Q: Can you talk about your inspirations for writing Flipped? Did you have some unrequited crushes of your own? Or have annoying people crushing on you?

A: I was like young Juli, with a massive crush on the neighbor boy, and like young Juli, I’m sure I was incredibly annoying. But being a high school teacher was the real inspiration for writing Flipped. I’d see students with mondo crushes and want to say to the girls, “Oh, honey, he is so not worth it,” or to the guys, “She may be hot, but that’s all she’s got,” but of course I’m their teacher and there’s no way they can imagine that I know how they feel. So I wrote Flipped as a way of talking to teens about seeing others for who they are instead of what they look like. I wish I’d found a book like it when I was growing up. It would have helped me a lot.

Q: It’s great to hear the story from both Bryce’s and Juli’s point of view—was it your plan from the beginning to tell this in alternating chapters?

A: My plan was two viewpoints, but originally I envisioned the book to be one that had two sides—Bryce’s side and Juli’s side—where you would have to flip the book over to read the other point of view and the sections would meet in the middle. I love the symbolism of this, but when it came down to it, the storytelling was better served by having alternating chapters.

Q: Have you ever raised chicks? Are you a climber of trees? Do you play in a band with a continually changing name?! All the details in the book are so vivid—are they drawn from your own life?

A: No, yes, and, uh… yeah. Although the band has never had a name that had anything to do with leg lifting. Writing is a combination of experiences and research, and the whole chick thing took a lot of research. Climbing the tree? That was very natural to write about. Skyler’s garage? Piece of cake.

Q: Do you have any plans to write a sequel to Flipped?

A: I’ve had a lot of requests for a sequel, but I think it’s the wrong thing to do. My purpose for this book is to get the reader to think about what they would want for themselves in a relationship. If I write a sequel and show what happens to Bryce and Juli, then that’s answering the question for them. What I tell fans is to put themselves into Bryce’s or Juli’s shoes and live their life in a way that would make for the future they would want.

Q: I know fans have written to you complaining that Juli and Bryce don’t kiss at the end of the book. Why did you make that choice?

A: Because the whole point of the book is that true love is anchored in knowing and respecting the person. And although Juli and Bryce are finally starting to see each other for who they are, this process takes time. I love the open-ended optimism of Flipped, but I do understand that my readers wanted to see kissing, so I dedicated my next romantic comedy—Confessions of a Serial Kisser—to fans of Flipped. You wanted kissing? You got kissing! And although, as in Flipped, the premise seems simple, Confessions has a lot going on “beneath the surface.” It may be wrapped in humor and kissing, but it’s really a story about finding yourself and the healing power of forgiveness.

HERE’S A SNEAK PEEK

AT ANOTHER GREAT ROMANCE

FROM WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN

Excerpt from Confessions of a Serial Kisser copyright © 2008