Welcome to the blog tour for
UNCHANGED by Jessica Brody!
Firstly, a big thank you to Macmillan for putting this blog tour together! I’m always so excited to be a part of these tours and so grateful I get to participate! This one is especially exciting because I read the first book in this trilogy, UNREMEMBERED, as an ARC and it’s been so much fun seeing this series come together from start to finish, as well as meeting Jessica several times in between, so to be on this blog tour is a very special occasion for me!
Before we get down to the Q&A with Jessica, let’s pause to give you a little more info on the trilogy if you’re not familiar with it yet!
The Unremembered Trilogy by Jessica Brody
The series is action-packed science fiction with a dose of romance. Book 1, Unremembered, opens with Seraphina finding herself stranded in the middle of a plane wreck. She is the only survivor and has no memory of who she is or where she came from. As the series progresses, Sera learns she is genetically engineered by a super creepy corporation called Diotech. As more secrets are revealed, more enemies are uncovered, and the reality of a Diotech-controlled world grows closer with ever book, Sera will have to choose where her true loyalties lie, but it’s a choice that may cost her everything she’s ever loved.
Unremembered // Unforgotten // Unchanged
Q&A WITH JESSICA BRODY
On completing a trilogy
Brittany: First off, CONGRATULATIONS on having a full trilogy published and out in the world! How does it feel?
Jessica Brody: Thank you! It’s a little surreal and a little sad. I’ve been actually tearing up a lot lately now that I’ve started to promote the book and talk about it with the world. Up until this point everything about the story and the conclusion I had to keep to myself. Now that people are starting to read it and share their thoughts about the end with me, it’s been more emotional. When I first got the finished book in the mail a few weeks ago, I actually broke into tears. My husband caught it on video. You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nluQg0w3Vgw
Brittany: I finished UNCHANGED (on sale now! Yay!) the other week and I just loved the cohesive plot throughout the series but how unique each book felt. Was it difficult to decide what content went into each individual book and how to split them up?
Jessica: THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’m so happy to hear you say that! 🙂 Each book did feel so different to me when I was writing it. It was almost as though I were writing three connected stand-alones. I think it’s because each book takes place in a very different setting (and time period!) so they each kind of have their own world. The thing that ties them together, of course, is Sera, and how out of place she feels in all of the worlds, even her “home.” But the series pretty much followed the outline that I used to sell this trilogy to my publisher. At least in terms of locations and major plot points. I always knew Book 1 would take place today, in our world, book 2 would take place in 1609 and book 3 would take place 100 years in the future. So not much of that has changed. What was most difficult was figuring out what all those worlds look like…and what they look like with Sera in them.
Brittany: Were there any major changes from start to finish of the series? Did UNCHANGED end like you had originally planned?
Jessica: Um…yes. I actually wrote the first 250 pages of UNCHANGED and then threw them all out! So it’s ironic that the book is called UNCHANGED. I just knew in my gut it wasn’t the right book and it wasn’t fixable. I simply had to start over. Very few of those scenes made it into the final draft. Most of them are lining my computer’s trash can! And then after I had a draft that I really loved, I sent it to my editor and she made me rewrite the first 140 pages again! All in all, though, I really feel like the book is better for it. I’ve never thrown out that many pages before and started over. And yet, I feel like this is my strongest book so maybe that says something about the challenging process I had.
Brittany: I’ve been lucky enough to meet you on a few Fierce Reads tours and those book tours look like SO much fun! (Although I’m sure exhausting!) What’s been your favorite experience since UNREMEMBERED’s release?
Jessica: Yes! I’ve enjoyed seeing you at our Chicago events! Obviously I’ve just loved meeting all the readers and visiting all these different cities (but, yes it’s exhausting!) It feels a lot like summer camp, though. You really bond with the authors you tour with. It’s hard not to! You spend nearly every waking moment with them. There was a night on my first Fierce Reads tour (in 2013) in Memphis. It was me, Anna Banks, Leigh Bardugo, and Emmy Laybourne. We all went out to eat on Beale Street and had just the most amazing food and the most amazing time. I remember lots of laughing and talking until late at night. It was just an incredible bonding experience. To this day, those ladies are still some of my closest friends.
Brittany: The Unremembered Trilogy is a sci-fi series and the connections between plot, characters, and technology were impressive! What was the most difficult part in planning a series?
Jessica: Well, at the risk of being too spoilery (too late!) the most difficult aspect was keeping track of all the time periods and who is where and when and what they’re doing and how it affects the rest of the story. I had this massive spreadsheet for my timeline that spanned from 1609 all the way to 2117. It was color coordinated and everything. It was insane. To this day I’m probably the only one who can read it. LOL!
Brittany: Of course I need to ask… what’s next!? Do you have any upcoming projects you can share with us?
Jessica: Oh gosh, I’m SO excited about my next book. I’m taking a little break from Sci-Fi for a while…this trilogy wore me out! And returning to my contemporary roots! I have a new book coming out in Spring 2016 called A WEEK OF MONDAYS. It’s about a teen girl who has to relive the same horrible Monday (in which her boyfriend breaks up with her) over and over again until she figures out how to fix it. It’s kind of like GROUNDHOG DAY meets SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL. It’s definitely a comedy. It’s definitely got lots of romance and shenanigans and overall it was just really fun to write. As much as I enjoyed the challenge of writing the sci-fi trilogy, it was really refreshing to write something light and fun again. I just turned in the first draft to my editor and thankfully she likes it! So we’re moving on in the process. I can’t wait to share it with everyone!
Thanks so much for having me on the blog, Brittany! I’m so happy you liked the book and I hope your readers will too!
A big, big thank you to Jessica Brody for today’s interview! It’s always such a delight. If you haven’t read this series yet, I definitely recommend it! And for those of you interested in A WEEK OF MONDAYS, you can add it on Goodreads now!
// Want more of the Unremembered trilogy?
- ExGen Commerical — Check out this commercial, as featured in UNCHANGED!
- The Unremembered trilogy is available for the first time as audiobooks!
// And don’t miss the rest of the blog tour!
- Tuesday February 24 | MacTeenBooks Blog
- Wednesday February 25 | Carina’s Books
- Thursday February 26 | A Book and a Latte
- Friday February 27 | Tales of a Ravenous Reader
- Saturday, February 28 | Step into Fiction
- Sunday, March 1 | Bumbles and Fairy Tales
- Monday, March 2 Bewitched Bookworms
- Tuesday, March 3 | The Book Addict’s Guide
- Wednesday, March 4 | Alice Marvels
GIVEAWAY
Macmillan is graciously providing a copy of UNCHANGED for giveaway too! The winner will receive a hardcover copy of the book plus an exclusive Diotech compound blueprint + signed poster! This offer was only available with purchase through March 1st so if you missed it, you can still get it with this giveaway! Happy entering! (Giveaway is US only. Please only enter if we are able to ship your prize to a US address!)
