lorien Legacies, you told us that someone was gonna live and someone was gonna die. Could you give us any clues?
Both the person who lives and the person who dies’ names are numbers. (Still dead.)
After that death-inducing Q&A with the audience members, he read the first two pages of Endgame: The Calling!
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| James Frey reading the first two pages of his book, Endgame: The Calling. |
Bonus Q&A:
You sound just like kepler22b!
Oh I sound like a kepler? I am the motherfucking kepler.
And finally his advice for aspiring writers, short but sweet:
If you wanna be a writer, you can be a writer. Just work hard.
Now for the contest. Three people cosplayed during the event and the girl who dressed up as Chiyoko and a guy who dressed up as "the new number three" (which I don't think is actually a thing haha) both won! Their names are Eriele and Jayson, respectively, and we can expect to see their names in the next Endgame book soon! How cool is that? If only I knew, I would have put effort in wearing a costume so that the name "Arjude" will finally be known. No more name-personalized keychain and name sticker inequality! Hahaha! Because it is virtually impossible for me to find the name "Arjude" in those keychains or tags that have names pre-printed on them. This is actually one of my deepest and darkest sama ng loobs hahahaha.
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| The top three contenders of the cosplay challenge. Photo by National Book Store. |
Finally, it was time for the book signing! Before the book signing started, James Frey approached the audience and took a photo with us! Spot me if you can!
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| I spy myself! Hahaha! |
The signing finally began and I couldn't help but feel sorry for James Frey. Each people had an average of 6 books to be signed and there were 300 of us, I think. When it was my turn, I thanked him because I Am Number Four was what got me into reading sci-fi books and collecting books in general. (I Am Number Four is the first book I bought with my own money!) "Awesome!" was his reply. Haha.
And that was my #JamesFreyinPH experience! I really had fun this time since I met some new friends. I hope I meet more during the next events and I'm really wishing upon a star for National Book Store to finally invite me to be a part of the PH YA Book Bloggers or at least just one Book Bloggers Forum. I hope you enjoyed reading what could be my longest post yet and I'll see you on the next book signing!
P.S. My review for Endgame: The Calling will be up soon, so stay tuned!
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