Nicholas Sparks interview

The Sun Journal recently interviewed Nicholas Sparks at his Trent Woods home. The author discussed his latest novel, "The Last Song," a variety of other writing and film projects, his volunteer work in the New Bern area, his  family's new house and his future plans, among other things. The following is a transcript from the interview:

Sun Journal: I guess we’re here to talk about the upcoming release of your new book, “The Last Song,” a coming of age and  love story about the rebellious teenager Veronica “Ronnie” Miller. I understand the screenplay for the film was written first. I was curious — have you done that for any of your other works, and why did you do “The Last Song” that way?

Nicholas Sparks: No I have not done that before, and I did it that way because of scheduling. They wanted to start filming over the summer because Miley was filming “Hannah Montana” through the spring. She’s got a fall music tour and then she’s back filming “Hannah Montana” in the spring again. So the only time she had free in her schedule was over the summer. And we started talking about the project I guess last (June) and so they want to film in May and June and they have to be scouting locations in February and March and doing all that, and getting budget, you needed the screenplay done, so I just wrote the screenplay first.

SJ: Do you feel comfortable working within that schedule?

NS: As far as the timeline — it was pretty intense because I had three fall tours as well. I had a tour for “The Lucky One,” my regular book tour. It took me, I don’t know, a bunch of places throughout the country. And then I had a European book tour and it’s funny, they’re always, depending on which country you go to, they’re either one book behind, or two books behind, or three books behind, so you’re running from country to country, and they’re like, “So your new book, you know, ‘The Choice,’ ” and “We’re here to talk about your brand new book, ‘The Wedding,’ ” and you’re like — “‘The Wedding,’ who are the characters in that? What was that about?” You kind of do that. So then I had that tour, and then I had the film tour for “Nights in Rodanthe.” So I was traveling, and coming home, and then writing real quick, and then traveling, and coming home, and writing real quick. I guess I finished sometime I don’t know, in November, maybe, the first draft and it was pretty much polished by January, and then I sat down and started writing the novel.

SJ: How did writing the screenplay influence the writing of the novel?

NS: It didn’t, because they’re very different animals, I guess. Screenplays are very easy to write quite frankly — I don’t find them very challenging at all. So, once I finished with the screenplay, you put it out of your mind, and then the novel had its own challenges that were intrinsic to novel writing for instance. And so I didn’t make it any easier or any harder. I did know what the story was obviously, but even so, I usually have a pretty good idea what the story was before I sit down to write, so, I don’t know. This was a challenging novel to write on a number of levels, but nothing to do with the screenplay.

SJ: What was your inspiration for the story?

NS: Well the inspiration for the story was, like most of the novels, after finishing a novel, I immediately start thinking about the next novel that I’m going to write and I try to make it different. So, I’ve had a series of books, and I’ve written about people in their late 20s in “The Lucky One,” and in their late 20s and 40s for “The Choice,” or late 30s for "The Choice," and then early 20s and late 20s, and then I had a movie out with characters in their 40s and 50s. So I didn’t want to write any age group from 20 to 50 essentially. So it was either over 60 or not, or a teenage story, and it had been a long time since I had written a teenage story, so that’s where my thought was, “OK, I did that with ‘A Walk to Remember,’ that was a long time ago, how do I make it different?” And my mind was going along this track, being about a girl primarily instead of about a boy, and it won’t be set in the past, it will be set now. So I started thinking about this, and around that time (I got a call), “I loved ‘A Walk to Remember,’ ” (Miley Cyrus) wants to do something like that, and I said, “That’s funny that you called.” And they said “Do you have anything lying around,” and I said “No,” and they said, “Well could ya?” and I said, “Maybe,” and we started talking, and the whole thing came together.

SJ: Did you specifically adapt the story for the teen star, and how much did she work within the project?

NS: She didn’t work within it. She was doing her thing and then I’m sitting there writing doing mine. It was going to be my story; it was going to be based on the novel, so that’s what I tried to do. Did I picture Miley Cyrus in the role? A little. But it had no influence over what happened in the course of the story.

SJ: How often did you interact with the production of the movie?

NS: Well, obviously in the beginning quite a bit. But when you’re doing the rewrites and things like that I worked with the director, I worked with the producer. And then they began filming, I don’t know, in June I guess down in Tybee Island, Ga., so I went down a few times, maybe three times, to the set. But not much.

