Author Interview with Marissa Meyer, author of THE LUNAR CHRONICLES

Today, I have the great honor of having Marissa Meyer here, author of The Lunar Chronicles. You can see my review of the second book in the series, Scarlet, here. 

Hello, Marissa! Please introduce yourself with a short bio. 
 

Hello! I'm Marissa Meyer, the author of The Lunar Chronicles and about 18 billion Sailor Moon fanfics from back in the day. I love wearing pajamas and costumes and I could eat peanut butter for every meal. 

Peanut butter addicts unite! 

The Lunar Chronicles are all retellings, but how did you come up with the idea? Having who we know as "Cinderella" be a cyborg is awesome, in my opinion. Not to mention the fact that it's placed in a dystopian world where Earth and the moon are enemies.

Thank you! The idea started when I entered a writing contest in which the host had listed about ten random prompts and writers had to choose two of them to include in their stories. My two prompts: set it in the future and include a fairy-tale character. My contest entry was a sci-fi version of Puss in Boots and I had so much fun writing it that I thought I would try to do an entire series of sci-fi fairy tales. So a couple months go by and then one night as I was drifting off to sleep I had a dream about Cinderella… as a cyborg! I crawled out of bed and spent about an hour brainstorming and jotting notes. Thus, The Lunar Chronicles was born.

I love that it not only came from a contest, but that it came from a dream. I personally believe dreams are some of the greatest story sources.

Did you have a hard time retelling these classic and well-known fairytales?

Sometimes it can be difficult trying to decide how far to deviate from the original tales. I've definitely taken a lot of liberties, what with the plague and the Lunar society and all. But I hope readers will recognize all their favorite iconic elements from the stories - Cinderella's slipper, Little Red's hood, and of course some of the major plot points - while still being surprised by some of the changes I've made.

Ha! I love knowing how different the original ones are than the ones we know. Cannibalism, how lovely. 

What is your favorite fairytale...and why? 

It's so impossible to pick just one! I tend to like the tales that people THINK they know, but they're not familiar with their darker, gorier sides. It makes for excellent cocktail party conversation, "i.e., Did you know that the original Little Red Riding Hood featured cannibalism?"

Would you like to live on the moon if possible?

The Lunars have it pretty nice up there (readers will get to see more of Luna in the coming books), but in all honesty, I can't see a colony ever being quite so grand as I've made it out to be. So, no, I think I'm pretty content down here on Earth. I like oceans and stuff.

Ah, I can't wait to see more of Luna!

Was it hard to go back to Scarlet, a character in the same series who didn't know what was going on, after having the breakthrough with Cinder? 

Every book has its own challenges, but usually getting started isn't one of them. By the time I finish with one book, or have wrapped up one character's storyline, I'm eager to move on to the next one. It's helpful that I had the entire series plotted out from the beginning, so I've always had a good idea of what was coming up next.

Between the two, who would be your favorite: Cinder or Scarlet? 

I would probably get along better with Cinder - we share a sense of humor, and I like how laid back she is about stuff. But Scarlet is a lot of fun to write about, in part because she's very different from me, and it's nice to put myself in someone's shoes who isn't afraid to speak her mind.

Of course, I have to mention Cress and Winter, both of which have such far away release dates. When do you think we'll be able to see Cress's cover reveal? 
 

Soon, I hope!! June, maybe? I haven't seen anything yet myself, but I know they're working on it.

YAY!

Any chance we get to have a three-word description on either of them? 
 

Cress: Hacker, Mission Impossible, War.

Winter: Luna, Revolution, Nothing could possibly go wrong...

I wasn't getting my hopes up that you would be able to give me short descriptions, but this made me incredibly happy. I jumped up and down in my seat and couldn't stop smiling like a fool.

Although Iko is a secondary character, will she have a romance or any "happily ever after" of her own?

You'll just have to wait and see!

I'll just take that as a yes ;) 

I also was stalking Goodreads and saw speculations of there being a possibility between Cress and Thorne. Please tell my romantic heart it's true! 
 

*zips lips*

IT IS! *pumps fist*

What's one book you have recently read that you loved?
 

This is a strange one for me, because I'm usually all-YA-fiction all-the-time, but I just finished "Drop Dead Healthy" by A.J. Jacobs, which is a nonfiction book about a guy trying a bunch of different (sometimes contradictory) health tips over the course of two years. It's hilarius and informative at the same time. I'd forgotten how much I enoyed non-fiction, so I think I'll be picking up more of it in the coming months.

Hmm, non-fiction. I wouldn't have guessed that, but it does sound interesting!

This or That: 
Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
Ebook or paperback? Er - ebook, I guess, but I prefer hardbacks.
Star Wars or Star Trek? Firefly!
Brunette or Blonde? (of the boy variety) Why limit yourself? <--very good point.
Winter or summer? Winter. A rainy season here in Washington. :)

~*~

I would like to thank Marissa for agreeing to the interview and for giving such wonderful answers. If you  haven't read either Cinder or Scarlet, you are missing out big time and can buy them down below: 

Buy, read, enjoy!