You can find Caitlen at the following places:
Why she's here:
To start off, can you give us
five fun facts about yourself?
Okay,
let’s see.
1) I am
a huge Renaissance Faire fan. I try to
go every single year and it’s always so much fun. Where else can you can eat a giant turkey leg
while watching a human chess match?
Actually, there should be lots of places you can do that, but so far
I’ve only found it at the Renn Faire.
Also it fulfills the little 14yo Caitlen that lives inside me, the one
that was raised on Disney Princesses and Grimm’s Fairy Tales and The Adventures of Robin Hood with Erroll
Flynn, who finds it really unfair that we don’t go around in long beautiful
dresses all the time. Come to think of
it, actual, grown-up Caitlen finds that unfair, too.
2) March
14th is one of my favorite holidays because it is (unofficially, I
think?) Pi Day, which to me means fun and pastry and also some math. I really have to thank my high school for
that. Math was always my trouble
subject, but my high school started celebrating Pi Day — we’d have pie-eating
contests and math relay-races and a prize for whoever could memorize Pi to the
furthest digit. My friend, Tara, won
every year with 11 digits out. They made
a subject that I didn’t like so much a lot of fun.
3) The
first thing I ever wrote was a Star Wars fan fiction. Because that is how I roll. Actually, I didn’t think it was a fan fiction
at the time. See, I was in high school
and one of my closest friends got me into Star Wars and we read all the novels
together. Then one day in the lunchroom
we got the brilliant idea that we
could write a Star Wars story and the just send it into the publisher and they
would make it a book, because that is totally how it works, because it’s not
like the publisher tries to hire professional writers for those things. Not at all.
(By the way, Bantam Dell, I’m totally a professional writer now.) I have
no idea where it is now, and I can only hope it never sees the light of day.
4) When
it comes to movie-adaptations of books, if at all possible I prefer to see the
movie first and save the book for after.
It’s a policy I’ve recently instituted after way too many time of
sitting in a movie theater thinking, That’s
not what I thought they looked like, why did they leave that part out, they
skipped over that whole section in the forest — that was the best part. If I go into the movie tabula rasa, as it
were, I find I can enjoy it for what it is, and still not be spoiled for the
book, which is, in my experience, usually better.
5) I
think Dr. Doofenshmirtz should be held up as a role model for the children of
America. Okay, so, yes, there is the
whole ‘heading a corporation of Evil in an effort to enslave humanity’
thing. But the important thing is that
he tries, and he never gives up, no
matter how many times that Perry the Platypus stops him. Tomorrow is just another -inator waiting to
happen.
I may
also have a little bit of a crush on him, but please, please don’t tell anyone.
Yay for Pi Day! I've never celebrated...and think I might just start next year! :D
What are five books you think
everyone should read?
I think
everyone should read a book in every genre, even if they’ve never read or think
they won’t particularly like. Granted,
most of my reading is middle grade and YA, but I do try to push myself outside
my comfort zone every now and again. The
books I typically recommend are:
1)
I’m
not a historical non-fiction person, but Over
the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergren is hands down one of the most
exciting books I’ve ever read. It’s a
chronicle of Magellan’s journey circumnavigating the world, and let’s just say
that I cannot believe some of the stuff that went on during that voyage. It’s a miracle anyone made it back at all.
2)
I
think it’s odd, considering my mom raised us on Sherlock Holmes, that I’m not a
rabid mystery girl. But every now and
again, when the mystery mood strikes me, I like to pick up one by Georgette
Heyer. My favorite is Envious Casca, set at English manor
house, with a bickering family gathered together for the holidays, a
locked-room murder, and even a little bit of romance.
