| Interview with Nico Medina |
First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and
fans.
No problem. I’m actually procrastinating my writing schedule today, so this works out really well.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
I actually can’t really remember. I watched a lot of READING RAINBOW as a kid, so maybe around then.
Very early age. My mom recently gave me a whole duffel bag full of books I’d written and illustrated as a
kid, from ages four to around twelve. I think my illustrated “Halloween Dictionary” was a pretty noble effort.
Then I mysteriously stopped writing altogether till I was twenty-two, when I started writing THE STRAIGHT
ROAD TO KYLIE. So I guess that SORT OF answers your question!
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
Well, I work full-time as a copyeditor for children’s books, so I’d been reading a lot of stuff by other people,
and I kind of thought, Hey, I can do this! Then around that time, my boyfriend Billy Merrell (his teen book
came out with PUSH in ’03), my roommate, and a friend of ours were starting up a novel-writing group. I
was kinda nervous about joining, since I hadn’t written for, like, ten years, but as soon as I started writing, it
totally clicked, and they were loving what I was coming up with. So I started writing the book in winter of ’04,
had a final draft by January ’06, and I gave it to some publishing friends. I was really happy when three
places wanted it by April, but I ultimately went with Simon Pulse, and they’ve been awesome.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
Well, THE STRAIGHT ROAD TO KYLIE is out on May 22nd, and it’s basically about a very out-and-proud,
self-assured gay high-school senior named Jonathan who has a little drunken slipup at a crazy party and
sleeps with a girl from his school. And once everyone at school starts talking about him like he’s straight
and available, the richest, most powerful/popular girl in school bribes him to pretend to be her boyfriend.
And the way she gets him to agree to this is by promising him tickets and a trip to see Kylie Minogue—his
favorite pop star in the world—in concert in London. So, obviously, when a previously gay kid goes back
into the closet, it introduces a whole host of problems and a helluva lot of hilarious drama. That’s the plot
summary—so I guess the one thing I can say to get people to want to buy it is . . . well . . . projectile
vomiting while dressed in drag happens at one point. And if THAT doesn’t sell it, I don’t know what will. Ha!
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Well, with this case, obviously Kylie Minogue. I’m a big fan, and it was pretty fun to write an entire book
based around the fact that she’s so amazing and brave and fabulous, but has never (and probably WILL
never) tour in the United States. Which makes me sad. And a little bitter that I’m not British. The other
great inspiration for this book was my own experience growing up in Orlando, where the book is set. Even
though I wasn’t out in high school, there’s a lot of me in this character—whether it’s his love of Kylie
Minogue and tequila, or what he likes to do for fun with his friends.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
Oh, yeah, they’re really excited! My mom, especially, I think—she’s the biggest reader in the family. But,
yeah—my mom and dad were really supportive of my writing when I was a kid, so they’re super-psyched.
I’ve got a younger sister in undergrad and older sister and a brother-in-law, too, who are really happy for
me as well. They all still live in Florida, and I’m all the way up in New York, so I miss them a lot, but we’re
pretty close. In fact, my sisters are even flying up for my big book party, and I can’t wait!
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Um . . . you can take the boy out of Florida, but you can’t take the Florida out of the boy. I’m a big fast-
food fan—I wish I wasn’t, though. So probably McDonald’s. Pretty much anything on the menu. Or the
Whopper from Burger King. Oh! And Chick-Fil-A nuggets and coleslaw. I miss my rapid metabolism I had in
high school.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Technically, the first three things I do is push SNOOZE. But if you count that as just one, then after I finally
roll out of bed, I feed my pets—my snorty pug and my fish. Then I go brush my teeth and get dressed for
work. I shower at night usually, ’cause I live in a kind of ghetto building, and I never know when the hot
water’s gonna be working or not working in the morning.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
Probably what would surprise you the most is that I live in a three-bedroom apartment and I have ONE
closet. If you EVER move to New York, closet space is a must. But I guess if you cracked open my
overstuffed IKEA wardrobe, you might be surprised to find a wig or two and maybe some ladies’ thrift-store
clothes. I’m not really a cross-dresser, though—only on Halloween! One year I was Dorothy from THE
GOLDEN GIRLS; another year I was Christina Aguilera in her Dirrty Era. That one was the best. Mostly
because it forced me to run stadiums three times a week to get in shape.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
I’d want to be either lime green or hot pink, so I’d still like myself.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
That’s a tough one. Maybe Aladdin, since he was possibly my first gay crush! Or Ursula from THE LITTLE
MERMAID. I adore a woman with a deep voice and an evil agenda. I’m not really sure which cartoon
character is most like me, to tell you the truth. My roommate draws an online comic about his life in New
York, and I’m in there a lot. So, the cartoon me in his strip is the most like me, I’d say. Makes sense, right?
