faq
You can also find more about Scott here and here.
Q: What film and international rights have sold?
Q: When is Specials coming out?
A: It's out. Click here
to order.
Q: Why does it take so freaking long for books to come
out?
A:
Good question, but there's a good answer:
Publishing companies don't just print books and throw them on the shelves.
They have to do all the obvious stuff like copy-edit, type-set, and design
covers. But they also have to get their sales force interested, so they
take them all off to some exotic resort and throw lots of parties, and
show them the new covers and hand out manuscripts of upcoming books. They
do this many months in advance, because then the sales reps have to go
out and talk to bookstore owners and get them interested. Then the bookstore
owners have to order giant stacks of copies, which they start thinking
about one season ahead.
On top of which, there's a whole version of the book called the Advance
Readers' Copies (ARCs). These are not-quite-perfect editions with fake
covers (kind of flimsy paperbacks) which are sent to reviewers, librarians,
and awards committees. They have to arrive months ahead of time so that
the reviews will come out when the book does.
All of this takes a while. So sorry if you're impatient. I am too.
Q:
When are you going to write more adult fiction?
A: I have five adult novels out, but I haven't written
any since 2001. Will I ever return?
Well, here are the things I like about writing teen novels:
1) I get more fan mail. When adults read a cool book,
they don't Google you, find your site, and then write to say they loved
it. Not nearly as much, anyway. Which is sad.
2) Being a teen author means I can switch genres. Younger
people are more eclectic readers. Yes, another gross generalization, but
it's true. Most teens don't care whether something is fantasy or sf or
a mystery or a non-fiction book about sharks; they just want to read something
cool. I know too many adults who only read in one genre, or even one author!
3) Young Adult books have a longer life span. For some
reason, bookstores get rid of adult titles as fast as possible. But books
for teens and kids stick around on the shelves for longer. They have time
to find their audience without having to go on Oprah.
4) Teens talk to each other about the books they like.
There's a lot more communication among younger people about everything
they like: books, music, clothes, whatever. This is great for authors,
because it means (again) we don't have to go on Oprah to make a living.
(Quick note: I'd love to go on Oprah if asked.)
5) The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world. Um,
did I really just type that?
6) Teen books make more money. For this one, I would
like to publicly thanks J.K Rowling, every single day of her life.
So the answer is: Yes, I will write more adult books when I'm too humble
to care about the lack of fan mail, compelled with a great sf idea, am
guaranteed giant stacks of my books in every store, and am too rich to
care about the money.
One day, but don't hold your breath or anything.
Q:
What's it like living in two places?
A: Justine
and I are bi-summeral. In other words, we spend summer in New York City,
and around October or November, we head off to spend summer in Sydney,
Australia. This is 23.5 degrees of freedom
from cold.
Is this fun? Yes. We have lots of friends in both Sydney and New York,
and we'd hate to choose between them. The two cities are really different
(NY: hectic, energetic, money-centered, hyper-urban, gritty, epic, better
art galleries. Sydney: chilled out, food- and wine-centered, tropical,
beautiful, friendly, better coffee and beaches.) and it's nice to switch
every six months. And yes, no winter.
Does this suck? Yes. We frequently have jetlag. We can't find clothes
or books or tax documents, because they're in storage 10,000 miles away.
We have two accountants and two phone bills, two TVs . . . pretty much
two of everything. This is annoying. For example, right now I'm in NY,
and although I'm glad to be with my slightly better kitchen knife and
much better TV, I am missing my slightly better tennis racket and favorite
suit.
Justine has dealt with some of these issues in her highly acclaimed novel
Magic
or Madness, in which there's a house whose front door opens onto
Sydney, and back door opens onto New York.
Q: What's it like living with another writer?
A: Loads of fun.
Writing can be lonely, in that it's just you and that blank screen. But
having another human around all day is much better. We get to shout at
each other for synonyms and send each other out for coffee. The only bad
thing is when we both have the same deadline, and even that is better
than facing oblivion alone.
The best thing is that we read to each other every few days, so we're
both involved in each others' books in serial form. This gives us instant
feedback, support, good ideas, motivation to keep going. And reading your
own work out loud is great for catching clunker sentences.
Without Justine's input, the events described in Chapter 32 of Midnighters
2: Touching Darkness wouldn't have happened. How's that for important?
Q: Will you read my novel I just wrote?
A: My agent says I can't. You see, if you send me your
book, and I'm already writing something sort of like it, you might get
all paranoid and sue me for ripping you off.
Sorry. (But keep writing.)
Q:
What's your favorite kind of ice cream?
A: There's this Australian company in Sydney called Serendipity
who make this really incredible macadamia nut ice cream. (It also has
peanut butter in it.)
And in New York, there's a place called Otto
that makes its own gelato. This will sound freaky, but they have a flavor
that has olive oil in it, and stewed figs, and a little bit of salt. Um,
hard to describe why that's good, but it sure is.
Q:
Where do you get your ideas?
A: From a little town called Schenectady.
They make them there.