Eve & Adam Blog Tour + Giveaway: Interview with Katherine Applegate & Michael Grant

Hey, everyone! I am so incredibly excited to have Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant here on the blog today. They're totally hilarious, and wrote some of my favorite books of my childhood (Animorphs, I'm looking at you). They also just cowrote Eve & Adam, which I thought I was a fun, adventure read and just happens to release TODAY. You can check out my review here.

1) You've both been writing for kids and teens for a long time. How do you think your style has changed with the times? How have teens changed?

M: Thanks for making us feel old.  Okay, interview over.

K: Where's my cane?  Where are my teeth?

M: Actually, I think we have evolved, I guess.  When we started out we were ghostwriting for other people, most notably, for SWEET VALLEY TWINS.  Either 17 or 19 books, we can't remember.

K: Because memory fades with advancing age.  Then we worked as a team for a long time.  

M: ANIMORPHS being the high point of that period of collaboration.  Then we quit, took some years off, and when we went back to writing we went our separate ways.  Katherine wanted to go younger and more literary, especially with HOME OF THE BRAVE and THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN.  And I just wanted to give teen readers the creeps.  Hence GONE and BZRK.   So, Katherine has really grown up as a writer. And I've. . . well. . .

K: One way the readership has changed is that this generation has absorbed tolerance for difference all the way down into the marrow.  When we started out having a gay character would have been almost impossible.  

M: Yeah, we like this generation a lot.  These are some very cool humans.

2) You both write a lot of science fiction and fantasy. What power do you wish you could have?

K: Being able to nap and drive simultaneously.  I already have the napping superpower, I just want to extend it beyond that.

M: I want the power to get slow drivers -- and slow people generally -- the hell out of my way.  I'm very impatient.  I want to be able to cast a spell and suddenly the old man in the Lexus would step on it.  Move!

3) When you read, what are some of your favorite books and/or genres?

M: I like genre stuff generally.  Historical fiction, mystery, science fiction, Plot-driven, idea-laden stuff. Patrick O'Brian, George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Morgan, Paolo Bacigalupi. Raymond Chandler, Chine Mieville.  How much space do you have?   Bill Bryson.

K: Charlotte's Web, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Sold by Patricia McCormick, The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, Missing May by Cynthia Rylant.  More than I can name.  And THE MAGNIFICENT 12 by my husband. He doesn't just creep out teenagers, he also makes kids laugh.

4) What has your favorite moment as a writer been thus far?

M: Stephen King liked my GONE series and wrote a blurb.  I thought, okay, now I'm a writer.  My favorite thing for Katherine, by the way, was when she let me read HOME OF THE BRAVE in manuscript.  I happened to be in my car, waiting for someone no doubt, and was just weeping.  I was thinking wow, she can really write.  I wonder if I can retire now and she'll support me?

K: I got a letter from a Sudanese refugee who said that with HOME OF THE BRAVE I had written his life.  Yeah, that was lovely. 

5) How did you choose the name Evening?

M: Well, we were riffing on Eve.  We didn't think Eventual would work.

K: Or Evenhanded. 

6) What I enjoyed most about Eve & Adam was how realistic the characters are. They really rang true for me, especially the friendship between Eve and Aislin. Which characters did you have the most fun writing? Which were the most difficult?

M: I think Katherine really did a good job of the Eve-Aislin relationship.  I'd credit her with that more than me.

K: You're being way too nice.  What is it you want?

M: I'm trying to come off as the nice one.  I want to be loved by all the readers of this blog.  

7) Is there anything more planned for this universe? If so, how many more books?

K: There's one more planned.  Beyond that, we don't know.

8) My theme song for Eve & Adam was I Can Make You a Man from Rocky Horror Picture Show for obvious reasons. Do you have a 'soundtrack' for Eve & Adam? If so, what's on it?

M: No, but that is an excellent choice.  I love Rocky Horror.  Our kids love Rocky Horror.  It's just a jump to the left.  And then a step to the right.
K: I agree on Rocky, but Michael and I listen to very different music usually.  I often listen to Bach while I'm writing.  Michael listens to Rancid.  I'm pretty sure Bach and Rancid define the opposite poles of music.

9) What was your writing process like? Do you write everything as a team or split up the characters? How do you keep any disagreements over a novel you're working on together from affecting your married life?

K: Hah!

M: We never fight.  

K: Yes.  Perfect harmony.  Or at least no one throws objects.  Not heavy objects.

M: That's our rule: no throwing of objects heavy enough to cause a concussion.

K: On EVE AND ADAM I'd say Michael did the skeleton and I put meat on the bones.  

M: But even that's giving us too much credit for organization.  When we're done with a book we have no idea who did what.  All we know is that there's lingering resentment.  

K: Which you blame on me?

M: Absolutely not.  We've been together for 33 years.  I have long since accepted that everything is my fault.

K: But only because it really is.

Thanks so much to Katherine and Michael for stopping by today! Here's some more information on Eve & Adam for you to check out!

Eve & Adam Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmRb9iK3-ls

Eve & Adam Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/eveandadambook

Michael Grant’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefayz

Katherine Applegate’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/kaaauthor

Giveaway: To enter to win a copy of Eve & Adam, fill out THIS FORM by October 9 at midnight. US and Canada, only. Also, while you're here, leave some love for Michael and Katherine!

 

Check out the rest of the tour for more chances to win!