Evelyn Skye on Facing Difficult Choices & Choosing 'Something Bigger'

Evelyn Skye interviews with podcast 88 Cups of Tea with Yin Chang

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We have young adult author Evelyn Skye discussing the writing process of her debut novel “The Crown’s Game”. Teen Vogue says it’s one of the 13 Best Young Adult Novels coming out in 2016 and Barnes and Noble says it’s the “Most anticipated Young Adult Fantasy Novels of this year”.

This is yet another episode packed with discussions about the business side of writing and writing advice that are truly actionable. Evelyn shares the resources she used to become a self-taught author and how being a part of a writing community can significantly help improve your writing. We chat a bunch about literary agents, query letters, and marketing for authors. So if you’re working on your own novel right now, you’ll really benefit from Evelyn’s episode!

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“It takes time and effort. If you have a dream and keep pursuing it, it will happen.”

“You have to do things that are genuine to you.”

“It’s important to live your life. You can’t just live in this fictional world, otherwise you have nothing to bring to it.”

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

- How Evelyn taught herself how to write novels with self-taught writing books
- How to find a community of critiquing partners to help you improve your writing
- What inspired Evelyn to write “The Crown’s Game” and how she developed the characters
- How to find agents and editors who understand and support your vision of your story
- How Evelyn used online resources to learn how to write query letters
- Why it’s crucial to set the rules of your “world” you created throughout the story
- Why it’s important to be genuine when marketing your book

About ‘THE CROWN’S GAME’

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air.

They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.

And so he initiated the Crown’s Game, a duel of magical skill—and the greatest test an enchanter will ever know. The victor becomes the Imperial Enchanter and the tsar’s most respected adviser. The defeated is sentenced to death.

Raised on tiny Ovchinin Island her whole life, Vika is eager for a chance to show off her talent in the grand capital of Saint Petersburg. But can she kill another enchanter—even when his magic calls to her like nothing else ever has?

For Nikolai, an orphan, the Crown’s Game is the chance of a lifetime. But his deadly opponent is a force to be reckoned with—beautiful, whip smart, imaginative—and he can’t stop thinking about her.

And when Pasha, Nikolai’s best friend and heir to the throne, also starts to fall for the mysterious enchantress, Nikolai must defeat the girl they both love… or be killed himself.

As long-buried secrets emerge, threatening the future of the empire, it becomes dangerously clear—the Crown’s Game is not one to lose.

Learn More About Evelyn Skye

Evelyn Skye is the author of THE CROWN’S GAME (HarperCollins / Balzer+Bray 2016) and its sequel (2017). She has a B.A. in Russian literature & history from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

She is also a YA event host at Kepler’s Books and the ringleader of YA Lunch Break, a popular Bay Area book club. When she’s not writing, Evelyn can be found chasing after her daughter on the playground or sitting on the couch, immersed in a good book and eating way too many cookies. She is repped by Brianne Johnson of Writers House.