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
Oh, jeez—I dunno. As much as I actually like reading history (in small doses), I wouldn’t give up modern
plumbing and technology for anything! It’d be great to have been in Paris while the Eiffel Tower was going
up, but it’s also great to have cell phones and massage chairs and e-mail! Hope that’s not lame.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
Well, Kylie, naturally! But I love a lot of different types of music—from Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails
to Aretha Franklin and Madonna. But I guess the overall feel of my music is either electronic, poppy, rocky,
or dancey. And any combination of those is like heaven to me—Garbage, Goldfrapp, and Placebo are
some of my favorite bands, because they can blend the genres so well at times. And no, I don’t listen to
music while I write—I catch myself singing or dancing along too often, and I can’t concentrate on the writing
when I’m doing that.
Do you have any favorite TV shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you
saw at the theater?
I grew up taping SEINFELD and I LOVE LUCY off the TV and watching them over and over and over again.
More recently, I’ve become pretty obsessed with STRANGERS WITH CANDY and ARRESTED
DEVELOPMENT. And SIX FEET UNDER is pretty much hands-down the best show ever made in history on
so many levels. Movies I haven’t been as much into lately, but I have seen THE BIRDCAGE, MEAN GIRLS,
and MY COUSIN VINNY about twenty times each. At least. And I quote from these shows and movies to an
almost sick extent, by the way. Sometimes people have to tell me to stop. The last movie I saw in the
theater was THE MESSENGERS, which was great. It’s been a long time since a movie made me that
freaked out. I screamed really embarrassingly loud at one part.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Keep the good friends around, and don’t bother with the ones who give you crap all the time. It ain’t worth
it. Friendship is about give and take, and honesty. Your friends can be like your family, if you find and
keep the right ones.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
Oh, well, now I have to be coy, because I don’t want to give anything away yet, but there will be another
book from me from Simon Pulse, probably (hopefully) in 2008. It is not a sequel, though, I can tell you that
much. But it has the same sort of generally fun feel to it. And it might have a tiny bit of overlap with the
characters.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
And again, thank YOU! I’m glad to be a part of this.
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server toda…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and
fans.
No problem. I’m actually procrastinating my writing schedule today, so this works out really well.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
I actually can’t really remember. I watched a lot of READING RAINBOW as a kid, so maybe around then.
Very early age. My mom recently gave me a whole duffel bag full of books I’d written and illustrated as a
kid, from ages four to around twelve. I think my illustrated “Halloween Dictionary” was a pretty noble effort.
Then I mysteriously stopped writing altogether till I was twenty-two, when I started writing THE STRAIGHT
ROAD TO KYLIE. So I guess that SORT OF answers your question!
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
Well, I work full-time as a copyeditor for children’s books, so I’d been reading a lot of stuff by other people,
and I kind of thought, Hey, I can do this! Then around that time, my boyfriend Billy Merrell (his teen book
came out with PUSH in ’03), my roommate, and a friend of ours were starting up a novel-writing group. I
was kinda nervous about joining, since I hadn’t written for, like, ten years, but as soon as I started writing, it
totally clicked, and they were loving what I was coming up with. So I started writing the book in winter of ’04,
had a final draft by January ’06, and I gave it to some publishing friends. I was really happy when three
places wanted it by April, but I ultimately went with Simon Pulse, and they’ve been awesome.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
Well, THE STRAIGHT ROAD TO KYLIE is out on May 22nd, and it’s basically about a very out-and-proud,
self-assured gay high-school senior named Jonathan who has a little drunken slipup at a crazy party and
sleeps with a girl from his school. And once everyone at school starts talking about him like he’s straight
and available, the richest, most powerful/popular girl in school bribes him to pretend to be her boyfriend.
And the way she gets him to agree to this is by promising him tickets and a trip to see Kylie Minogue—his
favorite pop star in the world—in concert in London. So, obviously, when a previously gay kid goes back
into the closet, it introduces a whole host of problems and a helluva lot of hilarious drama. That’s the plot
summary—so I guess the one thing I can say to get people to want to buy it is . . . well . . . projectile
vomiting while dressed in drag happens at one point. And if THAT doesn’t sell it, I don’t know what will. Ha!
