MANILA, Philippines - There was a time when the entire Young Adult genre in literature wasn’t completely associated with Twilight and vampires (there used to be the Wakefield twins and the never-ending series of Sweet Valley High novels.) But with the series’ undying (pun intended) popularity, it certainly felt that way ever since Robert Pattinson frolicked in the woods with Kristen Stewart, sparkles and all. Fortunately, another Young Adult series has been picked up by a major movie studio to be optioned into a film and it doesn’t involve “imprinting” and the undead: The Delirium trilogy.
It’s set in a dystopian society where love is considered a disease that people have to be cured of when they turn 18 — not your typical teenage fare. “I wrote the book about the dangers of what happens when you are told and obey one specific idealogy,” Lauren Oliver says. Oliver stopped by Manila earlier this week to promote the release of Delirium’s sequel, Pandemonium, which was released this month (the last book in the trilogy, Requiem, will be out next year). Supreme got to sit down with the author and talk about why she became a Young Adult novelist, her favorite Filipino food, and who’s the hottest male character in fiction ever.
SUPREME: On your blog, you said Filipino food is “dope.” Where have you tried Filipino food?
LAUREN OLIVER: Actually, in Brooklyn, I live very close to a place called The Purple Yam, which is an amazing, amazing restaurant and I hadn’t even realized that it was Filipino food until I heard from someone here that it is!
I’m sure you get asked about this a lot: You wrote your first novel, Before I Fall, almost entirely on your Blackberry. Was is it the same for your other novels?
It depends. With Before I Fall, I wrote a large majority of it on my Blackberry. For the rest of my novels, I’m writing them already on my Blackberry. For example, I was writing on my Blackberry yesterday, when we got to the bookstore — we had a great event at Powerbooks in Greenbelt 4 — and we got there early and I had time, so I decided to type on my Blackberry. Today, while I was waiting for you, I decided to write by hand because I was given all this free paper, which excited me. I need to be writing whenever I can find a spare moment, which is often in-between things.
You released your novella, Hana, as an e-book and all of your books are available as e-books. But as someone who grew up reading hard bounds and paperbacks, how do you feel about bookstores in the US closing because of e-publishing?
It’s interesting because when the big bookstores, like Barnes and Noble and Borders opened, it drove a lot of independent stores into the ground. And now, it’s the e-books forcing the big bookstores out of business and the independents are actually flourishing because they provide something different. So you know, it’s cyclical, it’s impossible to predict how things fall out, but anything that is encouraging more people to read, I’m kind of pro. I’m a really big fan of literacy and the trend is, individuals with e-books are buying so many more books than they’ve ever bought before.
What makes it interesting to write in the Young Adult category?
The major purpose of adolescence is that you don’t end up staying like a child and believing everything that they’re telling you. But that also means that during those years, you’re rupturing from them and for the first time, you’re also achieving your identity and that involves a lot of fits and starts and anger and angst and all of that stuff and it’s just tempestuous, tempestuous times and that’s what makes it interesting to write about and there’s a lot of powerful, emotional stuff that you can draw from when you’re writing Young Adult literature.
Do they teach Young Adult in school curricula now?
Well, it’s changing now. For example, in the teaching program there, it’s now mandated that you have to take, if you want to be a teacher, at least one course in Young Adult literature, which is kind of interesting. It is, for the most part, more high school students that study Young Adult. My books, actually, are on quite a few curriculums, but it’s funny because my parents’ students do often read me, so they know me.
Aren’t you curious to know what teachers are discussing about your books with their students in class?
I do a lot of high school visits, so I meet all the time with students who have read my books and are discussing them in courses. I do Skype visits as well with people when I can’t go remotely, but no, I think I’d be too terrified to be a fly on the wall.
Before I Fall and the Delirium trilogy have been optioned into film by Fox 2000, which is one of the biggest breaks a young adult novelist can get. Did you have a hand in writing the film scripts? How involved are you in the filmmaking process?
Well, I didn’t have a hand in writing the script. Actually, it’s funny that you asked because I just read the Delirium script on my way over here. I have a hand in editing it, so I can give approval. But the Before I Fall script, I think was very, very strong because I didn’t see it until it was pretty much done, so I really didn’t have very much to say about it. Delirium, I’m seeing it in an earlier pass, so you know, I give my notes and in the future, I might do a little bit of line editing, but for the most part, I’m letting the experts work. Because you know, writing a screenplay, it’s just a totally new format, so I don’t have the knowledge to do it, but I’m definitely giving my feedback.
Out of pure curiosity, who for you is the hottest male fictional character?
Mr. Darcy, definitely. Mr. Darcy of Pemberly for sure, 100 percent.