3)
Speaking
of Romance — I love romance novels. I
get flak about it sometimes, but it’s like any other genre. There’s good, there’s bad, and there’s a lot
in the middle. Contemporary romances are
my sweet spot; I deeply love Nora Roberts’ Angels
Fall, where the heroine spends most of the book trying to deal with a Holy
Cow Traumatic Past, while trying to solve a Mysterious Mystery that brings up
said HCTP in spades. Also she’s a cook,
and my, oh my, so much talk about food….
4)
On Writing by Stephen King. I don’t read a
lot of books about writing — I prefer to read books in the genre I’m writing
in, so I can get a feel for what I like/don’t like — but I loved Stephen King’s
On Writing. It’s a wonderful book, and while he does talk
about writing, he also takes you through his history as a writer, which was the
part I really loved. He mentions at one
point he’d hear a lot, “you’re a good writer, why are you wasting your time on
horror, etc”, and how he had to get past that.
It’s stayed with me because I’ve heard variations of that, when I tell
people Ordinary Magic is a children’s
fantasy. Fortunately, I’ve also met a
lot more people who love children’s
fantasies as much as I do.
5)
Military
science fiction, anyone? I’ve been
reading Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet series
with my Dad, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot.
The first six books are based on the battle of Xenophon, with a small
band of warriors trapped deep in enemy territory, trying to get home. The space battles are pretty exciting, and I
really like how Campbell works in the time delay that would occur in space,
which means that his hero has to guess what the enemy’s going to do before they
do it so he’ll have time to prepare, and there’s this wonderfully tense sense
of are we dead yet and just don’t know
it?
I will definitely have to pick up some of these awesome-sounding reads!
How has writing and being
published affected your life?
Other
than just me walking around with a big goofy smile on my face? I’ve been a lot busier and spending a lot more time online. I’m even on Twitter (yeah, I’m about ten
years behind the rest of humanity), which I’m still getting used to. But I think the biggest thing is that my
parents constantly tell me how proud they are of me, and my friends have all
been saying how they’re so impressed. It’s awesome, but it’s also a little
surreal. I just hope it doesn’t go to my
head — to which end I’ve hired an apathetic teenager to follow me around and
give a long-suffering roll of her eyes whenever someone pays me a compliment.
Ha! It took me forever to get on Twitter as well... Seriously, though, it sounds like an amazing thing! Oh, to be published...
Who is your favorite character
that you have created and why?
That’s a
tough one. I’d have to say it’s a tie
between Barbarian Mike and Gil. Right
from the start, Barbarian Mike was just so much fun to write, that I ended up
looking forward to every scene with him.
But I also loved writing Gil, who I originally intended just to be the
goofy one in the family. Except at some
point I decided he was a writer, and started channeling all of my writerly
frustrations into him. We both of us
have trouble with deadlines. To be
honest, I’m kind of jealous — he has to have a lot more self-discipline than I
do, to be able to write at the kitchen table in that crazy house. I always have to get out of my apartment and
find somewhere less distracting. Ideally
some place without wifi.
THANK YOU! Gil is MY favorite TOO! :D I can't help but giggle every time I think of him. Dr. Doofenshmirtz? Psh! I have a major crush on Gil! ;)
What gave you the idea to write
about a non-magical girl in a land full of magic?
I’d like
to say that one day I was strolling through the woods, looking for enough
gooseberries to make seven little pies, when I was approached by the Idea
Fairy, who showered fairy dust over my head until a Story Idea was formed. Because not only would that be awesome, and
be a set thing I could do whenever I needed ideas, I’d also apparently be Snow
White in that scenario? And, even if the
Idea Fairy didn’t show up, hey, gooseberry pies.
In
reality it popped into my head one night during a discussion with friends about
tropes in fantasy stories. I realized
that a lot of the books I loved (kids and adult) had a similar setup for the
main character. Specifically that they
were either an orphan or the outcast in a really terrible family, and it turned
out they had this incredible untapped power.
Don’t get me wrong, I love
that, but it got me thinking how I’d like to see the opposite — someone with a
big, happy, loving family who didn’t have any power and how they’d deal with
that.
