Fame & Fortune: Meg Cabot
'Princess Diaries' author won't take fliers |
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Bankrate: You describe yourself
as a "huge geek" in high school. In fact, many of your
books deal with the unbearable awkwardness of adolescence. Was high
school really terrifying for you?
Meg Cabot: High school was more annoying that terrifying.
There was a jock culture in my school that I didn't fit into because
I don't care for sports -- I have no competitive nature. Since high
school is all about competition, I had a pretty miserable four years,
which I tried to get through by joining my school's drama program
(known in my school as "the drama freaks"). Probably the
most embarrassing thing that happened back then was when I walked
in on this boy I liked, making out with another girl, and all I
said was, "Oh! Excuse me!" and left, even though I was
devastated. I told you I have no competitive nature!
Bankrate: You studied to be an illustrator. Has your
training in the visual arts had an impact on your writing?
Meg Cabot: In art school, they teach you to work on
the whole, not the parts, because if you start with the details,
something always gets messed up, so you make a rough sketch of your
piece before you go in and start filling in the details. I find
that the same thing works for writing -- you need to have a rough
sketch in your head of how the story is going to go, beginning to
end, before you can go in and start writing it. Otherwise, it always
gets messed up somehow.
Bankrate: It's not easy
for many adult writers to appeal to teens. What's your secret? How
do you stay so current and relevant in the young adult market?
Meg Cabot: Gosh, I don't
know! I guess because my teen years were so miserable and I rejected
most things "teen" when I actually WAS a teen, I am finally
getting a chance to relive them vicariously through today's teens.
So I am very interested in teen culture and watch mostly teen shows,
listen mostly to pop music and read teen magazines, etc.
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