Soman Chainani's Blog, page 33

Musicals, Elusive Spring, & A Special Teaser

Happy Sunday, Evs and Nevs!

First, your weekly contest reminder — you have until 12 pm EST tomorrow to enter the Trial Challenge Design Contest.  The local time for New York City is here; that’s the clock we go by.

Second, thanks so much for your great questions in response to my open call here.  Keep ‘em coming!  Ellie, I hope you managed to have some fun at your school dance!!  I know they can be super awkward, especially in middle school — I was never a fan until high school, when I had a good group of nerdy friends to go with.  Having at least two to three other people with you at these things helps a lot.

Third, I’m happy to report that the Taylor Swift scrapbook has been sent off to management.  Thanks so much to everyone for their unique, outstanding contributions!  It reminds me that sometimes Soman shares some of the things he gets in the mail from you guys, which is fun.  The other day he showed me some pages from Hannah the Eel’s SGE musical — I was so impressed!  A small sample below:

I love musicals.  The one I’ve seen most recently is Newsies, which was spectacular.  I watched it with my mother and sister in Atlanta earlier this year.  It reminds me that I should watch more, especially since I live in NYC now.  Do you guys like musicals?  If so, which are your favorites?  (Movie adaptations totally count!) 

If you could cast the SGE characters in a musical, which would it be and who would play what?  Wicked’s an obvious one, but I think You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown could also be great.  Agatha would be Charlie Brown, Sophie would be Lucy, Tedros would be Schroeder, Dot would be Sally — not sure who would be Linus or Snoopy.  Maybe Hort?

This past Friday was the first official day of spring and the weather here decided to celebrate it by dumping another few inches of snow on us.  (I’m not crying, it’s just raining on my face.)  At this point, I’m more than a little jealous that Soman’s in sunny Miami right now.  I keep staring longingly at all of the sundresses that are hanging in my closet, begging to be worn.  I enjoy winter and snow, but there IS such a thing as overstaying your welcome.

Either way, April will bring something very special: the paperback release of Book 2, A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES!  I have a little sneak peek of it for you right here, and it’s worth noting that it comes with some extras…

So keep a weather eye out for that!  April 14 is the official release date.  If you’re dying to get a preview of THE LAST EVER AFTER, here’s your chance.

That’s it for now.  Have a great week, loves! ♥ Here’s your dance song:

 ~JoAnn

Emotional Rollercoasters, Caspar on the Brain, the Tao of Douggie, and a Trial Contest!

Hey Evs and Nevs,

Phew — long day. Working on Chapter 30, which is super intense, and dealing with machinations on the movie, so it’s just been some rough days.

I wish the process of getting a movie right was easier. I wish it was faster. I wish I had more control. But I’ve been in the film industry a long time and it’s a bit like trying to get Dot to eat carob or caramel instead of chocolate.

Suffice to say, I enjoy writing the books much more.

I see you guys liked the poster When I first saw it, I couldn’t believe how beautiful and perfect it suited the third book, both in its feel and stakes. I keep saying it, but Book 3 is just bigger than the first two books in every way, so the poster really reflects it. Michael saw your comments and was totally entertained by them. He’s a genius and is doing our trailer too, so you can only imagine what’s in store.

I’ll head down to Miami this week to keep writing — I’m hoping to get 30 and 31 done by the time I’m back, which will leave only 32 and 33 left. My wonderful editor Toni is keeping up with everything and editing as I go, and Iacopo Bruno is doing the art as I go, and our Art Director Amy is managing the entire book’s design as we go… So suffice to say it takes a village to make Book 3 happen.

Meanwhile, in Miami there’s a huge tennis tournament starting next week that I always go to see — Federer, Nadal, Serena Williams, Andy Murray all play it, so I’ll write during the day and then go to watch tennis matches at night. I’ll also get to meet Andrew Fitzpatrick in Miami — yes, Grown-Up Tedros — and hopefully by then I’ll perfect the art of selfie-taking, because I’m terrible at it.

Selfie-taking, btw, seems like such a ludicrous skill. I feel like my entire life is devoted to trying NOT to be self-conscious, so taking selfless literally seems against my life’s mission. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I rarely, if ever, take them, and usually only if Douggie’s being particularly farty or difficult.

Speaking of Douggie, he’s here right now eating peanut butter out of a kong. He’s also decided that my tennis shoe is where he likes to put his bouncy ball and then he complains when it rolls inside the shoe to the toe and he can’t get it out. Some days I’d like to be as useless and brain-challenged as a dog. But then I suppose I wouldn’t be writing this blog or judging the Caspar Lee / Tedros contest.

Ahhhh! How good were these. I laughed so many times. Caspar, as you know, loves them too and he’s getting a copy of the book sent to him this week. (If you’ve been following JoAnn’s blog, you know you’re amazing Taylor Swift scrapbook is going out this week to her too!)

It was nearly impossible to rank these, so I’ll declare TWO first-placed winners for the Caspar Contest and a handful of honorable mentions, with appropriate commentary from Tedros on each. Here we go…

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

First up…. Alex!

