Questions for Poppy Adams

[dumlao_n]

Thank you for your wonderful book. I have similar questions as the other readers, but I will not repeat myself.I have several questions that I would like to know your opinion on:

1.)Is Ginny the only one in the Stone family who is nutty or does Clive, Maud, and
Vivien have some type of mental illness as well?

2.) Is Maud's drinking genetic or was her drinking a causal affair before Vivien left for London? Why did she drink to fill her time while Clive and Ginny were working together instead of doing something else?

3.)Why did Ginny and Vivien call their parents by their first names and not Mom and Dad?

4.) Was Vivien ever pregnant like Ginny saw in the picture?


I look forward to reading your future novels. Thank you for taking your time to answering our questions on your book. Good luck to your future adventures.

Nicole

[umlaut]

I believe the book was lacking in the inter-personal relationship between the family, the story was more focused towards moth than between the sisters, as the title states. Every time, i got into the story, i was forced into *moth* issues, the last straw for me was the overdone story on *surrogate*. However i did like you strong, mind catching opening. But overall i was disappointed in this book, i was expecting to read a strong character development, but the story about *moth* was distracting from the character.

Message Edited by umlaut on 03-15-2008 04:30 PM

[Everyman]

Ms. Adams:

A few questions on how you approached writing the book. I've suggested some alternatives in these questions, but if none of them fit but you can figure out what I'm intending to ask, please answer the intent!

1. Did you work by laying out a detailed outline of the story before "putting pen to paper" and then writing to the outline, or did you only have a general idea of the story and let it develop in detail as you wrote?

2. Did you write it in order, or did you write some sections (perhaps much of the moth detail?) first and fill in other sections around that?

3. Before writing, did you prepare a detailed "back story" so that before you began to write you knew the whole history of the family, or did you have some major elements in let the back story develop and mature as you wrote?

4. How many drafts of the novel did you go through before it reached its final shape as we see it?

5. Did you find that writing this story was generally similar to, or quite different from, making a documentary, and if so how?

Thanks!

[Bonnie824]

I enjoyed your book Ms. Adams, and found the POV especially intriguing because I evaluate and work with people with autism spectrum disorders. Not that I am clear that Ginny was there- you may have a totally different reason for her social/emotional behavior.

My question is: When you write do you try and write from many POV very different from yourself, or is this a new direction for you?.

[psujulie]

Ms. Adams,

Thank you so much for sharing your book with us. I have enjoyed the discussion very much! I have a few questions for you. How long did it take for you to write this book? Did you write every day for a set period of time (kind of like a job?) What are your favorite books and who are your favorite authors?

Thanks so much!

[Linda10]

Dear Miss Adams,

I only have about 20 more pages to read before I finish your book tonight.  Wow!  I really am enjoying it!

One thought began creeping through my head towards the beginning of the book and kept getting stronger the more that I read.  This story reminds me of something Alfred Hitchcock might have done, like maybe "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"  Did you ever see that movie or any of his other works?  This SO reminds me of the type of thing he would have done.  Did Mr. Hitchcock influence you in any way when writing this book?  And, if not, how did you ever come up with this idea?  I think you have an amazing imagination and would look forward to reading any books you may write in the future.

Thank you for sharing "The Sister" with us!

[vivico1]

---

Linda10 wrote:

Dear Miss Adams,

I only have about 20 more pages to read before I finish your book tonight. Wow! I really am enjoying it!

One thought began creeping through my head towards the beginning of the book and kept getting stronger the more that I read. This story reminds me of something Alfred Hitchcock might have done, like maybe "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" Did you ever see that movie or any of his other works? This SO reminds me of the type of thing he would have done. Did Mr. Hitchcock influence you in any way when writing this book? And, if not, how did you ever come up with this idea? I think you have an amazing imagination and would look forward to reading any books you may write in the future.

Thank you for sharing "The Sister" with us!

---

That wasn't a Hitchcock film but I know what you mean. I thought about Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte alot during this book. It came out same time as Baby Jane. Sorry to impose on your question but found that an interesting coincidence.

[Readingrat]

I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to read your book. Ginny was an interesting character and I enjoyed the opportunity to get inside her head for a bit. I also think you did a wonderful job with all the entomology references. It was all quite believable, so much so, that it made me wonder if you are an amateur entomologist yourself. I really don't have any questions about the book that haven't already been asked in previous posts; I just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed reading it.
Thanks,
Elaine

[DSaff]

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read your book, Ms. Adams! I enjoyed it very much and look forward to reading more in the future. There are many good questions here and mine are these: What made you select this venue for introducing your book? Are you surprised at the intensity of the conversation your book has created?

