Leila Sales: Interview

Recently, I raved over Mostly Good Girls (which, by the way, if you haven't read yet, you must). Well, today, the author of that book, Leila Sales, is here for an interview! She's just as awesome as her book, and you can find her website here.

1. Are any of the characters in Mostly Good Girls based on people you know in real life? Is there a particular character you personally connect with most?

The characters in MOSTLY GOOD GIRLS take some of their qualities from people I've known, but none of the characters is simply a real person slapped down on the page.

For example, Emily Ishikawa's ability to sleep on command is based on my own friend Emily, who used to sleep all the time in high school... but otherwise the Emily in the book is nothing like real-life Emily. I borrowed my friend Reed's dog for Katie's dog, and my friend Emily's bedroom for Katie's bedroom, and my friend Leslie's family room for Katie's family room. And then I changed them around, to make them the way I wanted them!

Katie and Violet's friendship in the book is based on my relationship with my own best friend, so their conversation is the most true-to-life part of the book.

2. Do you have any quirky writing habits? 

I only use my index fingers when I type. I'm really fast about it, but it looks stupid. Oh, and I eat MASSIVE quantities of chocolate chips when I write. Last night I wrote 4,000 words between the hours of 8:30pm and 12:30am, and I probably ate half a bag of chocolate chips in the process.

3. What were your favorite and least favorite parts of writing Mostly Good Girls?

I loved writing the straight-up funny scenes ("Getting comfortable with our... never mind, I can't say it," for example, or, "I am so low maintenance"). And I loved doing the big all-cast scenes, like any of the class meeting chapters, or the lit mag chapters, when all the girls are together and acting ridiculous. Figuring out where to go with the plot was the harder part.
 
4. Rapid fire questions!

Pie or cake? Cake!

Candy or chips? Candy! (Specifically, chocolate chips!)

Chocolate or vanilla? If you don't know my answer to this by now, go back and re-read the rest of this interview.

Favorite song at the moment? That changes pretty much every day. Today I'd say "Moneygrabber," by Fitz and the Tantrums.

Favorite book at the moment? That's too hard! I'm reading a collection of Ernest Hemingway's short stories that my agent gave me for Hanukkah, and I'm loving that right now.

Favorite TV show at the moment? A bar near my house is showing reruns of Arrested Development, so probably that. Arrested Development is one of the only shows where I would go stand in a bar and watch it for three consecutive hours... even though I've seen it all before and, um, own the DVDs.