Swoontini Interview: LISSA PRICE

Welcome back Swoonies! Today we are thrilled to have Lissa Price, author of the brand-spankin’-new STARTERS, here to play! She’s also going to be at WonderCon this weekend (Sunday, 3-4pm), and is an all-around awesome gal. Leave some love in the comments & enter to win a SIGNED copy of STARTERS!

Lo & C: Hi Lissa! Thanks for agreeing to join our Swoontini Interview features, and congrats on the release of STARTERS!
Lissa Price: This is such a fun site, I feel like I’m at a party!

It is a party! ALL THE TIMES! So, okay, we just have to say that the book trailer for STARTERS is awesome and creepy and made us all BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE to get our copy.

What was it like to see that for the first time?
Okay, so picture how excited you are and multiply that times a billion.

My publisher, Random House, has been incredible. They came up with this concept and then sent me early storyboards and a script, asking for feedback. I loved their concept and gave them some notes. Then they sent the first cut of the trailer, and I gathered up some friends in my living room and we watched it via my iPad to my 60 inch plasma via Apple TV (don’t you love being alive now?).

So picture a bunch of my friends cozy on my big theater sectional. Some work in film and TV and they screamed when they saw it (from joy). One works in a place that specializes in trailers, he produces and edits, and he and I agreed that it should end differently. The ending you see was not the original ending. We had other notes and Random House was receptive to all of them. It may have helped that I knew to focus on changes that wouldn’t require reshoots. I was trying to go for reasonable changes that would not be too difficult (read costly) for the company they’d hired. I was aware that this kind of author involvement was unusual because my agent said she had never seen it with her other clients. I’d never worked with a publisher before, but they welcomed the feedback so it made for a wonderful, collaborative effort.

When I saw the final version, I was alone and literally applauding my iPad, I was so happy. They’d made every change and just nailed it.

I feel incredibly lucky and grateful that I ended up with this publisher. The people are extraordinary.  They’re so talented – they’re making a Facebook game app that makes me giddy – a game, from my book! And they’re also terrific people, like a family. I can’t wait for BEA, they always throw the wildest parties. Last year it was on an aircraft carrier.

You blog with The League of Extraordinary Writers (founded by Beth Revis, who will be here May 2^nd). I love all of the community and sub-community support in the YA world. Why do you think this group of authors is so particularly supportive of each other?
Good question. Maybe because YA is doing well in publishing, we have a sense that there is no need to feel competitive because we have a large readership potential.  I was thrilled when Beth invited to me join her blog because I love love love her writing. I got to meet her on her Breathless Reads tour and she was just like she comes across in email — funny and amazing – you’re going to love her too. She’s one of those people that you say hey, the world is a better place because she’s in it.

I also belong to the Apocalypsies, a group of over 100 YA and a few MG authors debuting in 2012 (“Read ‘em like there’s no tomorrow!” is the slogan).  Crazy good support and friendship.  And the author who blurbed my book was so kind and generous, I’ll always be in debt to her (you’ll have to peek at the cover to see who that is). I love this atmosphere of camaraderie and support because I think we can use more kindness in the world.

I LOVED the post on Ten Things You Didn’t Know About STARTERS. Has it just felt like a giant whirlwind? What things do you do to unwind and Return To Normal in your everyday life?
I’m not allowed to have a normal mode yet. In fact, I’m in the eye of hurricane! I am working hard to finish book two because I’m on an accelerated publication schedule. Book 1 will be published ten months from when it was bought. Book 2 comes out just eight months after the debut is published.  This is a duology and it’s great for the reader because she won’t have to wait an entire year for the sequel. Also, I am contracted to write three short e-stories set in the world of my book, so those can tide the reader over.

I’m only writing my book and doing promo my publicist has chosen. This is all day until very late at night, seven days a week. I eat, exercise, write, sleep and tweet. Zzzz… oh, did you say something?

As soon as I finish the draft of book 2, I go on tour for the rest of March. When I return in April, I will do an intense rewrite because we need to get ARCs printed by BEA. In May I’ll be writing a new project. I am not complaining, it’s all terrific.

When I did have free time, I loved kayaking, films, eating out with friends, watching basketball, swimming, snorkeling, travel involves animals. And reading!

I had a plot bunny the other day, and the second thought I had was, “Oh, sigh. I would love to write this book, and would love to see Tahereh Mafi write this, too.” What author would you like to have seen write STARTERS if not you?
You know, I love creative questions like this (and she is so sweet btw – I have total purse envy over her red keyboard bag!), but I can’t really imagine anyone else writing it. I’m just way too close to it. Maybe in ten years…

Did your characters do anything to surprise you while you were writing STARTERS?
Oh yeah.  But I can’t tell you because it’s revealed in the second book, ENDERS. It’s not a surprise. It’s a SHOCK! <cue lightning bolt sound effect here>

If you were magically given 30 extra minutes a day, how would you spend it?
Oh, this is like a trick question, eh? Like I should be saying work for world peace, or deliver meals to homebound writers? Or maybe I could meditate. Or try to fit in a class of something I’ve always wanted to learn, like swordplay.

But actually, I would write more pages. Really. Now that I have people to read them, this is what I was born to do. I wish this for every writer.

Thanks so much for coming by and hanging out with us, Lissa! Can’t wait to see you this weekend at WonderCon in Anaheim!
I am so eager to meet you in person! And I’m so excited about WonderCon. It’ll be in the middle of my tour – See you right after Seattle and before Salt Lake City.

Thanks for having me!

About the author: Lissa Price’s debut YA dystopian thriller, STARTERS, came out 3/13/12 and the sequel, ENDERS, comes out 12/4/12. She resides in the Southern California foothills with her husband and the occasional deer. Website | Facebook | Twitter

Isn’t she awesome?? Would you like your very own signed copy of Starters? Well, just leave a comment and we’ll pick a random winner to be announced this weekend on twitter!

See you soon, Swoonies!