Rookie Wednesday: Cyn Balog

This week's newbie author is Cyn Balog, author of Fairy Tale which was released June 23, 2009.


What's one random tidbit about yourself?

I like to make pies from scratch. It's the only kind of cooking I enjoy doing... I hate to cook.

What were you doing before you sold Fairy Tale?

The minute before? I was in my office, working, probably depressed because I was thinking that Fairy Tale would never sell. It had only been on submission 6 weeks but I am a total pessimist.

Over the past six months, what has been the best book that you've read?

CATCHING FIRE, without a doubt! It has such a masterful, twisty-turny plot that it makes me wonder why I even bother trying.

Was the process of writing and publishing your first novel what you expected it to be?

It was easier than I thought, actually. I have heard lots of horror stories from people, and mine wasn't nearly as difficult. I spent a very long time thinking it was impossible, and it's obviously not. So maybe if you go into it thinking that it is nearly impossible, you will be pleasantly surprised!

Give us one embarrassing author moment:

Nothing is more embarrassing than giving a reading of something YOU wrote. I cringe thinking about doing it. It's like, some writers... their work is MADE to be read aloud. Mine is just not. To be a writer who is comfortable with that, I think you also have to be comfortable sitting in a giant leather chair, in front of a blazing fire, smoking a pipe and speaking in a British accent.

What would you most like potential readers to know about you and/or your book?

I like to think of FAIRY TALE as fantasy-lite. It's not really made for die-hard fantasy readers, but more for teens who have a mild interest in fairies and fantasy but aren't really into the lore and think they may get lost if they venture too far away from this world.

What's your favorite thing about Fairy Tale?

I would have to say the cover, since that was one thing I had absolutely nothing to do with. All other aspects of it, I had some effect on, and I can't help thinking I could have made them better!

What projects do you have in the pipeline?

I'm finishing up revisions on SLEEPLESS, another paranormal YA about a Sandman who falls in love with a mortal whose sleep he controls, and is due out in the summer of 2010. Plus I'm now working on another paranormal for Delacorte for 2011... I am not ready to say what it is about quite yet, but there are no fairies or sandmen in that one ;)

Any final comments?

Thanks so much for having me, Jacqueline!!

THANKS FOR THE AWESOME INTERVIEW CYN!

Fairy Tale synopsis from Amazon.com:

Morgan Sparks has always known that she and her boyfriend, Cam, are made for each other. But when Cam’s cousin Pip comes to stay with the family, Cam seems depressed. Finally Cam confesses to Morgan what’s going on: Cam is a fairy. The night he was born, fairies came down and switched him with a healthy human boy. Nobody expected Cam to live, and nobody expected his biological brother, heir to the fairy throne, to die. But both things happened, and now the fairies want Cam back to take his rightful place as Fairy King.

Even as Cam physically changes, becoming more miserable each day, he and Morgan pledge to fool the fairies and stay together forever. But by the time Cam has to decide once and for all what to do, Morgan’s no longer sure what’s best for everyone, or whether her and Cam’s love can weather an uncertain future.

Visit Cyn's website for more info about her and her work.