Interviews

An interview with Scott Westerfeld

\ \ What made you decide to write a vampire novel? Was there a particular story or event that sparked your interest?

\ \ Whenever I see a movie with no fantasy elements, I always imagine what it would be like if they threw some vampires in. And in pretty much every case, I think it would be better.

\ \ When it came to writing my own book, M.T. Anderson's Thirsty was a real eye-opener. The kid who's turning into a vamp has such an interesting and different point of view, it made me want to borrow some of Anderson's ideas about what it's like to be . . . thirsty.

\ \ But the real inspiration was the non-fiction research I was doing about parasites and rats. The natural world is so fascinating and icky . . . real life predators and parasites are really much scarier and more disturbing than any vampires in fiction. So I kind of wanted to bring back the icky.

\ \ How much research was required before you could begin writing?

\ \ Not too much before I started-I usually do my research while I write. It's more exciting to be discovering the subject at the same time as your characters. Mostly, I was reading Carl Zimmer's Parasite Rex, which is a book about how a single species of parasite can manipulate an entire ecosystem to support themselves.

\ \ Parasites are like the puppet-masters of biology. Once they get into your head (so to speak) it's easy to see the whole natural world as a bunch of robots doing their bidding. That got me thinking about what it would be like if all of humanity was just a cog in that kind of system, and we didn't even know it . . .

\ \ There is an equal balance of humor and horror in Peeps. Was this difficult to achieve? Was this balance necessary to make the story work?

\ \ I think that horror and humor go together naturally. Comedy is one of the ways that humans let ourselves relax when we're anxious or scared or grossed out, so it's pretty easy to get someone to laugh once you've made them uncomfortable. That's the trick: Start with the scary, then let them off the hook with a joke.

\ \ I've noticed that almost every horror movie has funny moments, and if the filmmakers aren't smart enough to put them in, the audience just decides that the movie is funny (by deciding that it's lame). So rather than have my readers laugh at me, I figured it was a good idea to go for comedy, so they can laugh with me.

\ \ Rats, parasite positives, maggots... there are pages that absolutely make your skin crawl, especially if you live in New York City. As a resident were you freaked out by what you learned about rats?

\ \ As I wrote Peeps, I was also reading Robert Sullivan's book called Rats, which is a history of rats in New York City. I wound up going to some of the spots mentioned in the book, small alleyways that seethe with tiny scurrying forms. That was definitely creepy.

\ \ But the fact of rats doesn't bother me. They've been hanging around humans since Egyptian times (that's why they had cat statues in their temples). And I think it's kind of cool that there's a whole other world under our feet here in this city, with abandoned tunnels and ruins and even buried graveyards. And of course, that world has its own inhabitants who have adapted to it. That's the way nature works.

\ \ But when I moved to New York, I did bring my cat, just so that that world and mine wouldn't, you know, collide too much.

\ \ What adjectives would you use to describe your latest book?

\ \ "Icky." "Intense." "Fast-paced." And whatever adjective describes that feeling you get when someone is talking about bugs, and then you feel imaginary ones on your skin. (Oh, yeah, that's "icky" again.)

\ \ What's on your iPod?

\ \ The Kills, Imogen Heap, King Sunny Ade, Shonen Knife, Dave Brubeck, DJ Shadow, Morcheeba, PM Dawn, PJ Harvey, Jimmy Little, Metric.

\ \ Of course, it's an iShuffle, so next time it might be different.

\ \ What are you reading now?

\ \ I recently finished a non-fiction book, The Emperor of Scent, which is about scientists figuring out how smell works. Much more interesting than it sounds, and very useful for writing. It's hard to describe smells, but if you can, it's a great way to put your reader into a place and mood.

\ \ At this very moment I'm reading page proofs for Magic Lessons, my wife's next book and the sequel to Magic or Madness. Six months ago, I read it as a first draft, but I haven't seen it since. It's changed a lot in all that time, and I'm really enjoying seeing how all those rewrites, edits, and new stuff makes the book stronger and deeper. (Yay, Justine!)

\ \ Next I'll read Dreamhunter, by New Zealander Elizabeth Knox, which everyone says is great.

\ \ What would be if you weren't a writer?

\ \ Probably a game designer. I used to design software for kids, and my favorite part was making up games. Maybe one day I'll take all my money and start a game company.

\ \ Either that or a rock star, of course.

\ \ Have you started working on your next book? Can you give us a sneak peak?

\ \ Right now I'm writing Specials, the last book in the Uglies trilogy. I'm at the point where it's driving me crazy, so no sneak peeks. Well, maybe the first sentence: "The six hoverboards slipped among the trees with the lightning grace of playing cards thrown flat and spinning." I like that sentence.

\ \ The next book I'll be starting on is going to take place in the Peeps universe, but with different characters. It's also set in New York City, but in the music scene. I used to compose music, and I've been wanting to write something about a band for a while.

\ \ Writing about music is like writing about smells: It's hard, but if you can pull it off, it really sets a great mood. Plus, it gives me an excuse to go to some clubs, which will probably be more fun than all those rat-infested alleys.