The DELIRIUM trilogy follows Lena and Alex, two teens battling against the controlling government that believes that love is a disease and forbids it from their community.
Enjoy the transcript below!
PART ONE:
Hi. Lauren Oliver here. And I’m here to answer questions for Young Adult Magazine. And yes, so we’ll just get started!
I first started writing DELIRIUM in, ooh gosh, I don’t know. 2008, I think? It’s been in the works for a long time. And the idea for DELIRIUM came from the fact that I wanted to write a book about love. My first book, BEFORE I FALL, was very heavily, had themes, a lot of themes about death. I came across a quote by Gabriel García Márquez, who said that “All good books are about either love OR death.” And so I felt I had adequately addressed the death theme for now and I wanted to really treat love as the subject. But I didn’t just want to write about romantic love, I wanted to write about love in all of its forms. And around the same time, I was thinking a lot about epidemics and disease. It really occurred to me that some of the symptoms of romantic love, especially in its early passionate phases, have a lot in common with the psychiatric disorders we normally treat with medications. So that’s how the idea was born!
The inspiration for Lena came from—you know, it’s funny. She’s very different from who I am and from who I was as a teen. First of all, she’s short and I’m 5’9. And she’s very obedient and she really believes, at the start of the story, kind of everything she’s learned and everything she’s been told: from her parents, and by her religion, and her society. And that was very… that’s kind of quite different from me. I’ve very outspoken and a little bit more rebellious.
My big interest as an author is in transformation. I love to show characters who transform. That was definitely true in BEFORE I FALL, my first book. In my first book, Sam, the main character, starts out kind of a hard person and really evolves later into somebody who’s very empathic and kind. And so similarly for Lena, I knew that I wanted to show her transformation. I wanted to show her changing as she fell in love. So, that’s kind of where I pulled the character from.
Alex is… you know, a lot of people ask me if he’s based on somebody I know or somebody I’ve dated, and sadly no, I made him up. But! But I did draw a lot in writing about Lena and Alex’s relationship, I did draw a lot from my memory of the first time that I fell in love with somebody. And it was during the summertime as well, and I was about 16. So I definitely drew from my experiences of my real life, those feelings, and that kind of all-consumingness of that first experience of love. And its transformative nature.
Julian was really… it was difficult actually. I mean, I ended up kind of having the same experience Lena had meeting Julian, which is it took me a lot longer to kind of fall in love with him. But ultimately, I ended up having these really strong feelings for him because I think he’s so moral and good and deep in a way. Thoughtful. And very loving, too. Once he’s learned how to love.
Again, it’s kind of interesting. I mean, none of these characters really come… they’re not based on real people, but they just kind of emerge. They start to take shape and to take form as you interact with them as a writer, as you write with them. It’s kind of like going to a party and at first everyone’s a stranger. And then, over the course of the evening, you learn more and more about them.
I did always know that I wanted the book to be a trilogy. I wanted to specifically because my first book was a stand-alone, and I thought it would be a challenge to do a series. I already had the story blocked out in my head, at least the major beats of it. And so I… I kind of knew that it would fit well over a three book series. But also, as a writer, I try to challenge myself to do different kinds of things. So having never written a series, a trilogy, that’s what I wanted to do. Similarly, within the trilogy, I tried to make sure that each book has something different about it structurally, so that I was challenged as a writer and really engaged. So in book 2, PANDEMONIUM, the book alternates between two different time frames. And in book three, the final book, REQUIEM, which just came out, the book actually alternates between two different points of view. And that made sure, that ensured that I was always really challenged and engaged as the author.
PART TWO:
In terms of the TV series, I’m thrilled with Emma Roberts as Lena. She’s actually, in my mind, the ideal person to play her. Partly because, in real life, Emma Roberts is very, very small and that’s kind of a part and aspect of Lena’s character. But also, more importantly I mean, Emma—who’s very, very beautiful in real life—but she on screen can convey this kind of Every Girl normality that I think is really important for Lena’s character. So I’m really excited, and I’m thrilled by the choices for Julian and Alex. I mean, they are… they are just so perfect. I mean, for reasons even I can’t fully get into and describe. They really embody the characteristics of their characters, both Daren Kagasoff and Gregg Sulkin who plays Julian.