[kmensing]

Poppy-

Thank you for joining us & giving us this opportunity to be the first few to read your new book.  I must say that the last few chapters had me gripping my sofa cushion--very intense.

Was it your decision to allow the First Look club to share your book with us and what do you hope to gain from anyone reading your ARC's?

How did you go about putting together the mental state of Ginny & the rest of the family?  Was there certain mental illnesses you researched? 

What authors inspire you?  Please share your favorite books and what are you reading right now?

Again--many thanks--

kmensing 

[Fozzie]

Poppy, do you have any questions, for us, your readers, about the book, a character, what drew us to the book, etc.?

[lrusch]

I also thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and I've had many of the same questions that other readers have already posed. I would also like to know why the father left Ginny to be in charge of the estate when he so happily left? It was implied that everyone in the family knew she had mental problems. Also, did she really become a recognized expert in the field, or was that part of her fantasy life?

The novel reminds me in many ways of Charlotte Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" where it is difficult to determine when the narrator began to lose touch with reality.

Thanks for such a thought-provoking novel!

Helen

[Aunt_Beth_64]

Ms Adams-

Thank you for taking the time to discuss your book. I sincerely appreciate the early opportunity to read this provocative story. I found THE SISTER to be spell-binding. I was unable to stop myself from reading it cover-to-cover, as a result I had to hold off from participating in the group discussion because I didn't want to give anything away. My questions are the same as the ones already posted, I just wanted to add my voice to the others who are praising your fist book. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Beth

[carriele]

Ms. Adams,

I just wanted to give a quick thanks to you for taking the time to share this book with the BN First Look club. 

I just had one general question for you.  When you decided to write this book, did you have a specific/target audience in mind?  Some discussion in the threads has been given to the fact certain books do well in England but not so well in America and vice versa.  Beyond that, it seems some types of books appeal more to women versus men or older readers versus younger readers.

My reason for asking is that I thought Ginny was either speaking to herself or to the reader directly, which made me wonder if you had an idea of a certain type of reader in mind. 

Thanks again for your time. 

Carrie E. 

[Jeanie0522]

Ms. Adams:  I simply want to thank you for the opportunity to read your novel.  The only question that I couldn't seem to answer myself was why was Vivi back home after all of these years and what was she looking for? 

Thanks again!  -Jeanie

[SandyS]

Ms. Adams:

Thanks so much for allowing us to read and review your novel before publication.  I am anxious for your input to previous questions, which are so similar ro my own.

One additional question:  Did you develop your characters completely before beginning the actual story?  Or do you need to stop at various points and expand the character's personality by completing another portion of their biography.  If not, how do you keep a character true to his/her upbringing and life events?

Thank you for joining us with your thoughts.

SandyS

[Linda10]

Dear Poppy,

I finished your book last night.  I have felt totally lost today without "The Sister" to read!  As someone else wrote, I keep going over and over parts of the book in my mind.  And that has made me think of a couple more questions.

When Ginny found the locket with the picture in it of a pregnant Vivien, was Vivien really pregnant?  And, if so, then why does she need Ginny to have her baby?  (And how could she be if she no longer had a uterus?)

Then that got me to thinking, did Ginny perhaps fantasize more than we thought?  In other words, was she really only imagining that she and Arthur were making a baby together (especially since the baby dies, perhaps conveniently?)?

Or, to flip that thought, did Ginny really have a baby and it really lived, not died?  Was Michael, who lived in the stables, really her son?  Or am I just reading way, way too much into the story?

There are so many unanswered questions to this book!  Is that intentional?  Is there no right answer?  Is it whatever the reader decides the answers to be?  Or is it just meant to leave us asking questions?

How clever of you!  Thank you, again, for this book!

[CAG]

First of all thank you so much for sharing this book with us as an ARC. I loved the book and found it so interesting from the character of Ginny to the science of moths. I believe you intentionally left many questions unanswered. Am I correct about that? And where did the character of Ginny come from? As many others have asked, did you know about moths prior to writing the novel or was it a subject you learned about through research? I wish you the very best of luck and much success with the release of this novel. I would certainly read anything else you write. Thank you again.

[pheath]

Dear Ms. Adams,

Thank you for a captivating read! The more I read, the harder it was to put the book down. One thing I thought was interesting was the amount of backstory that you used. If The Sister were made as a movie, would it be better told sequentially or would it be better to stick to the arrangement in the novel?

[erina]

Poppy,

Thank you for the opportunity to read this story.  This was my first time participating in an early reviewers book group and I enjoyed it very much.  I enjoyed the book very much! 

What inspired you to incorporate the study of moths in this story?  Is this part of your background? 

Thank you,

Erin