Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Peony in Love, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Flower Net (an Edgar Award nominee), The Interior, and Dragon Bones, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir On Gold Mountain. Shanghai Girls is now available in paperback. The Organization of Chinese American Women named her the 2001 National Woman of the Year. She lives in Los Angeles.

For more information please visit her website:
http://www.lisasee.com/

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1. How would you summarize your book (Shanghai Girls) in one sentence? Two sisters leave Shanghai in 1937 and go to Los Angeles in arranged marriages.

2. How long did it take you to write this book? Two years.

3. Where is your favorite place to write? In my office, which is in my house and looks out into our garden.

4. How do you choose your characters names? Since my characters are Chinese, I try to use names that are Chinese in feeling but not too corny. I really love the flower nameslike Lily, Snow Flower, and Peony. I try to stay away from modern Chinese names in Chinese, because I find that all those Xs and Qs are too confusing for readers.

5. How many drafts do you go through? A gazillion! Sometimes it just feels like a gazillion. I probably do about six drafts before I turn in the book. Then I do another two or three drafts after that. That said, there are parts of a book certain pesky scenes that Ill go over and over and over again until theyre right.

6. If there was one book you wish you had written what would it be? I dont think that way. Each book is such a reflection of the author and the authors voice. I cant imagine putting my voice on someone elses story. I sure love Lonesome Dove though. It would have been pretty spectacular novel to have written that one.

7. If your book were to become a movie, who would you like to see star in it? Right now Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is being filmed. The stars are Zhang Ziyi, who was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Jun Ji-Hyun. If someone were to make Shanghai Girls into a film, Id love to see Zhang Ziyi and Tang Wei, who was in Lust, Caution.

8. Whats your favourite city in the world? Hong Kong.

9. If you could talk to any writer living or dead who would it be, and what would you ask? Im dying to meet Jeff Lindsay, who writes the Dexter series. I have a lot of questions for him: Where does Dexters humor come from? Where did the character of Dexter come from? (See the 19th question.) What do you think of the television series? Most important, whats going to happen next? And, oh my God and what about the kids???

10. When do you write best, morning or night? Morning.

11. Who is the first person who gets to you read your manuscript? Actually I let five people read the book all at once: my husband, my mother, my sister, my agent, and my editor. They all read a book differently, so I count on each of them for very different critiques.

12. Do you have a guilty pleasure read? Jeff Lindsays Dexter books. I love them! And I love the Showtime series too!

13. Whats on your nightstand right now? Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh, and Catastrophe and Contention in Rural China by Ralph A. Thaxton, Jr. (The latter book is for research.)

14. What is the first book you remember reading? By myself? I dont remember. But I can remember lots of books that were read to me: The Jungle Books, the Heidi series, The Little House series, The Saturdays series, The Old Man in the Sea, The Story of Ping, and Ameliaranne and the Magic Ring. I loved all of those books and of course read them myself over and over again once I was old enough.

15. Did you always want to be a writer? My moms a writer and my mothers father was a writer. I was raised around writers. It would have been strange if Id ended up as something other than a writer.

16. What do you drink or eat while you write? Decaffeinated English Breakfast tea in the morning. Either decaffeinated Earl Grey of Vanilla Comoro in the afternoon. My favorite teas are made by Harney and Sons. Sometimes Ill switch it up with a little green tea that I bought on a farm outside of Hangzhow.

17. Typewriter, laptop, or pen & paper? I use a desktop computer when Im at home and a laptop when Im traveling.

18. What do you wear when you write? I start in my nightgown. Then Ill wear exercise clothes. Finally, Ill wear real clothes. I get less and less comfortable as the day wears on.

19. How do you decide which narrative point of view to write from? A voice usually comes into my head that is very, very strong and powerful. Im really left with no choice but to obey.

20. What is the best gift someone could give a writer? Peace and quiet.