angelheaded hipster

Since Angelina Jolie is here, I didn't expect to attract so many of you. But my editor says we attract different crowds.

I'm sure that you know that you know that tomorrow i'll be here with the cast. A few years ago, I was laboring away in obscurity. It came to me that it was time to change my career. It came to me that instead of writing conventional mysteries, it seemed a good idea to write a book with supernatural people.

As a fan of Anne Rice.

Gradually I built up the character of Sookie Stackhouse and she became more and more real to me and I wrote Dead Until Dark. After two years, it found a editor. A lot of people couldn't understand the combination of blood, sex, and tears and humor. I'm thinking that you can go line up at the microphone.

I revere Anne. Anyone who wrote Interview with a Vampire deserves their own icon. At the time, it was staggeringly original. You can't imagine how amazing that book was when it came out. One of the first messages I got on Facebook was from Anne Rice. Anne messaged me and told me what a big fan she was of the show. And so I said, then you should try reading the books. And every now and then we'll message each other.

How did you come up with the name? My grandmother's best friend's name was Sookie. It's an old Southern name that had fallen into disuse. It seemed to be a good name for a girl with old fashioned Southern values. Stackhouse, I think I got it from the phone book. I didn't realize how hard it would be for people with fangs to say. You spit when you try to say 's' with fangs.

I'm curious what role your religion has in your writing? I am constantly amazed at how many books don't mention a faith, whether the absence of it or the presence of it. I think how you think about God and the universe is so important to how you think. I did worry a long time, I was discussing this with my guest relations escort, I did wonder for awhile, if I was doing the right thing. People were wondering how I reconcile what I write and my faith and I don't see a problem because I've heard from so many people who have found happiness in my books. And I feel really good about what I do.

Wondering if you were going to bring some of things Alan has created into your books? No. To me, they're separate entertainment vehicles. The show has its own world and its own writers. The characters are somewhat sorta the same and sorta different, but that's okay. I know it can get confusing for people who read the books and then read the show. I think Alan's got a great group of writers and they're super writers and they have ideas of what will make great entertainment on the screen and that's not information that pertain to writing the books.

When you introduce a new character do you know their arch?
Truthfully the way I write is a disgrace. I'm a pancer – that means I write by the seat of my pants. I create characters as they're needed. The subsidiary characters are the fun ones – you don't have to care if they live or die. It's a lot like playing paper dolls, in the literary way. I like creating those characters, but at the end of the day they all have to carry their load.

Do you have any influence on the direction of the show?
My control has consisted of picking who to give those rights to. And with Alan Ball, I believe I gave those rights to the right person. Truly, sometimes I watch the show [with my hands over my eyes]. As far as control, no I don't have any.

Are characters in the book based on people you know? Yes and no. I save descriptions, character traits, bits of dialog. Writers will follow you around in the mall to hear the end of the story. And the punch line was “and that's why she became a lesbian.” and I so wanted to ask her to tell me the beginning.

Why did Bill levitate in the first book and never again? And why is he the only one who could teach Sookie how to use her gift? I just haven't needed it. I guess if you needed him to dust high shelves. I haven't had a good answer for the second question. She already understood her gift, he just taught her how to use it for a different reason.

Have you always wanted to be a writer? Yes, I have always wanted to be a writer and aren't I the luckiest person in the world? I've read writers all my life that have captured my attention, starting with Edward Allen Poe and Charlotte Bronte.....Ray Bradbury, and the late great Shirley Jackson and is one of the best American short story writers ever. It would be impossible to point to any one and say that is the source of my creative energy. I think if you're bitten by the bug to be a writer, you may succeed, but I think you have to be born to it.

Having read the series going on the third time now, when do you plan for the next book to come out? If it's May, it's Sookie. Sookie comes out it May every year. Also there will be a short story about Sookie, and Pam and a stripper pole in a compilation of short stories the first Tuesday in August. The Sookie Compendium will be out in February. Featuring a novella written by me having Sam and Sookie going to Sam's brother's wedding and Quinn is in it.

You finished the Shakespeare series and finished the Oral Tea Garden series and you finished Harper Connelly. Anything new? I think so. I'm going to work with Chris Goldwin on a graphic novel. I do have several other ideas. I love writing Sookie and I haven't run out of her and I have a contract for three more.

Did you want to write any of the scripts? I know this sounds lackluster of me, but no I didn't want to. I like what I do a lot and I guess I haven't been bitten by the script writing bug.

Explanation I give for very random hearing of vampire thoughts – of course they're dead, their brains don't fire, but every now and then their brains fire correctly and Sookie can hear them.

Why did you make lemons poisonous to fairies? I had to make something poisonous to fairies and I thought, why not make it something totally ridiculous.

Did you see the people who were cast for the show? Do they look right? A few look exactly right – like VanSantaan who plays Pam, Chris Bower who plays Andy Bellfleur. God bless Anna, she's so small. Sookie is definitely curvy. I know that doesn't fly in Hollywood, but she's a bigger gal than that.

As a pancer, do you do research? Oh yes, I do a lot of research. S. J. Rosanne is a wonderful writer and she used to be an architect. She was very willing to help and I find that most people really like to talk about what they do, especially people who work in the death industry. I do research and I try to find out as much as possible. I've gotten to know a lot of Wiccans and witches in research for the Sookie series.

I'm a passive aggressive neat freak. I wish everything was clean and I don't find the time to make it so. I love a clean house. Yeah, that's sorta a wish fulfillment thing.

Advice for new writers? I've been published for 27 years. I would go the traditional way. I think you'll find out a lot about how the publishing industry works and perhaps what is wrong with your work. I am no authority on the publishing industry now, that's just what I would do.

It seems like Sookie is toying with the idea of becoming a vampire?
Sookie will never become a vampire.

Are you team Eric or team Bill? They're both my babies and they're both part of me. This division into teams is not useful to me.

Why did you set it in Louisiana? Anne had done such a great job making southern LA so romantic, I thought why don't I take northern LA, no one has taken it.

How did you decide to put Bubba into the books? He's going to be in the next book. It just came to me in a flash – you know that scene in Men In Black where they see all the supposed humans who are really aliens. It just made such perfect sense to me.

When I went to Portugal a few months ago, they had just published book five there. All the readers there were brimming with questions and I didn't remember that book. I had to really scramble to answer their questions.

Does Eric want Sookie to become a vampire? Eric would definitely like her to become a vampire, in fact he says that in the book I'm writing now, because he thinks it's the next logical step. And Sookie's not interested.

There had to be some kind of tension between the fae and the vampire world and there had to be a reason they avoided each other.

One of the things I like about you is that you're down to earth and not arrogant.
Oh in private life, I am totally arrogant.

Alan was the most impressive and I knew he could bring the emotions to the screen because he's done that quite well. In some respects it was a no brainer and in some respects it was pretty nerve-wracking all the time.

Is Sookie's fae blood related to her telepathy? No. See I knew the answer to that one.

When Niall said that vampire really loves you, did he mean Eric or Bill? I am not here to spell everything out for you, you lazy people!