| Interview with P.W. Catanese |
First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and
fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
I always wanted to do something creative. As a kid I’d fill sketchbooks with cartoon stories. In high school I
made movies with friends. In college I drew a daily cartoon strip. The idea of writing a novel was in the
back of my head for years. It just took a while for the right inspiration to strike.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
The road was long and bumpy with frequent detours and dead ends, and my vehicle kept breaking down
and I got lost a lot, metaphorically speaking. It was ten years from starting The Thief and the Beanstalk to
seeing it in a bookstore. My agent had my manuscript for two years before he read it and called to say
he’d represent me. My eventual publisher, Simon and Schuster, had the book for two years before they
read it and called my agent to say they liked it. Then it took over a year to get an offer. I could say more
about how long it took, but it’s giving me a stomachache.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
So far, each of my books has been about what happens many years after the events of a famous fairy
tale – in this case, one hundred years after the Snow White story. In my latest novel, The Mirror’s Tale,
you get an action-packed adventure with (hopefully) a cool sense of dread and mystery, and you also
learn some surprising information that makes you see the original fairy tale in a whole new light. But if I
could only tell you one thing, I’d say: You will not be bored.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Considering the premise of all of my books, the answer has to be the brothers Grimm.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My family rocks. I’m fortunate to be married to another writer, so she’s a great person to look at my early
drafts. I have a daughter and two sons, all big readers, and they’ll read the books as fast as I can print
them out.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Nothing compares to the home-made chocolate chip cookie, freshly baked.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
I fumble blindly for the alarm clock. I hit the snooze button once. I stare, bleary-eyed, around the room.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
This question made me realize that I’m way more normal than I ought to be. I’m going to go buy something
weird or surprising and put it in my closet.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
I would be a blue tree.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
I’ll go old school here. I’m a big Foghorn Leghorn fan. As for which cartoon character is most like me, I
believe I am halfway between Ren and Stimpy.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
When I was a kid I would have done anything to see a dinosaur, so I’d probably go for the late Cretaceous
period. Does that count? That’s prehistory, technically.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I like alternative/indie music. My current favorite is The Eels. I usually need silence when I write, though.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
Currently I watch The Office, 24, Lost, and The Daily Show when I can…that’s more than I should, since I
write at night. The best way to find time to write is by eliminating television. Movies I can watch anytime
include Jaws, Moonstruck, any Pixar movie, and Casablanca. Last movie in the theatre was The DaVinci
Code, which was not as bad as critics would have you believe.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Have as much fun as possible within the law.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I am working right now on my fifth book, which is another story inspired by a famous fairy tale – in this
case, Rumpelstiltskin. That will be out in early 2007. This will certainly be the most humorous of the
stories, with one of the oddest characters I’ve written so far. After that I have a really exciting idea for a
new series – hopefully someone will want to publish it!
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and
fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
I always wanted to do something creative. As a kid I’d fill sketchbooks with cartoon stories. In high school I
made movies with friends. In college I drew a daily cartoon strip. The idea of writing a novel was in the
back of my head for years. It just took a while for the right inspiration to strike.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
The road was long and bumpy with frequent detours and dead ends, and my vehicle kept breaking down
and I got lost a lot, metaphorically speaking. It was ten years from starting The Thief and the Beanstalk to
seeing it in a bookstore. My agent had my manuscript for two years before he read it and called to say
he’d represent me. My eventual publisher, Simon and Schuster, had the book for two years before they
read it and called my agent to say they liked it. Then it took over a year to get an offer. I could say more
about how long it took, but it’s giving me a stomachache.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
So far, each of my books has been about what happens many years after the events of a famous fairy
tale – in this case, one hundred years after the Snow White story. In my latest novel, The Mirror’s Tale,
you get an action-packed adventure with (hopefully) a cool sense of dread and mystery, and you also
learn some surprising information that makes you see the original fairy tale in a whole new light. But if I
could only tell you one thing, I’d say: You will not be bored.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Considering the premise of all of my books, the answer has to be the brothers Grimm.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My family rocks. I’m fortunate to be married to another writer, so she’s a great person to look at my early
drafts. I have a daughter and two sons, all big readers, and they’ll read the books as fast as I can print
them out.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Nothing compares to the home-made chocolate chip cookie, freshly baked.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
I fumble blindly for the alarm clock. I hit the snooze button once. I stare, bleary-eyed, around the room.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
This question made me realize that I’m way more normal than I ought to be. I’m going to go buy something
weird or surprising and put it in my closet.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
I would be a blue tree.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
I’ll go old school here. I’m a big Foghorn Leghorn fan. As for which cartoon character is most like me, I
believe I am halfway between Ren and Stimpy.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
When I was a kid I would have done anything to see a dinosaur, so I’d probably go for the late Cretaceous
period. Does that count? That’s prehistory, technically.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I like alternative/indie music. My current favorite is The Eels. I usually need silence when I write, though.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
Currently I watch The Office, 24, Lost, and The Daily Show when I can…that’s more than I should, since I
write at night. The best way to find time to write is by eliminating television. Movies I can watch anytime
include Jaws, Moonstruck, any Pixar movie, and Casablanca. Last movie in the theatre was The DaVinci
Code, which was not as bad as critics would have you believe.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Have as much fun as possible within the law.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I am working right now on my fifth book, which is another story inspired by a famous fairy tale – in this
case, Rumpelstiltskin. That will be out in early 2007. This will certainly be the most humorous of the
stories, with one of the oddest characters I’ve written so far. After that I have a really exciting idea for a
new series – hopefully someone will want to publish it!
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
