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THE BRIGHT, YOUNG, & LUXE BLOG
Category Archive: The Luxe
Can You Spot Anna’s Characters?
From Elizabeth Holland’s delicate heart-shaped face, to the bright blue eyes and alabaster complexion of the strikingly pretty Letty Larkspur . . . do you know the faces of Anna Godbersen’s female characters? Play the Bright, Young, & Luxe match game to test your memory and learn the faces and names of the women of the bestselling Luxe and Bright Young Things novels. Then, tell us, which one of Anna’s characters is your favorite so far?
Anna On Fan Reactions
Lovely readers!
It’s so great to hear from all of you who are reading Splendor– of course I want everyone who reads one of my books to love them and feel like every choice I make about plot or character is natural and perfect and right. But that would be impossible, and to have readers who feel passionately about words I have written, whether they agree or disagree, is a tremendous honor. Even if they are angry or sad– to have readers who care enough to be angry or sad is wonderful.
But I will say that one of my favorite things about reading is that a different person, in a different mood, will interpret a story or a character in a really unique way, and all of you who have enjoyed these books are free to respond to and understand their events, and the futures of their characters, just as you see fit. So please, keep the opinions coming!
Yours,
Anna
Anna On the Arrival of Splendor
At long last, I can finally share Splendor with you. The new beginnings, the shocking revelations, and the very unexpected ending are now yours to enjoy between the covers of this fourth and final Luxe novel. Will it really be the final Luxe novel? Never say never. But for now, I hope it feels like a satisfying ending to what has been an incredible journey for Elizabeth, Diana, Penelope, and me. I love sharing this series with all of you—it’s more ours than mine. So, tell me, have there been any moments of Splendor in your day today? I hope so.
If you’re looking for Splendor, you can find it here.
Yours,
Anna
Anna On Identifying with Characters
Hello lovelies,
I ran into a friend the other night—a guy, which makes this story extra amusing—and he told me he took some “Which Luxe Girl Are You?” quiz on the site, and that it told him he was an Elizabeth. Which is a little silly, and I love the idea that a boy would fit the Elizabeth archetype; but it also reminded me that one of the most gratifying things you hear as an author is that a reader has seen something of themselves in your characters. It’s one of the best things fiction does—to articulate some corner of existence so that a reader recognizes their own nebulous experience, begins to see it with greater clarity and light. To be a part of that as reader or a writer feels pretty special.
People often ask me which of my characters I relate to most—Diana, obviously!—but they all have pieces of me in them, and I hope I write them all with heart and sympathy. Anyway, I’d love if you all would indulge me and tell me if there are qualities in the Luxe girls that feel particularly familiar or relatable to you, and which girls, and why?
Yours,
Anna
Anna On Receiving a Copy of SPLENDOR
Hello lovelies,
I am so excited because just yesterday I got my first finished copy of Splendor. It looks beautiful, and the dress on the cover is just iridescent and heaping and flowing, and the girl is mysterious and gorgeous. This is always a really satisfying moment for a writer, not just because you get to see your words in pretty font, and bound with a cover and all that, but also because it is proof that all this time you have spent alone in your pajamas in your bedroom alone has been for something. It has produced a collection of words that people can read, and understand, and here it is, this physical object to prove it! Phew.
And that bit about people reading and understanding is so crucial, because really what’s the point of spending all that time alone in your bedroom, if not to produce something that people love or hate, or are annoyed or moved by—something? So thank you, thank you, all of YOU. You make it real.
Yours,
Anna
Anna On Love, Longing, and Public Appearances
Hey ladies,
Thank you all for your kind wishes for my scary public appearance! It was actually really fun, and we got to discuss LOVE, always a favorite topic. There was a subtext about love versus longing, too, which was interesting—because of course so much of the violent emotions we are talking about when we talk about love are in fact desire for some unrequited something from the object of our affections. Certainly that’s the way it is in The Luxe, and that love at a distance is where so much of the drama and big feelings come in. But of course we none of us ever want to be fully sated, and holding out a little corner of longing in our hearts is probably always a good thing, don’t you think?
