You can find interviews with me at the following sites:
What's your latest news?
My fifth teen novel, So Much Closer, will be released on May 3, 2011.
I'll be at the Austin Teen Book Festival on October 2, 2010. Information can be found on my Events page.
What's your typical day like?
I've always felt more energetic and have been more productive at night. In high school, being a night person made it really difficult to get up in the morning. I always wanted to stay up reading way too late. Now that I work at home (and I'm my own boss), I've arranged my work schedule so that most of my writing time happens in the afternoon. Mornings are when I check in online and maybe go to the gym. If I'm working on a new book, I'll write for about five hours a day. But I can easily work a 12-hour day if I'm on deadline with revisions or copyediting. I take Wednesdays and Saturdays off instead of the typical weekend. This is because I don't need two days off in a row. Plus, doing errands on a weekday rules - no lines at Whole Foods!
What inspired you to become an author?
I started thinking about possibly writing a book after reading S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. I didn’t like most of the books we had to read for school, so when I was assigned that book in seventh grade it was such a sweet surprise. I was also obsessed with the movie, which I’ve seen so many times I can still recite a lot of the dialogue. The story identified feelings I never knew how to express, and I felt really connected to those characters.
Creative visualization is a powerful thing. After I read The Outsiders, I started writing a sequel to it. I never finished it (which was a good thing, considering how massively it sucked), but I stared imagining what it would be like to write books for teens. I wanted to help teens feel better about their lives the way that book helped me feel less alone. I held that image in my heart and never let it go. Now The Outsiders sits next to my own books on my bookshelf, all published by Viking. It’s an awesome example of how creating your ideal life is absolutely possible.
Do you believe in fate?
I’ve always been interested in the concept of fate. The choices we make shape our lives, but I also believe that the Universe works in powerful ways. In Something Like Fate, I explore some of the questions I’ve been asking for years. How much does fate control our lives? If we follow one path instead of another, will we still arrive at the same endpoint? How can we explain things like major coincidences, deja vu, and that incredible sense of connection we immediately feel with some people?
I believe that we are the architects of our own destiny. This is why creating your ideal life is totally possible, regardless of how bad things are. If we're putting positive energy out into the world and taking steps to turn our dreams into reality, fate is a tool we can use to work with us. That said, life is a wild thing. There are some things we just can’t control. Which can be really scary, since there’s no way to know exactly how our futures will look. Understanding that everything is connected helps to eliminate this fear of the Unknown. If you're determined to achieve your goals and refuse to give up, fate will help you with your journey.
Will you be writing a sequel to any of your books? Will any of your books be made into a movie?
At this point, I'm not sure if I'll be writing any sequels. I have so many ideas for new books - way more ideas than I can write about! Book five is already written, which will be released in 2011. This summer I'll be working on book six and book seven is already planned. If I do decide to write a sequel, you'll find out first on my blog. That's where I post all of my latest news about what I'm working on and what's coming up next.
Having one of my books adapted into a movie is a big dream of mine! While I was writing When It Happens, I pictured each scene as a scene from a movie, complete with soundtrack. I'm hoping that either When It Happens or Take Me There will become a movie in the near future.
Do you listen to music while you write?
Music was always, and still is, a major part of my life. When I'm not listening to NPR, I usually play music when I'm home, and definitely when I'm writing. Music makes me happy and inspires me to be creative. It saves me when I'm sad, just like reading a good book does.
I use music to take me to the places I want to go while I'm writing. Depending on the type of scene I'm creating, I'll play different types of music. If I play The Cure, all of those intense emotions from high school instantly come rushing back. John Mayer is always on heavy rotation. Just like Marisa in Waiting for You, I believe the answers to all of life's problems can be found in John Mayer's songs.
Where do you get your ideas?
Writing about the things I know is usually easiest for me, so some of my plot ideas are inspired by actual events in my life. If I've experienced something life-altering or really intense, I like finding a way to share that overwhelming feeling with my readers. But sometimes I'll see or hear something totally random and just know that it has to end up in one of my books. Weird events are some of my best sources of inspiration. I also love imagining scenarios that never happened to me, but would have been freaking awesome. So some of my characters experience things that I really wish I had. I try not to be too jealous of them.
What are some things we probably don't know about you?
