Author Interview with Marissa Meyer

To celebrate New York Times bestselling author of CINDER and SCARLET, Marissa Meyer's first UK signing on March 26, 6:00p.m., at Waterstones Bromley I have an interview with her here on the blog!

1. In the Lunar Chronicles so far we've had the setting of New Beijing and France, is travel something you like or want to do? And where would you most like to go?

Oh yes, I LOVE to travel. I wish I could say it was mostly for cultural enrichment and personal growth, but mostly I just really love food, and exploring new kinds of food, lol! My list of places I'd love to see someday is ridiculously long, but I think Germany is at the very top. Because it's the home of the Grimm Brothers! I would love to see some awesome German castles and also travel the "Fairy Tale Road," which I guess is a road that cuts through the middle of the country and passes a lot of sites where the Grimm Brothers lived and worked, and also some places that may have inspired different fairy tales. (Such as the Town of Bremen, which has a statue in its square of the Bremen Town Musicians.)


2. I've never read a YA novel where the heroine was part cyborg before, the originality blew me away. Where did your initial idea come from?

Thank you! I had the idea of combining fairy tales with science fiction after I entered a writing contest with a futuristic retelling of "Puss in Boots," but the idea for a cyborg Cinderella specifically came to me in a dream. I saw Cinderella running down the palace steps, but instead of losing her glass slipper, her foot fell off! I woke up with this idea of a cyborg Cinderella and her world and character started to come together really fast.


3. If you could co-write a book with anyone, who would it be and why?

Well, I honestly don't think I would be a very good co-writer. I'm such a control nut! But I would LOVE to work with an illustrator someday on a graphic novel. I would probably choose my best friend, who's an artist - she and I have actually been talking about doing a manga together since we were teens. Maybe someday it will happen...

4. Do you any writing routines or quirks?

I tend to be pretty flexible with when and where I write - most of Cinder was written on a cramped bus during an hour-long commute. Really, I think my only true requirement is that I'm wearing socks. If my feet are cold, I can't think about anything else.

5. Since The Lunar Chronicles are fairytale re-telligs, what is your favourite fairytale and why.

This is SUCH a difficult question! I tend to go for the darker ones, like Bluebeard, about the serial killer husband, or the old versions of Little Red Riding Hood that feature cannibalism and strip-teases. (Seriously.) I also like stories in which the heroine is able to rescue herself instead of relying on a prince or whatever. Little Red originally saved herself from the Wolf, before Charles Perrault got ahold of it. Gretel, too - lots of people think Hansel shoved the witch in the oven, but nope, it was the sister. Go Gretel!


Thank you so much for stopping by my blog Marissa.