Interview with A.S. King

www.as-king.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?

When I was fourteen. I was standing in the lunch line at school, and I got this brilliant idea that I wanted to write books that would somehow help teens and adults understand each other better. That idea died pretty quickly when an adult in my life suggested I become a newspaper journalist, which was not at all what I had in mind. In high school and college, I wrote in journals non-stop, but I didn’t really think about writing books again. The real want—the serious sit-my-butt-down-and-write-novels want—only happened when I moved to Ireland at age twenty-four.

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

It was really, really long. I started writing novels when I was twenty-five. Seven novels, three hundred rejections and a lot of poetry and stories later, I got to see one of my novels on a shelf…when I was thirty-nine. I know, right? That’s long. But now that I’m here, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Every novel I wrote made me a better writer, and during those fourteen years, I had a lot of groovy life experiences that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

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?

PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ is coming out in October 2010. It follows the struggles of Vera Dietz, high school senior and full-time pizza delivery technician, who has a very big secret about her ex-best friend, who happens to be dead. It also has flow charts, which would convince me to buy any book.

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

History is a huge part of my day-to-day reading. I’m fascinated by new parts of history every year and I become obsessed with certain events and read as much as I can about little-known things. I don’t try to work those into my books on purpose. Usually it just seeps in. Also—history never gets old. There is an endless supply. Outside of history, I’ve just realized that my teen characters are often dealing with things similar to what I dealt with as a teen. Gossip, rumors, bullies. So, I guess part of my inspiration is my own past.

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

I have an awesome family. My husband and I have an amazing history, and have been together for twenty-three years. He watched me write all that time—saw every rejection letter arrive in the post, and helped me stay strong when I considered quitting. He is my rock. My kids are awesome and the one who isn’t trying to bite my leg all the time has started to brag about me at school, even though I’ve told her not to brag. My sisters and parents have always been massively supportive. Moving back to the US a few years ago was a great step for me, because I am now physically closer to them. Family has always been immensely important to me. Even my non-immediate family has been so positive and supportive. I don’t think they realize how important their support is. But it is.

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

Mike and Ikes, hands down. Outside of that, I could live on breakfast cereal.

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

Drink coffee, tell my daughter to brush her hair, then tell her to brush her hair again.

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

My office is in my basement. You’d probably be surprised that the ceiling is so low, I can’t actually stand up down there. You’d probably also be impressed by how many mouse traps I’ve got.

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?

Red. Because red is the best color for boots.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Daffy Duck.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

Daffy Duck mixed with Lisa Simpson. (Call me Daffy Simpson.)

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?

Difficult question alert! Wow. Being a history lover, I have about a million answers to this. So—I will answer most realistically. If I *really* had the chance to beam somewhere, I’d go back to my first year of marriage, when Mr. King and I would sit on a blanket by the river at the local park and read books every day after work until the sun went down. Why? I’d never want to go anywhere without him, I could sleep late on weekends, and because it was just so nice and peaceful and no one was biting my leg or yelling “Mom!”

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

I have only started to listen to music (occasionally) when I write, since I work in the basement and have kids running over my head and sometimes need to drown out the noise. I usually listen to the same album over and over again for each book. PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ was OKGO’s Oh No. THE DUST OF 100 DOGS was a lot of Bob Marley and the Wailers, which would be a long time favorite of mine. If I want to clear my head, I stick in one of the three Jimi Hendrix Experience studio albums.

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?

I haven’t seen a film in a theater in a long time. Might have been Star Wars II. I love and own a lot of movies that I watch at home, though. Deer Hunter and The Shining are two old favorites. Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are two newer favorites. I gave up TV in 1994. Now, I turn it on to see the weather or for PBS for the kids. (Or cool stuff, like the Olympics.)

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

Please be careful. Life is short.

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

I just finished a novel called EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS. I hope to have more news on that in the coming months. It’s a story about a kid who turns to his missing grandfather for help with a lifelong bully.

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