The author of The Giver discusses seeing her classic childrens dystopian novel become a movie.

One member of the society, the Receiver, is a human repository of all those past memories.

Den of Geek: How has this whole publicity experience been for you?

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Lois Lowry:This is not bad at all.

The experience of getting the movie made has been very long, many years.

Im accustomed as a writer to sitting alone in a room.

I live alone with a dog and a cat.

I sit in my room very quietly and do my work that I love.

And I think of it as being like an opera singer.

I have to go out and sell me, me, me, me and talk about myself.

And I hate it.

I do not like talking about how great I am.

When you wrote the novel, did you ever envision it as a movie?

Well, two things as far as envisioning it as a movie.

I used to be a photographer and I have a very visual mind.

So then to turn it over to real moviemakers is quite a leap.

And to watch the collaborative process take hold has been fascinating for me because I do love movies.

And now I realize I wouldnt.

So I disabused myself of wanting to be the director or the cinematographer.

But I loved the postproduction stuff.

I was in the editing room and thats what I would like to do.

So its all been fascinating to me.

Everything was a little bit different but thats understandable.

My father was a military officer.

I did this because we did that in those days.

So thats what I was seeing.

And so that was interesting to me.

It makes it more concrete for people in one specific way.

So its very interesting.

Also, in my mind when Im writing I see the characters that Im writing about.

I was concerned about that when I found that they were going to do it.

I asked them like not to make it into a teenage romance.

And I believe they handled that well.

You havent had that experience with this, it seems, but theres always that concern… Have you seen any of these other films likeThe Hunger GamesandDivergent…

I havent seen them.

It seems that the DNA ofThe Giveris very much in those books and the films made from them.

Ive heard it said thatThe Giverwas the first dystopian novel for young people.

I majored in English in college and graduate school, so I read the classic dystopian literature.

And now I guess sequels have come out for both of them.

I have not seen those movies.

But it may be that it was just out there in the atmosphere waiting to happen.

We live in uncertain times.

People wonder about the future.

Kids wonder about the future, why not postulate different kinds of futures?

My father was losing his memory.

He was close to 90 at the time.

And thats what precipitated the beginning of the book.

They can obliterate frightening memories in mice.

So there we go.

At any rate, thats what started it.

I wasnt really thinking about writing science fiction.

And I dont know the definition whether this qualifies as science fiction.

Certainly Ive avoided any mention of technology in it in terms of explaining anything.

I have gotten many letters from kids saying, How exactly did they control the weather?

And I write back and I explain the literary concept called suspension of disbelief.

Kids want to know, Did they live in a dome?

Why do they not have rain?

Well, I dont know.

Im not worried about it, dont you worry about it either.

There are three other books that followThe Giverbut they tell different stories.

Are those part of the same film option as well?

They are not under option.

I think perhaps that would happen if this movie proves successful.

I just dont know.

You know the filmmakers would murmur about it from time to time but I dont know.

Are you working on a new book now?

I will be when this movie stuff is finished.

I will go back to my quiet hilltop, back to my old farmhouse and start a new book.

But this past year has been quite taken up with this.

Clearly he would be thinking about it every minute.

He would just email me to ask for little details.

For example, I remember once he asked, what should the boys bedroom look like?

I would get up early in the morning and see he had written it at 3:00 in the morning.

So at any rate that kept my mind from going elsewhere into another book.

I needed to stay with this one and its been fun.

Whats your daily schedule like when you write?

Well, as I say I live alone with my dog and cat.

So I go to my computer.

Its how I make my living so I go there every day the way everybody goes to their job.

Im fortunate that I love it - thats my place Id rather be than any place else.

If Im in the middle of a book, thats what I go to every day.

I always have to set aside time for the endless emails.

Kids have such access to anybody now so they email me all the time.

More often when school is in session because sometimes they have an assignment.

My most hated favorite email is hey tell me all the similes and metaphors inThe Giver.

I need this information by Thursday.

At any rate I have to answer all that stuff.

I have to write speeches.

Right now I have to write an article for somebody.

I do it chronologically.

So a computer has made that not only easier but so much more fun.

I can go back and Ill put this chapter back here and change this paragraph.

So thats an ongoing process.

The Giveris out in theaters now.

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