And, I mean, it’s funny. I know some fans were upset by some of the casting choices. For example, the choice of Hana: Jeanine Mason, who is not blonde at all. But I kind of am thrilled by it because the important thing for Hana is that she be the kind of girl who, when she’s standing next to you, you feel a little bit less than. You feel a little bit like you’re the ugly duckling friend and she’s the hot one who’s very special. And I definitely think Jeanine Mason is the kind of person who makes you feel that way when you stand next to her. So yeah, I’m really thrilled by the casting.
There will be some changes from book to screen, for sure. If, knock wood, cross fingers, it actually makes it to air, I mean TV is a very different format. You’re looking a format that requires 13+ episodes a season. I only have 3 books and a couple novellas. So a lot of the action of the story will be combined and… well, the action of the first book is really shown right away. And then, some of even the second and third book are drawn into that, even the first episode. I mean, TV just burns through material. So pretty much, like, by episode 3 we’re going to be all out of actual written material that I wrote. And by then, after that, it will just be kind of the writers’ imagination. Although, I’m in touch with the producers and the writers, and I’ll be contributing to those brainstorms as well.
So it’s really an opportunity just to expand on the DELIRIUM world. And to give us so much more than I was able to communicate in a book. So I’m really excited because it… seeing the TV show would enable me to participate in, kind of in the fandom of it.
In terms of the REQUIEM ending, the ending of the series, there were never any alternative endings. I knew how I wanted the book to end when I started writing DELIRIUM. I kind of always do that. I like to sort out my beginnings and my endings first. I know that the ending was kind of controversial, but that is indisputably for me the ending. However! Partly, I wanted to end that way so that other people could still have space to imagine what happens afterwards. And we are going to set up a website, portion of one of the fansites, where fans are encouraged to write their own endings and trade alternative endings. So that will be fun.
In terms of… I don’t necessarily have a favorite line from the DELIRIUM series. I mean, you know, every writer has a couple favorite lines. I mean, I’m very—as I said—proud o… I’m kind of proud of the ending of all of the books. I’m proud of this, particularly proud of the last paragraph in DELIRIUM and the last page/paragraph of REQUIEM. But there are specific little, you know, lines and images that I feel are very good. And of course there was a ton that I would want to change.
Next up for me is, in the spring, I have a very top secret (so far) young adult book, which will be announced very soon. And in the fall, I actually have my first ‘grown-up’ book coming out, called ROOMS. Which is about, it’s the story of a family that comes back to clean out the house after the death of the patriarch. But it’s narrated in part from the perspective of two ghosts who live the walls and have kind of taken on the house as their body. So that’s called ROOMS, and it’s out with Harper Adult, the adult side, next fall.
And then my top secret YA will be announced soon, which will be out next spring.
And in terms of current reading, I am reading THE DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE right now, which is excellent! I’m just getting on that. I’ve been a little bit remiss. I’m reading THE NEAR WITCH, which is by a YA author named Victoria Schwab, with whom I recently did an event. I’m loving that. I’m also reading, I’m about to start on, ELEMENTAL by Antony John, with whom I also did an event recently. So I’m lucky, because I get to meet all these great authors and be inspired by their books and introduced to their books.
Anyway, thanks for watching! And yeah… I hope, keep reading and see you soon!
[END TRANSCRIPT]
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A NOTE FROM YA MAG: At this time, FOX Television has passed over the DELIRIUM television series adaptation. But you can learn more and show your support for the series by checking out Lauren’s website www.Lauren-Oliver.tumblr.com or the Lauren-supported fan fiction project “Requiem Endings” at http://requiemendings.tumblr.com/post/49729518678/introducing-requiem-endings.
Lauren’s up-coming YA project is titled PANIC. Stay tuned for more on that in the coming months!