You can read more interviews with Susane on these sites:
Streamline
Some readers' questions are answered on Susane's blog, which can be found under her Q&A tag.
Have you always wanted to be an author? When did you know for sure?
When I was really young, I knew my fate was to be a science teacher. I don't remember experiencing one particular moment of enlightenment about being an author, although I remember thinking about writing children's books when I was 16. But the idea kind of sat in the back of my mind for a while, since I had already decided to be a teacher. I didn't realize I could have two careers until I signed my contract for When It Happens.
Writing When It Happens and Take Me There took several years, since I wrote those books at night after school and on weekends. Now that I'm a full-time author, I'm able to write books more efficiently. I'm majorly stoked about all of my ideas for my next several books!
Where do you get your ideas?
Writing about the things I know is usually easiest for me, so some of my plot ideas are inspired by actual events in my life. If I've experienced something life-altering or really intense, I like finding a way to share that overwhelming feeling with my readers. But sometimes I'll see or hear something totally random and just know that it has to end up in one of my books. Weird events are some of my best sources of inspiration.
I also love imagining scenarios that never happened to me, but would have been freaking awesome. So some of my characters experience things that I really wish I had. I try not to be too jealous of them.
Do you listen to music while you write?
Music is essential for writing. I need music to take me to the places I want to go when I'm developing a scene. Depending on the type of action and dialogue I want to create, I'll play different types of music. For example, if I want to remember feelings of being in love for the first time or having an intense crush, I'll play the Cure, and all of those emotions instantly come rushing back to me.
I want to be a writer when I grow up. Do you have any advice for me?
Write. Write every day. Carry a writer's notebook to jot down pieces of conversations you overhear, ideas for plot lines, or details about how to improve the story you're working on that suddenly come to you when you're walking down the street. Inspiration usually strikes me when I least expect it, so I have to carry a notebook to make sure that I don't forget those ideas.
And read. Read everything that interests you. If you're not into the stuff you have to read for school, find authors you love and read their work, too. The only book I had to read for school that I actually liked was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, so I read a lot of books for fun that I found on my own. Always carry a book with you and read when you're on the subway, or waiting in line, or just hanging out at a coffee house. Also, reading provides a context for learning how to use grammar correctly and improves your spelling. It's a direct relationship: The more you read, the better your writing will be.
What did you love most about teaching?
I love interacting with teens. Kids rock, but teens rock particularly hard. I feel like I can relate to the turmoil, conflicts, anger, sadness, passion, and undefined emotions that teens feel so strongly. This is because I still feel everything so intensely and I remember exactly what it was like to be 17. So the best part of teaching was being able to, hopefully, provide some time every day where my kids could feel comfortable being themselves. I also liked to share life advice with my students. I felt privileged to be a part of their lives.
If you were to have a third career, what would you be?
A closet organizer. I am serious. I'm incredibly organized - it makes my living space feel like a Zen retreat. But I also love taking someone else's messy space and whipping it into shape. During college and grad school, I did office work as a personal assistant and I always looked forward to going to work if someone's office was a serious disaster area. So I think it would be super fun to clean out people's closets and set up a system that works for them. I'm also drawn to the fields of architecture, urban planning, and interior design, which is why I decided that Sara in When It Happens will become an urban planner.
Your second teen novel, Take Me There, was released in May of 2008. What's it about?
Take Me There takes place in New York City. I decided on this setting because the energy of New York is so amazing, I wanted to be able to share this incredible place with readers from all over. I know that books and movies frequently take place in New York, but that's because New York is magical.
This book is about three juniors who are dealing with relationships and conflicts over a one-week time period. The story is told from each of their three perspectives. Each character (two girls and one boy) has been waiting for someone in their life to either notice them, make a move, or come back to them. During this particular week in their lives, each character takes action to make their life happen instead of waiting for the life they want to happen to them.
What are you working on now?
My third teen novel, Waiting for You, will be released next summer. It's told from the perspective of only one character, so this is a much different book from my first two. Now I'm writing my fourth book, Something Like Fate. The plan is to have at least one book published per year for the next several years.
