THE STEPS, TWO STEPS FORWARD POP PRINCESS GINGERBREAD, SHRIMP, CUPCAKE RACHEL AND DAVID YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND ME

• Nick & Norah FAQ      • Naomi & Ely FAQ


Q: What inspired you to write Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist?

David Levithan is a great friend of mine, and I am a huge fangirl of his books. (The Realm of Possibility ranks as one of my Favorite Teen Books Ever.) David and I have a lot in common, including obsessions with My So-Called Life, a passion for teen literature, and a great love of music and making playlists for friends. One day David and I were having lunch together and I mentioned that I had a vague idea for a book: I wanted to write about two New Jersey, straight-edge characters named Nick and Norah (after the Thin Man movies) who would meet at a music club in Manhattan. I wanted to follow their adventures throughout the one night, and just see what would happen. I asked David if he'd want to write Nick, and I'd write Norah. He said, "Okay." And you know what? I didn't really give the idea much thought after that, as I was way too lazy to initiate a first chapter. Luckily, David wasn't, and a couple months later, he e-mailed me Nick's opening chapter. It was AMAZING. I was hooked. And suddenly my life transformed to waiting by my computer for new file attachments from David with Nick's chapters, and then sitting right down to respond as Norah. We didn't plan any of the book out in advance, we just picked up each chapter where the other left off, and I think the fun David and I found in writing to challenge one another translated into a true adventure for Nick and Norah - just like a real first date, where there can be great chemistry, but you really have no idea if it will turn out well or not. You can only dive in and hope.



Q: Will there be a movie?

YES!


Q: Will there be a sequel?

We love the characters too much not to have considered writing more about them, but I think we've decided the ending is better left just where it is, so readers can imagine for themselves what happens next with Nick & Norah. (I certainly have my own ideas, but I'm not telling.)


Q: Do you have playlists for the book?

Of course I do! My playlists are posted as iMixes on the iTunes Music Store, and you can find them there by doing searches for either my name, David’s name, or the book name.


Q: I need to know more - help!

Random House (the book's publisher) have a terrific and comprehensive website dedicated to Nick 
& Norah's Infinite Playlist. Please check out NickandNorah.com!





Q: What inspired you to write Naomi & Ely's No Kiss List?

I can't lie. David and I simply had too much fun writing Nick & Norah, and we were well on our way into writing a second book before Nick & Norah had even been released. The premise of the second book was inspired by a few things. On the walk to the subway from the place where I write in New York, there's a cool old apartment building on West 9th Street at Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village, near Washington Square Park, that I used to kind of fixate on, and I wondered what it would be like to grow up in a building like that. And, I've always loved the name "Naomi" and wanted to write a book with that character name. Want to know a little secret? "Ely" is named after my great friend Patricia McCormick's awesome-amazing-supreme cuddle monster cat. Most importantly, though, I think David and I were curious to write our own take on the straight girl/gay guy friendship-connection-myth.



Q: How is this book different from Nick & Norah?

David and I knew we wanted to write a second book together, but we also knew there was no way we could recapture the same energy and premise of our first book, so we tried to go in a different direction instead. Naomi & Ely is again told in alternating chapters, and also takes place in Manhattan, but the story is told from the perspective of several characters instead of only the two leads, and the story covers a broader period of time.