Carrie Vaughn

“I admit, I'm suspicious of any career planning that involves chasing the next 'big thing,' just because it's so hard to predict what the next big thing is going to be a couple of years - or even six months - out.”

“I had a few really bad years in school, just from not fitting in and being bullied. It was kind of brilliant being a military brat, though, because when you're in that kind of situation, you just think, 'I only have to hang on for another year, because then we'll move. It'll be fine if I can just get out of here.'”

“I got into an argument with my original publisher. They wanted me to do 'Kitty' and nothing else. I wanted to do lots of things, not just 'Kitty' books.”

“All you know is what you think you know, but that isn't always what's real.”

“I got a crash-course education in urban fantasy. I suddenly had to look up all these other writers I was supposed to be in a genre with. I instantly had to become an expert in this genre I knew almost nothing about.”

“Robin McKinley's 'The Blue Sword' was a defining book of my teen years, and I'd love to have more books like that in the world.”

“What's interesting to me is how many vampire/urban fantasy authors are writing young adult series as well, often set in the same world as their adult books, but focused on a younger audience.”

“Writers can feel pretty powerless in the big corporate world of publishing, but sometimes our greatest power is the ability to say 'no.'”

“I was born on Mather Air Force Base near Sacramento, but we moved around a lot.”

“It’s only a scratch, don’t cut my arm off!”

“If you sell yourself short before you even start, you'll never know how far you could have gone. Ambition is a wonderful thing and has gotten me farther than I ever thought I'd go.”

“When aspiring writers ask me about how they should target their writing, I tell them to pay no attention to that kind of thing. It will restrict you. You will end up falling into stereotypes in an effort to tailor your work toward a perceived genre category.”

“A fucked-up family's a fucked-up family, whether or not werewolves are involved.”

“I didn't plan to write YA - I had a story that simply wasn't working as a straight-up fantasy novel.”

“I'm a werewolf trapped in a human body.""Well, yeah, that's kind of the definition.""No, really. I'm trapped.""Oh? When was the last time you shape-shifted?""That's just it - I've never shape-shifted.""So you're not really a werewolf.""Not yet. But I was meant to be one, I just know it. How do I get a werewolf to attack me?"Stand in the middle of a forest under a full moon with a raw steak tied to your face, holding a sign that says, 'Eat me; I'm stupid'?”

“Grand Central really didn't want me doing anything under my own name but the 'Kitty' novels.”

“All writing and publishing is very difficult, regardless of genre. There are going to be obstacles no matter what.”

“Don't hold back in your writing. Take risks. Go ahead and tackle that crazy idea that you think will never fly, because that may be the one that makes you stand out from the crowd. Keep pushing the envelope.”

“You know why horror-movie characters always get killed? Because they've never seen horror movies. They don't know how it works. Right? But we do. So no one go into the basement alone. No one go screaming off into the woods alone. No one has any sex.”

“I would ask, 'Have you read '1984'? Have you read 'Brave New World'? If so, I'm sorry, but you read science fiction.'”