Anyway, thank you Rachael for pointing out that characters are fragile things. They are! And I am missing the ones from The Luxe a lot these days, as I try to get used to some new ones. It’s a little melancholy, I confess, and is making me very excited for one month from now, when Splendor comes out, and we all get to talk about Diana and Henry all over again!
Yours,
Anna
Anna On Appearing at the Brooklyn Book Festival
Hey ladies,
I am appearing with a couple of other YA authors at the Brooklyn Book Festival and also speaking on the topic of Love and Longing, so I was going through the first Luxe book, trying to find a passage well-suited to that theme. I think I am going to read from the part where Diana and Henry first meet, but anyway, the point is that it was so strange to look over that bit again. I wrote it so long ago, and these characters were so much less acquainted with each other than they are now, as I too know tons more about them today than I did when I wrote that scene. It’s a funny thing about writing a series… you learn more about your characters even after they are already out in the world, sleeping on bookshelves all over the place. Henry, in particular, seems foreign to me—his motives are so oblique, to Diana, probably also to himself, definitely to me. But then, isn’t that the way it is with people, too? When you first meet them, you have so little to go on, you make up a kind of fantasy version of a person’s intentions and inner life. Later, knowing them better, you wonder how you ever could have thought they were that person. Know what I mean?
Also: wish me luck! I am really, truly, humiliatingly shy about these things. Still, if any of you live in the area, you should come! The event is at 2 on Sunday, and there is more information at www.brooklynbookfestival.org/
Yours,
Anna
Anna On Finishing The Luxe Series
Lovely readers!
Thank you for all your wonderful comments, I am so so so sorry I have been away this long! You see, what happened was, I finished Splendor, and the editing of it, which involved many late nights and rushed deliveries and freakouts before it became a final product that I get to be proud of. But it is the end, the last Luxe installment, the one where everyone rides off into the sunset of their choosing (more or less). And then I handed it over to the lady at the UPS store on Sunset Blvd (ha!), and off it went, and that was that, but it felt so…sad. And depressing. Because though I am really proud—not just of the book, but also of my characters, and how far they have come—I had begun to get used to them and all their desperate, passionate, irrepressible ways, and it was awfully hard to say goodbye. But the good news is—come October (late October, to be totally honest) the final book will be on book shelves, and then I can live it all again, and hopefully you will all tell me what you think, and everything will be new.
Anyway, many apologies for the silence. I have missed you all. Ask me questions, those of you hanging in, and I promise to answer!
Yours,
Anna
Anna on Sympathetic Villains
Hey all!
Sorry I’ve been missing in action again—I was all crazed by the final push to finish a first draft of Splendor, and then after that I went into my sleepy hermit mode. Sigh! But the good news is, that’s one step closer to the book being really, truly done, and soon after that bound in hardcovers and off to stores! In the meantime, it’s been so inspiring to read all of your comments—and I was happy to see a few of you saying nice things about Lina. She is not an easy character to love, I know, but she is in some ways the character I most relate to, because she longs for things she has no birthright to and chases them in her own messy, misguided way, and so it pains me that readers often despise her so thoroughly. Of course, this is what fiction does—it takes us into the minds and motivations of people we can’t possibly admire, hopefully, in the process, making us understand them a little more. As a writer, you must sympathize even with your villains, or risk them becoming caricatures—this is what I strive for, even if I am not always successful.
I wonder if you readers have some of that sympathy for the devil—are there villains in literature or the movies that you just can’t help but love, or see a little bit of yourself in? I’d love to know! Especially when, in a few days, I’ll be getting back my manuscript, and that will mean walking around with Penelope for a little while longer…
Yours,
Anna
Anna On Struggling to Finish Splendor
Hello all!
I am sorry I have been MIA here! I am deep in the Splendor trenches (which sounds kind of nice, actually), avoiding all human contact, wandering my apartment in wifebeater and pajama pants, dreaming about Diana, etc. Argh, it is tough to finish sometimes. But I’m so excited about it, and looking forward to hearing what you all have to say about the fourth Luxe installment. That’s what’s going to pull me through, ladies.
Meanwhile, it’s raining in my neighborhood and I’ve got the dreary music of the Pacific Northwest playing; in my head it’s New York, July 1900, and all my girls are spoiling for a fight. Much more on that very very soon…
Yours,
Anna
