Posts Tagged ‘silly stuff’
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An Exclusive Blog Interview with Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Today, I have the huge honor of sharing with you a recent interview I did with my hilarious friend, Jay Asher (whom I introduced to you here during a discussion over whether he named his 13RW character after Hannah Montana), and the equally awesome Carolyn Mackler (whose twitter-feed I daily stalk), co-authors of “The Future of Us” (which I reviewed in last week’s post). As writers, they’re smart and straightforward. As co-writers, they border on being witty geniuses (clearly exemplified in the below conversation). This is their first ever blog interview together (hence that little word “exclusive” slipped into the title), so feel spoiled, smile and wave, and try not to pee your pants at their silliness.
As per usual, my questions and comments are in white. Their responses are in green. Enjoy!
(1) Okay, let’s knock off this first question right at the start. *Ahem.* I can’t help but notice how neither of you are ever seen in public at the same time, in the same place. Which leads one to wonder: Are you, Jay and Carolyn, in fact, the same person, just sporting some wicked-awesome disguises?
JAY: The truth isn’t nearly that interesting. I live in California and Carolyn lives in New York, so being seen together doesn’t happen much. In fact, it’s the times when we are seen together that we sport wicked-awesome disguises. For a writing conference, we (along with author Rachel Vail) dressed as Cupids.
CAROLYN: The costumes looked cute online before we bought them. But wearing them, we looked très slutty. I hid behind my shades.
Wait—are you talking about THESE costumes?!!!
Oh, they are definitely wicked-awesome! (Thanks for the photo, Jay.) In fact…I’m not sure there are enough words. Just…wow. ;o)
(2) All right. Let’s see. Um…in a previous interview with Jay, I asked him to name his favorite band, and he responded, “Harmony Alley Carjackers.” When I Googled the band, the first hit was a link to the Backstreet Boys. Do either of you want to comment on that or shall we just leave the world believing Jay is a closet BSB fan?
JAY: Did you know Backstreet Boys are going on tour with New Kids on the Block. It’s true! (Don’t read anything into that exclamation point.)
CAROLYN: I had you pegged for an *N SYNC kind of guy.
JAY: Okay, now you’re just being silly.
CAROLYN: Harmony Alley Carjackers is a name we came up with when we began writing THE FUTURE OF US. It’s an anagram of both of our names combined.
JAY: Early on, when no one knew we were writing a book together, we referred to this book as the Harmony Alley Carjackers project.
CAROLYN: That “band” even makes an appearance in a Facebook status update in our book.
JAY: And they rock!
I totally caught that status update in the book! It made me smile. ;o)
(3) Speaking of your book, what was the absolute best part of writing “The Future of Us” together?
JAY: I often had to write late at night so I could finish my section and send it to Carolyn before she woke up, so I wrote a lot of it at a 24-hour donut shop. That was probably the yummiest part of writing the book.
CAROLYN: Jay and I didn’t know each other when we began writing this book, so I was going to say that getting to know him was the best part of working together…but then he said it was donuts?
JAY: The donuts had cereal toppings! They even had a Lucky Charms donut. With the rainbow-colored marshmallows!
CAROLYN: *Ahem.*
(4) Er, moving right along… Jay, how do you think Carolyn would finish this sentence: “The two Harry Potter characters I’d most likely share my stash of dark chocolate with are…”?
JAY: Hermione and Ron. Carolyn’s a sweet person, so she probably feels bad for those two characters. The two of them went through just as much crazy stuff as their friend, yet the entire series is called Harry Potter. It’s not fair! Sure, HARRY POTTER, HERMIONE GRAINGER, RON WEASLEY AND THE SORCERER’S STONE isn’t as catchy, but at least it’s fair.
CAROLYN: That’s sweet of you, Jay. I hope I get to finish a sentence about you next.
(5) Oh, most definitely, Carolyn. Tell us, how do you think Jay would finish this sentence: “As He-Man, Master of the Universe, by the power of Greyskull, I would…”?
CAROLYN: Get a new haircut.
JAY: Did you just make fun of my hair?