Chez from When It Happens is my actual koala bear. I love lamps and resist using overhead lights. I've been a vegetarian since college. I've never owned a cell phone or a TV. However, my laptop and Netflix allow me to catch up on the shows I've missed. My obsession with The Office is quite serious. I'm into archival scrapbooking because sometimes I forget what happened. My collection of Gelly Roll pens is extensive (which barely rivals my graphic tee collection), mainly consisting of the glitter ones. I’m addicted to fruit, especially berries and melons. I don't do winter. Last time I drove a car I was in college, back when I had 10 pairs of Converse. Also, I rule at Pac-Man.
How much control do you have over your book covers? Do you have a favorite one?
Authors generally don't have much control over their covers, so I've been fortunate that I'm able to give my editor feedback about the initial cover designs. Once a cover design has been established, my editor will send it to me for my comments. If there's something I don't like, I'll let her know what it is and why I think it should be changed. For example, the initial cover design for When It Happens had Tobey wearing white sneakers. Tobey would never wear sneakers like that. I asked that they be changed to black Converse, which they were. Ultimately, though, the publisher decides what's best for the cover. The hardcover edition of Take Me There had a weird rectangle around the title that I did not like at all. Unfortunately, it wasn't removed. But I asked my paperback editor if we could remove it for the paperback editions, and she said yes!
My favorite cover is Waiting For You. As soon as I saw it, I knew that it was perfect just the way it was. I didn't request that any changes be made. I love everything about it - the colors, the fonts, all that natural light. It really reflects the tone of the story, which is what a good cover should do. I also love that my publisher set up a photo shoot for Something Like Fate. All of my previous covers featured a boy and a girl, but my publisher felt that since Something Like Fate is about a lovers' triangle, it really needed to show all three main characters. I was impressed because photo shoots for covers are rare; usually designers use a stock photo image.
I want to be a writer. Do you have any advice for me?
Write. Write every day. Carry a writer's notebook to jot down pieces of conversations you overhear, ideas for plot lines, or details about how to improve the story you're working on that suddenly come to you when you're walking down the street. Inspiration usually strikes me when I least expect it, so I have to carry a notebook to make sure that I don't forget those ideas.
Read. Read everything that interests you. If you're not into the stuff you have to read for school, find authors you love and read their work, too. I recommend Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and Girl by Blake Nelson to spark your interest.
Turn waiting time into working time. I can never just sit on the subway without reading or writing. Always carry a book with you and read when you're on the bus, or waiting in line, or just hanging out at a coffeehouse. I've always been a passionate reader. Connecting with good books reinforced my daily need to read and inspired my desire to write. Also, reading provides a context for learning how to use grammar correctly and improves your spelling. Reading helps you develop a natural sense of the way a story flows. It's a direct relationship: The more you read, the better your writing will be.
If you're interested in having your manuscript published, Meg Cabot has some excellent advice posted on her website here and here.
You were a high school science teacher for ten years. What did you love most about teaching?
I love interacting with teens. Kids rock, but teens rock particularly hard. I feel like I can relate to the turmoil, conflicts, anger, sadness, passion, and undefined emotions that teens feel so strongly. This is because my internal age is 16. So the best part of teaching was being able to, hopefully, provide some time every day where my kids could feel comfortable being themselves. I also liked to share life advice with my students. By telling them about harsh situations I dealt with back in the day, it seemed that I was able to provide some guidance for my students to work out their own problems. I felt privileged to be a part of their lives.
If you had to switch careers, what would you want to be?
A professional organizer. I love designing minimal, streamlined systems so everything has a special place. I'm an organization freak - it makes my living space feel like a Zen retreat. But I also love taking someone else's messy space and whipping it into shape. During college and grad school, I did office work as a personal assistant. I always looked forward to going to work if someone's office was a serious disaster area. So I think it would be super fun to clean out people's closets and set up a system that works for them. I'm also drawn to the fields of architecture, urban planning, and interior design, which is why I decided that Sara in When It Happens would become an urban planner.
What are the benefits of writing from multiple perspectives and both genders? The difficulties?
When I read the very limited supply of teen novels that were available back in the day, they were almost always told from the girl's perspective. I was dying to know more about the boy - what he was thinking, what he talked about with his friends, what his room looked like. I promised myself that if I ever wrote a teen novel, I would tell the story from both points of view. What's awesome about writing from both perspectives is that the reader can discover a completely new dimension of the story. I like writing two or even three sides of the same scene to show how uniquely each character involved experienced it. I can also reveal the reasons behind a character's dialogue or action that we would probably never know without hearing their side of the story. There can be a huge difference between actions and words versus thoughts and emotions.
