Author Spotlight: Mary Weber talks The Evaporation of Sofi Snow

Today I get to welcome Mary Weber to the blog! Mary is the multiple-award-winning author of the bestselling young adult Storm Siren Trilogy, and The Evaporation of Sofi Snow series (all by HarperCollins). An avid high school, middle school, and conference speaker, Mary's passion is helping others find their voice and laughter amid a world that often feels too loud. When she's not plotting adventures involving tough girls who take over the world, Mary sings 80's hairband songs to her three muggle children and ogles her husband who looks strikingly like Wolverine. They live in California which is perfect for stalking L.A. bands, Joss Whedon, and the ocean. Mary's debut, Storm Siren, was a Scholastic Pick, and you can find her fun interviews in the paperback of Marissa Meyer's NYT bestselling Cress, and Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why move tie-in edition. Most recently, you can see her family in the NETFLIX Original Series 13 Reasons Why.

Now, let's jump headfirst into the interview!

Hi, Mary, and congrats on the release of The Evaporation of Sofi Snow ! Can you tell us a little about the book and the inspiration behind it?

Hi & thanks for having me!

Yes! The best way I can explain The Evaporation of Sofi Snow is basically if The Fifth Wave, The Circle, and The Hunger Games had a love child.

And then gave it a ghetto blaster.

It’s the story of a gamer girl trying to rescue her brother—whom she believes was abducted by the aliens inhabiting an ice planet that’s suddenly appeared near Earth. And of a hot, young ambassador who’s being black-mailed for dark secrets that may or may not involve the gamer girl. And oh man—as a life-long science fiction geek, I’m quite partial to fast-paced, high-stakes, adventures filled with love-interests who take on the world. I also adore virtual reality and music, and in my day job I work with teens. So their hearts and bravery tend to bleed all over these pages.

The Evaporation of Sofi Snow comes with the chilling tagline: The line between virtual and reality is about to evaporate. What about this concept most intrigues and scares you?

The fact that the boundaries are literally endless as to what we can do. Particularly in regards to medical technology, social assistance, and the exploration of the universe as well as our internal cells. As humans, we’ve never known this level of technological leverage before—and with it comes a huge responsibility. One I’m honestly not sure we’re prepared for. ;)

Do you have any tips for writing about the future? What kind of research do you do?

I love keeping up on technology and science studies—and there are a ton of resources through articles and podcasts that regularly discuss the newest inventions and future predictions. So that’s the kind of research I employ—because it’s both plausible and fascinating (not to mention educational), which tends to make stories more believable, you know?

Who was your favorite character to write? And which character gave you the most trouble?

*laughs* I have two. Vicero and Claudius, both of whom I absolutely love playing around with. As far as most difficult—that would be Sofi’s mom, Inola, simply because I wanted to represent her well. By that I mean, her issues are vast and feed heavily into Sofi’s struggles (as is the case with many families). But I also wanted to show the mama-heart side of her—which is simply trying to do the best she can with what she has.

What part of the writing process do you find most challenging and how do you tackle it?

*laughs again* So in every book I get about 80 pages in and realize that in order to figure out the rest, I need to re-plot the entire thing. And I HAAAATE IT. For a long time I thought it was just me—until I read a comment from Scott Westerfield, who said, “Everyone finds that they have to re-plot their novel about halfway through. All of us find it hard. But I think that the difference between a professional and an amateur is that the professional knows that it will happen, plans for it, and jumps into the novel and tackles the problem as soon as it crops up.”

So, yeah. Thanks, Scott, for making me feel normal.

What are you reading, or otherwise currently obsessed with?

I just got back from my friend, Maggie Stiefvater’s—so I am reading THIS. It is perfection incarnate. The magical atmosphere is swoony and beautiful and omg I can’t even with this book.

What has been your most rewarding experience as an author so far?

Meeting incredible people who immediately feel like family. The book world is filled with some of the most beautiful souls—and I am honored to get to participate with them.

And finally, what’s one steadfast piece of advice you would give to other writers?

Be kind. Always. There are a million different ways to write and market a book, just as there are a million different communities to connect with. But at the end of the day it’s our relationships that matter, and the people we impact with goodness, or even call to higher standards through grace (rather than snark or ganging up on). Writing can be a rather lonesome profession – so make real life friendships more than storybook ones. <3

Xoxo

~m.

Big thanks go out to Mary for taking the time to give such thoughtful answers, as well as tempting us with a glimpse into the futuristic world she's created for The Evaporation of Sofi Snow! Add her intriguing dystopian sci-fi to your Goodreads list or order your copy RIGHT NOW from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your local indie.

If you benefited from any of Mary's interview and you want to contact her directly, you can do that online! She gets nerdy at maryweber.com, FACEBOOK @MaryWeberAuthor, INSTAGRAM @MaryWeberAuthor, TWITTER @mchristineweber, and GOODREADS. Go say hi!!