When did you guys decide to start writing this wonderful piece of work? What made you decide you wanted it to be collaboration?
Margie: Kami and I had been friends for a long time; she had taught all three of my daughters. We started swapping books – mostly fantasy – and found she was reading what her students were reading, and I was reading what my teens were reading. So we read YA before we wrote it. We got the idea for Beautiful Creatures over a long lunch, when I had an idea for a fantasy universe, and Kami was full of stories of her small-town southern family. By the end of our meal, our small-town southern Casters were born.
How were you able to put yourself into a boy’s head?
Margie: I have only brothers, and I worked making videogames for sixteen years – completely surrounded by guys. I had the girls’ bathroom all to myself! Sometimes I think I know more about boys than I do about girls.
Where did you get the inspiration for this piece?
Margie: I was inspired mostly by my own teens, who had very specific demands for what they wanted out of Beautiful Creatures. They said no vampires – so we gave them Casters. They said nothing generic – so we set our world in the deep South. They said no more girls pining over a magical boy – so we gave them a boy narrator encountering a supernatural girl. We wrote the book for the teens we knew, and the after that, the rest just sort of wrote itself.
Margie: I have only brothers, and I worked making videogames for sixteen years – completely surrounded by guys. I had the girls’ bathroom all to myself! Sometimes I think I know more about boys than I do about girls.
Where did you get the inspiration for this piece?
Margie: I was inspired mostly by my own teens, who had very specific demands for what they wanted out of Beautiful Creatures. They said no vampires – so we gave them Casters. They said nothing generic – so we set our world in the deep South. They said no more girls pining over a magical boy – so we gave them a boy narrator encountering a supernatural girl. We wrote the book for the teens we knew, and the after that, the rest just sort of wrote itself.
What attracts you to the Young Adult genre specifically?
Kami: I was a teacher for seventeen years, and I’ve spent my life with teens. They are brave and honest and real, and writing for them inspires me to be as brave and honest and real as I can. I believe the right book at the right time can save your life, and that’s never more true than when you are a teen struggling to figure out who you are. If one of my books can be “the right book” for even one reader — of any age — I’ve done my job.
Kami: I was a teacher for seventeen years, and I’ve spent my life with teens. They are brave and honest and real, and writing for them inspires me to be as brave and honest and real as I can. I believe the right book at the right time can save your life, and that’s never more true than when you are a teen struggling to figure out who you are. If one of my books can be “the right book” for even one reader — of any age — I’ve done my job.
Margie: Beyond true love and high stakes? The fate of the world hanging in the balance? Let’s see – powerful emotions that can’t or won’t be controlled. Emotional honesty and fearlessness. Questions of identity that are never quite resolved. Questions of community that are never quite comfortable. Where do I belong? How do I get there? Where am I going? If I knew the answer to any of these things, maybe I’d move on and write for adults.
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Who would you count among your strongest influences for your latest work, and why? Kami: For the Beautiful Creatures Novels, my greatest influences were: Anne Rice, Harper Lee, Flannery O’Connor, Ray Brabury, Pablo Neruda, J.R.R. Tolkien, Soundgarden, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, the seven teens we originally wrote BEAUTIFUL CREATURES for, my family, and my Southern relatives. For my latest work, UNBREAKABLE, the first book in my solo series out next fall, my greatest influences were: Stephen King, Anne Rice, Clive Barker, Joe Hill, paranormal researcher Jeff Belanger, The Killers, The Cure, Adele,
Margie: My new book, Icons, is about four teens with weaponized emotions in a near future Los Angeles. I was influenced by the iconic geography of my city – landmarks like Chinatown and Olvera Street, the LA Cathedral and the Griffith Park Observatory, as well as Catalina Island and the old California missions. I was also influenced by a book called Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke, a ton of classic sci-fi, and the world of videogames. Beyond that, I studied everything from urban population growth to brain chemistry and psychotherapy.
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Do you have pursuits outside of young adult fiction?
Kami: I teach writing several times a year at a local junior high. Margie and I are also involved with WriteGirl, a fantastic organization that mentors young girls who want to be writers. When I’m not hanging out with my husband and my kids, I can usually be found watching disaster movies or “American Horror Story” and drinking Diet Coke.
Kami: I teach writing several times a year at a local junior high. Margie and I are also involved with WriteGirl, a fantastic organization that mentors young girls who want to be writers. When I’m not hanging out with my husband and my kids, I can usually be found watching disaster movies or “American Horror Story” and drinking Diet Coke.
Margie: I love to travel with my family, which is probably why my new series starts in Los Angeles and then moves from continent to continent, all around the world.
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Now that ‘Beautiful’ is over, do you plan on collaborating again?
Kami: Right now we are both focused on our respective solo series, but we never say never! Margie: And of course we still have the Beautiful Creatures movies to promote together – it’s own kind of collaboration.
What should we look forward to from each of you in the near future?
Kami: UNBREAKABLE, the first book in my solo series, The Legion,
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releases in fall 2013 from Little, Brown. UNBREAKABLE is a paranormal thriller/romanceabout a girl named Kennedy, who learnsshe is part of a secret society responsible for protectingthe world from a demon and the dangerous spirits he controls. Joined by four other teens — including Lukas and Jared, two guys with secrets of their own — they have to unravel the truth about the past if they want to save the future.
Margie: My latest work is ICONS, which is forthcoming from Little, Brown in May 2013.