SJ: Was Miley Cyrus involved at all in the creative process, or her family?

NS: Nope and nope. They get involved once the production starts. How she’s going to play the role, how she’s dressed, costumed — it’s called costuming although it’s just what they wear —those kinds of things, that’s where her creative process came in. And then of course the musical element of the story, her creative process came into that.

SJ: And did she choose the name of the main character, and what’s the story about that, how did she come up with that name?

NS: She did. Ronnie is the name of her deceased grandfather. So it was a very personal name for her. It was just something I wanted to do — I had done everything else, and I was like OK, you can name the main character. I mean, I’ve named main characters after my own children, I’ve named them after my in-laws, and this time I said, “aw, you pick the main character.” She picked Ronnie, and I said, “OK that sounds great.” And so then I changed it of course to Veronica, and so, but she calls herself Ronnie throughout the story.

SJ: What was it before it was Veronica?

NS: It was originally Kirby, and then it went to Hilary by the time the studio got it, and then I changed it from Kirby to Hilary because I thought Kirby was a cute name … so I tried to give her a name that was a great name, but maybe one that she’d want to change. The studio also changed the name of the main character Will. You’re going to ask me what his original name was, and I’m like “I can’t remember what it was.” It was not Will, it was something else. It’s really easy (to change a name), all you do is just type it in, find the word, and then replace it. (The computer) does it, “replace all.” Done. It goes that quickly.

SJ: And this was the longest book that you’ve written so far?

NS: Yeah it was. This means nothing to most people, but it was 118,000 words. My previous second longest was “The Guardian” at 105, “A Bend in the Road,” “The Rescue,” “Nights,” they’re all about 90. And then some were less, “The Wedding” was in the 70s, and “Dear John” is like 80. It’s a long book. I guess most people would not consider it a long book, it’s actually considered a traditional novel length; most traditional novels are 120,000 words, I just don’t usually write traditional novels, I write shorter ones.

SJ:In terms of how Miley Cyrus came on to this project in the first place, was it that she called you, or … ?

NS: I got a call from Jennifer Gibgot who works with Offspring Entertainment. She is the sister of Adam Shankman, Adam Shankman was the director of “A Walk to Remember.” So Disney heard she liked “A Walk to Remember” so they called Adam, he talked to his sister, his sister picked up the phone and called me. Then, I didn’t know if anything would come about, maybe two weeks later I talk to Jason Reed at Disney, he’s the executive at Disney, talked to him, start talking about the story, I didn’t commit to the story then, I guess this was in late June because there was an element in the story I couldn’t figure out, so I kept trying to figure out this one aspect of the story, it was a very important aspect. Couldn’t figure it out, couldn’t figure it out. Finally, I guess, maybe in late July, I thought I had it, I talked to them about the story then, I had to fly out to Los Angeles to do media for “Nights in Rodanthe,” and that was the first time I met the Cyruses and I talked to Jason in person, and we all agreed, you write a screenplay, and write a novel based on it blah blah blah.

SJ: And that was in 2008?

NS: Yeah, not that long ago. It was less than a year ago. Less than a year ago, there was nothing on paper and now, the film is done, the novel’s done — it’s crazy. It’s about as fast a turnaround as you could possibly do.

SJ: “The Last Song” is a story of young love, but there are also elements of infidelity, divorce, and also cancer or terminal illness.

NS: Oh sure, it’s a Nicholas Sparks, you’ve got to have real life stuff in there, right.

SJ: So what was it like to write about those issues, where are you drawing from?

NS: Oh different areas, you draw from people that you know that have been through it, or you draw from family that’s been through similar things, you draw from wherever. Writers are observers of life, we observe and we talk what we observe and try to find words that make those feelings come alive

SJ: And were there any people in your life that it was drawn from?

NS: Not especially no, not really, not with this particular story.

SJ: I was particularly interested in the character of Jonah, and I thought he was a playful character and his youth softened Ronnie a little bit and his humor did, too. Were you drawing on any of your personal life in creating the character … ?

