Squeetus exclusive: Libba Bray
Our first author royal of the new year is of course the drop dead gorgeous Libba Bray! On the eve of our Book Babes Tour 2008, I took a moment out of my glamorous day signing autographs and posing for photos with Johnny Depp (okay, I've been cleaning up vomit and cuddling sick kids) to interview my better half. Libba is the author of the hugely popular, award winning, best selling Gemma Doyle trilogy: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and the just released concluding volume, The Sweet Far Thing. Libba's writing is rich and evocative, her characters complex and fascinating, powerful dark fantasy set in Victorian England, where the mystical and the common mix in thrilling and frightening ways. These books are suggested for older teens. I love Libba's writing, I love falling into her world, and I love never knowing what will happen next. Her stories are anything but predictable (and please remember, no spoilers in your comments please!). And on to our illustrious guest.
Me: Can you describe, in ten words or less, how you felt after sending the final draft of The Sweet Far Thing to your editor?
Libba: Like I wanted to eat, cry, then sleep forever.
You create such a rich, evocative setting, one that I completely fall into and don't want to leave, even when things get creepy and dark. That is not easy to do! Basically, I'm just saying you're fantastic, so let me find a question...um, how do you create your setting?
I load up my cart at Settings R Us. Love it when they have a sale in the "Moody, Atmospheric" aisle. I keep meaning to take a trip down the "Happy-Go-Lucky-Life-Is-a-Shiny-Shiny-Pretty-Pretty" aisle, but my cart, she will not go.
Well, first of all, thanks for the compliment, Miz H. :-) I love setting. Maybe too much. I think it comes from having a theatre background--I want to be the set designer! Sometimes it's as simple as asking, "Hmmm, what would scare the pee-pee out of me?" and conjuring that image. And I use inspiration. For the realms, I thought about Maxfield Parrish and Hieronymous Bosch paintings and English Arcadian landscapes--gardens with hermitages--and elements of Indian folklore. For the Winterlands, I thought about Iceland, also the Black Forest. I'm a really visual person.
What were you like as a teenager?
A royal pain in the ass. Actually, there was no royalty attached.
I was goofy, a class clown who used humor as a shield and as a weapon. I was very into music and going to concerts and theatre and running and the arts in general. I liked to sit alone in my room and draw or sing into a hairbrush and jump around in my underwear and pretend I was Pete Townsend. I was convinced I wasn't pretty; I would examine my face in the mirror for signs of hope. I liked reading and writing but never considered being a writer. Sometimes I slacked off and came up with very charming excuses along the lines of "the dog ate my homework." I wanted to run away and join the circus and travel to exotic places and have far-flung adventures that involved Irish musicians writing songs about our love. I fought with my mom--a lot and with sarcasm and occasional cruelty, then I'd feel horribly guilty about it. I spent lots of time hanging out with my friends and we were somewhat feral. I was a big dreamer. Sometimes I was the good daughter; sometimes the rebellious wild child running for the cliff.
Some of those things haven't changed, though now I do put on pants when I pretend to be Pete Townsend.
What is different about being a published author than you might've imagined when you were younger?
I don't wear turtlenecks and stare off meaningfully into the distance.
You've often said, and I quote, "If I had to list the top five most important people in my life, Shannon Hale would be number three, right after Bono and right before my husband." I'm so flattered! Do you care to elaborate?
Oh, Shannon, does our love need elaboration? Or can it bedazzle all on its own? And actually, the list just came in--you've moved up to #2 since Bono got that restraining order. I'll bet you can best my husband just by loaning me your lip gloss on tour.