Cyn Balog is a normal, everyday Jersey Girl who always believed magical things can happen to us when we least expect them. She is author of young adult paranormals FAIRY TALE (2009), SLEEPLESS(2010), and two other forthcoming novels from Delacorte. She lives outside Allentown, Pennsylvania with her husband and daughters.I've had the pleasure of meeting Cyn and just can't say enough wonderful things about her so I couldn't resist asking her to stop by the blog for an interview!
Katelyn: Fairies and the fantasy genre have always been fan favorites but lately it seems like the fae are picking up steam in the young adult literature arena. What made you want to write about the fae, have you always been a fan?
Cyn: I was lucky because I just fell into it at the right time. When I started writing FAIRY TALE, it was actually the combination of two ideas. I wanted to write about a girl who thinks her boyfriend is made for her, but comes to find out that even the most perfect-right-now relationship might not be perfect forever. And I had a title in my head, FAIRY LUST (the original title of FAIRY TALE), which just came to me, and I wondered what that could be about. I had read books about girls who learned they were fairy princesses and thought that was pretty overdone, so I thought it would be a lot more fun to have a football-playing guy learn he was a fairy. I could just imagine telling his buddies that in the locker room after practice. So no, I've never been a huge fan of the fae; I kind of just started writing a story and then to my surprise, the whole fairy craze really took off.
Katelyn: You've got two books out, Fairy Tale and Sleepless and your third Starstruck is coming out in 2011 along with Living Backwards in 2012, how do you do it all? Where are you getting your ideas? Can we hope to see any of the characters we've fallen in love with in your previous books in future works?
Cyn: I am not sure. I have two really young kids. So usually I keep my computer open on my dining room table, which is a very central location, and whenever I get an idea, whether I be feeding the kids or doing the laundry, I run to the computer and try to get it down before my Swiss cheese brain loses it. I have lost a lot of ideas this way, but I also am usually pleasantly surprised by my word count and that I can have written a whole bunch of words without even having a nice long writing session. Usually writing a book takes me 3 to 4 months.
I get my ideas mostly by looking at things and seeing how I can turn them on their heads. I explore Wikipedia a lot and find crazy ideas that I think would be the center of a great story, and I keep them in an idea file. I always get asked to do sequels and while I'm not against them, I have so many new ideas I want to explore, too! And I'm really easily distracted and like to work on many different projects at once.
Katelyn: What's your favorite author/book?
Cyn: I have too many of those! I have a lot of modern favorites, but I am simply in love with mysteries, especially Agatha Christie Poirot mysteries. She is a genius! She had this way of introducing a bunch of characters and crazy plot twists and so much information, and she managed to add in a great deal of suspense without ever drawing things out unnecessarily. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is my favorite, and I just finished reading Curtain and thought that was a close second!!
Katelyn: As an experienced writer, do you have a favorite part of the process during your writing? Or the publishing process? Are there any elements to the process that you don't really like?
Cyn: My favorite part of writing is the last chapter, and THE END. My favorite part of the publishing process is seeing the cover of my book for the first time. The rest of it is fun, but it's also fraught with a lot of worry and nervousness and "I'm a hack" moments, especially when I'm revising and on deadline. But I love writing, and I would still be doing it even if I wasn't being paid for it. It's the best job I've ever had, and I've had a lot.
Katelyn: Do you have a favorite character in Fairy Tale and/or Sleepless? If so, can you tell us who they are and why?
Cyn: Someone once said that asking an author that is like asking them which of their children is their favorite. I don't see it that way! I am never so attached to my characters. I would happily kill all of them off! Just kidding. But my favorite of FAIRY TALE was Pip because I love the underdog, and my favorite of Sleepless was Eron because, hello? Hot sandman. Yummy.
Katelyn: Anything else you'd like to add?
Cyn: Thank you so much for having me!! :)
Isn't she great? If you guys haven't had the chance to check out Fairy Tale or Sleepless, do yourself a favor and get the bookstore now to pick up your own copy, they're fantastic! And be sure to be on the lookout for the upcoming Starstruck.
What happens to the Phantom after the tragedy at the Paris Opera House is the basis for this fantastic tale of The Phantom Diaries, loosely based on Gaston Leroux's classic, The Phantom of the Opera, but with a new tale and a modern twist. This new series for older teens and young adults is told through the eyes of 18 year-old Annette Binoche, who lands a job at the New York Metropolitan Opera House as a seamstress' assistant only to become the lead singer of the Opera House, with the help of the mysterious, yet highly-seductive Phantom.
High school junior Brinkley Harper is beautiful, wealthy, admired, and powerful—until the day she wakes up in the body of a classmate she wouldn’t be caught dead hanging out with.
Twelve year old girl Hope's life is turned upside down when her older sister Lizzie becomes an elective mute and is institutionalized after trying to kill herself. Ever since their dad died Hope and Lizzie have relied on each other from a young age. Their mother is a reluctant and unreliable parent at best, who turns tricks to support the family. Throughout the course of this lyrical and heartbreaking narrative readers and Hope discover shocking truths and it's up to Hope to bring the truth to light to save her sister.
Freshman year at Harvard--glamorous parties, blossoming friendships, steamy romances, and scandalous secrets. Skip the campus tour and get right to the good stuff: classes are for scoping guys (and their Facebook profiles), not taking notes. The library is for study dates (the medieval history stacks get a lot of action), not studying. And success is a 4.0 GPA... plus getting into the most exclusive parties. How will Callie--a California girl with brains, beauty, and big dreams--and her three roommates survive?
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she’s made it out of the bloody arena alive, she’s still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what’s worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss’s family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.
Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish. 
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. 
Eron DeMarchelle isn't supposed to feel this connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce his human charges to sleep. Though he can communicate with his charges in their dreams, he isn't encouraged to do so. After all, becoming too involved in one human's life could prevent him from helping others get their needed rest. 
When someone leaves three mystery flowers outside her dorm door, Laurel thinks that maybe the Avondale School isn't so awful after all — until her own body starts to freak out. In the middle of her English presentation on the Victorian Language of Flowers, strange words pop into her head, and her body seems to tingle and hum. Impulsively, Laurel gives the love bouquet she made to demonstrate the language to her spinster English teacher. When that teacher unexpectedly and immediately finds romance, Laurel suspects that something — something magical — is up. With her new friend, Kate, she sets out to discover the origins and breadth of her powers by experimenting on herself and others. But she can’t seem to find any living experts in the field of flower powers to guide her. And her bouquets don't always do her bidding, especially when it comes to her own crush, Justin. Rumors about Laurel and her flowers fly across campus, and she's soon besieged by requests from girls — both friends and enemies — who want their lives magically transformed — just in time for prom.