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October 3, 2008 12:50 PM

INTERVIEW: Meg Cabot! (and competition winner)

So, as you all know, last week I had the huge privilege of meeting the wonderful Meg Cabot and asking her your questions!

Read her answers below and then, at the end, find out who is the winner of the two Meg Cabot books!

Emily: Are you still shocked by the number of fans you have?

Yes! And do you know what I'm more shocked by? The diversity. Especially here in London, I have so many fans from all different cultures and I think it's great.

Emily: Have you ever thought of setting a book in an English high school? And would you like to spend a day in my school for research purposes?

[Laughs] Well, I would need to because I don't understand anything about how they work at all. I don't think I can, because I just don't know enough about them that I would just make so many mistakes it wouldn't be believable. I'd have to spend a significant amount of time and I don't think I'd blend as a student - I'd have to be a librarian or a teacher or something. And I wouldn't want to do it in a girls' school, I'd need to go to a co-ed school so there would be potential for romance.

Andrea: Which of your characters would you say is most like you?

Well, they're all a little bit of me, but I can't say any of them are *exactly* like me. Like, Mia [from the Princess Diaries] is a vegetarian and I'm definitely not a vegetarian. Samantha Madison [from All American Girl] is in mourning for the world because she always wears black and I don't *always* wear black. And even Emerson [from Airhead]: she dresses a bit more slobbily than I do, but we have a lot in common with our attitude.

Probably the one who is most like me would be Suze from The Mediator because she likes fashion but she's also kind of a smart aleck and has a bit of a bad attitude, but she's ultimately, I think, kind to people.

Margay: How do you balance your writing between the adult and the young adult books?

Well, I write my books one at a time. Writing is my hobby and it's also my job so that when I have time off I'm, like, what shall I do? Oh, I'll write a book! That one book I've been really wanting to write, but I've never had time. But I have a publishing schedule that I have to stick to, so whatever's next on that is the one that I write.

Margay: How do you decide which story idea is better suited to which age group?

That takes some doing. I wish I knew. I actually have one right now that I'm juggling in my head and I haven't been able to figure it out. Part of it is what's on my schedule as to what's coming out next, but they really can go either way. If Margay figures it out, I would like to know, because I don't know.

Of course, some of it has to do with the sexual content, so if it's going to be a really sexy book then it should be an adult book. And part of it is, if there's going to be a dance then it's got to be a teen book cos there aren't so many dances for adults - sadly!

Charlotte: Did you ever wish you could go undercover as the characters you write about, i.e. a princess, a PI, a wedding dress refurbisher?

Oh yes! You have to fantasise that you're the character to make it believable and you get to escape your own life.

Violet: If you had to stop writing for young people or adults, which would you have to go with.

That's a really tough question. I can't say. I don't even want to think about that.

Brenda: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read a lot, obviously. Write a lot, obviously. Get the Writers Guide to the Market and write to every person in it begging them to take your book! I had to write to every single person in there three or four times before somebody finally took me on, so don't give up. I wanted to give up a lot of times and I didn't, but if I had I wouldn't be here so that's probably the most important thing: don't give up.

Deanna: Why did you take another name - Patricia Cabot - for some of your books and not for other categories?

Those were very smutty books that I didn't want my grandmother to find out about. Sadly, she did, but she loves them actually. In fact, she had a book party for me. So it was fine.

Jennifer: What's one book you think every teen girl should read?

Apart from mine? [Laughs] I actually think every teen girl should read Jane Eyre. Or watch the movie because it's hotter.

Lizzy: Of all the books you've written, which of the main characters is your favourite and why?

I can't say that, that would hurt all the other main characters' feelings!

Lizzy: In your blog you've talked about some parents who haven't screened Princess Diaries being upset about Mia thinking about sex. What's your reaction to those parents who want to ban your books?

I'm thankful to them, because the more you tell a kid not to read a book, the more they want to read it. They'll just read them secretly behind their parents' backs. My parents never told me not to read any book because there was nothing I couldn't talk about with my parents. All that does is make the book seem more exciting, so they're actually doing the opposite of what they intend to do.

And certainly in every single school and on every single television channel they're seeing much worse than I'm writing about and I'm writing about it in a responsible way. So I will continue to write about it in a way that I believe parents should be talking about it.

Thanks, Meg and thanks to everyone for such great questions.

Meg's favourite question was "Have you ever thought of setting a book in an English high school? And would you like to spend a day in my school for research purposes?" and so the winner of Airhead and Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: the New Girl is Emily Bloom. Congratulations, Emily!

And if that's not enough Meg for ya, check out Chicklish (Luisa from Chicklish was at the interview too).

Came straight to this page? Visit www.trashionista.com for more female fiction news, reviews and interviews.

Posted by Keris on October 3, 2008 in Interviews | Permalink

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