Marissa Meyer, author of the hit series The Lunar Chronicles, a series set in a furtuistic society and inspired by Cinderella, sat down to talk to YALLWEST teen ambassador Arden Rosenthal about herself and her books.
Do you see this earth as an actual possible future for our earth?
Like most dreamers, I love the idea that someday humanity could achieve world peace, and I do think it’s logical that for that to work, we would need fewer countries fighting over boundaries, resources, and cultural differences. While I think it’s highly unlikely the planet could ever be divided quite as neatly as I’ve done it in my futuristic world, I’m going to stay the optimist and go on believing that the result – world peace! – could still be a possibility, someday, somehow.
Did you have a defining moment when you knew you wanted to be an author?
I can’t remember ever not wanting to be an author. I loved reading as a kid, and I think as soon as I realized that there were people out in the world who get to come up with these stories, and that was a real job you could do, I knew that’s what I wanted to do with my life. It’s always been my dream.
What inspired this twist on Cinderella?
I entered a writing contest a few years ago in which the host had listed about ten random prompts and writers had to choose two of them to include in their stories. The two prompts I chose: Set the story in the future and include a fairy-tale character. My contest entry was a sci-fi version of “Puss in Boots” and I had so much fun writing it that I thought I would try to do an entire series of science-fiction fairy tales, so I started to brainstorm what futuristic twists I could give to some of my favorite stories. A couple months later I was drifting off to sleep when the lightning bolt struck: Cinderella… as a cyborg! My head instantly filled with all sorts of ideas and I had to crawl out of bed and start taking notes. That idea would eventually turn into Cinder and The Lunar Chronicles.
To read the rest of the interview and learn more about YALLWEST, click here.
