Author Interview: Carol Snow of Switch & Snap

Carol Snow is the author of Switch and Snap, she's also written a few Adult books such as Been There Done That, Getting Warmer and Here Today, Gone to Maui. She now lives in Southern California, in a cat-fur-coated house with her husband and two children.

Thank you Carol for the great interview! :)

For more info on Carol, visit her numerous sites:

Official Website: http://www.carolsnow.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/carolsnow
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Carol-Snow/604792403

Interview:

1) How old were you when you decided to write your first book?

I began writing my first novel when I was 26. It was called LOBOTOMY CAT AND ME. I got about 150 pages in before I realized that it had compelling characters, a strong voice – but no plot. Whoops. I never finished it.

2) What inspired you to write Switch?

I was walking along the beach in Carpinteria, CA, a little beach town just south of Santa Barbara, running through book ideas in my head, when I thought of body switching. Down the beach, kids in the local lifeguard program, all dressed in red bathing suits, were racing into the waves. So I thought: What if one of them is a switcher? I was passing a line of big, beautiful houses, so I continued with: And what if the switcher winds up in one of those houses? From there, the ideas started flying; I went back to my rented condominium and began writing.

3) Are the characters in the books based on someone you know?

Oh, no! That could get me into trouble.

4) What was the hardest part of writing Switch?

In my initial draft, I didn’t disclose the identity of Claire’s father – at least partly because I hadn’t figured it out myself. My editor felt – and I agreed – that Claire (and the reader) needed to know who he was. It took about five tries until I came up with an explanation that felt right.

5) If you could switch bodies for a day with someone, who would you pick and why?

Someone athletic and powerful – like Claire! I’ve always been small, slow, and weak. Fortunately, I’ve found a profession where that doesn’t really matter!

6) What can we expect from your second YA book Snap?

In SNAP, fifteen-year-old Madison Sabatini has great hair, cool accessories, her own computer and television. She has lots of friends and her dream job as photographer on her high school newspaper. And then, just like that, everything changes. Her father loses his job, and her parents haul her away to a foggy beach town (Sandyland, natch). There, Madison falls in with a new group of friends and pursues her photography – which is all good until unexplained figures start showing up in her photographs.

7) Are there any new authors that have sparked your interest?

I’ve been reading a lot of Denise Mina’s books. She’s a Scottish mystery writer with a terrifically dark sense of humor.

8) What book are you currently reading?

I’ve just started OLIVE KITTREDGE by Elizabeth Strout. It won the Pulitzer Prize, so it’s got to be good, right? Once I’m done with that, I’m looking forward to reading HUNGER, Michael Grant’s second book in the GONE series.

9) Do you have anything to say to all your readers?

I hope you like my books! And if you don’t? Put them down and try something else! It drives me crazy when people say, about any book, “I’m not enjoying this, but I’m going to push through to the end.” There are lots of great books out there – more than any one person can read. Spend your time on the ones that you like.

10) Tell us something about yourself that no one knows about.If no one knows, there’s got to be a reason, right? Okay: how ‘bout this fun character-naming fact: I grew up in Madison, NJ, where I attended Torey J. Sabatini Elementary School.