Interview: Maggie Stiefvater, author of Shiver

Today I'm lucky to be able to share with you an interview with the great Maggie Stiefavter. Maggie's latest novel, Shiver, was just released and I can't say enough good things about it!

Hi Maggie, let's start off with you telling us one random tidbit about yourself?

I don't eat the ends of hot dogs. I don't like doing it, and I'm not a fan of doing things I don't like to do. So I don't eat the ends of hot dogs. Well, I guess I eat the first end. But I won't eat the last bite.

What is the best book that you've read over the last six months?

Mmmm, choices, choices. I'm going to go with STITCHES, which I just read this weekend. It's a graphic novel memoir that is utterly brilliant. For regular novels, though, I guess . . . mmm, I loved JELLICOE ROAD. The interpersonal relationship were brilliant.

What have you learned about yourself since you began to seriously pursue writing?


That I'm really good at procrastinating while doing things that appear useful. That I can't stay up late to finish a book or a chapter, because I become incoherent that night and cranky the next day. That I must have music on, all the time, in order to write. That I have to read or I get writer's block.

How do you prepare yourself before writing a new book?



I buy new music! I've finally figured out that if I don't have the tune that embodies the mood of the new book, I can't start. I think possibly it's because I can't start until I've established what it is I want to do with the book, and the lack of music to match is just a symptom. Regardless, there's nothing quite like that a-HA! moment when I listen to a new song and realize that it's The One.

Now for some word associations!



Grace: Hope & Charity & all that jazz.

Sam: Lead dude from Addicted to Love. As in "It's pretty, Sam."

Olivia: Brown haired girl from the Avonlea series. Who I always wanted to be because I thought she was so pretty.

Beck: "Cellphone's dead." Also, "E-Pro".

Shelby: Mustang.

Grace's parents: Feckless.

What's your favorite thing about Shiver?



I have to admit with some shame that my favorite scene involves a bathtub. I was really, really happy with that scene when I wrote it, and still am.

What would you most like potential readers to know about you and/or your book?



That it's not a traditional romance. I still think of it as a coming of age story, with a kissy wrapper. Also that it's not a traditional werewolf story. When I first visited Scholastic someone said, "I don't think Sam is a werewolf." I said, "No, he's a metaphor."

What else do you have in the works?



I've just finished the sequel to SHIVER and I'm starting on the final book in that series, and then I'm also returning to the world that LAMENT and BALLAD are set in. One day I will do a graphic novel . . . but it is not that day yet.

Ever have a fangirl moment over a favorite author of your's? If so, who? What happened?



Oh, yes, twice, just last weekend. I met Brian Selznick, who wrote and illustrated THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, and spoke to him mainly in grunts and whistles because of my fannishness, and then I had breakfast with Melina Marchetta, whose novels I adore beyond reason. I managed to conduct myself like a human for the breakfast only through the miracle of caffeine and sleep deprivation, a cocktail which tends to make me more level-headed.

If you were and interviewer, what question would you ask yourself? What's the answer to the question?



Q: "What do you think is the most important thing for teens to learn?"
A: "To be utterly unafraid."

Also

Q: "would you like my brownie?"
A: "yes."

Any final comments?


Oh, I think my work here is done. ;) Thanks for having me.

Thanks so much for the great answers Maggie!

Read my review of Shiver

Check out an excerpt from Shiver

Learn more about the book at Maggie's site and watch the two Shiver trailers