Friday 16 March 2012

An Interview with Lauren Oliver

This week has all been about Pandemonium in my house. So I couldn't go without interviewing the lovely author herself - Lauren Oliver.
1) Your fourth book Pandemonium has just been published. How does that make you feel?
You know, it’s still pretty surreal. But I’m really excited about Pandemonium. There’s been a lot of excitement around its release, and my fans have been incredibly supportive and enthusiastic. So I’m thrilled.

2) Pandemonium is the second book in the Delirium trilogy; can you tell us a little about what happens?
Delirium is really the story of one girl’s transformation, as the protagonist, Lena, begins to question everything she has been taught—about love, and family, and duty, and freedom. Pandemonium really widens the lens. We see Lena’s emergence as a fierce warrior, as she teams up with members of a developing resistance movement and the world teeters on the verge of war.

3) The final book in the Delirium trilogy will be called Requiem. Have you written this yet?
Yes! And I’ll give absolutely no spoilers.

4) Whilst working at Razorbill with other authors every day, did you find that it spurred you on to write your own books?
Well, I was always writing, but I definitely learned from the authors I read and edited. It was at Razorbill that I first understood how to tell a story—that sounds fundamental, but I struggled with it for years. I could always write a pretty sentence, but I needed to learn how to keep readers flipping the pages. All that I learned from my time at Razorbill.

5) Apart from the Delirium trilogy each book you have written has been very different. Do you enjoy writing in different genres? Is one genre easier than another?
I love writing in different genres, but mostly because I don’t think about genres when I write. I think about characters, and story world, and the category just follows afterwards. But I love to challenge myself as a writer, to push myself into unfamiliar terrain, which is I think why my books end up being very variant.

6) With four books under your belt, do you find the writing process gets easier with each new book?
Ha—I wish! Not a chance.

7) Do you try and aim for a daily word target when writing?
Yes! I always aim to write 1,000 words. Sometimes that takes me fifty minutes; sometimes it takes me four hours.

8) Do you edit as you go along or do you wait until the first draft is finished?
I definitely wait until the first draft is finished. I am of the “write through” philosophy—I’m terrified of losing momentum. This means that my rough first drafts are not only messy, they are largely indecipherable to anyone but me!

9) When is your ideal time to write? Morning, afternoon or evening?
Ideally, in the morning, at my “desk” (really my dining room table), with a cup of coffee and some peanut butter toast! But in reality, I travel and run around so much that I’m often squeezing in writing later in the day, typing frantically on my Blackberry or scribbling in notebooks.

10) Which authors inspired you whilst growing up?
I loved Roald Dahl and CS Lewis. I loved the Little House on the Prairie books and The Wind in the Willows, too. I was also a huge fan of the Redwall series.

11) If you could have written any other book in the world, what would it be?
Um, the Harry Potter series. Hands-down.
Thank you Lauren for joining us to today. My review of Pandemonium will be up on the blog tomorrow. 
To find out more about Lauren Oliver:
Twitter: @OliverBooks
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lauren-Olivers-Books/150649964965429?sk=info
Website: http://www.laurenoliverbooks.com/

4 comments:

  1. Great interview! Editing at the end makes perfect sense to me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful interview, I was especially interested by the choice of authors/books that had inspired Lauren.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have loved reading Lauren's books, and she definitely knows how to tell a story that keeps me flipping the pages! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great interview :)
    I sure wished I had written the HP books too (money!) Lol, yes selfish reasons

    ReplyDelete

Hiya, thanks for stopping by, it is always nice to hear what you have to say, so do leave a comment if you have time.