What inspired you to write When It Happens?
The first draft incorporated some of my own experiences from senior year. Then the manuscript went through several revisions, and during that time the main plot changed significantly. But the heart of the story had been burning in me since high school. It was a story I just had to tell. I was hoping that my readers would relate to the book and use it to help them deal with their own problems. When It Happens is all about wishing for a better life, never giving up, and making your dreams reality. Those are pieces of inspiration I really wanted to share with everyone who reads this book.
Which When It Happens character are you most like: Sara, Laila, or Maggie? 
I was a total nerd in high school. I was all about things like science league competitions, being the photography club president, and I always sat in the front row. So I know how Sara feels, being ignored for so long. I was mostly like Sara then and I still am now: sensitive, introspective, nostalgic, dreaming about my next goals. I definitely didn't possess the beauty or self-confidence of Maggie, and I wasn't as determined and motivated as Laila. I wrote the characters of Laila and Maggie to reflect types of personalities that I admire.
Music plays a big part in When It Happens. Was music important to you in high school?
Music was always, and still is, a major part of my life. Since I don't have a TV, I usually listen to music when I'm home, and definitely when I'm writing. Music makes me happy and inspires me to be creative. It saves me when I'm sad, just like reading a good book does.
I felt the same way in high school. Since that was the hardest time of my life to survive, music was pretty much the only thing that gave me hope and made a better life seem possible to have one day. I had a boyfriend during senior year who was very much like Tobey. He was into the Cure and R.E.M., so those bands were vital to my existence. They still bring back those memories, every time. But before I met him, I was into a lot of old-school music that was before my time, like Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beatles, and James Taylor. I wore white Keds (which were in back then) and wrote lyrics all over them. And all over the covers of my notebooks. The music that I loved in high school is the same music I love today.
Sara, Laila, and Maggie are best friends. So how come Sara says at the beginning of the book that they only know each other about 85%?
Everyone has secrets. You can spend every second with someone for years and still not know them 100%. I'm not sure it's possible to know another person entirely. There are always some things you don't want other people to know about you. We tend to keep certain experiences, thoughts, feelings, and habits to ourselves. Sara, Laila, and Maggie are best friends, but that doesn't mean they know everything there is to know about each other. That takes forever, if it can ever happen at all.
Sara likes to play the Game of Favorites. If you were meeting someone for the first time and played that game with them, what questions you would ask?
I find that a person's favorite books and movies say a lot about who they are. So I would ask for their top five favorite books or top five favorite movies. Or I would ask for their favorite book and favorite movie, and then have them explain why each is their favorite.
Then I would ask what their favorite season is. I try to respect all seasons, but I don't do winter. So if someone also loves spring, that means they probably love a lot of other things I do. I would also ask what their favorite dessert is and how their favorite shirt makes them feel when they wear it. And I would have to ask what their top three favorite little things in life are, because I'm all about the little things.
Both Sara and Tobey have journals that are part of other notebooks. Tobey has a lyric notebook and Sara has a scrapbook. Do you have a journal?
I post entries to my blog a few days each week. That's where I share news about my books and what I'm currently working on. I also write about things like cupcakes, boys, and life in New York City.
During middle school and high school, I had vintage journals. I was into dream analysis for a while and kept a dream journal like the one Nicole has in Take Me There. I also had journals during my early twenties, when I was doing a lot of self-exploration. Whenever I had a problem to work out or something was bothering me, I wrote about it. It was like once I got everything down on paper, there was a sense of closure and I could move on.
Although I don't have a private journal anymore, I'm into archival scrapbooking. Everything that's important to me is represented in my scrapbooks in some way. Instead of writing about my problems the way I used to, now that emotional conflict gets filtered into my writing. Sometimes my characters work out problems that I'm also working out in real life.
When you were younger, who was your role model?
My grandmother was the most amazing source of inspiration. She managed to survive really hard times as a girl and was motivated to live a happy life. Gram was the kindest, most giving person I've ever known...she gave so much of herself, regardless of her own needs. She taught me the value of being frugal. And that hard work always pays off. And how surviving hard times makes you a stronger person.