NS: Sure he’s my kid Landon. Yeah, Landon, he’s fun. Fun fun fun, Funny, says the funniest things, sometimes he acts like an adult. He’s a kid, it cracks me up. I’ve got five kids. I’ve seen kids at all various ages, so I tend to, I think, craft pretty realistic kids. I don’t do super geniuses, I just do, I do kids. They’re kids, so. But Jonah did add a very important element to the story on a number of levels. He added I guess a little bit of humanity to Ronnie early in the story, and he’s funny in the story, Jonah, he’s a fun character to write because anything he says is going to be fun.

SJ: An what about (the character) Will?

NS: Will was, Will, is I guess if you want to say who he’s modeled after; he’s modeled a lot after my older son. He’s very much like Will I guess you could say. He looks like him, he’s athletic, he’s a nice kid, so. These types of things.

SJ: And Veronica, the main character?

NS: Veronica, Ronnie, she was tough. She was tough. I mean, whatever you’re writing and you’re trying to draw on things that you know, some things I do know. For instance, I just said I knew Jonah because I have children. I could model will after my son Miles. But it was very tough to pull Veronica because … I've been a lot of things, I’ve been a father, I’ve been an employee, I’ve been a boss, I’ve been married, been single, been a teenager, I’ve never been a 17-year-old, angry teenage girl. I’ve never been a 17-year-old girl, so that one was tough. That one was a little bit tougher. That was probably the biggest challenge early in the story was to get Ronnie’s character right because she is a little rough. She is not the sweetest person in the world at the beginning of the story. And that’s great because redemption abounds of course in the kind of novels that I write. And so, the lower they are in the beginning, the payoff is at the end. At the same time, nobody wants to read a book where in the first 75 pages you don’t like the main character. So you have to strike this real fine balance between angry teenager who’s not necessarily very nice to her parents, but still someone that you can see that there’s more to them, and they’ve actually got a good heart underneath that. Very difficult balance to craft.

SJ: And what did you enjoy most about any of the characters in the novel?

NS: You enjoy the story, you put them in situations, but it’s not like that. I’m just trying to write the best novel that I can, and create the best characters that I can, and have them seem as believable as possible, and yet it’s universal so you feel as if you know them. But I'm not thinking, I’m really upset with Jonah because he’s funny. There are certain characters that serve a purpose. But a general rule, I’m just trying to write the best novel that I can.

SJ: The novel is set in Wrightsville Beach, and filmed in Tybee Island. Are any of the features of the landscape from that setting drawn from real life?

NS: Oh yeah. I mean both of them. They actually reset the location of the film, so the film, they’re not filming it in Tybee and saying it’s in Wrightsville Beach. They’re filming it in Tybee and saying it’s Tybee Island. So that was one change that they made.

The other part was they have … if you look at the pier at Wrightsville Beach, of course that’s real.

SJ: The old house?

NS: That was really Sunset Beach, but if you’re going to have a volleyball beach you can’t have it on Sunset Beach, it’s not that kind of beach, you need a crowded beach. That’s the great thing about being an author, you can find something and move it, and all of a sudden, it’s OK. I’m not writing nonfiction; I’m writing fiction. If I don’t have the house that I want, I make one. And it’s just the way I wanted it to look, whether it’s there or not.

SJ: When you created the house, the window, the church, were you thinking of any images in your mind?

NS: Just a small beachfront church and a rundown house that’s probably waiting to get bulldozed so they can put up a McMansion or something like that — it fit the story.

SJ: As far as the family drama aspect, estranged father-mother dynamics and the interaction between the siblings ... did your experience as a father play into the creation of this story at all?

NS: Well in some ways, sure. You know how you talk to your teenager, the balance you have to play, how hard to press, what does it mean to allow them to grow up, make mistakes when do you intervene, all of that, sure. I do that in every novel.

SJ: You mean as far as …

NS: Every novel that has a parent and child, sure. You’re always drawing form your own experiences, experiences of your friends, people who have had kids. Remember I coach track and field so I have, here in town, I’ve been surrounded by teenagers, and you hear all about their issues with their parents. You know, you draw from everywhere. Again, authors are observers.

SJ: Did that help you being a track coach, being in that setting?

