Book Divas

An interview with the authors Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, writers of Beautiful Creatures.

How did the two of you decide to write a story together and this one in particular?

Margie: We started out as friends who always swapped books, because we both read mostly YA fantasy. We eventually became critique partners, and finally writing partners.

Kami: Margie’s daughters and my students, who were all teens, knew we were reading the same books they were and talking about writing something together. So one day, they dared us to write the book. We aren’t the kind of girls who shy away from a challenge. After a marathon lunch, about fifty Diet Cokes, and a stack of napkins – BEAUTIFUL CREATURES was born.

Will you describe your writing process for us?  Do you trade off chapters or write specific characters? 

Margie: Our writing process is really weird. We do trade chapters back and forth, but we both write every chapter. We mercilessly hack away at each other’s writing with every switch, until nearly every sentence has been hammered on by both of us.

Kami: We compare it to a running stitch in sewing, because we write over each other’s work so many times, going back and forth over and over. We draft really quickly, and revise very slowly. We wrote BEAUTIFUL CREATURES in three months, but it took eight months to edit.

I know that Kami has some Southern roots, where there any other influences in writing the story?

Margie: Kami grew up with three generations of women from the same small town in the South, and I grew up with three generations of the same small town in the west. We had the casserole belt in common – and the feeling of growing up in a fishbowl town, where everyone knows everything that has or will ever happen to everyone. And a large helping of family, family, family.

Kami: We were also influenced by the work of great Southern writers, like Harper Lee, Flannery O’Connor, and Ann Rice’s Southern Gothics. We both have a deep love of the South and fantasy, so our experiences growing up collided with the fantasy we grew up reading –Susan Cooper, C.S. Lewis, Diana Wynne Jones, Ray Bradbury – to create the perfect storm.

Beautiful Creatures has been described as a ‘Southern Gothic tale.’   How does that strike you? I would call it ‘a fantastical, mystical, romance, with a touch of historical fiction, intense family interactions, and different language dabbling.’  How would you classify it?

Margie: I love your definition! I think that really says it all. ;) But I’m also happy to think of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES as modern Southern Gothic, since that is a genre we haven’t seen enough of in recent years.

Kami: Classic Southern Gothics are epic and haunting stories that span generations. I think BEAUTIFUL CREATURES is certainly that, but it can also be called a paranormal romance set in a Southern town. You really can’t take the South out of the book. The town of Gatlin basically qualifies as a character.

Your novel has been extremely well received and enjoyed, what advice would you give aspiring authors?

Margie: Kami and I have been not just befriended but supported and really, sustained, by the YA community. Our blogger friends and online reviewers and tweethearts have kept us going during long months in the Cave of Revisions. My advice is to reach out online to other writers who are going through the same things you are.

Kami: My advice is to read and write everyday, and never give up. Reading books you love will help you find your voice and decide what you love to write. Our friend Pseudonymous Bosch says, “There is no such thing as a bad book, only a bad draft.” He’s right. Don’t give up, and don’t compare yourself to anyone else.

Describe your reaction when you learned that Beautiful Creatures is a Morris Award Nominee this year.  (For more on the Morris Award go here http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/morris/morrisawa...)

Margie: You know, I was blown away to hear we were nominated, but the next day I cried when I heard ASH was nominated. After all the book banning of GLBT YA in the United States, I was really proud of the ALA for stepping up and recognizing a devastatingly beautiful book with a really original take on a classic Cinderella story.

Kami: I’m still an elementary school Reading Specialist, so to be recognized by the American Library Association was the ultimate honor. Librarians are the people who put books into the hands of kids every day. They are my personal heroes. I can’t tell you how much the Morris nomination meant to me.

Your awesome work has been optioned for a movie through Warner Brothers, who do you see portraying Lena and Ethan?

Margie: I see Lena and Ethan as being played by Lena and Ethan! They’re so real to us it would be like having to cast someone to play yourself!

Kami: I have no idea, but I hope it’s someone relatively unknown. I would love Ethan and Lena to be defined by our universe.

Any other projects on the horizon?  Any more together, about Ethan and Lena?  Any individual works in progress?

Margie: We just finished the sequel to BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, which will be out this time next year. Now we are busy getting ready for our Southern States tour, which is the better part of next month. Southern Readers: check www.beautifulcreatures.com/appearances for details.

Kami: There is a lot more of Ethan and Lena’s story to tell, and we will tell as much of it as readers want to hear. As for individual works, we were critique partners long before we were writing partners, so even if we do write alone, it won’t be without the support of each other.

What books are in your must read pile?  Who are your favorite and most influential authors at the moment?

Margie: I just raided Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego at our recent event there. I think next on my list is Cherie Priest’s BONESHAKER. And I just finished SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce, which has a really powerful heroine—always something I am happy to see in YA paranormal! Diana Wynne Jones, Robin McKinley and Kristin Cashore are like goddesses to me. Ann Dee Ellis’ EVERYTHING IS FINE is my favorite realistic fiction of the year.

Kami:  Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, and Melissa Marr are the best urban fantasy writers today. And I’m an urban fantasy girl, where Margie is high fantasy. I just read WHITE CAT by Holly Black, and I was in awe. My two favorite new Southern writers, hands down, are Carrie Ryan (THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH) and Saundra Mitchell (SHADOWED SUMMER).

Lastly, in your opinions, what is a Book Diva?

Margie: I am a Book Diva! Now bring me another book and my bon bons!

Kami: Someone with great taste and pronounced opinions. And someone who eats a lot of candy while they read, like me.

See the trailer for Beautiful Creatures here!