Hey, Aro, Hello Aro, How are you guys doing today? Doing
well? This is Rick, This is Mark. Very good to talk to
you. Well, I'm so happy to talk to you guys, because Rick,
I swear this is the first time that you've collaborated, is it not?
Because you and I have talked so many times in the past, So,
I mean, this is so special for me and my listeners because we're
huge fans of what you have brought to the world. Well, thank you.
Yes, it is the first collaboration I've ever done, and I think
I started at the top because this didn't been just a great process. Mark,
What was it like, Because when you start collaborating with other people,
that means sharing ideas and relinquishing different thoughts. Oh. Absolutely, And you
know this is my first time collaborating with anyone as well, and I could
not imagine a better collaborative partner. It has been a lot of fun.
First of all, it's a Percy Jackson fan to get to Jackson books get
made, but then also to be given so much creative freedom from Rick his
team at Disney, to add to the canon, to tell a story that
I want to tell in a universe that made up like this, whole thing
was so magical. What is it like to be inside your imagination? Rick,
Because I mean what you're doing here, this is a standalone book based
on two of the most popular characters of Percy Jackson. You're taking this to
a completely different level for readers. We are, I mean, at least
that is certainly the hope that Nico and Will are some of the most popular
characters in Percy Jackson's world, and I think they deserved a novel that was
more than I could give for them a loan. So I had to open
up my imagination and really share that with Mark and see what together we could
bring to these characters. And I do think that the whole is greater than
the some of the parts. It's a really special novel. Now, when
you talk about Nico and Will, I mean, did you guys take each
other's roles, I mean the roles from these guys and bring it forward.
That's a great question. Yet No, I think I do think it took
us both some time to kind of up our minds around what is Nico's voice
versus will voice? How are they as a couple, how do they function
especially under pressure? I don't know what do you think. I Well,
I personally found writing Niko is easier than writing Will. Part of that was
There's just more of him in the series before, and I'd read the books
multiple times. And then I also just have a very personal recognition with this
character, so finding his voice was easier. But yeah, I don't think
we it wasn't. I think some people might think that, like, oh,
I wrote Nico, you wrote Will, And I think it was more
that we wrote them both together and figured them out together. Yeah, did
it feel like you guys had a split personality here, because I mean to
go into both characters like that, I mean that really had to gel together
somehow. I think it was more that we have different things that we are
good at. Rick is so good at that fast paced energy, the action
and humor, whereas my side is, you know, especially with my young
adult and middle grade books, I write very introspective, heavy books. And
so it was, yeah, finding how do you mix those two things?
How do we respect both our styles but then create a book that just feels
like a weird meld up the two of them. Yeah. Yeah, Mark
was really really great about taking Nico and Will's backstory and developing it in such
a beautiful, nuanced way that they felt to me more real than they had
in any previous book. And that was really beautiful to see you guys are
going out on a speaking tour. This has got to be fantastic for listeners
as well as readers, because I mean, to be able to read it
on a page is one thing, but then to see you both in person
is mind blowing. That's where dreams start, new writers on their journeys,
I mean, that's what we're hoping. I love getting to interact with readers
in general, but I also know that so many prisjects and fans have been
waiting for a Nico book for so long. We're just happy to be in
the same room with them, and very very excited about Cilangelo, very very
much supporting men. Yeah, it's there, really is an air of celebration,
and I think this tour is going to be really important and special.
I can't wait to get back out there a story about first love. Young
adults love this kind of stuff. This is the kind of stuff that they
pass forward, they do, and there's an interesting spin on that actually that
Mark just pointed out to me today. Do you want to talk about Yeah,
you know, I think it's very common in young adults and sometimes in
middle grade two where we talk about how characters are to get together. There's
the meet cute, how do they meet? How do they fall in love?
You know, especially in recent years young adult books, they're capturing the
breakup, what happens after a relationship ends. But what we really tried to
capture was, well, they're already in a relationship at the start of this
book. How do you maintain it? What is required to stay with someone,
especially when you're in tartarus of all, like literally the worst place for
anything to be to your inspiring period. But I really think we enjoyed exploring
that the idea that relationships our work and how do you learn to empathize with
another person and understand where they're coming from. This collaboration between the two of
you. Was it on the golf course, it was at a business meeting
over a conference table, because you guys really do communicate. It's like your
friends from from a different generation. Yeah, it was all virtual, weirdly,
all to email, a couple zoom calls, you know. Our editor
Steph Lurie helped facilitate this. There was a lot of conversations in the notes
of Microsoft Word as we're like sending notes back and forth. Do you foresee
this going onto Disney Plus because it may come on What your words and the
magic you put on a page are just unbelievable. Well, thank you.
I mean, we're in the process of getting the original Percy Jackson series on
Disney Plus as a TV show, and I think what happens next will really
depend on how that's received, how the fans love it. I hope they
will. I think they will, but so who knows. I mean,
maybe someday we'll be talking about this going to TV, but we'll have to
wait and see. I'm blessed with the opportunity to go to a lot of
middle schools and high schools, and I love it when while I'm in their
class, I'll see one of your books on either in their book bag or
I'll see it on their desk. Well, how do you react when you
see your work of art in somebody else's hands. I just so, I
just spent a week doing visits in middle schools and high schools in New York
City where some of these kids read my book multiple time. Yes, you
know, it never stops being surreal. It never stops being an amazing thing,
particularly because growing up, I don't think we read very many modern authors,
and certainly none that came to visit us. And I know, both
of us, we do want to inspire young people to not just read,
but to consider, you know, pursuing art as a career. So I
love any opportunity to show them like, this is what a successful author looks
like. You can do it too, Yeah, absolutely, it's it's amazing
to have a conversation with readers and to show readers that writers are just people,
and some of them are actually still alive. You know. That's something
I never knew when I was in middle school. I assume they were all
just dead from the eighteen hundred. So then you guys are open on the
idea that these little neighborhood library boxes or homes that they have where people can
just share the book. That's okay with you guys, then, oh I
love Lutie, I love those. We love our libraries. We constantly are
telling people, you know, that is a great resource, you know,
and I know, especially for young people maybe they can't afford a book,
the library is such a great play where you don't have to spend money and
you can, you know, experience these wonderful stories. Absolutely, Rick,
you picked a good guy to team up with. My god, oh my
god. I'm blessed with the opportunity to talk with a lot of the people
that you support, Rick, But this guy right here, you picked a
good one. Well I think so too. Thank you, Thank you.
I appreciate that. Please come back to this show anytime in the future.
The door is always going to be open for you. Thanks Sarah. It's
great talk to you. Thank you so much. Be brilliant. You guys,