Woo, finally June 1st. Today kicks off Melissa Lemon’s blog tour to promote her upcoming book, Cinder and Ella. Melissa was kind enough to answer a few questions about herself, the book and how she writes.  Enjoy!

Q- Tell us a little about yourself?
Hmmm, let’s see.  I’m short.  I’m married and have three beautiful daughters.  I love rain and the color blue.  Two of my favorite things are writing and running, but never at the same time.

Q- How long have you been writing?
Almost as long as I can remember.  It is one of those things where you love it so much that it’s hard to believe it could actually be considered work.

Q- What is Cinder and Ella a story about?
Cinder and Ella are sisters trying to keep their family together after their father’s disappearance.  When Cinder leaves for work at the castle, Ella finds their home unbearable and leaves herself.  But she is found by a handsome, young knight and brought to the castle as well, which proves to be the most dangerous place for both her and Cinder.  When Ella learns what the evil prince keeps in the tower above his chambers, she will stop at nothing to destroy him.

Q- What inspired you to rework the classic fairy tale, Cinderella? And why did you take it the direction that you did?
I’ve always loved the story Cinderella, probably because, to me, she is the most human of all fairy tale characters.  I thought it needed a fun, fresh twist, hence the two sisters and a bit of the supernatural.

Q- How did you decide which aspects of the original Cinderella story, like step-sisters and Prince Charming, that you would keep and which to discard?
With Cinder and Ella, I kind of threw it all out, or at least tweaked everything.  I really wanted it to be fresh because it has been done so many times before.

Q- What kind of books do you read? Any favourites?
I love classics.  Some of my favorites are A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Q- How did you go about plotting Cinder and Ella?
With Cinder and Ella, I had thought everything out quite a bit before the writing even began, but things came a piece at a time.  The first idea was to have the two sisters make up Cinderella.  Then there had to be a reason for that, which brought the mother’s insanity.  There had to be a reason for that as well, so I made the father disappear, and so on.  I keep several notebooks around so I can write down ideas or bits of dialogue as they come.  Once I have something thought out pretty well, I just start writing and see where things go.  That is one of the most amazing things about writing—seeing how things evolve as you start putting the words down.

Q- How long did it take you to write, start to finish? How many drafts were involved?
After about six months of brainstorming, my first rough draft took about three weeks.  From there, it’s been through four or five drafts which have taken around 18 months.

Q- Have you started working on your next project?
Yes, I’m always working on my next project!  Right now I’m working on a YA science fiction novel and I am loving it!  I hope to do a few more retellings as well.

Q- Where do you hope to be, as a writer, ten years from now?
I would love to get one book out a year, so I guess in ten years that would be ten books.  I hope that writing is always a part of my life and that I continue to learn and improve.

Thanks again Melissa for answering all these! You can follow Melissa at her blog HERE or on Twitter, HERE.

Everyone else, be sure to check back later today for ReaWrites first ever give away. Enter for your chance to win either an ARC or ebook of Cinder and Ella! In the mean time, check out today’s other tour stop I Like These Books!