10 Behind the Scenes Secrets about BORN WICKED

Hi! Tonight at 9pm EST, I’ll be doing a #BornWickedchat on Twitter – just follow the hashtag to participate! You can ask me questions and I’ll be giving away prizes: a signed BORN WICKED paperback, some Cahill Witch swag packs, and ARCs of Victoria Schwab’s THE ARCHIVED, Alex Lidell’s THE CADET OF TILDOR, Gayle Forman’s JUST ONE DAY, and Ruta Sepetys’s OUT OF THE EASY. 

Hint: If you’re planning to come to the #BornWickedChat, you might bookmark this page, as some of the questions I’ll be asking will come from here. (Others will be simple questions about the book that anyone who read it should know.)

1. I named girls accused of witchery after my critique partners, Kathleen Foucart and Jackie Dolamore. (This trend continues in STAR CURSED.)
2.  The Ishidas’ last name was originally Iniko, until Jackie pointed out that didn’t work properly in Japanese.
3. Sachi was originally going to hook up with Elena. 
4. I added the scene where Cate climbs the apple tree to get away from everything very late in revisions, but it’s one of my favorites. That’s the scene I tend to use at readings.
5. In my very first scribblings, the Cahill sisters were Kate, Moira, and Tez. But I love the alliteration of Cate Cahill, and Maura and Tess look/sound softer.
6. I totally rewrote the last 50 pages of BORN WICKED after the book sold. In the original ending, Cate went on trial and saved herself with an engagement to Paul McLeod. 
7. Also, the book originally ended with the arrival of Zara Roth, who had been on the lam throughout the book.  
8. My husband, the Playwright, wrote the creepy little ditty that Brenna sings in the cemetery. 
9. I got lots of Cate’s gardening know-how from my mom, who gardens the way I read books (which is to say, voraciously). 
10. The original title was THRICE BLESSED.

I also did a fun interview today with Corsets, Cutlasses, and Candlesticks. You can read it here.

Hope to chat with you tonight!