NS: Sure in some ways. Everything I do helps me I think. I wish I could tell you where you learn to write or how you write a story; there’s a bit of magic that nobody can explain. Authors — I can take you through the mechanics, I can tell you what to do, it doesn’t mean you can do it. It’s just; I don’t know where it comes from. It’s very scary to sit down and write a book. You’re like, “Gosh, I don’t know what I’m doing.” I’ve done this 15 times, there are certain things I can do well, but how you, where does it all come from do — I don’t know. I don’t now. Gift, that’s all you can say.

SJ: As far as young love — do you believe that what you created in this story is realistic, do you believe in that type of love?

NS: Of course, I was in love at what, 17, sure. I was in love, first love, yeah. Absolutely. And I don’t regret it, didn’t last, met my wife later, that was great. But yeah, of course I believe in that kind of stuff, happens all the time. I still love my wife; we’ve been married 20 years.

SJ: Do you like writing about it?

NS: I like writing a good story. If a good story needs that, then that’s what it gets. I write dramatic fiction. The novels that I write are descended from a really long literary tradition. It was really started by the greats you know with … and Sophocles and Euripides, and they really tried to write plays at that time. They were plays that generated authentic emotional power across the range of human emotion. That’s a mouthful. You want to do the entire range. So unlike a thriller which really sets out to thrill, or a horror novel that sets out to scare you, or a romance novel which sets out to just have you escape into fantasy, these, the novels that I write are really meant to move you through the entire range of human emotion. So that’s why you have love, that’s why you have hunger, that’s why you have little betrayal, bitterness, frustration, sadness, you try to cover all of the emotion.

SJ: And with “The Last Song,” were you hitting on any particular spectrum of that?

NS: No, you try to go through all of them.

SJ: And I guess I was curious about some of the other books that are going to be adapted to film as well. “The Lucky One” — is that one in progress?

NS: That has been green lit by Warner Bros., has that one. We just assigned the director, so I will probably be meeting with the director and the producer Denise DiNovi after my tour, or not necessarily even meeting, but talking to them on the phone to see if there’s any changes they want me to make to the script, or not, because sometimes the directors like to do that themselves. But I will offer my services. I’ve known Denise forever, so whatever Denise wants. If you need me to rewrite it, sure. If you don’t want more, great. Whatever you want. And I think they’re’ going to start filming later this year. And we’ll see.

I guess “Dear John” — it’s all in the hopper. It’s in the hopper, done, filmed, filmed 2007 to 2008 I guess. So that’s all done, and they’re realizing it in February. It stars Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried. They keep sending me the updated trailers, it’s kind of neat. They have these in a super secret Hollywood place with super secret pass codes. And you can watch the trailer; it’s really kind of cool. You can see it in progress.

SJ: Is that process—working with those movies—been different in the way “The Last Song” has worked?

NS: A little bit because I was the writer on “The Last Song.” Other than that, no. I don’t involve myself too much in the films. It’s not my business. I’m a novelist. Films are director mediums, theater is an actor’s medium, novels are a writer’s medium, and I’m writer so that’s what I do. I focus virtually all my attention on the creation of a novel.

SJ: And going back briefly to “The Last Song” movie, with Miley Cyrus playing in that, are your children at all interested in Miley Cyrus, and how did they react when they found out?

NS: Oh yeah, they met her. My 7-year-old daughters. Of course, it’s “Hannah Montana,” They watch it every day in the house. They went down, and she was great, she was very pleasant, she spent time with them. My older son hung out with her for awhile. This whole thing. She’s a nice young lady. She’s nice. She’s a 16-year-old girl. A 16-year-old girl who’s pretty famous. Other than that, yeah they like her.

SJ: I guess the last time the Sun Journal caught up with you, you were launching “The Lucky One,” and were about to embark on several of those, the movie tour for “Nights in Rodanthe” and the book tours. What were those experiences like, what kind of reception did you receive in these different countries?

NS: It depends on the foreign country, there are some where I’m really big, and some where I’m not. It’s funny – I’m huge in Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland. And I’m not so big in England. But, this is all relative. I’m a bestseller in England. But I’m not big as I suppose I could be. The same thing in France. I’m a bestseller in France, but Harlan Coben, I’m throwing that name out, he writes great thrillers, but he probably outsells me five-to-one in France, whereas in Germany, I’ll probably outsell him five-to-one. It just depends on the country, the translations and whether you caught on there, and things like that. So you go, and it’s a little bit different, it depends again on the country. In Germany most reporters will speak English, and then they all have different things whether you do signings or media, or presentations. It just depends; you do what the country wants.

