Kiersten White Interview

Good afternoon everyone!

Today we have another exciting interview with the author of the upcoming PARANORMALCY!!!

Please welcome Kiersten White



1. What is the one place you would love to visit? Why?

I'd love to visit most everywhere in the world, but I'd really love to go back to England. My husband and I spent just a few hours in London on our way to Romania this summer, and it was so much fun walking around and seeing all of the history. I'd love to go and spend more time there wandering museums and go up into the countryside, too.

Plus, then I could pretend to be Elizabeth Bennett and force my husband to scowl like Mr. Darcy.

2. How did you come up with the idea of Paranormalcy?

I'd been wanting to play around with more fantasy and supernatural elements in my writing. I wondered what you would do if you wanted to keep vampires from hurting people without actually killing the vamps, which led to the International Paranormal Containment Agency, which led to Evie. Once I got her voice the rest fell into place!

3. Publishing is hard. How was your publishing experience?

It was definitely a journey. I queried off and on for a year with a disastrously boring middle grade novel. Then I wrote my first YA novel and signed with my fabulous agent, Michelle Wolfson, for that one. It took me forty-five query letters and three-and-a-half months to find her. I wrote Paranormalcy while that first book was on submission. It didn't sell (which was very devastating, getting rejections back month after month and slowly losing the hope we'd sent it out with), at which point I went back and spent a couple of months editing Paranormalcy. Within a week of sending it out we had interest, and within three weeks it sold to HarperTeen in a pre-empt. So, it was a lot of work to get there, but the destination was definitely worth it!

Post-book deal things have been wonderful. I couldn't ask for a better editor or publisher. It's certainly a lot more work than I expected, between the increase in emails, the details that I need to attend to, the edits, and working on projects I hope will come next. But it's all good work, so I can't complain.

4. Do you have any more books coming out after Paranormalcy?

Yes! Paranormalcy has two sequels, the first of which is called Supernaturally and will be out Fall of 2011. I also have a ghost book that I hope to sell sometime this winter. It's about obsession, and kissing, and fire ants. Pretty much in that order.

5. What research, if any, did you do for Paranormalcy?

I researched a lot of traditional mythology and supernatural creatures. I wanted to use the older ones, or at least put a more traditional slant on them. It was really fun reading up on all of them--it's amazing how creative cultures get with their scary stories!

6. If you could sum Paranormalcy in 5 words, what would you say?

Sometimes normal is the weirdest!


Thanks so much for this great interview Kiersten! Be sure to check Kiersten's novel, PARANORMALCY, coming out on August 31, 2010!!

Ana