Back in May I read Rainbow Rowell’s debut novel Attachments. It was a book I’d been waiting ages for, ever since I read about her book deal in fact! I loved the book and I was incredibly pleased to be able to ask Rainbow some questions! Here are her answers, and do check out Attachments, it’s a brilliant read!

1. Tell us about your debut novel Attachments?

It’s about a guy, Lincoln, who gets hired by a newspaper to make sure its employees aren’t using their email for unprofessional purposes. Lincoln reads everyone’s email and ends up falling for Beth, a woman who works in the newsroom. But then Lincoln doesn’t know what to do. He can’t exactly introduce himself: “Hi, I’m the guy who reads your email, and also I love you.”

The book has an unconventional narrative. Every other chapter is an email conversation between Beth and her friend Jennifer.

2. Can you tell us about your second novel, which is due out next year?

Sure, it’s called “Eleanor & Park.” I wanted to write a story that makes you remember what it’s like to fall in love for the first time — before you’re ready for it.

The main characters are two misfit teenagers, a boy who wants to be invisible and a girl who couldn’t be invisible if she tried. It’s about how they fall in love before they even know what to do with love, and how it changes them — and whether it’s enough, love, whether love even matters when you’re 16 and your life isn’t quite your own.

It’s a book meant for adults, though I think young adults might enjoy it.

3. I absolutely adored Attachments, can you tell me where the inspiration came from to write the novel? It’s like nothing I’ve ever read before!

Thank you!

Well, I was working at a newspaper at the time, and we’d just gotten access to the internet, and there was all this paranoia about “improper use of technology.” (Just like in the book.) We all knew that our email was being monitored, so we probably should have stopped sending each other gossipy messages. But, instead, we just worried about getting caught.

I used to think about the person monitoring our email as this sort of silent partner in our conversations. Because I’m a romantic, that Big Brother IT guy in the basement evolved into the hero of my story. (Which is kind of warped, right?)

4. Why did you decide to set the novel in 1999, just as the new Millennium is about to arrive? I was only 9 when the new Millennium came in so although I remember all of the panic, it probably didn’t seem real to me. How real was the panic in 1999 and what do you remember most vividly about that time?

The book had to be set in the ’90s because people were so much less sophisticated about internet security then. Also, when we all first started using email, we were more formal about it. We wrote email messages that read more like letters. (Which justified a little more storytelling on my part.)

I wanted the two women to be fairly naive about sharing their secrets on work email, and I wanted Lincoln, the person reading their mail, to have to really think through the ethics of the situation. All three of them are more innocent and bumbling than a person would be today.

The Y2K thing was so weird. It was such a high-tech problem that, at the time, most of us didn’t have any idea what was really happening or whether it was serious.

I had fun with that in the book. The newspaper hires a Y2K response team, and nobody can tell whether they’re even working.

I also had fun using the Millennium as a metaphor for life in your 20s. You keep waiting for something huge to happen — for a sign. But sometimes life is all buildup and no resolution.

5. Lincoln isn’t necessarily the kind of hero you usually find in a Chick Lit novel. He’s a bit of a nerd, but he has a real heart. Where did your inspiration come from for Lincoln? He is the sweetest character I think I’ve ever come across.

I love that you love him! I have such a soft spot for him as a character that I immediately like anyone who likes Lincoln.

I made a number of choices in this book as a reaction against bad romantic comedies. For example, I’m really tired of the bad-boy romantic hero — the sexist, abrasive, promiscuous guy who supposedly gets tamed by true love.

None of my friends would touch a guy like that. The men in my life — my husband, my brothers, my friends — are all really smart, cool, decent guys. And that doesn’t make them boring or unattractive.

When I started writing the book, I wanted to write Lincoln so that he would be worthy of his love interest, Beth. But the more that I wrote his character, the more I loved him. Then I was all about making sure he ended up with a girl who deserved him.

6. Did you ever panic that perhaps Lincoln would perhaps come across as a bit of a stalker, since he’s reading someone else’s emails? Was it a delicate balance between Lincoln seeming like a creep and Lincoln just being interested in these two girls?

Yes, definitely! I was really worried about that. I tried to make it clear that he didn’t realize when he took the job that he’d have to be a professional snoop. And once he starts falling for Beth, he really struggles with the morality of it. Eventually, as you know, he does make a decision about whether it’s right or wrong, what he’s doing.

