Interview with Libby Schmais

www.libbyschmais.com

First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server today…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.

Hi Jen. Thanks for inviting me!

Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

Hmm. I think I always wanted to be a writer, but when I was young, I didn’t view it as a real option for me. I thought of other people as writers, not me. I did have a great high school English teacher who encouraged me, which helped, even later on, when people were less encouraging.

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

When I was little, I self-published a tiny illustrated book of poetry, which I gave to my mother’s friend Sue. Then, there was a long dry spell until I published a short story called Bad Habits in Glimmer Train Magazine. That was probably the moment when I thought yes, I could be a real writer.

Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?

The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein is a diary book about a young girl living in Brooklyn who dreams of going to France, becoming an existentialist and falling in love. I guess the one thing I could tell you to try to convince you to buy the book is that Lotus is a unique character and whether you love her or hate her, you will miss out by not getting to know her.

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

The biggest inspiration for everything I write is my own experience (hope that doesn’t sound too narcissistic).

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

Yes, they are thrilled. But, then again, I come from an academic background – both my parents were college professors -- so publication is kind of an expectation.

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

Definitely macaroni and cheese. There’s a restaurant near me called Cornelius, that makes an amazing one.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

Press the snooze button a few times, drink coffee & then read for as long as possible before I absolutely have to get out of bed.

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

Well, I’m not sure it would surprise you, but what would probably surprise most people I know is that I have a pair of hiking boots, because I’m not really the hiking type, although I have to say I did find pretty cute ones.

Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?

That’s easy, Black, It’s slimming, doesn’t show the dirt, and goes with all my shoes.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Daria. (She was a very snarky, cynical, slightly depressed cartoon character on MTV in the late 90s.) If you’re not familiar with her, I recommend the show highly.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

Daria.

If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?

I would beam myself back to Tudor England in the early 16th century, which would help me enormously with the book I’m writing now.

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

I’m looking at my iPod right now, and I’m at the end of the alphabet, where we have The Weepies, Winterpills and Velvet Crush, which I would describe as slightly obscure Power Pop. I don’t listen to music when I’m writing, because I get too distracted.

Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?

Right now, I’m into Glee, Mad Men, Modern Family -- I also have a weakness for cheesy reality shows Like The Real Housewives and America’s Next Top Model. Movies I watch over and over tend to be old ones - like The Women, All About Eve, Stage Door. The last movie I saw in the theater was An Education, which was a beautiful film.

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

Don’t worry so much about what everyone thinks about you – twenty years from now, you’ll barely remember their names.

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

I’m currently writing a story about a teenager who is obsessed with Tudor England, so hopefully you will be seeing that soon.

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!

Thanks – it was fun!

Interview with Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Photo copyright Alex Hoerner



http://beautifulcreaturesthebook.com



Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?

Kami: I’ve been writing since I was a kid. By the time I was a teenager, I was filling notebooks with poetry. I didn’t really know I wanted to be a writer. Writing was more like a compulsion.

Margie: I knew I wanted to be a writer as soon as I became a reader. Sometimes I think I only became a writer so I could read what I wrote while I wrote it. (Try saying that ten times!) I keep stacks of books in my car, my bag, my bed…it’s a compulsion.

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

Kami: We didn’t write BC with the intent to publish it. We wrote it for a small group of teens we call the Caster Girls. It was basically a dare that turned into a novel over five hundred pages later. A friend of ours showed it to his literary agent, and here we are.

Margie: It really was one of those weird times when the thing you most want happens when you most don’t care if it happens. Everything just sort of fell into place for Caroline March (our pseudonym!) and her first novel.

Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?

Kami: BEAUTIFUL CREATURES is a Southern gothic, paranormal romance. But for me, it comes down to this: What if the one person you wanted to be with was the only one you couldn’t have?

Margie: Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe in love before first sight? And what are your feelings about pie?

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

Kami: For me, it would have to be my family – my mom, grandmother, great-grandmother, and my Carolina relatives, in particular. But the teens in our lives are a huge inspiration as well. I want to tell their stories because they really are worth telling.

Margie: My own experiences, good and bad. I think teens are the most authentic versions of adults. When I write YA, I’m really writing for myself, because the voice in my head is still sixteen.

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

Kami: My family is really proud. I took my five year-old to the bookstore with me and he said, “Mom! Look, there’s your book.” He wants to buy a copy every time he sees one. And my parents and siblings are so excited. My sister is in college at AU, and her dorm room door is plastered with BC stickers.

Margie: My parents didn’t believe their name would really be in the acknowledgments. My dad said, “I thought that was just for the ARC. I didn’t know that was going to be in the REAL book.”

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

Kami: Hot Fudge Sundaes

Margie: Cheese. Dipped in more cheese. With the occasional Wheat Thin.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

Kami: Hit snooze four or five times, brush my teeth & have a Diet Coke.

Margie: Try to calculate how late I am. Try to decide how worried I am about how late I am. Wish for the hundredth time I had one of those coffee makers that came on by itself in the morning or that I lived next door to Starbucks. Repeat.

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

Kami: Well, that would depend on which closet. In my bedroom closet, I have: two bins of BC swag, four pairs of almost identical black boots because I can’t decide which ones I like best, the first pass pages from BC, a box of lollipops, and a stuffed Rintoo from the cartoon Kai Lan.

Margie: You’d be surprised by what a giant mess I am. Seriously. You would want to sit me down and have an intervention.

Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?

Kami: Black for sure – because it isn’t really the absence of color, but the depth of color. And, it makes it easy to sneak around at night.

Margie: Really? Everyone asks about a tree? Right now I would be purple, like BC. It’s my happy color of 2009.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Kami: The Silver Surfer

Margie: Totoro

Which cartoon character is most like you?

Kami: According to my latest Facebook quiz, the Punisher.

Margie: Babymouse.

If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?

Kami: Italy, during the Renaissance. I love the art of that period, and the thinkers that emerged from it.

Margie: Ancient Greece, only if all the myths could be real. I’d like to hang out on Mt. Olympus with the Gods.

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

Kami: I can’t listen to music when I’m writing. I need complete silence because I actually hear the characters in my head. I love lots of different kinds of music, but my favorites are classic rock, Southern rock & alternative. Which leads me to: The Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, Van Halen, Guns & Roses, The Killers, Soundgarden, the Cure… I could keep going.

Margie: I BLAST music because I have to drown out every other sound in the world. I spent about a year writing to the soundtrack of Spring Awakening, and right now I’m so Glee it’s embarrassing.

Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?

Kami: Fringe is my favorite show, hands down. I also love the Vampire Diaries and True Blood (because I love Eric). I have a thing for disaster movies, and they don’t have to be good. Volcano, Twister, Dante’s Peak, Armageddon…I’ve seen them all. But my favorite is The Day After Tomorrow. It’s embarrassing how many times I’ve seen it.

Margie: Season six of Buffy, all three seasons of Veronica Mars, Glee, House, Bones because it has Angel from Buffy in it…

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

Kami: Be who you are. Forget who your parents, your friends, or your boyfriend or girlfriend want you to be. Be the person YOU want to be. And if you aren’t sure who that is, find out. Sometimes you can figure out what makes you happy if you know what doesn’t make you happy.

Margie: Really talk to your friends. And be patient with yourself. You are going to have a thousand worse days than this one, and a thousand better days. Life is long.

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

Kami: Paranormal for sure, and I don’t know if I’d ever get tired of Southern Gothic. But whatever we write, it won’t be what you expect.

Margie: More Casters! More adventure and danger and romance and ten kinds of trouble!

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!