What were you most excited about seeing at this year at the Con? Tell us a little bit about teenage you! What current books would you be devouring if they\u2019d been released when you were a teen? I would have devoured Melissa Marr\u2019s Wicked Lovely Series<\/a> (dark, brooding, and beautifully written), Tahereh Mafi\u2019s SHATTER ME<\/a> (come on, it opens with a girl trapped in a cell writing in her journal = totally me), Lex Thomas\u2019 QUARANTINE<\/a> (\u201cThe Breakfast Club\u201d with real clubs and no adults), and Ransom Riggs\u2019 MISS PEREGRINE\u2019S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN<\/a> (because I was a peculiar child and believed I had magical powers).<\/p>\n You\u2019ve been in the writing world for awhile now and no doubt have good advice to give. What is the best advice you ever received when you were first starting, and what is the best advice you\u2019d give now \u2013 with more experience? I have two pieces of writing advice. You don\u2019t need an MFA or a fancy degree to be a writer. You just need a pen, an idea, and perseverance. That said, you should definitely study the craft of writing through reading, attending conferences or writing courses, and through good old-fashioned practice. My second piece of advice is to FINISH. You can\u2019t publish a book if you only write the first five chapters, and you can\u2019t revise one to make it better until you finish writing it.<\/p>\n Lo & C: We cannot wait to read your new book, UNBREAKABLE<\/a> (Little, Brown, Fall 2013). Does it feel more comfortable this time around (series, movie deal), or is it new\/scary in a totally different way? On the film side, UNBREAKABLE is in development with Mark Morgan, producer of \u201cThe Twilight Saga\u201d & \u201cPercy Jackson and the Olympians.\u201d\u00a0 I can\u2019t really talk about what\u2019s happening, but it\u2019s all really exciting!<\/p>\n Lo & C: Was it easy to fall in love with new characters?<\/strong> Lukas and Jared, the boys from the novel that I\u2019ve mentioned online were incredible easy to fall in love with.\u00a0 Though they are very different, both boys are deeply flawed, which are always my favorite characters. (Lo & C: Guh, us too.)<\/strong> I think it gives them weight, and allows you to feel for them in a way that is incredibly real.\u00a0 I think one of them just might break your heart.<\/p>\n Lo & C: Anything you can share with us about your new world? QuickFires:<\/strong><\/p>\n Favorite movie:<\/strong>\u00a0Tie \u2013 Star Wars & Rocky<\/p>\n Book you\u2019d most like to see made into a film:<\/strong>\u00a0Abarat<\/em> by Clive Barker<\/a><\/p>\n Favorite dessert:\u00a0<\/strong>Coca-Cola Cake (Lo & C: And we just happen to have a seriously awesome vid of you showing us how to make it!)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.swoontini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/tumblr_m4qk07EwuO1qedi6p.gif\" "\\"tumblr_m4qk07EwuO1qedi6p\\"")
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\nLo & C: You were on a panel at San Diego Comic Con<\/a> this year \u2013 the What\u2019s Hot in Young Adult Fiction<\/em>). And you\u2019ve been to SDCC before \u2013 what’s the b<\/strong>est costume you\u2019ve ever seen?
\n<\/strong>KG:\u00a0The Star Wars costumes are always my favorites, but the con before \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d<\/a> came out, there were some serious zombie costumes at the booth.
\nLo & C: We agree! We swear we could probably sit and do nothing but people watch all day and still \u00a0have a blast.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.swoontini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Paul-movie-image-Simon-Pegg-Nick-Frost-comic-con-6-1024x680.jpg\" "\\"Paul-movie-image-Simon-Pegg-Nick-Frost-comic-con\\"")
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\n<\/strong>KG:\u00a0Aside from catching up with my author friends attending, I am dying to see Joss Whedon. I am an insane \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer<\/a>\u201d fan (my dogs are names after characters in the show, Spike and Oz). He is a genius.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>KG:\u00a0I wore a lot of black, spent too much time listening to The Cure<\/a> and too many class periods reading in my desk or writing poetry. I was 4\u201911 when I graduated from high school, and I always stuck up for the underdog. I always believed (and still do) in two things my great-grandmother taught me: \u201cThe right thing and the easy thing are never the same,\u201d and \u201cWhat goes around comes back around.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>KG:\u00a0Beautiful Creatures<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>was not written with publication in mind. Margie<\/a> and I wrote the book on a dare from seven teenagers\u2014her teenage daughters and my students. I actually received the best piece of writing advice not during my career as a writer, but while I was still teaching.\u00a0 I had the opportunity to take four students to Clive Barker\u2019s<\/a> home to meet him, see the original Abarat <\/em>paintings, and discuss writing. He told the teens that he reads everything he writes out loud after he finishes because his ear picks up things his eyes miss\u2014stilted dialogue, missing words, awkward language. I fall back on that advice constantly, and I\u2019m always amazed at how much I catch when I read my work aloud.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.swoontini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Caster-Chronicles1.jpg\" "\\"Caster-Chronicles1\\"")
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\nWe can\u2019t wait to see Beautiful Creatures<\/em> on the big screen<\/a>. What has this whole process \u2013 from publication to film right sales to entering production \u2013 been like for you?
\n<\/strong>KG:\u00a0As I mentioned previously, we wrote Beautiful Creatures<\/em> on a dare so everything that happened from the moment we finished writing, to the sale of the book at auction, to standing on the film sets [the movie releases February 13, 2013] has been completely surreal. Like Lena, the heroine in the series, I spent enough class periods writing poetry in spiral notebooks that I filled a huge storage container, but I never planned to be a writer. The two moments that stand out for me are the day I received the first finished copy of the hardcover and realized it was a real book (not just 546 pages living on my computer) and when I stepped onto the set for the first time. Seeing the characters and the word come to life was unbelievable!<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>In a lot of ways, I think it\u2019s scarier because now I\u2019m writing for my readers and I don\u2019t want to disappoint them.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve talked to a lot of my author friends and they all say the same thing \u2013 launching a new series is terrifying even if you\u2019ve written twenty books.\u00a0 I also think the minute you start believing that your books destined for greatness is the moment you stop pushing yourself.\u00a0 It\u2019s the beginning of the end.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.swoontini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/tumblr_m7miy1FzEF1r3erqh1.gif\" "\\"tumblr_m7miy1FzEF1r3erqh\\"")
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\nKG: I was shocked by how easily I fell in love with the characters in UNBREAKABLE<\/a>.\u00a0 There are five main characters, but I\u2019ve only shared three so I\u2019ll stick to them.\u00a0 Kennedy is a girl who exists in that in-between place where you aren\u2019t part of the popular crowd, but you aren\u2019t a social outcast either \u2013 until she comes home one night and finds her mother dead.\u00a0 She learns that her mom was a member of a two hundred year-old secret society, formed to protect the world from a powerful demon and the spirits he controls.\u00a0 Suddenly, navigating the social landmines of high school is the least of her problems.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.swoontini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/tumblr_m56iphfMj21rooy1q.gif\" "\\"tumblr_m56iphfMj21rooy1q\\"")
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\n<\/strong>KG: UNBREAKABLE<\/a> is a dark urban fantasy with serious doses of action, suspense, paranormal elements and romantic tension.\u00a0 It takes place in the real world and the settings, many of which are real places, are integral to the story.\u00a0 But we aren\u2019t in the South anymore.<\/p>\n