That's awesome! And little did you know then that that discussion would lead to....THIS! :D
When dreaming up Abby’s
character, who was her primary “role model”, or the character who gave you the
most inspiration for her?
Abby
didn’t have a role model in the sense that I based her on anyone in particular,
but I did go into writing Abby knowing that I wanted certain things. As I said, I really wanted her to have a big,
loving family — noisy and nosey and crazy, yes, but one that also supported and
stood up for each other. I thought that
having a family that loves and accepts her for who she is would give Abby a
sense of security, and a certain level of confidence.
I also
went into it wanting a character who was relatively cheerful. This was just a
personal thing, as usually I emo the heck out of my characters, and I wanted to
try something different. Knowing that, I
sat down to try a few scenes and just latched onto this voice. Once I had Abby’s voice, everything else came
from it.
Abby is seriously such a fantastic character! It's so fun to hear how she came about. :)
The humor in Ordinary Magic is
fluid and consistent and totally how me and my family joke around each
other. Would you say this is reminiscent
of your own childhood?
I’d
definitely say it was influenced by my own family, as we have a highly
developed sense of humor that’s probably a coping mechanism to deal with all of
the crazy that we seem to naturally generate. And I’ll admit, I did draw
heavily on certain people when writing certain characters. Abby’s parents are directly influenced by my
mom and dad, and we both have big sisters that could run the world if they put
their mind to it. I also tried to echo
the feel of my family around the dinner table whenever Abby’s family gets
together. As a kid, I never understood
why the grown-ups would want to spend forever,
sitting around and talking, when
there was running around like a crazy person to do. One of the nicest things about being
(legally) a grown-up, is that I get it now.
My family has some really fun dinnertime talks.
No wonder her family dynamics are so realistic - you wrote about them from a first hand experience!
What was your favorite scene to
write?
Okay, so
without giving away spoilers, I’d have to say it was the last action
sequence/fight at the school. It was
also one of the parts that was very clear to me from the beginning. I knew it was going to happen even if I
didn’t know how I was going to get there.
It was something I worried about — I feel like humor comes easier to me
than action — but I got really caught up in that scene and I liked how it
turned out. Of course, getting caught up
has it’s consequences; all throughout writing and re-writing that scene, I had
the most horrible, gut-wrenching nightmares.
I’d wake up in the middle of the night, my stomach in knots, never
remembering exactly what the dream was about and a little worried that I didn’t
want to know. And…now that I type that
out, that doesn’t seem like fun at all.
Oh, no! The nightmares don't sound like fun - but the fact that you finally got to write a scene that had been there from the beginning? Purely awesome.
Which of the characters in
Ordinary Magic would you choose as a best friend and why?
Gil. Absolutely.
I love Gil. We could have all
sorts of intense writer discussions and then go get coffee and just hang out
forever. (Gil, we could have so much fun
if you were just real…)
YES! Gil. Please be real, for us? Please???
I’m hoping you have a sequel
planned?
I am
currently on my FOURTH outline for a potential sequel, because apparently my
brain has nothing better to do than pull pranks and make me write out three completely separate and detailed outlines
for other potential sequels before it finally gives up the goods. Thanks, Brain. (Seriously, I have been tearing my hair out
for two weeks over this thing.)
Nothing’s guaranteed, but I’m still keeping my fingers crossed. Metaphorically, of course. It’s really hard to type otherwise.
*squeals with joy* GASP! Sounds amazing already! (I'm such a fangirl!)
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Thank you SO MUCH, Caitlen, for joining us today! Can everyone give her a round of applause? Definitely one of my favorite interviews!
And guess what everyone? Not only do I have my review coming up tomorrow....but on Wednesday I have a giveaway for you all!! :D I know, I know - IT'S SO EXCITING!!! :D So pop back in to be sure you read the review and enter the giveaway to read this fantastic book Ordinary Magic!