SJ: So do you have particular experiences that you could highlight or talk about that stuck out to you in those travels?

NS: I guess I ran around Poland and saw a whole a bunch of neat sites, that was awesome. Not really. It’s a great experience to travel, it’s a lot of fun, you meet people, it's work though. You have to realize, I’m working. I’m signing books for hours. If I’m going to go over to Europe, and they only know they have more for two days, they generally don’t have a lot of free time. So a day might be 12 hours of 24 interviews. Twenty-four interviews over 12 hours. Generally I’ll sit in a lobby, and interview for 12 straight hours, then I’ll go do an event, get on a train, and go to the next city. It’s a very typical; it’s a very typical thing.

SJ: Sounds like a grueling schedule.

NS: It can be.

SJ: And are you preparing to do any tours for “The Last Song?

NS: I have to go out on book tours. It’s not a very large one, I forget. It’s all on my Web site. I have 12, 13 cities or something like that.

SJ: And I was also hoping to talk to you about possibly your next book to see if you’re working on anything.

NS: I will, but there will of course be a next book, and I have an outline of the story in my head, I’m still thinking about the structure, but I can’t start that right now. I’ve got a lot going on, and we’re moving, I’ve got do my book tour, and I haven’t had time on my U.S. tours to write because there’s so many people, so many books to sign. I’m signing for eight hours and things like that. It’s a long time to sit; I’ll be at Waldenbooks, 12 to 13 hours signing books. And that’s just that day. I will have already spent 20 hours signing the people’s (books) who didn’t go to the signing, but called in their orders. It takes me three or four days to just get caught up before then you have a seven-hour line. It actually hit seven hours last year. It was really, really long.

SJ: Is that longer than usual?

NS: Yeah.

SJ: That’s’ a long time—did you get hand cramps?

NS: Oh yeah. Well that’s how long the people were there, I was there 13 or 14 hours.

SJ: Is there anything you can tell me about what that outline of the story is going to be?

NS: Nothing at all. It will be a love story set in Eastern North Carolina, probably a small town. Same as all of them. That’s all I ever say.

SJ: Do you know when you think you’ll be able to get to it?

NS: Yeah, probably after my tour. Late September, October I’ll start writing. And we’ll see how it goes.

SJ: And according to the autobiography on your Web site, you may be writing a short novel on coaching the 800-meter?

NS: Yeah, no it’s not a novel. That would be a nonfiction book, but nobody will want to read it unless you’re a track nut. I happen to be a track nut. I like the 800 meters. So I’m on the USA Track & Field Foundation Board of Directors, so they do a lot of different things. We sponsor athletes and things like that — not the real famous athletes that went to Berlin and won gold medals. Those people have sponsors. We kind of try to focus in on the number six through 10 that can’t get any money at all, but maybe they’re just graduating from college and they have another year or two, or a little bit of help, they can become elite, and get real sponsorships.

So we do that, among other things, and then they asked for an 800-meter book. And so, I’m writing that, will anyone want to read it? No! Of course not. Unless you want to be a coach, or unless you’re an athlete who’s really interested in the 800 meters. Will it be published? Yeah, it will be published, I’m sure. It might be a fun thing to collect if you’re collecting everything I’ve ever written, but unless you're really, really interested in the 800 meters, why would you read it?

SJ: What about coaching at New Bern High School, do you plan to continue in your leadership role?

NS: No. I am retired. My son graduates in January. I will coach him through his senior year; he’s got a lot of scholarship offers. He’s talking to a lot of coaches, but he will not be competing for New Bern. I have four other children, this has come to ... and I pretty much did everything I set out to do. We won our straight state championships, I coached for four years, we won I don’t know, 17 or 19 national championships, broke national records, world records, I mean, it takes a lot of time and I do have four other children. It’s now time to say, OK; let’s do the soccer, or their gymnastics, or tae kwon do, whatever they want to do.

SJ: How is your work progressing with the The Epiphany School?

