how do you pick the poetry bits at the beginning of the books? c: are they prompts?

They’re definitely not prompts, but I do usually have them picked out well before the book is finished.

I knew I wanted that line from Crush at the start of Winter Wolf before I had a title or character names or anything, because Crush has an amazing sense of longing and panic that is, to me, very Axton…and I’ve thought that line was very werewolf-y.

I knew City Wolf was going to have a Shane Koyczan quote because he writes about love at a very different stage than Siken, and in a very different way, which I thought was right for a very different book (that’s at a very different relationship stage). I was about halfway through before I knew it was going to be from Apology. Not until the very end did I narrow it down exactly. And then—I’ve mentioned this elsewhere—I cut it to size so it would emotionally fit like I wanted it to. But it’s also a set of lines that have been near to my heart for years.

I can’t tell you what kicks off book 3 because that would be setting the stage for you, wouldn’t it. Yes, yes it would.

And the Neruda just happens because Neruda and what’s the point of making the poet jock Chilean if he isn’t really into it?

PS: you guys really do send me the best e mails and the occasional zinger question. I sometimes forget to check my tumblr’s ask box, so this has been sitting here for…a week? I STILL LOVE YOU, THOUGH, ANON.