What inspired you to write The Sisters Grimm?
There were really only two kinds of children's books: books for boys, where they fight dragons and monsters and save the world. And then there were books for girls, where the girls get to take care of ponies. I have nieces who are very spunky and would never pick a pony over a dragon. I thought it was time to write a book in which girls are the heroes. That was the germ of the idea. The Sisters Grimm concept I came upon after reading about the Brothers Grimm and discovering they had a little sister.
I'm sure I have old girlfriends who never thought of me as a feminist, but I've become one. Hopefully I'm creating an army of girls who won't be happy being sidekicks.
Did you conceive of The Sisters Grimm as a series?
I came from television before I started writing books, and you always think long-term. I imagined it as a multipart series. ABRAMS was brave enough to let me try that and signed me to a three-book deal.
What led you from writing for television to writing books?
The idea of writing a book was very intimidating to me. I knew I liked to entertain kids. Writing for children was something I was pursuing. But writing a book for children was not something I ever considered until I came up with the idea for The Sisters Grimm, and my wife suggested I write it as a book--and proved once again that she was smarter than I was.
And how about your NERDS series, coming in September?
[With] NERDS, it was the same experience. [I thought of this kid,] Jackson Jones, who goes to the dentist and discovers he has 64 teeth, and they're "summer teeth": "Sum 'er going this way and sum 'er going that way." His braces can transform into boats and [all kinds of things]. I saw the director of the group as a James Bond type. The more I thought about it, the more characters started coming to me. All the children have been enhanced by nanotechnology that turns [their shortcomings into strengthes]. There's a girl who's allergic to everything, so it now acts as an early warning system--she's allergic to liars, allergic to being punched in the face, so she can avoid it. One kid's hyperactive to the point where he's almost a blur, and he wears a suit that's powered by his hyperactivity. A kid who eats paste sticks to the wall. When I traveled for Sisters Grimm, I'd try out [the idea] on kids and they'd say, "I want to read that."
There's a definite film noir tone to NERDS. Were you a big fan of The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon and their ilk?
Absolutely. The Maltese Falcon and also Casablanca have that vibe. You have to go to the granddaddy: Ian Fleming was a big inspiration. The movie version of James Bond is nothing like the book James Bond. He's much tougher and colder in the books than in the movies. I was inspired by Andrew Vachs and Jim Thompson, the king of noir, who writes a lot of Sad Sack characters that wind up like the ones in Quentin Tarantino movies--there's a sinisterness to them.
What I wanted to do was create Nerds who are awkward, don't dress well and are afraid of lactose. But I didn't want them to be misfit agents, just misfit kids. These are the kids who do the job when James Bond can't get it done.
O.K., I must ask: Did you wear braces?
I had braces. I was a disaster. I had glasses. I had a bowl cut like Joey Lawrence for a loooong time. I wore high-water jeans. I was a total misfit. I'd hide in the library from the bullies and never leave.
What was the seed for the NERDS story?
I went to my 20th high school reunion [and] noticed that all the popular kids were out of shape, miserable and divorced. The nerds had become amazing people--running companies, married to supermodels, they went on amazing vacations. I thought, I wish someone had told me in fifth grade that this is how it would turn out, that your day in the sun is coming.
--Jennifer M. Brown