Interview with Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Bios from the official website

Margarete: I live in Santa Monica, CA, with my family, most of whom were enslaved into working with me in one form or another on my forthcoming YA book for Little, Brown. I’m not kidding; when my daughters wanted to go to school I said “Why are you so selfish? Get back in there and edit,” and by said I mean yelled and maybe threw things, it’s all a haze. I have a writing partner named Kami and she is why we ever get anything done. (Well, K and the daughter-slaves…)

Kami: I have an MA in education, and taught in the DC area until I moved to Los Angeles ten years ago. In addition to writing YA fiction, I am a Reading Specialist and continue to teach and lead book groups for children and teens, part-time. I have learned more from my students than I ever learned in school. I still live in LA, with my husband, son, and daughter. I’m very superstitious and have lots of charms. I love disaster movies, and I could easily live on pizza and Diet Coke.

A summary on Beautiful Creatures

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Let the interview begin...

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

Kami: Drafting, hands down. It takes us about 12 weeks to do the first draft. We don’t edit as we write. We just tell the story, and it’s almost impossible to start once we start.

Can you tell us a little about how you got published?

Kami: we never intended to get published. We wrote the book on a dare from some teens in our lives – I’m sure you’ve heard this part. Once we finished the book, we let a friend of ours, author Pseudonymous Bosh of THE SECRET SERIES, read it. He loved it, and showed it to his agent.

Margie: We never expected to hear anything else about it. Until our agent, Sarah Burns, called to tell us she loved it.

Kami: Sarah auctioned the book, and we knew Little, Brown was the place for us. Our editors, Jen Hunt and Julie Scheina, fell in love with BC, and they understood Ethan and Lena and the universe we had created.

Margie: We connected with Jen and Julie right away, and we always say that we wish we could put their names on the cover of the book with ours.

Was Beautiful Creatures the first title you guys picked for the book?

Kami: The original title was SIXTEEN MOONS, after the song in the novel. But when we hit on Beautiful Creatures, it felt right.

How many books are in the series? At the beginning of the story, did you know how it was going to end? Who was going to die or stay alive?

Kami: Originally, we planned for five books, but we’ll see what happens. We’ll keep writing them as long as you want to read them.

Margie: We do what will happen at the end of the series… but we can’t tell. Some characters will make it to the end and some will die. You’ll have to keep reading to find out more than that.

Margarete, how did you and Kami meet?

Margie: Kami was my oldest daughter’s third grade teacher, and we became fast friends. Kami ended up teaching my other two daughters, too. Nine years later, here we are.

Why did you guys decide to write together? Do you have fun while writing?

Kami: As I mentioned, we wrote the book on a dare. We turned out about fifty pages, and showed them to the teens who challenged us to write the book.

Margie: They loved it, so we kept writing and they kept reading. We were turning in pages to them every week, sometimes every few days. After three months, we had a novel.

Kami: We love writing. I’m not sure why anyone would do it if they didn’t.

Margie: It’s hard, and revising is the worst. You have to love writing to make it through the months of revisions you have to go through.

What are your other interests/hobbies?

Kami: I used to paint professionally, and I still love to paint when I get the chance (which is almost never). I love photography, although I have no idea what I’m doing. I also love to cook and bake from scratch. And read, of course.

I just love Kami and Margarete. They are a very talented duo. If you wish to see my review of Beautiful Creatures click here. If you wish to visit their official website click here.