Book of a Thousand Days is a very good title. Do you choose the titles of your books or is it your publisher decision? Have any of your books had a different title in your first drafts?

Thank you! I choose the titles. The original title was Diary of a Lady’s Maid, but it was sort of bland, and my husband actually thought of Book of a Thousand Days. River Secrets (the third book in the Goose Girl series) was originally City of Rivers, but the others retain their original names.

Which authors (or books) would you list as influence in your work?

I read so many different books and authors, and I think they all must influence me in some way. As a child, my favorite authors were Robin McKinley, Lloyd Alexander, Joan Aiken, Patricia McKillip, and Anne McCaffery. I think what we read as children creates the blueprint of our imaginations, and so as a writer, those childhood favorites are very important.

In your YA books the main character is usually a girl with a strong personality. Do you think characters set an example for young readers? Do you try to instill some values in your books?

I don’t set out to teach values or morals in my books. I think the reader is better at doing that than the author. I try to write realistic characters and to live a genuine, honest life and hope that good seeps through naturally. In my experience, girls are strong, powerful, clever, and interesting, so I think my characters tend to be.

Your YA books are settled in a world similar to ours in the Middle Age, as in the fairy tales, and have a little magic. Is there a reason why you usually write fantasy?

Fantasy was my favorite genre as a child, and I’ve always sought to write books that I would have loved when I was younger and would still love now. The fairy tale setting is so useful for an author. We can send readers there for the length of the tale, a place where it’s safe to confront danger and hard choices, and then return to the real world changed. It’s exciting stuff, and also, I think, very helpful. Teens have lots of rough choices to make every day. Reading these kinds of books allows them to think with the characters and learn more about themselves.

What can you tell us about Daisy Danger Brown?

I spent a year writing the first draft of the trilogy and then realized it wasn’t going where I wanted. So I took a break from it to write another book and I hope to return to it fresh! It’s my first book for teens with a contemporary setting and is a superhero science fiction adventure.

We’ve read in your website that you wrote many drafts of The Goose Girl before getting to publish it. Have you written as many drafts of your other books? Which is the most important lesson you’ve learned in all these years?

I wrote about 30 drafts of The Goose Girl (at least 50 drafts of the first chapter). I do about 12 drafts of my books now. What I’ve learned is to make the big changes as soon as I realize I need them, cut scenes and chapters and characters, whatever the story needs. I used to be more timid in my rewrites, which is why it took me longer. Now I’m more brutal and so need fewer drafts. But I still rewrite extensively. My first drafts are always ugly.

You have written Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack with your husband. Which advantages and disadvantages do you find in writing with somebody else? What are the main differences between writing a comic and a novel?

It always takes longer to collaborate than to work alone. The benefit is the fun of working with someone I love and respect as well as a story that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own. Writing a comic is a lot like writing a screenplay. We write the dialog and a description of the action then turn it over to the illustrator, who plays the part of the actors, set designer, etc. I love the process and am so pleased with these books, I would love to do it again. But only with my husband. He lets me be bossy and loves me anyway.

Thanks for the interview! I’m so pleased some of my books have been translated into Spanish. Spanish is my second language and is close to my heart. I’ve lived for a time in Mexico and Paraguay and hope to visit Spain one day. Barcelona is the home of my beloved aunt and cousin. Cheers!