Q&A with Novelist Meg Cabot

   

I'll bet you already knew that Meg Cabot is the author of over forty books, especially her bestselling The Princess Diaries series.  But did you also know that still keeps an old postal bag with all of her rejection letters for The Princess Diaries (which was rejected 17 times?)   Did you know that she once worked as the assistant manager of a 700 bed freshman dorm at NYU and has a one-eyed cat?  Did you know she has a black brother?

Uh huh - got ya on that one!

Meg's latest book, Queen of Babble in the Big City, was just released in hardcover and its precursor, Queen of Babble, is out in paperback, and I am very pleased to welcome Meg to 55 Secret Street. 

Nichelle: I must ask you the obligatory writer to writer questions - Do you write everyday? Also, do you work on more than one project at a time? Do you have a set writing routine?

Meg Cabot:  I do write most days. I have always written for fun as my hobby since I learned how to write when I was a little kid, so now that writing is my job, I still do it to relax…is that weird? I figure professional golfers must still play golf because they like it…so it’s no different, really! Anyway, no, I only work on writing one book at a time, but I am usually plotting a different book in my head (in my spare time from thinking about the book I’m writing) from the one I’m writing. I don’t start writing a book until it’s completely plotted in my head.  Once it’s plotted, I start writing it, while I begin a plotting a new one… Does that make any sense? OK, I guess that IS weird.  I do usually write from about 10-5, like a normal job, weekdays, with time off for good behavior!

Nichelle: What are some of your "summer favorites" i.e., books, music, makeup, fashion, food & drink? Do you like to shop online?

Meg:  Are you kidding, I live in Key West, which is great for fun in the sun but not so great for shopping, so I shop almost exclusively online. Some of my favorite things are the new lip glosses at Clinique, the new Jasper Fforde book, the halter tops at The Gap, anything from Betsey Johnson.com, but especially this All Over Bauble Necklace and this cotton sateen dress (not necessarily together) the cookies at Biscoff.com (yes, I am addicted to cookies they serve on airlines), the new Kelly Clarkson album (yes, I hate the mean-spritedness of American Idol, but I love the people who win), and…someone told me to try this for my acid reflux, so I’m going to, but I haven’t yet, so we’ll see: GT's Kombucha. They do actually sell it in Key West.

Nichelle: You mentioned in the F.A.Q. section of your website that you didn't mind not having any  input in either film adaption of your hit The Princess Diaries. Really? Whenever I think of novelists and book adaptions, I think of Sue Grafton and John Grisham.  Is it really that easy to let go?

Meg:  I think it’s a little different when you sign a film deal AFTER your book is already a big bestseller, as in the case of John Grisham or Sue Grafton. I signed a film deal BEFORE my book had even been published, and I was anxious to do ANYTHING I could to make that book into a series (the manuscript got rejected by every publisher in Manhattan except HarperCollins, who only bought the first book originally). And if signing a movie deal where I got no back-end or DVD money--and of course had no creative input in the film-making process--was the only way I saw that I could make that happen, I was completely happy to do it (and it wasn’t like I had much choice—nobody else was beating my door with any better offers at the time)! I don’t regret my decision in any way because I got everything I wanted…the book became a bestseller, and my publisher finally agreed to the whole 16 book series I’d originally proposed! Realistically, though, I’ve never heard of a film studio doing what the author of the book wants (except JK Rowling, of course) anyway. I mean, look at that recent Clive Cussler trial.  Ouch! So it wasn’t like I expected anyone to ask for my input anyway.  Garry Marshall was super sweet to me, and really did keep me in the loop every step of the way, explaining his decisions for the changes he made…he’s a real sweetheart. I also don’t think I’m like other authors. I think it’s kind of funny to see someone else’s interpretation of my characters. I thought the first movie was sweet! That said…I didn’t see the 2nd movie. My friends saw it and warned me not to! I still love everyone involved with it though. It’s just not anything that ever has happened or will happen in the books.

Nichelle: Will any of your other books be turned into film or TV projects? Any thoughts on casting?

Meg:  Well, my 1-800-Where-R-You series was made into a TV show on Lifetime. TV rights to my YA paranormal, Avalon High, have been purchased by the Disney Channel, and we’re currently ironing out several more TV and film deals I am not at liberty to discuss. But like I said, I think it’s fun to see what other people come up with regarding casting. I have to tell you—I think it’s ill-advised for an author to say who he or she “sees” in a certain role. This can only lead to hurt feelings when they cast someone else, and that person finds out they weren’t who the author envisioned! Actors are very sensitive! After my heart-wrenching experience writing the first 40 drafts of the screenplay for the movie ICE PRINCESS (only the Zamboni part stayed in the final story that appeared on screen—my version was about a tomboy hockey player), I stay as far away from Hollywood as possible. This was Ernest Hemingway’s advise, and I think it still holds true today.

Nichelle:  I completely understand leaving your husband behind to have Christmas dinner with Judy Blume!  What is she like? Is she constantly hounded by 30ish (and heck, now 40ish) women that were obsessed by Are You There God? It's Me Margaret and Blubber? Also, what side dishes did you make?

Meg:  Oh my gosh, thanks for that! The thing is, he (my husband) went to the French Culinary Institute, so he made all the side dishes (mashed potatoes, brussell sprouts, homemade ice cream—yes!—and I think glazed carrots).  Judy is great, so down-to-earth and exactly how you’d imagine. The only problem is she never wants to talk about writing.  She always wants to talk about home decorating since we both live on this tiny island with like three stores on it (one of which is Sears). It’s kind of hilarious.   She’s definitely worshipped by everyone my age and younger (and maybe even older).   She’s a very good sport about it, though.

