Interview - Elizabeth Scott

Elizabeth Scott's Love You Hate You Miss You is out on the bookstore shelves now. I loved the novel with it's dark and twisty elements with a strong heart (review here). Today Elizabeth's going to ask some of my questions about this novel and her upcoming releases.

When the reader first meets Amy she's fresh from rehab. Did you do any research on teens in rehab or was tracking Lindsay Lohan in the tabloids sufficient?
I did research on teens and alcohol, and how drinking among teen girls is viewed by girls and by adults.

Amy's family life is problematic but at the same time extremely atypical. What fired up the spark that created Amy's lovey dovey parents?
At the time I wrote the book in 2004-5, I hadn't ever seen a book where the parents were madly in love with each other, and I thought that would be interesting. And then I started thinking about how being crazy in love with someone is supposed to be what we all want, and what would happen if two people did fall madly in love, created a whole world around each other--and then had a child.

Girls can be very supportive and very destructive in their relationships with their best friends, Amy and Julia typify that give and take. Is it hard writing that line between love and hate?
No, because in high school (and quite frankly, even out of it!), I think a lot of friendships are like that. They're very intense a lot of the time, and I know there were moments when I would have done anything for my friends. And moments where I wished I'd never met them. Being a teenager is, in and of itself, an incredibly intense time in your life--so much is going on, and you're expected to plan your future and be mature and yet obey tons of rules and everything matters so much. I think that's the hardest part--how every single thing seems to carry so much emotional weight.

Patrick is your typical non-verbal high school male. How challenging is it to create a well rounded character when they rarely talk?
Very! A character who doesn't talk much is one who is very difficult to flesh out, especially when you only ever see them through the eyes of one other character. But I loved writing Patrick--his quietness hides a lot of grief, and I loved how much he cared about Amy.

You are a writing machine...how much hate mail have you received from your fellow authors?
LOL, I just seem like a machine--I wrote three young adult novels and then sold them back in 2005--the first one didn't see print till 2007, one came out in 2008, and the third one (Love You Hate You Miss You) just came out this year! So I had plenty of time to write while I was waiting to be published. But it would actually be pretty great if I could write super fast!

Have you ever contemplated writing from a male perspective?
I have thought about it, actually, but for right now, all the books I have out are narrated by females.

You've shown great versatility in writing in a light, humorous tone as well as dark and serious. Are their any genres or styles that scare you witless?
I wouldn't like to write in verse because I love poetry but can't write it at all. I'd love to do something in second person, but it works better in short stories than novels and I don't think any publishers would be too keen on a whole novel in it.
As for genres, I love them all, though I have to say I wouldn't want to write a memoir. It would be about five pages long. Fifty if I was allowed to talk about my dog :-)

Your website has listed some of your WIP - want to tell us a little about them?
The Unwritten Rule will be published by Simon Pulse in March 2010 and it's about a girl who falls for her best friend's boyfriend. Miracle will be published by HarperCollins in June 2010 and it's about a girl who survives a plane crash. And finally, Dutton will publish Grace in the fall, and that's about a girl who is a suicide bomber.

If you were to revisit a character (main or peripheral) you've created in your previous works, who would it be?
I've often wondered what happened to some of the characters in Bloom...

Elizabeth still hasn't convinced me that she's not a writing machine! Be sure to come back Friday and watch a very special Australian themed Elizabeth Scott vlog.