Month of Guests 2013: Lauren Oliver

I'm super excited to have the lovely Lauren Oliver here today! I love her books to pieces so I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did! :D

Hi Lauren!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

So the Delirium series has finished (moment of silent mourning). How does that make you feel? 

I have such mixed feelings! On the one hand, I'm very sad; I miss my characters and the world of Delirium. On the other hand, I'm excited about engaging in new projects and being able to move forward, and I'm quite proud of the series I did manage to create.  

Delirium was single Lena.  Pandemonium was Past Lena and Now Lena.  And Requiem was Lena and a totally surprise narrator: a cured Hana – I don’t know about the others, but I didn’t see it coming!  Why did you chose to write from Hana’s perspective? 

 It occurred to me that we were missing a HUGE portion of the world: we had seen only from the perspective of people who really hated the cure. But the majority of people in the society were cured, and presumably happy with their choice. Plus, I wanted to be able to see various Portland characters again, since we hadn't seen them in Pandemonium. Lastly, I wanted to do something different and challenging.

You write a whole bunch of different genres.  But which is your favourite to read and why?

 I love books in which there is an admixture of the real and the fantastical. I think that's why I love magical realism so much; I always want to feel as if the line between the real world and the fantasy world is tissue-thin.

Would you ever consider going outside the MG/YA genre?  I know many see Delirium as a cross-over book and was wondering if you’d ever do a strictly ‘Adult’ book.  Or maybe a New Adult book. They’re huge at the moment…!

  Funny you should ask! Next autumn my very first "adult" book, called ROOMS, comes out from the grown-up side of HarperCollins. So yes! I plan on writing for every age demographic. Now I just have to get into picture books...

But back to your Delirium series: was the world inspired by anything that occurred in our society?  The lack of caring, the wars, the rebellions…?

 I think it was more a response to the human tendency to be swayed by messages of fear, and to cling to single belief systems in order to eradicate uncertainty. That can be very dangerous, and has historically led people to believe in ideas, political systems, and behaviors that are deeply corrupt.

Lena is, obviously, totally strong, determined and kickbutt.  When reading a YA book, I tend to fixate on my total admiration for kickass girls like Lena.  Do you have any favourite YA lead girls?

 I really love the character of Karou, from The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. She has blue hair! And tattoos! And she's kind of assassin-like! And her name is Karou. I mean, c'mon.

Now, before my final question, I have to ask you a totally random one: If you could have any superpower, what would you have and why?

 Honestly, I really wish my superpower was the ability to survive on less sleep. I'd even take it over flying! I spend, like, half my life asleep.

What’s next for you?  I hear lots of exciting talks about your new books and can’t wait to get my hands on them!

 My next release is in March 2014. It's a realistic novel called PANIC, and you can hear me read some excerpts here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17565845-panic. Panic is quite different from the Delirium series--it's grittier, and it's told from the perspective of a girl and a boy--and I'm very excited about it. And then in the fall, my first "grown-up" novel ROOMS releases. So it will be an awesome year!

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Yay, thank you so much for letting me interview you, Lauren!  I am so so so so excited about your new books - 2014 can't come fast enough!! :D
Hope you all enjoyed Lauren's interview! And don't forget to follow Lauren's Site, follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and YouTube, and check out her books on Goodreads! :D
And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant and delicious post by the amazing Amy Plum!!

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Lauren Oliver comes from a family of writers and so has always (mistakenly) believed that spending hours in front of the computer every day, mulling over the difference between “chortling” and “chuckling,” is normal. She has always been an avid reader. 

She attended the University of Chicago, where she continued to be as impractical as possible by majoring in philosophy and literature. After college, she attended the MFA program at NYU and worked briefly as the world’s worst editorial assistant, and only marginally better assistant editor, at a major publishing house in New York. Her major career contributions during this time were flouting the corporate dress code at every possible turn and repeatedly breaking the printer. Before I Fall is her first published novel. 

She is deeply grateful for the chance to continue writing, as she has never been particularly good at anything else.