Q&A with Ally Condie

I love it when author friends stop by and indulge the weirdness of my brain! Here's my Q&A with Ally Condie, author of Matched.

The opening scene of your book describes the matching event, and Cassia has chosen a green dress to wear (which is also on the cover). Green is my favorite color and I love that dress – the story intimates that her choice of color says something about her, but what made you decide her dress should be green?

*I wanted Cassia’s dress to be green for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons is very superficial—I wanted it to match her eyes! More importantly, I also liked the symbolism of the color green and its traditional connections with growth, spring, etc. And finally, I liked that it had a connection with the green tablet, which is important to the story.

It’s fascinating that culture has been limited to the 100 lists – did you actually create a list of each 100 books, songs, etc. If so, what was that like?

*I didn’t create the lists in their entirety. I do know a few items on each list. The list the Society created would be very different from my own personal list, so it would be a little daunting to create theirs. They wouldn’t include anything subversive, they would limit the diversity of the list, etc.

In the Society, it’s dangerous to be exceptional. Do you think our world ever tries to limit originality?

*Yes, I do. I think we have a lot of cultural ideas about what beauty and success should look like and we like people to fit those molds. However, we do also live in this time of unparalleled freedom of expression, so that is pretty amazing.

This is totally random, but does the Society allow people to have pets?

*No, they don’t! And you’re the first person to notice that! I thought it was this sort of creepy thing that there are no animals on the streets or in the yards, etc. It’s just another way the Society exercises control. The people in the Farmlands have farm animals, but there are no actual pets.

If Cassia were to step into our world for a day, what do you think she would be the most surprised by?

*I think she would be most surprised by the way we can listen to and write and read whatever we want, and she would also be surprised by how much we take that for granted.

I’m dying for more of the story – what are you working on now and what can I bribe you with to get it early (chocolate?)?

*I’m working on the sequel right now. I’ve been working on the sequel for a year! I wish I could write more quickly. But I’m like you in that the story can take over my mind (when I’m not with the kids). I was leaving to go write earlier today and I backed into my husband’s car with my car. He was thrilled. I really need to finish this book. ;)

But you could possibly bribe me with a copy of Wolfsbane. ;)

Ha! Thanks, Ally :)

Thanks for letting me stop by, Andrea! And huge congrats on the success of Nightshade!

Thanks to Ally for being here and thanks also to Penguin, which is giving away two copies of Matched to blog readers. Just leave a comment below and you will be entered in the giveaway!!!