| Interview with K.L. Going |
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?
Honestly, I was probably the last one to catch on. I was always writing, but in my mind, that was a hobby,
entirely different from, you know, being a… writer. Writing, writer… it’s a hard concept. Looking back, it
should have been obvious from first grade when I wrote my first poem.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
After that first poem, I was always writing something. I wrote my first novel in high school and got my first
poem published in high school (I actually got paid!) but I was convinced I was going to be a life long Peace
Corps volunteer. I joined MCC (a relief and development agency) and taught adult literacy for 2 ½ years. It
wasn’t until I came home and happened to get a job at a literary agency in NYC that it finally occurred to me
to submit my own work for publication. Fat Kid was the second novel I submitted and it sold to Penguin
Group in four days. (My first submitted novel languished for a year and never got published.)
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?
Saint Iggy is my upcoming release (due from Harcourt in October 2006). The one thing I’d tell you about
the story to make you want to buy the book would be… it’s got priests, pastries, never ending parties, Hari
Krshna’s, meat-on-a-stick, money, hair gel, homeless people, Christmas movies, shopping, guns, babies,
bad guys and heroes in it.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
For Fat Kid Rules the World it was definitely Kurt Cobain.
For The Liberation of Gabriel King it was Jimmy Carter.
For Saint Iggy it was Iggy Pop and Oasis.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
Oh yes, my parents are thrilled. Trust me. They would tell you all about it if you ever ran into them. My
mother is a librarian and my dad is a biologist. I’ve got an older sister, too. Plus, I have a ton of
grandparents and aunts and uncles, and cousins all of whom I’m pretty close with.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Ketchup! Followed closely by cinnamon rolls.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
1) Check my forum to see if anyone posted something fun (it’s my new toy – check it out at
www.klgoing.com/forums).
2) Check my MySpace page to see if anyone posted anything fun. (Friend me! www.myspace.com/klgoing)
3) Check my e-mail to see if anyone sent me anything fun. :-}
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
My husband’s stuff. Yes, I have a husband. That still surprises me the most! We were good friends in high
school and one thing led to another, but there are so many times when we look at each other like, “We’re
married?!?”
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?
RED. I love red. It’s the color of ketchup.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
Favorite cartoon character: Opus.
Most like me: Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes.
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?
New Zealand during the filming of The Lord of the Rings. Do I even need to say why???
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I listen to everything, but my favorite type of music is anything local and undiscovered. Right now, my
favorite artists are Iron & Wine, and Gandalf Murphy.
Unfortunately, I can’t listen to music and write at the same time, but I listen to music beforehand to get in the
right mood.
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?
Last movie I saw in the theater was V for Vendetta, which I loved. I don’t watch TV much, and honestly, the
only movies I really watch over and over are the LOTR. They stand the test of multiple viewings.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
High school doesn’t last forever.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
That’s a good question. I wish I knew the answer!
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
You’re welcome.
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?
Honestly, I was probably the last one to catch on. I was always writing, but in my mind, that was a hobby,
entirely different from, you know, being a… writer. Writing, writer… it’s a hard concept. Looking back, it
should have been obvious from first grade when I wrote my first poem.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
After that first poem, I was always writing something. I wrote my first novel in high school and got my first
poem published in high school (I actually got paid!) but I was convinced I was going to be a life long Peace
Corps volunteer. I joined MCC (a relief and development agency) and taught adult literacy for 2 ½ years. It
wasn’t until I came home and happened to get a job at a literary agency in NYC that it finally occurred to me
to submit my own work for publication. Fat Kid was the second novel I submitted and it sold to Penguin
Group in four days. (My first submitted novel languished for a year and never got published.)
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?
Saint Iggy is my upcoming release (due from Harcourt in October 2006). The one thing I’d tell you about
the story to make you want to buy the book would be… it’s got priests, pastries, never ending parties, Hari
Krshna’s, meat-on-a-stick, money, hair gel, homeless people, Christmas movies, shopping, guns, babies,
bad guys and heroes in it.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
For Fat Kid Rules the World it was definitely Kurt Cobain.
For The Liberation of Gabriel King it was Jimmy Carter.
For Saint Iggy it was Iggy Pop and Oasis.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
Oh yes, my parents are thrilled. Trust me. They would tell you all about it if you ever ran into them. My
mother is a librarian and my dad is a biologist. I’ve got an older sister, too. Plus, I have a ton of
grandparents and aunts and uncles, and cousins all of whom I’m pretty close with.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Ketchup! Followed closely by cinnamon rolls.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
1) Check my forum to see if anyone posted something fun (it’s my new toy – check it out at
www.klgoing.com/forums).
2) Check my MySpace page to see if anyone posted anything fun. (Friend me! www.myspace.com/klgoing)
3) Check my e-mail to see if anyone sent me anything fun. :-}
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
My husband’s stuff. Yes, I have a husband. That still surprises me the most! We were good friends in high
school and one thing led to another, but there are so many times when we look at each other like, “We’re
married?!?”
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?
RED. I love red. It’s the color of ketchup.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
Favorite cartoon character: Opus.
Most like me: Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes.
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?
New Zealand during the filming of The Lord of the Rings. Do I even need to say why???
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I listen to everything, but my favorite type of music is anything local and undiscovered. Right now, my
favorite artists are Iron & Wine, and Gandalf Murphy.
Unfortunately, I can’t listen to music and write at the same time, but I listen to music beforehand to get in the
right mood.
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?
Last movie I saw in the theater was V for Vendetta, which I loved. I don’t watch TV much, and honestly, the
only movies I really watch over and over are the LOTR. They stand the test of multiple viewings.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
High school doesn’t last forever.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
That’s a good question. I wish I knew the answer!
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
You’re welcome.