CAROLYN: No, I was making fun of He-Man’s hair. It was a bowl-cut, wasn’t it?
JAY: Are you sure you weren’t making fun of my hair?
CAROLYN: No! He-Man had a very silly bowl-cut. He wasn’t balding.
JAY: *Ahem.*
(6) Heheheh… So, you’re both pretty awesome AND famous, which, in my mind, begs the question: Between the two of you, who acts more rabid fan-girlish around the other?
JAY: Seriously, just knowing that Carolyn and I are both being asked the same question makes my armpits sweat. So it’s definitely me!
CAROLYN: Gross. Anyway, I’m the one who asked to write a book with you. So it’s me!
JAY: The only reason I didn’t ask first is because it would’ve seemed crazy to think you’d even consider writing a book with me. That’s because I’m the rabid fan and you’re the rock star.
CAROLYN: Uhhhh…
JAY: So I win? No, you should argue with me some more.
(7) Good idea! In fact, let’s do some sort of author cage match fight! But first you have to answer this: Jay, if Carolyn were a superhero, which superpower would she have?
- Skin that sparkles in the sunlight and the ability to read (most) people’s minds
- Teletubbymorphosis (the ability to morph between human and Teletubby at will)
- Telekinesis combined with the ability to jump into the splits at random intervals while throwing hands in the air and yelling “SUPERSTAR!”
- Other
JAY: Teletubbymorphosis. She has two young boys now, but that power will be so useful when they become teenagers. If they ever start getting rowdy, she can say, “If you two don’t calm down right now, I’m going to turn into a Teletubby in front of all your friends!”
*snickers and begs all that is good and fabulous to see such a thing in action*
(8) And, Carolyn, if Jay were a WWE wrestler, what name would he go by?
- Jay “Klingon Master” Asher
- The Wraith Writer
- The Artist Formerly Known as Mighty Mouse
- Other
CAROLYN: Number 4. Jay likes to have inside jokes and not divulge to anyone else what makes them funny, so he’d probably love being introduced as Other, and then he wouldn’t tell them about this interview. He’d make them figure it out for themselves. And when they introduced Other, they’d be blasting Pour Some Sugar On Me.
*snickers even louder and swears we shall only refer to him as Other from now on*
Cage Match (cue Def Leppard):
In each of the following combat scenarios, which of you would emerge the victor?
1. Spork Fencing
JAY: Carolyn would win. I’d probably start by using the spoon end to lightly thwap her over and over, just trying to annoy her. Eventually, I’d wear down her tolerance and she’d give me one sharp poke with those little prongs and I would whimper away.
2. Old Lady Hurling
CAROLYN: Jay would win, but I can’t tell you why.
JAY: It’s an inside joke.
3. Polka Sing-off in the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine
JAY: I don’t think we would compete in this. We’d sing a duet!
4. Interpretive Dancing
CAROLYN: Again, we wouldn’t compete. One of us would start interpretive dancing, then the other one would interpret what the other one interpreted and interpret it some more. It’s just like writing a collaborative novel.
On that collaborative novel note, what is the exact date “The Future of Us” hits the shelves?
JAY & CAROLYN: November 21st!!! And you can totally read into those exclamation points.
We’ll be looking forward to it!
Thanks to you both for the interview and laughs. You guys rock!
What’s the mood noise of the moment? Kool & The Gang: Celebration
:0)Tags: author interviews, Book Reviews, Carolyn Mackler, Jay Asher, silly stuff, the future of us
Posted in A bit of brag, Author Tidbits | 13 Comments »
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In Which I am the One Being Interviewed
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Did I mention a lovely blogger named Bex invited me for an interview? She did. So I did. And we had fun. Here’s the link if you’re interested: Kindle Fever
Oh, and if you happen to get a “content warning” just click through. I suspect it’s due to the wide range of genres she reviews—not because she makes you blush. Nor will I. ;o)
I hope you like it!
And how’s your week going, by the way? Anything heavenly we should all be nosing in on? Besides the new Harry Potter trailer, obviously.
Tags: blogger interview, rabid fan girls, silly stuff
Posted in A bit of brag, Genre Savvy | 16 Comments » -
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