I hoped that if readers could see that struggle, they’d be slower to judge.

7. Have you always been a writer? If not, what is it that made you want to write a novel?

I have. I started writing a newspaper column in high school, and that’s still what I do for a living. But I’ve always had an insane appetite for fiction. I always had this dream of writing my own book, and then a few years ago, a friend of mine who’s a playwright, challenged me to start it. (It was almost a dare.) Starting a novel was like wading into a river, not sure whether you’ll make it across.

8. Attachments is being released almost simultaneously in the US and the UK (it’s a month late in the UK as you’re coming over on tour). What’s it like knowing your book is coming out all over the World? Is it scary, or is it just everything you’ve ever wanted?

It’s mind-blowing. To think that your jokes and your characters are resonating with people on the other side of the world, in places like Turkey and Taiwan. MIND-BLOWING.

I was especially excited about the UK release. Almost all of my favorite writers are from the UK. (Is that an embarrassing thing to admit? I wonder what I would think of an English person who was overly impressed with Americans.) So it felt especially dreamlike to come to London and meet people who were enthusiastic about my book.

9. Where were you when you heard Attachments was going to be a real, live novel? How long after finishing Attachments has it taken for it to become a published novel?

I was at work! And I had a lot of meetings that day, so I just kept checking my email between meetings to see if my agent had any news. It didn’t feel real then. But it took two years for the books to be published, so I had a lot of time to get used to the idea.

10. Would you ever write a sequel to Attachments or do you feel as if Lincoln, Jennifer and Beth’s story has been done?

No, I don’t think so. I feel like they’re in a good place, don’t you? [Ed note: I do, they're in a wonderful place!]

11. You’re very much a media-savvy author, you have a pop culture blog, your website is modern and easy to navigate and you’re on Facebook and Twitter, how important do you think it is in this day and age for authors to connect with readers? (For the record, I love Tweeting or emailing an author and having a reply. It’s like meeting a celebrity, like “OMG I can’t BELIEVE this big massive author has Tweeted/emailed ME.” It cheers me up!)

Ha! You know, I’m not sure about this. I like being on Twitter and Facebook. I like being accessible. I like connecting with people. But I don’t necessarily expect that of the authors I love. There’s one author I can think of whom I’ve always adored, but when I started following him on Twitter, I was put off a bit by his personal life. I decided that if I was going to keep loving his books, I needed a little distance.

And then there are other authors who seem so stiff on Twitter — or pushy.

I guess I think that a good website is crucial, especially for a beginning author. But I think that people should use Twitter and Facebook only if they feel comfortable there, and if they can be genuine.

That was a muddy answer, wasn’t it?

12. You’re coming to the UK, or will have been to the UK by the time you’re answering this interview, can you tell us a little bit about that, what you did or will be doing?

I just got back! I met lots of wonderful people at Orion — including my editors. it was so great to be able to talk about my next book, “Eleanor & Park,” face to face. (We did all of our “Attachments” editing over email.) I did a reading with a few other authors, and I got to go to one of the BBC offices to do a radio interview — and I visited my book in as many bookstores as possible.

I brought my younger brother with me, so we had fun doing really touristy things like afternoon tea. I wanted to move into Fortnum & Mason.

13. What kind of books do you enjoy reading when you’re not busy writing your own?

I’m all over the place. I read a lot of fantasyish stuff and comic books. But then I adore Marian Keyes. My favorite, read-everything-they-write authors are Marian Keyes, Neil Gaiman, Jasper Fforde, Dave Duncan and Diana Gabaldon. In the last few years, I went crazy for “The Hunger Games” and the “Twilight” books.

14. Do you read all the reviews of Attachments that are posted on Amazon/GoodReads/Barnes & Noble/blogs? Or do you steer clear of any and all reviews for fear of reading something you may not like?

Hmmm. I told myself that I wasn’t going to read reviews — because it’s so hard not to take the negative ones to heart. But I have been reading them. I’m in a place now where I’m really hoping that people will pick up my book because of good word of mouth. I’m so grateful to the people who write those online reviews.

15. Finally, what advice would you give to those wanting to someday be a published author?

Write! Write a lot! Sooner rather than later! And don’t be afraid of failing. I spent years worrying that I wouldn’t be good enough or that I wouldn’t finish … before I ever wrote a word.

Thanks so much Rainbow! Visit Rainbow’s website here: http://www.rainbowrowell.com/.

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