TEDROS: The truth is, Alex, as you well know, me not wearing a shirt in detention is even more distracting than not wearing a shirt at school, so I think that’s my plan. Just not wear a shirt in detention. What can they do to me? Send me to detention for detention? They can’t send me to the Doom Room. That’s for Nevers. And well… yeah… look at me.

Next up… Amanda!

TEDROS: If I accidentally knock Reaper into a pot and then accidentally turn the gas up to high and he’s boiled into a stew, which I then serve to his ghost… would you consider that Evil?

Next up… Erleen!

TEDROS: If I’m eating chocolates, you know that something in my life is really, really, really bad.

Next up… Grace Elizabeth!

TEDROS: Even I have to agree with you here. Give me the choice between being the Doctor and me, I’ll sooooo be the Doctor. Wonder if there’s a portal into that world from the Woods…

Next up… Snownina!

TEDROS: I want to live in this little painting of yours and kiss myself all day long. (Pause) Did I really say that out loud?

And our TWO WINNERS….

First Winner…

KIKO for Hipster Tedros!

TEDROS: Yesssssssssssssss. Everyone thinks I’m so square! But I can be a hipster! I can get smart girls! See! See!

And our Second Winner…

DANIELLA!

GROWN-UP TEDROS: Daniella, man, you got it spot on. Not to call you a man. It’s just that I think I’m so much more mature now and I look back at my old self and think what a spoiled, fratboy. I was quite handsome, though, wasn’t I? Not like I’m not handsome now. But I’m more at my peak of life where I’m going to eventually become un-handsome and back then I was on the uprise… I think I’ll go cry now.

Wow. Great work everyone!!!!! Daniella and Kiko, send your addresses to everneverarmy@gmail.com if you want your 5 signed copies of A WORLD WITHOUT PRINCES!

(Remember, the rest of your prizes go out next week for past winners.)

Now for this week’s contest…

You have been appointed to the the Trial by Tale committee to help design new challenges for this year’s edition!! For this contest, you’re going to describe the ultimate challenge that would face Tedros, Agatha, or Sophie. Here are the rules:

1. All entries are submitted through the Comments section

2. Only one entry per person

3. You must have the following sections — NAME your character, NAME your challenge, and DESCRIBE the challenge. For instance, here’s a bad example, ripped from the Hunger Games:

CHARACTER: Agatha

CHALLENGE: Reaper Cries

DESCRIPTION: Agatha hears Reaper’s cries all through the Blue Forest and has to convince herself they’re not real

4. Keep your descriptions to under 150 words.

5. All entries due by next Monday at 12 noon!

Good luck and see you next week from Miami!

xo

Soman

Reminders, Questions, & Picspammy Previews

Hi Evs and Nevs,

My blog entry’s purely practical today since I have so much to do, but I wanted to remind you that now’s really your last chance to enter the Young Tedros Thought Bubble Contest!  You have until 12 pm EST on Tuesday.  Again, if you live in a different time zone, this link will help you check the local time here.  You guys have truly outdone yourselves with this contest; your entries are all so funny and witty that I don’t know how we’re going to judge this one!!

Second, we need your help with something special (hint: it has to do with the upcoming YouTube channel):

What questions have you always wanted to ask Soman?  Similarly, is there anything you’d like to ask me?  Sound off in the comments, and we’ll gather everything!  I’ll ask this again from time to time, so this isn’t your only chance to ask us things — but obviously, asking sooner means getting your answer sooner.

The Taylor Swift scrapbook is also going out this week.  I have tons of pictures and I’ll do a massive pic spam of the finished pages once I’m done sorting through everything, but here’s a preview, including a step-by-step of how I put together one of the more elaborate pages.

Standalone page:

Page breakdown:

Have a fantastic week, loves!  Here’s today’s song:

~JoAnn

Behold… The Official Poster for THE LAST EVER AFTER

Ready?

READY?

Here is the new poster designed by Michael Blank. Share it far and wide with all your friends! Remember, you can preorder the book with a huge discount at: www.schoolforgoodandevil.com.

Alright… tah-dah!

In 2014, the Ever Never Army was born, made up of passionate...

In 2014, the Ever Never Army was born, made up of passionate fans of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL all around the world.

Since the book’s release, we’ve seen thousands and thousands of fan art pieces, fan fiction stories, homemade tattoos, original songs, Instagram memes, school-inspired workout routines, dance videos, musical tributes, school-themed cakes, and more. Looking back at the year in SGE, here are some of the most memorable.

Holiday SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL Fanart by a reader named...

Holiday SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL Fanart by a reader named Daisy, featuring Sophie, Agatha, Tedros, and the School Master.

Gah. Gorgeous.

Two of my favorite pieces of SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL fanart...

Two of my favorite pieces of SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL fanart from the past few days.

More sneak peeks at Book 3 on Twitter: Follow @somanchainani

More sneak peeks at Book 3 on Twitter: Follow @somanchainani 

This week’s contest, inspired by our fans’ love of...

This week’s contest, inspired by our fans’ love of all things Taylor Swift: 

Readers give us their Top 10 Reasons Why Taylor should read THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD & EVIL. 

Here are some of the early entries. For more, check outwww.schoolforgoodandevil.com.

Great SGE stuff popping up all over Instagram

Great SGE stuff popping up all over Instagram