J. Anderson Coats stops by today to talk a bit about The Wicked and the Just, due out April 17 from Houghton Mifflin. You can find her on her website.

Pitch your book in 140 characters:

1293. English girl unwillingly moves to a walled town in north Wales. Welsh servants are fun to torment. Life is good. If you’re English.

Who will this book appeal to?

People who like secondary worlds (including the past), snarky girls, power struggles, justice, cruelty, comeuppance, and a body count.

Favorite moment or character in your book:

At the end, there’s a scene where Cecily realizes the consequences of her actions. It’s gripping, abrupt and devastating, and it changes her completely.

What’s your writing routine?

Alarm goes off at 5 am. Shower. Write till 6:30. Daydream about the middle ages while at the day job. Daydream while doing dishes and laundry. Write between the cracks.

What’s your best piece of writing advice?

Don’t be afraid to write crap. You can fix weak plot, infodump and transparent motivation in the next draft. You can’t fix what isn’t there.

What’s been the most surprising part of the publishing journey?

Copyedits. I thought they’d be a breeze since I’m a big grammar nerd and took four years of Latin, but I ended up getting taken to school.

What did you do when you learned your book would be published?

Enjoyed the moment. Honestly, I always knew I’d get here. I worked too hard not to. I just didn’t know when.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received?

Learn to write this book. Don’t get hung up on rules and formulas. Every book is different. Write it the way it wants to be written.

What are your top three favorite books?

THE NAME OF THE ROSE by Umberto Eco. The LITTLE HOUSE series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson.

What’s next for you?

More snarky girls in the middle ages. A curse. Some battlefield medicine. A higher body count. Maybe a boy or two.

AC Gaughen is the author of the forthcoming Scarlet, to be published on Valentine’s Day by Bloomsbury/Walker books. You can find her on her website, on Twitter, and on Facebook (her fanpage and her book’s fanpage).

Pitch your book in 140 characters:
SCARLET is a YA version of Robin Hood, with a butt kicking girl where Will Scarlet once stood.

Who will this book appeal to?
Teen girls looking for a slightly tougher, grumpier heroine!

Favorite moment or character in your book:
A scene where Rob and Scar fight and end up confessing secrets. While wrestling.

What’s your writing routine?
Go to Panera, plug in earphones, and block out the world. With refillable caffeine.

What’s your best piece of writing advice?
Just keep going.

What’s been the most surprising part of the publishing journey?
How awesome working with other people in publishing is!

What did you do when you learned your book would be published?
Bawled. And tried not to get into a car accident. While bawling.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received?
“It will happen, because it has to happen,” from Anthony Horowitz

What are your top three favorite books?
Don’t make me pick favorite children, it’s cruel.

What’s next for you?
Currently working on a contemporary YA about art and graffiti in Boston. Totally different!

Pitch your book in 140 characters:
Austin Parker, seeing the world through dying eyes, wants his loved ones to see the value of their own lives before it’s too late.

Who will this book appeal to?
Teens and adults, alike, who like books about friendship, life, and love. Anyone who wants to make a difference in the lives of others.

Favorite moment or character in your book:
When Austin and Kayle hike up Mt. Rainier to see comet falls and talk about what the future may or may not hold for them.

What’s your writing routine?
Organized chaos. I sit, I write, no stopping, no outlining. I always make sure there are pens, coffee, and a pile of sticky notes close by.

What’s your best piece of writing advice?
Never surrender and always work to be better.

What’s been the most surprising part of the publishing journey?
How utterly long it takes from conception to publication.

What did you do when you learned your book would be published?
I went to Disneyland. I’m kidding. I was in Disneyland when I found out, so I celebrated on the rides with my family.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received?
To never stop trying to improve my craft. As writers we will never reach perfection, but we should try hard to get as close as we can.

What are your top three favorite books?
This answer probably changes daily. Today I’m going to say, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Stand, and Fahrenheit 451.

What’s next for you?
I’m working on another YA novel that I’m hoping will find its way to the shelves in the next couple of years.

Caroline Starr Rose is the author of the forthcoming middle grade novel May B, due out January 10 through Schwartz and Wade/Random House. Around the Internet, you can find her on her website, her blog, her Facebook page, and on Goodreads.

Pitch your book in 140 characters:
Abandoned and alone, May must fight to survive a harsh winter and even harsher school memories as she comes to terms with who she truly is.

Who will this book appeal to?
Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder, survival books like Hatchet, verse novels, pioneer and frontier life, boys gusty enough to read about a girl

Favorite moment or character in your book:
May, though her brother Hiram is a close runner up.

What’s your writing routine?
Never the same twice.

What’s your best piece of writing advice?
You have something unique to say, and your work can only get better if you keep at it.

What’s been the most surprising part of the publishing journey?
Learning you never really arrive. A career is made contract by contract.

What did you do when you learned your book would be published?
Invited friends over for champagne.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received?
A fellow 2k12er just shared this: Learn to write this book. Each process is different, and that’s okay.

What are your top three favorite books?
The Count of Monte Cristo, Possession (AS Byatt), and the Phantom Tollbooth

What’s next for you?
A picture book about the Louisiana wetlands and a historical verse novel about the Lost Colony of Roanoke.