Even though we all share universal characteristics as part of the human experience, girls and boys are different on some fundamental levels. When I write boy dialogue, it tends to be choppier and less emotional than girl dialogue. When they're speaking, girls tend to analyze and obsess more over issues that boys might not naturally talk about. With a book like Take Me There, the hardest part of writing from three different perspectives was making sure that all of the details from each scene corresponded in all three versions. A clear timeline was key. I had a throng (albeit an organized throng) of Post-it notes stuck to my wall during the last draft, making sure that all of the details were accurate.
How did you come up with the idea for Waiting for You?
In high school, it felt like I was always waiting for something to happen. I was waiting to become the person I wanted to be, waiting for my real life to start, waiting for the bad times to finally come to an end. So I knew that I wanted to incorporate the sensation of endless waiting into my book. Teen time is so much different from grownup time. In teen time (at least my teen time), one minute is equivalent to approximately one year. Now that my life is the life I want to be living, time zooms by at an alarming speed. But back then, the waiting was excruciating. With this book, I wanted to connect with my readers and let them know that they are not alone, that waiting for your life to begin eventually comes to an end.
What inspired you to write When It Happens?
The first few drafts incorporated some of my own experiences from senior year. Then the manuscript went through several revisions, and during that time the main plot changed significantly. But the heart of the story had been burning in me since high school. It was a story I just had to tell. I was hoping that my readers would relate to the book and use it to help them deal with their own problems. When It Happens is all about wishing for a better life, never giving up, and making your dreams reality. Those are pieces of inspiration I really wanted to share with everyone who reads this book.
Who was your role model when you were younger?
My grandmother was the most amazing source of inspiration. She managed to survive really hard times as a girl and was motivated to live a happy life. Gram was the kindest, most giving person I've ever known...she gave so much of herself, regardless of her own needs. She taught me the value of being frugal, that hard work always pays off, and how getting through the most difficult times of your life makes you a stronger person.
Do you ever use experiences from real life in your books?
Absolutely! I want my books to feel as real as possible. Inspiration from actual experiences helps me to accomplish this. Sometimes I hear a piece of dialogue that I know needs to go in a book. Or something will happen that's just so funny it's obvious that I have to include it in some way. There's a scene in Take Me There involving the sloppiest notebook in the world and extra credit. That scene was inspired by an actual day while I was teaching. Ideas also come to me in dreams. The main plots of Take Me There and Something Like Fate both revealed themselves in dreams.
In Take Me There, a character gets a little too close to a teacher. Why did you decide to write about that?
There are several books dealing with intimate relationships between teachers and students written by other authors. I wanted to show the scenario that is far more common, which involves a student having an intense crush on a teacher. Lots of students have crushes which never materialize in any real contact with their teachers, but the emotions involved are so overwhelming that sometimes kids think that there’s more going on than there actually is.
In Take Me There, Nicole is infatuated with Mr. Farrell and wants to take things to the next level. It’s not clear what Mr. Farrell is thinking, but it’s obvious that Nicole is obsessed with him. I feel that many teens can relate to this type of infatuation, so I wanted to connect with them by telling this story.
What was the first story you ever wrote?
My first story was called “The Carrot and the Rabbit”. It was written when I was in second or third grade. I still have it in my scrapbook. I was inspired by Aesop’s Fables and wanted to write a fable with a sweet moral.
The story is about a rabbit who wants to eat a carrot. So the rabbit asks the carrot if he can have a bite. And the carrot’s like, “If you want to have a bite of me, I must have a bite of you.” The rabbit agrees and they decide to meet up at 3:00. At 3:00, the carrot discovers that the rabbit has shown up with a fake rabbit arm for him to eat! Obviously, the carrot finds this to be lame. He tells the rabbit that he can’t have a bite of carrot. The moral is: Be fair to others and they will be fair to you.
What do you love most about the world of teen literature?
I love how much this world has expanded in the last decade and how much it continues to expand. Readers have a fabulous selection of books available to them. It makes me sad that some teens don’t like to read. Reading is so important – it improves your life in countless ways. The thing is, I hated most of the books we had to read for English. Going to the bookstore or library and finding books I actually loved totally saved me. If teens aren’t exposed to books that interest them in school, they have to find books that really speak to them elsewhere. Which is much easier to do now with the wide variety of teen books available.
For more Q&A, you can check out the Q&A section of Susane's blog.
