Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Young Adult novels from a multitude of publishers. She has appeared in Cosmo and Seventeen magazines, on MTV, and has also been featured on many regional and national news programs.

Gena credits much of her success to her wonderful fans, amazing family, and the three slobbery English bulldogs who sleep under her desk. She has been reading since a very young age, and that is what inspired her to become a writer.

OBS: Your list of published books is so impressive. Since you write both young adult and adult books, it would be interesting to know if you prefer to write one over the other. Do you go through a different process when writing young adult books?
Gena: First, thank you so much! I go through the same process for both adult and young adult books. I write a chapter a day until the rough draft is done. Sometimes that takes two hours. Sometimes fourteen hours. The young adult books are tougher to write, though. All those hormones, the uncertainty, sometimes it’s difficult to capture.

OBS: I see on your website that the sequel to INTERTWINED is coming out September 2010. How many books do you have planned in the series? When you started planning INTERTWINED did you envision the entire series then or did it come to you as you wrote?
Gena: There will be four books in the Intertwined series. I knew in the beginning that there would be four books – I wanted a book for each of the souls trapped inside Aden’s head – but I had no idea where the different installments would take me (and that was never more apparent than when I sat down to write Unraveled and I realized the direction the characters were dragging me). I’m not a plotter on any level.

OBS: What does your writing process look like? How long does it take to write the rough draft? How do you go about editing? Do you work with a critique group? Do you write alone or get together with other writers to work? Do you listen to music when you write or do you need silence?
Gena: I can usually write a rough draft in two months and finish the book entirely in three. I don’t allow myself to edit as I go, because editing during the draft causes me to obsess about every word choice. I save the obsessing for the finished bare bones.

When I’m not riding the edge of a deadline, I love to send my drafts to fellow author Jill Monroe for her feedback. I’m always amazed at the difference her suggestions can make. Intertwined originally had about twenty pages of introspection to kick off. Just Aden talking with the souls. But Monroe helped me brainstorm a much better beginning.

I absolutely listen to music as I write. I hate quiet. Makes my ears ring.

OBS: What do you like to read? How often do you find the time to sit and relax with a book?
Gena: I don’t get to read as often as I’d like, maybe once or twice a month, but I always grab a romance. Adult or young adult doesn’t matter, as long as there’s a love story!

OBS: Which of your books is your favorite? If you can’t pick a favorite book, do you have a favorite character? If so, what about the book/character makes it your favorite?
Gena: Of all my published books, I have two favorites. Intertwined, because it was so difficult to write, and Seduce the Darkness, because I’m so hopelessly in love with the hero. Devyn. My favorite character, though, is a man who hasn’t yet gotten a book of his own. William from the Lords of the Underworld. I adore him. There’s something so delightful about watching a rogue being brought to his knees by the one woman he can never resist . . .

Thank you very much Gana for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer our questions. I’m really looking forward to reading this book and finishing our book club on it next month.

You can check out Gena’s YA website here:
www.genashowalter.com/young-adult/

For her more adult material please check here:
www.genashowalter.com/

For Gena’s Lords of the Underworld, please check the website here:
www.genashowalter.com/lotu/

Remember next month the YA book club will be finishing Gena’s INTERTWINED and if you’d like to read it along with us, answer dicussion question, or just want to chat with other BC fans, check out our book club HERE. We will be starting again in February with in depth summaries, and lots of discussions.