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Well, with this case, obviously Kylie Minogue. I’m a big fan, and it was pretty fun to write an entire book
based around the fact that she’s so amazing and brave and fabulous, but has never (and probably WILL
never) tour in the United States. Which makes me sad. And a little bitter that I’m not British. The other
great inspiration for this book was my own experience growing up in Orlando, where the book is set. Even
though I wasn’t out in high school, there’s a lot of me in this character—whether it’s his love of Kylie
Minogue and tequila, or what he likes to do for fun with his friends.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
Oh, yeah, they’re really excited! My mom, especially, I think—she’s the biggest reader in the family. But,
yeah—my mom and dad were really supportive of my writing when I was a kid, so they’re super-psyched.
I’ve got a younger sister in undergrad and older sister and a brother-in-law, too, who are really happy for
me as well. They all still live in Florida, and I’m all the way up in New York, so I miss them a lot, but we’re
pretty close. In fact, my sisters are even flying up for my big book party, and I can’t wait!
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Um . . . you can take the boy out of Florida, but you can’t take the Florida out of the boy. I’m a big fast-
food fan—I wish I wasn’t, though. So probably McDonald’s. Pretty much anything on the menu. Or the
Whopper from Burger King. Oh! And Chick-Fil-A nuggets and coleslaw. I miss my rapid metabolism I had in
high school.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Technically, the first three things I do is push SNOOZE. But if you count that as just one, then after I finally
roll out of bed, I feed my pets—my snorty pug and my fish. Then I go brush my teeth and get dressed for
work. I shower at night usually, ’cause I live in a kind of ghetto building, and I never know when the hot
water’s gonna be working or not working in the morning.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
Probably what would surprise you the most is that I live in a three-bedroom apartment and I have ONE
closet. If you EVER move to New York, closet space is a must. But I guess if you cracked open my
overstuffed IKEA wardrobe, you might be surprised to find a wig or two and maybe some ladies’ thrift-store
clothes. I’m not really a cross-dresser, though—only on Halloween! One year I was Dorothy from THE
GOLDEN GIRLS; another year I was Christina Aguilera in her Dirrty Era. That one was the best. Mostly
because it forced me to run stadiums three times a week to get in shape.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
I’d want to be either lime green or hot pink, so I’d still like myself.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
That’s a tough one. Maybe Aladdin, since he was possibly my first gay crush! Or Ursula from THE LITTLE
MERMAID. I adore a woman with a deep voice and an evil agenda. I’m not really sure which cartoon
character is most like me, to tell you the truth. My roommate draws an online comic about his life in New
York, and I’m in there a lot. So, the cartoon me in his strip is the most like me, I’d say. Makes sense, right?
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history,
where and when would it be—and why?
Oh, jeez—I dunno. As much as I actually like reading history (in small doses), I wouldn’t give up modern
plumbing and technology for anything! It’d be great to have been in Paris while the Eiffel Tower was going
up, but it’s also great to have cell phones and massage chairs and e-mail! Hope that’s not lame.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
Well, Kylie, naturally! But I love a lot of different types of music—from Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails
to Aretha Franklin and Madonna. But I guess the overall feel of my music is either electronic, poppy, rocky,
or dancey. And any combination of those is like heaven to me—Garbage, Goldfrapp, and Placebo are
some of my favorite bands, because they can blend the genres so well at times. And no, I don’t listen to
music while I write—I catch myself singing or dancing along too often, and I can’t concentrate on the writing
when I’m doing that.
Do you have any favorite TV shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you
saw at the theater?
I grew up taping SEINFELD and I LOVE LUCY off the TV and watching them over and over and over again.
More recently, I’ve become pretty obsessed with STRANGERS WITH CANDY and ARRESTED
DEVELOPMENT. And SIX FEET UNDER is pretty much hands-down the best show ever made in history on
so many levels. Movies I haven’t been as much into lately, but I have seen THE BIRDCAGE, MEAN GIRLS,
and MY COUSIN VINNY about twenty times each. At least. And I quote from these shows and movies to an
almost sick extent, by the way. Sometimes people have to tell me to stop. The last movie I saw in the
theater was THE MESSENGERS, which was great. It’s been a long time since a movie made me that
freaked out. I screamed really embarrassingly loud at one part.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Keep the good friends around, and don’t bother with the ones who give you crap all the time. It ain’t worth
it. Friendship is about give and take, and honesty. Your friends can be like your family, if you find and
keep the right ones.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
Oh, well, now I have to be coy, because I don’t want to give anything away yet, but there will be another
book from me from Simon Pulse, probably (hopefully) in 2008. It is not a sequel, though, I can tell you that
much. But it has the same sort of generally fun feel to it. And it might have a tiny bit of overlap with the
characters.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
And again, thank YOU! I’m glad to be a part of this.
