I can't wait for your next book. When will it be published, and can you tell us a little bit about it?
Kisscut will be published in the Fall of 2002. Without giving away too much of the plot, it's about redemption. Lena has some real scars at the end of Blindsighted, and she's working through dealing with the loss of her sister as well as the loss of herself.
What authors did you love as a child? Were there any of them you wanted to write like?
I loved Ellen Conford and Judy Blume. I also enjoyed the Encyclopedia Brown series, and anything that smacked of a mystery. As for who I wanted to write like, I really loved Erma Bombeck. I know this makes me sound strange, but I remember reading her when I was around eleven, and laughing until I cried because she was so funny. I was really struck by the fact that someone could write something that brought so much happiness.
The book that had the most impact on me is Gone With the Wind. I read that book at the beginning of every summer from the age of ten until the time I turned eighteen. I think it's a remarkable story, and I love Margaret Mitchell.
We know you're basically a very shy and private person. How are you handling all the attention? What's been the greatest challenge of your success?
I hope that I'm handling it well. It's difficult to be a shy person in this business, not least of all because at a very basic level, the reason you're writing is because you want to reach people. It's an interesting dichotomy. What has helped me is watching friends of mine who are authors, and seeing how they handle group situations. I do much better one on one than I do with a large crowd. I also like to go to conventions and meet people who like to talk about books. I don't think having a book published makes me any different from anyone else. At my core, I am still a person who loves to read and to share new authors with other readers. That part of me will never change.
If the trilogy is wildly successful will you continue it or is there something you are hankering to do when the 3 book commitment is over?
I will only continue to write the series as long as I have good ideas. I want to be true to my characters, and I don't want to put myself into a position where I'm writing something that I do not want to write, because that's not why I got into this business. I have three more ideas beyond the third book right now that I want to explore. Jeffrey hasn't gotten nearly enough attention in my opinion, and I want to do something extraordinary with him. Beyond that, I don't know.
If Blindsighted is made into a movie, how would you cast it?
That's hard to say. If a movie is made of the series, it'll be up to the producers to cast it. I don't really write with one particular actor or actress in mind. I've always thought of movie adaptations as just that: an adaptation of the author's work. Certain things have to be changed just because it's impossible to put an internal dialogue into a movie without boring people to death. Movies are about showing things, not telling them. Generally, the author doesn't have much say in what goes on. I have loved movies since I was a child, though, and I try to see them as often as I can, so it would be very exciting for me to see what someone in Hollywood would make of my story.
Eileen Moushey and Ellen Conford provided the questions for this interview. My thanks to them. - KS