Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus: The Real Real
Book Club Discussion

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

I really loved The Nanny Diaries and The Real Real is right up there for me too! I always wonder when I see a book written by two authors, what the process is like for you? Can you explain your joint writing process to us?

Well, first of all- thank you! We are delighted to hear that. We actually stumbled onto a process with our first novel (The Nanny Diaries) and while we have gone on to hone and refine it over the past decade, it has essentially remained the same. We work together every weekday and our time together begins with a gabfest at lunch where we catch each other up on what we are each reading, watching, and listening to. We talk about the current subjects that seem to be capturing the Zeitgeist and are particularly interested in those aspects people are not talking about and why that is.

The themes of our books are born in the conversations we find ourselves returning back to. Once we have the seed of an idea, we spend several weeks outlining the core elements of the story, primary and periphery characters, each of their arcs, A and B plots, and timeframe. We then break this outline into scenes, take separate scenes, go off to our own homes and generate them, email them to each other, edit them for each other and then string them into one document. Once we have this first draft we sit together and go over it line by line on the computer, on paper, and frequently out loud, until it is ready to go to print. And of course, our editor gets to weigh in at multiple junctures along the way.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Reality shows are all the rage right now. I'm sure you have seen a few even if you are not devoted fans. Which are the ones that you enjoy the most?

Oh, we're not proud- we are FASCINATED by reality television! We are particularly intrigued by ferreting out which aspects of a show have been constructed, how people are being manipulated, essentially what about the show is not real. We are completely addicted to the Real Housewives of every locale, Project Runway, we will watch most of the VH1 and MTV Reality shows in bits and pieces and often with our hands over our eyes. We even love HGTV and have recently become endeared by the fancy cake shows. These days if you can't derive some entertainment from reality programming, it's slim pickins.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Who was your favorite character to write about and why?

Ooo, so hard to say. I, Emma, usually find that the characters that intrigue me the most are actually the most intimidating to write. I really enjoyed writing the friendship scenes with Caitlyn and Jesse because it lets me channel my best moments with Nicki, when we are just hanging out and riffing back and forth. And I always love to write the 'sexysexy,' as we call it, when a male and female character are almost getting together. It's fun to play with the tension filled banter.

I, Nicki, love to write the so-called villains, be it Mrs. X, in the case of Nanny, or in this book Nico, Trisha or Fletch. Let's just call them the antagonists. Frank Oz once said he was amazed by how much people love Miss Piggy because it was such a hard character to play he said she was in so much pain and then he had to wrap all this bravado on top of it to make her funny. I feel the same way about writing these characters. No one is cruel in a vacuum. These are all very wounded, insecure people taking their frustrations out on our leading lady. That complexity makes for fun writing.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Some of the characters, like Nico and Jase, were already living "fake" lives and hiding things that hurt them from their friends. Why was that important to add to the story?

Our modern culture of Facebook, Twitter etc... offers people daily opportunities to consider how they're presenting themselves and to do what was heretofore solely the province of celebrities and floorwax: re-package yourself. Which we think heightens a preoccupation teenagers already had with "how am I coming across?" Since the second half of the book focuses on what happens to these kids when their manufactured "reality" is presented to America as fact, we wanted first to show how "normal" teenagers grapple with identity and the perception of their peer-group. Even today, when it seems like everyone in over-sharing, people still keep secrets. Because they don't want to be thought of as the kid of the mom with the drinking problem or, in our book, the kid who's dad is violent.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Have your lives changed at all since Nanny Diaries became a movie? Why or why not?

Our lives actually changed the most when the book came out, in that its unexpected success allowed us to leave our 'day jobs' and begin to write full time, which is a huge blessing anywhere, but particularly when you live in New York City. Then the working from home thing allowed us to get dogs, who are spectacular. They keep us getting up from the computer and are our mostly companions, to quote Eloise. When the movie came out our lives changed in that we had the thrill of watching artists we had enormous respect for give life to this story we had written side by side at Nicki's Mac with a package of Oreos. It remains a completely surreal experience for which we are thoroughly grateful.

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Book Club Discussion: Interview with Emma McLaughlin Nicola Kraus

Can you tell us anything about your current writing projects? Together? Separate?

We can! We are hard at work on our next YA novel in which we delve into the heart of heartbreak and what's required to get over it. And we are counting down to December 15th when our sequel to the Nanny Diaries, Nanny Returns, will hit stores. All the same characters are brought back together twelve years later and we are really excited for readers to connect with it. You can read an excerpt right now on our website at www.emmaandnicola.com.