Interview: Christina Lauren and Anna Todd - Vilma Iris | Lifestyle Blogger

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Interview: Christina Lauren and Anna Todd

INTERVIEW

Recently, I had the chance to spend some time gabbing with Christina Hobbs, Lauren Billings and Anna Todd, who were doing a signing in Austin, Texas. I loved spending time with them, it was so much fun as we spent most of our time laughing. We talked Finn and Hardin and upcoming projects and so I’m thrilled to be able to share both a written and fun video interview with you. Plus, make sure you scroll down below and enter the signed giveaway!

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Interview

anna toddLet’s start off with Anna Todd! Last time we talked you were gearing up to release After, the first book of the self-titled series. Now, you just recently released After We Collided. Give us a quick run-down of what to expect with the novel.

After We Collided starts right where After leaves off, except this time we get to see Hardin’s POV.  There is just as much drama and back and forth between the two of them in this novel and it ends with another surprise 🙂 

You have a tremendous fan base on Wattpad who have fallen in love with these characters and their story. What has been their reception on this expanded, new edition? Have many of them read it all over again?

My readers love it! They love getting expanded and new scenes. It’s really fun for them to relive the story again with Hardin and Tessa. They rushed out to the store to get After and After We Collided! 

after cover Dec-30 after we fell cover after ever happy cover

You recently shared the gorgeous cover of the fourth book, After Ever Happy. Originally, there were three books, but the final book was split in two… is that right? Give us the scoop! What can you tell us about this installment? Will we see some new material? 

Yes, that’s right! The third book was the longest, (Yes, even longer than the first two) so we decided to split it into two books instead of cutting too much content. Also, I am reworking the ending so there will be plenty of new material! ☺

Ok, so now let’s talk fans, fans and more fans. You’ve amassed a huge following on social media, but are now being welcomed by a whole new set of readers in the new adult and contemporary romance side. What has that experience been like?

It’s been really, really great. I love my original readers and appreciate them so much but it’s always nice to welcome new readers as well. 

christina laurenAnd of course, you’ve had amazing peers like the talented duo of Christina Lauren, which is way cool! So let’s move on and talk to the girls all about their super sexy, sizzling latest release, Dirty Rowdy Thing! That boy Finn… wooowwwzers!!!! He is a little bit naughty, a little bit bad boy and a whole lot sexy. What can you tell us about Finn?

Thank you for having us! Finn is definitely different from anyone we’ve written before, and he was so much fun. There’s a line in Dirty Rowdy Thing that sums him up quite nicely: “I mean, sweet Jesus, the man works with his hands, sweats when he works, fucks like it’s his vocation and was raised by a father who expects, above anything else, that his sons are capable fishermen.”

What is it about Harlow that is alluring to a guy like Finn? Describe their dynamic. I was fascinated myself by it!

Harlow and Finn’s dynamic is a lot like Chloe and Bennett. Bennett would grow bored with anyone who couldn’t stand up to him, or beat him at his own game. Likewise, Finn needed someone who was strong enough to handle him, and in his case he also needs someone loving enough to coax him out of his shell. Finn is proud, and trust is very important. It took someone loving and patient enough—though she absolutely wouldn’t describe herself as patient—to get him to open up. 

And when we think about it, Harlow might very well be the Bennett in this scenario because she is a LOT to take—loud, funny, sweet, opinionated, strong—and needed someone who could handle her as well. 

$2.00 Nov-04

So this is the second book in the Wild Seasons series and one of the things I’ve loved about both books—Sweet Filthy Boy and Dirty Rowdy Thing—is that there is so much humor in them. The novels are incredibly sexy and seductive with some gripping emotional moments, but I think the humor that’s woven in gives the stories a realness and an edge that make them stick with you. Was that always the intent, or did it happen more organically?

We do our best to make every book funny so THANK YOU! We heard someone describe our books as smutty sitcoms, and we don’t think it’s possible to love that description more. We’re silly and ridiculous and we love that our personalities shine through in the stories we tell. We all love books that make us think and feel, but we also love books that let us laugh or blush or even just disappear for a slip of time. If we give our readers an escape from the real world—even if it’s only for a few hours—we feel like we’ve done our job. 

And speaking of balancing acts… emotion, sexy times, wit, action… do you both like to tackle a little bit of everything, or does one of you tend to write more emotional scenes while the other writes sexier scenes, for example? How does this duo function??? What’s the secret?!

We each have things we’re better at, but for the most part everything is split pretty much down the middle. We outline in person—usually in the car or while waiting in line at Disneyland—and divide by POV, chapter, or even scene. Christina really loves world building and setting a scene, while Lo is great at those emotional and heart-wrenching moments. We can each do both, but if there’s something we think the other will do well, we’ll assign it to that person. Then we write our particular chapters/sections, and switch when we’re done. By the time it’s compiled it’s sometimes hard to remember who wrote what. 

Just one teeny-tiny glimpse. Give us something on Dark Wild Night!!! I mean Lola and Oliver! I can only imagine…

Lola and Oliver are two characters who, from the outside, have their lives entirely together. Both are climbing the ranks in the comic industry—either with a new, hot comic book store (Oliver) or as a comic writer-illustrator (Lola). They’ve had their heads buried in work and when things cool down, are able to start to look around them and at the building tension between them. But just because someone seems like they have it all together on the professional side doesn’t mean that they can navigate relationships quite so easily.

These two were the couple that we’ve been excited to write since we first came up with this series. We’ve loved every single couple, but there’s something about how long we’ve made Oliver wait—in book years, before it was his turn with Lola—that made it really fun to write. And it’s also a more emotionally complex story in some ways because the mistakes they each make are genuine, human errors.

Okay, so let’s do some fun rapid-fire questions.

Favorite song of the moment.

  • Anna: Taylor Swift, Blank Space
  • Christina: No Control, One Direction
  • Lauren: The live version of Jane Says by Janes Addiction I saw on Friday night

Last awesome movie you watched.

  • Anna: The Fault in our Stars
  • Christina: Mockingjay!
  • Lauren: Mockinjay! (We saw it together, heh)

Last kickass book you read.

If I wasn’t writing, I’d be a…

  • Anna: Someone in the makeup world!
  • Christina: Working with teens
  • Lauren: A research scientist

If I could be a character in any book, I’d be…

  • Anna: Tessa Gray from The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
  • Christina: This is so hard! Most of the things that make for a great book would make for a terrrrrrible life. Can I cheat and say I want to be Cinderella or something?
  • Lauren: Pippa Marbury in Sarah Maclean’s One Good Earl Deserves a Lover

Last time you fangirled was…

  • Anna: At the AMAs!!!
  • Christina: We met Susan Ee at YALLFest a few weeks ago and I was pretty embarrassing
  • Lauren: Meeting bestselling authors Sarah J Maas and Alexandra Bracken, or tweeting with Sarah Maclean about how much I love her books.

Thanks so much you guys!!!

The Authors

Connect with AnnaFacebook | Twitter

Connect with Christina Lauren: Facebook | Twitter

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One Comment:


  1. Elle said:

    Thanks for this very generous giveaway! My fingers are all crossed 😉

    Reply

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