Lauren: I grew up in the small town of Wenham Massachusetts. After college and a brief stint in graduate school, I spent ten years writing and producing movies before abandoning my screen ambitions to write fiction full time. I live in London (mostly) but spend a lot of time traveling.
Lauren: Scored is set in a world where surveillance cameras track teenagers’ every move so that a software program can score them on their mental fitness. This score determines everything in life–whether and where they go to college, what jobs they can get, even who their friends are. Within this dystopian world, Imani LeMonde, a high-scoring high school senior risks everything to engage in a secret friendship with a member of the most forbidden group of all–an unscored boy.
Lauren: I’ve been writing ever since I could grip a crayon in my tiny fist. I wrote poetry until I was about 23, at which point I switched to screenplays. I did that for about ten years, had three scripts produced and landed several in that surreal domain we call “development hell.” But eventually, I decided that screenplays were too limiting–and too short. I broke away from that to write my first novel, a space opera, which never sold. After that, I wrote another novel about a young man chasing a fairy down the East Coast. I never finished that one. It was too depressing. Then I wrote Cycler, which had begun its life many years earlier as an unfinished screenplay. That was the novel that finally sold. The “call” happened while I was visiting my parents in Florida. My agent called to tell me that an offer was already in and that four other publishing houses were preparing offers as well. Within a few days we had a bidding war. I was astounded.
Lauren: I didn’t even know YA existed when I wrote Cycler. I’d been writing adult science fiction until that point, short stories mostly. Cycler was, in my mind, another science fiction story. But while I was writing it, I noticed that a number of my science fiction friends were being shelved in this new section of the book store called YA. So when I finished Cycler, I showed it to one of them, Scott Westerfeld, and he said, “Yup, that’s YA.” After that, all of my ideas seemed to revolve around high school. I love writing about teenagers because they’re still in the process of inventing themselves. They have complex inner lives, emotional inconsistencies, and all the juicy stuff that makes characters worth reading about. But what they don’t have is baggage. That comes along later in life and, personally, I find baggage boring. So I think I’ll stay with teens for a while. Most of my books have a mild science fictional bent to them, what we call gateway science fiction. I would never rule out any particular genre, but I can’t see myself writing fantasy. I just have no feel for magic or the paranormal. I could write romance or possibly horror. I doubt I could do historical fiction because I’m too impatient with time. I don’t want to know where we’ve been. I want to know where we’re going!
Lauren: I’ve been writing about artificial intelligence for years, so in a way I’d already done quite a bit of research into the underlying premise about a super-intelligent software program. I did some research into teenage psychology and deviant behavior. I also looked at a number of motivational speakers and so-called “change agents” who specialize in identifying the behavioral patterns that lead to happiness and despair. And I’m always reading about neurolinguistic programming, which is at the heart of nearly everything I write.
Lauren: Everyone I’ve ever read has influenced me in some way. While I was writing Scored, I was re-reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time. Her grasp of the minutiae of human relations is just remarkable and the restraint and subtlety with which she draws the reader into the interior lives of her characters is unmatched. She leaves space for her readers to insert themselves, to complete the transaction. I strive for that in my fiction. It’s always a difficult balance knowing how much to give your readers and how much to hold back so that they can find room for themselves in the book. I think among YA writers, no one does this better than Meg Rosoff. Jennifer Egan and Ian McEwan are both masters at this as well.
Lauren: Right now, I’m finishing up a novel tentatively entitled Stay With Me. It’s about an experimental juvenile detention facility that uses computer role playing games to help inmates master their emotions. Like a lot of what I write, it’s about the way young people construct themselves.
Lauren: I love to hear from readers! My personal website is www.laurenmclaughlin.net. My Facebook page is: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=750891410
You can follow me on twitter here: http://twitter.com/#!/LaurenMcWoof
Lauren: I have tons of questions for your readers, but I’ll try to limit it to a few:
- Would you sever a relationship (romantic or friendly) if it meant getting into the college or job of your choice?
- Have you ever found yourself attracted to someone you knew was wrong for you? Why? What was it that attracted you? How did it work out?
- Do you believe the tests you take in school (standardized, high stakes, and others) truly measure your intellectual worth?
- How would you feel about being watched by surveillance cameras every second that you were outside your home? What about inside your home?
