A hilarious July 2007 interview with Sarah Beth Durst, author of Into the Wild!

I have wanted to be a writer since age ten. I actually remember the moment that I decided to be a writer. I was with my dad, and I was worrying about my future. I was getting older (ten years old -- double digits!) and I didn't have a career plan. This concerned me. So I asked my dad, "What should I be when I grow up?" To his credit, he took me seriously, and he said, "Well, you're creative. You could be an artist or a writer or an architect..." I stopped listening at "writer." Until that moment, I hadn't realized that a real person could become a writer. I guess I thought you had to be born a writer, like Superman was born a superhero. Once I realized that I could become a writer, that was it. I have wanted to be a writer ever since.

Your new book Into the Wild is based on elements from a lot of fairy tales. Do you have a fairy tale that is your favorite?

I love "Beauty and the Beast." To me, it's the story of true fairy-tale love: Beauty and her Beast are friends first before they fall in love. If you prefer the Disney version, they dance and have snowball fights. If you prefer Beauty by Robin McKinley, they read books and take long walks. But even in the original fairy tale, they spend time together. It's not like other fairy tales. Look at Snow White: the prince falls in love with a dead girl. They marry as soon as she recovers. How many meaningful conversations can they possibly have had? Or look at Sleeping Beauty -- he doesn't even wait for her to wake up before he kisses her. How can they possibly have a good marriage if he didn't even respect her enough to take her out to the movies first? But Beauty and the Beast... I believe they really do live happily ever after.

Do you base your characters on anyone you know?

Not consciously. If I did, I know I'd worry too much about what the real person would think of their character-self. But bits of my friends and family (and of course myself!) do creep into my characters. A friend of mine, for instance, really did practice her trumpet into the phone. And my brother is a talking cat. (Okay, that's not actually true. He really doesn’t talk all that much.)

What is the best thing about being a writer?

The best thing about writing Into the Wild was that I got to turn my hometown into a fairy-tale kingdom. Into the Wild is about fairy-tale characters who’ve escaped from the fairy tale and what happens when the fairy tale wants its characters back. In the novel, the fairy tale (called the Wild) overtakes pretty much all of central Massachusetts, including my hometown. This was really, really fun to write.

So I guess that the best thing about being a writer in general is that when you write, you can make the impossible real. You can create events and conversations and people and places who have never and will never exist and make them live in someone's mind for at least the time it takes to read the story. You can give a dream substance and then share it. You can be a dream-maker, a kind of wizard. And that's really, really cool.

Do you outline as your write?

Yes, absolutely. I outline before I begin, and I outline again between drafts. It both helps me ensure that I have a coherent story, and it helps make the whole novel-writing endeavor feel more do-able. I find it absolutely petrifying to sit down and think, "Now, I will write my novel." But if I sit down with my outline and say, "Now I'm going to write this one particular scene"... I can do that. And then scene by scene, I make it through the whole book.

Any favorite books or authors?

Lots of favorites. I love to read. I devour books like they're chocolate. (Okay, I devour chocolate too.) Some favorites include: Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley, Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint, A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman...

Are you working on anything else now?

Yes, I’m working on the sequel to Into the Wild. It's tentatively called Out of the Wild, and it's due to come out in hardcover next summer. I'm really, really excited about it. I had so much fun revisiting the characters and joining them on their adventures.

Do you have a favorite word?

I love the word "azure." I never get to use it because it sounds so pretentious -- I mean, really, who walks around saying, "What a beautiful azure sky today! It doesn't look like it's going to rain; the sky is much too azure." But it's such a pretty word. My favorite word just based on its meaning is "love." Tremendous amount of power wrapped up in that one syllable.

And finally, what is the one question no one ever asks, but you wish they would? (And the answer!)

You asked such great questions that I can't think of anything so let's go with something nice and random... If you could be any animal in the world, what animal would you be and why? I'd be a unicorn because it would be very fun to see the reaction of people who think I don't exist. Oh, wait, scratch that -- too dangerous. I've seen those unicorn tapestries and read stories of unicorn hunters. I should be something that can fly, like a dragon or a griffin... Or maybe it would be safer to go with something not-quite-so-mythical like a flying squirrel. They look like they have a lot of fun leaping from branch to branch. At least until something larger eats them... Okay, maybe I should just stick with being me.