Interview with Lauren Kate

Hello, Fallen fans! We know you've been waiting for the latest updates on the film adaptation of Lauren Kate's hit series. The movie will be out sometime next fall, and according to the author, who says they are currently finalizing a release date, it is "sexy, mysterious, and true to the essence of the book." But if you can't wait that long, don't despair! This month the Fallen series gets a new volume with Unforgiven, told from the dark and intriguing Cam's perspective. Hoping that some of your favorite characters—like Luce and Daniel—will make an appearance? "Luce and Daniel, Arriane and Roland—even Bill—play important roles in Cam and Lilith's story," promises Kate. Read on for her answers to your questions about character inspirations, writing rituals, and love advice!

Ian: Why do you think Cam's story should be heard in Unforgiven?

Cam intrigues me. Unlike the other characters in the Fallen series, he never seemed interested in a happy ending, or in happiness at all. He's on the record as saying that love is impossible—not that love and happiness are necessarily connected (which sounds like something Cam would say). He's also the most passionate and alluring character I've written. It's made me wonder about Lilith and what it would take for them to try again.

Every story changes its hero. It's particularly interesting to start with a hero whose main trait is unpredictability. The key is to understand that unpredictable people don't find themselves to be unpredictable. I often find that the most absurd people are also the most reasonable. Readers will see sides of Cam that always existed but that he hasn't shown before.

Maria: Do you have a real-life inspiration for Cam? Physically and emotionally?

He's always been inspired by my husband. Once a journalist asked whether I thought it was irresponsible to offer teen readers such a tantalizingly bad boy, because, she said, no one can really settle down with a bad boy. I grinned and showed her a picture of my two beautiful kids.

Livia: Did you intentionally make the devil character [in the Fallen series] funny, or was that a happy accident? I kind of liked him, even though I knew I shouldn't.

Lucifer's humor was there from the moment he entered his first scene in Passion. He presented himself to me that way; it's how he came alive. In retrospect it seems pretty obvious that the devil should be funny—it's either that or unadulterated bitterness—but it was a mystery to me at the time.

What I liked most about writing him was conjuring the formative pain he suffered long ago, the roots of evil.

Moriah: What is your writing ritual? How do you organize yourself before you jump into a new story?

Jumping into a new story is always hard, even if I've been schemin' and dreamin' on it for months. Every day I have to compose my first paragraph away from my computer. I take my dog Milo for a hike in the hills behind my house and let three to five sentences percolate and swirl around me as I walk. When I get home, the paragraph is begging to be spilled onto the page. I sit down and hope the flow continues.

Aliza: What advice can you give to the girls/women who have yet to find their true love?

Live curiously. Laugh often. Be generous with others, and spend time with those who are generous with you. Pursue passions. Seek challenges. Trust that love is out there, because it's in there. There's no telling what it will look like, but it will feel like suddenly getting to be a more precise version of yourself than you knew existed the day before.

Janelle: Do you believe that the passionate, undying love you present in your Fallen series is in fact realistic? Do you believe in soul mates, and if so, why?

I believe deeply in love. I believe every grandly foolish romantic thing is realistic—though I don't worry much about reality. It takes care of itself, right? If you can dream it, read it, or kiss it, it's real.

Alena: If you had the ability to resurrect any one of your deceased characters, who would you choose and why?

Sometimes I think of Penn as a soul watching over Luce. What if Penn were an apprentice angel….

Zehra: I think your books are amazing, constantly surprising me and making me want to read more of them. One of the most important reasons for this is that all your characters are so well described, even though there are quite a lot of them sometimes. How are you able to create so many interesting characters throughout the book and make the reader still understand it?

Thank you very much. I keep in mind that every character is on her own journey, experiencing it from her unique point of view. They are novels within the novel you're reading. It's my endeavor to let you glimpse that constellation of other novels vibrating within the one in your hands.

Nikkinb: What was one of your favorite books growing up, and did it inspire you to write?

The book that made me want to be a novelist is White Noise by Don DeLillo. I couldn't believe how funny it was and how heartbreaking—that's been my aesthetic ever since. As a kid, I loved books that made me cry. I'd read the same passages of The Boxcar Children or Number the Stars by Lois Lowry over and over again, just to weep. I also maintain epic love affairs with epic romances. I must have checked out The Clan of the Cave Bear from the library a hundred times. I was in Amsterdam recently, and my husband picked up a copy of it for me at a self-serve bookstore on a stoop. He was wandering, Cam-like, through the streets long after the chimes of midnight had sounded.



Ann2317: What do you think is the next thing in Young Adult literature? Is there anything you'd like to see in the future generation of writers?

I've been honored to meet so many bright, young writers in person and on forums like Wattpad. People sometimes roll their eyes at fan fiction, but all writing is fan fiction, an homage to something that came before.

What I'd like to see from the future generation are writers who finish their stories, take risks, and connect readers to the exotic, the unimaginable, and the untouchable through their work. And who reserve their eye-rolling for haters.

Stephanie: I want to pursue literature and become a writer or editor or something along those lines, but my parents say it is a rocky business to go into. So they want me to study something in college that will make me money…I am a passionate reader and writer, and I just don't know what to follow: my heart or my brain. Could you tell me as to how you decided what you wanted to do? How you became a fantastic writer, and how would I become like you? I just want to be happy and not regret.

My parents took a similar position to yours. Because I was in college in Atlanta—where the Centers for Disease Control is—they wanted me to get a job at the CDC.

"But, Mom, I want to be a writer." "They need writers for their drug descriptions."

Neither I nor they knew any adults who pursued artistic or creative endeavors, so writing seemed like child's play, something to grow out of. But I never did. The urge to tell stories gathered strength, even before I took myself seriously as a writer, even as I worked many boring (and some interesting) jobs.

Your instinct to prove doubters wrong will serve you well. Everyone needs money to live, and art and money are often contradictory—yet books will somehow get written and published, by your peers, on every day of your life. Jump on in. The water's fine.

The best advice I ever got was, "Finish your stories." Good luck.