Nichelle:  Many of my readers would be very interested to know that you have an African American adopted brother (I'm black too - in case you couldn't guess from my blog :)  I read about your brother in the touching blog entry about one of your favorite teachers (and the only African American teacher during your school years)  Mrs. Constance Holland.  What was that like in a town that you say had very few African Americans?

Meg:  Yeah, that was really hard.  Bloomington,Indiana has seen a lot of progress diversity-wise in the eighteen years since I left there, but at the time (except for Michael Jackson), some of the locals had never even seen an African American before was tough. My little brother got called the N word at lot.   People would just yell it out their pickup window.  At this little kid! What was that about??? Sometimes in restaurants we wouldn’t get served.   It was so maddening.  And later, when my big brother (he’s actually younger than me, but at 6’8”, I call him my big brother) and I got older, we would get in fist fights with people who said it to our little brother to his face.  I know this probably wasn’t the way to go, but we were immature and angry.   I hated it—fights are scary and getting punched hurt. I was in detention sometimes, and of course when I said, “So and so started it by calling my little brother the N word” no one listened or believed me.   One time it was a teacher’s kid who said it.  Who do you think the teacher believed, me, or her own kid?  And where do you think the teacher’s kid LEARNED that word? To this day, I’m sure it was from the teacher.  Yet I was the one who got detention.  And yeah, I’m still bitter. Mrs. Holland (my African American teacher) was a good example for me because she showed me that violence is never the answer. I stopped hitting people after I had her.   But my big brother didn’t.   He’s a cop now!   He gets paid to hit people (who deserve it) and never gets detention for it.   Of course, he’s still six feet eight.   And has a gun.   But he’s won tons of awards for saving lives so I know he is using his powers for good and not evil.   Little brother works in hotel management and appears unscathed by all of it.  People always go, “Why don’t you write books about what you went through with all of that?” but I sure don’t want to relive it!  I much prefer to write about girls ‘n clothes ‘psychics ‘n French kissing ‘n princesses.   So much more fun!

Nichelle: I watch so little television that I never heard of the show Jericho before reading your online diary.  Do you read blogs or is it just TV all the way for you?

Meg: I do read blogs, but very few compared to the amount of television I watch. The truth is, I’m hugely lazy and flicking channels is easier than typing in web addresses.  But I am reading challenged, in that I can only read in the bathtub, so I subscribe to or buy The New Yorker, Newsweek, New York Magazine, Fortune, US News and World Report, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, Us Weekly, People, Allure, Seventeen, CosmoGirl, Self, Shape, Jane, Fitness, Psychology Today and a bunch of others I can’t remember right now.  Of course, many of those are monthlies…but hey, a girl has only so much attention to spread around.  I also read mysteries.

Nichelle:  I'm a dog person. Explain to me the purpose of cats... :)

Meg:  Ha! I swear I’d be a dog person too if I didn’t travel so much. In fact I always had dogs growing up.  But when you are constantly on the road like I am, and still want to have a pet, cats are easier because you can leave and just have someone come to your house once a day and feed them, as opposed to conning someone into staying at your place to walk the dog three times a day…. And one of our cats is very doglike in her devotion.  Not MY cat, of course, but my husband’s.

Nichelle:   I read the story on your blog about the "psychic" that stopped you just as you were about to step into hard-earned taxi. The same thing happened to me - same m.o . - same timeframe. I was preoccupied (adjusting my earphones, walking out of Starbucks, grocery list ticking through my head) when this pretty young woman stops me and says "I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm a psychic and I'm getting really strong vibes from you.  Let me give you a palm reading. Little did Miss Thing know that she pissed me off - I don't believe in psychics and I knew the money pitch would follow the palm reading. When I read your story I thought, "Uh oh, new scam in town." Your thoughts?

Meg:  Oh my God, you and I had the EXACT SAME REACTION! I am so glad to meet you. I was like—What was she going to predict? That I was about to kick her butt for making me miss that cab? I KNEW it was a scam. I did have one creepy “psychic” incident though. When I first started writing the Princess Diaries (and this book called The Mediator—like I said earlier, I always write one and plot the other), I didn’t tell anyone—even my husband or agent--because I was kind of weirded out that I had taken this strange new direction, writing for teenagers. I seriously didn’t tell ANYONE. But I got a phone call from my mother-in-law, and she said her psychic—yes, my mother-in-law had a psychic at that time--had told her to tell me to keep working on “whatever that story was her daughter-in-law was writing that was for teenagers,” because it was going to be a huge hit. It freaked me out so badly—especially later, when it turned out to be true! I have kept a healthy distance from psychics ever since.  I do NOT want to know.

Nichelle: Thanks so much!

Meg: Thank YOU so much!

Comments

[Amn.eris]

Thank you so much for sharing this interview. I absolutely love Meg Cabot. I didn't come to her via Princess Diaries, but Size 12 is Not Fat. I just love those books.

Both of you continue to keep up the good work!!

[Samara Leigh]

Fantastic interview! I just love Meg Cabot. She has such a happy and vivacious spirit and it really does shine through in all her work. I am trying to work my way through all of her books.

It is also encouraging to hear that even fantastic writers like Meg Cabot had to persevere through rejections.

Thank you Meg. Thank you Nichelle.