NS: The Epiphany School’s great. It’s up to 250 students. And we had our first day of school this week. And people who left the school — “oh we’ll go and try something else,” we got about five or six phone calls yesterday, “we’re coming back.” It’s a very good school. I think we had 35 percent of our senior class, almost 40 percent, I guess 40 percent got accepted into UNC Chapel Hill. Which is, that’s a pretty high percentage. Forty percent of your class. You had that, and just between the class, (the students) had lined up an average of $90,000 in scholarships per student. That was the average. It’s a really strong academic school, it’s got great sports. It’s a happy school, too. I mean, they work, they learn good study habits, they learn what college is like. They’ll be well-prepared.

SJ: I’m not sure of the age range of your children — are they going to go there, are they all going there now?

NS: One is going there, a sophomore, and then my three youngest are home schooled and they will be going there. It starts in fifth grade. As soon as they get to fifth grade. (Landon’s) in fourth grade, so he’ll be home school for another year. He’ll be going there next year.

SJ: Do you work a lot with the school?

NS: Yeah, I’m the chairman of the Board of Directors; I helped found it. It’s pretty much what Tom (McLaughlin) and my wife and I want the school to be. And everybody has different educational philosophies. There’s a Christian element to the school, but you don’t necessarily have to be Christian to go to there. There is a Christian element to the school that leads you to service and things like that. We're really focusing on reading, writing, arithmetic, public speaking, organization skills, study skills. We try to give you the kind of homework you would get in college, but we try not to overdo homework. We try to build time in during the day so you can get homework done. My son very seldom has homework, but he’s not a talker. So, he does his homework in school instead of talking to his friends. For instance, let’s say his whole lunch period, he’ll sneak away and do his homework. We try to get the kids I guess to be prepared for what to expect in college, time management — things like that. And like I said it’s a very good academic program.

SJ: And this is your first interview with the Sun Journal I think in your new home.

NS: Yeah.

SJ: When was it completed?

NS: It’s not completed. It’s not completed; it’s been a process I guess, since January of ’08, that’s when we started the foundation. It’s getting close. Most of the interior is done. I’m hopeful that we’re going to have all of the interior done next week. And then we have some exterior work, landscaping.

SJ: Is that what’s going on out there now?

NS: Well it just depends where you’re looking. There’s a fountain going there, they’ll be doing landscaping, sprinklers, it depends.

SJ: Does the vision of your dream home match the reality? How did you go about creating (the design)?

NS: I have a great wife, and we tend to be on the same page about the things that we like, so we drew what we wanted, and had it built the way we wanted. I had a great builder … who did a great job on the house. Yeah, it came out the way we wanted.

SJ: Were there certain features that you really wanted?

NS: I wanted a library. I’m comforted when I’m in the presence of books. They’re like old friends. They’re like visiting old friends. There are books in here that I can remember because I’ve read every book in here. And every year I purge my library, so actually these are the books that made it. These are the books that made the cut. You have to make the cut every year to stay in this library. So yeah, I wanted a library, among other things. She wanted a dining area, a kitchen,

SJ: What about a garden?

NS: Yeah I have a garden out front but it’s not done because they’re still working. When you’re getting ready to move into a new house you have to prioritize what you want done, unless it’s already totally done. If you’re building, usually by this time you’re ready to begin getting in, so what do they prioritize, they prioritize the inside, and then the backyard and then the front yard, and it just goes like that. And we do that so that if everybody wants to move out into the backyard, you can sit by the pool. Our kids are home schooled, so they can swim without getting hurt by any construction, things like that. We said let’s get the backyard done because home schooling is starting here pretty soon and you don’t want kids getting clunked on the head; you don’t want them getting hurt. And then you go to the front yard.

SJ: How do you feel, watching the progression of your career, looking back, could you imagine where you are now, and what has been the most startling part of your career? Or the point that changed everything?

NS: I’m still waiting for that. There’s no way to predict what’s happened, I very seldom think in those terms. I don’t ever think about “The Notebook,” or what my career has done, or turning points. I don’t. I think about the next novel that I’m going to write. There’s always things that I want to do. I’ve done a lot, but I haven’t reached every goal that I’ve set for myself. I want to write a book that lives forever. Maybe “The Notebook,” it’s coming out in Cliff’s Notes, maybe that will become a modern classic. But, I have goals; I want to write the best novel I’ve ever written. It’s the same goal I had when I wrote “The Notebook,” and it’s the same one now I’m feeling for the next one. I want it to be the best one ever.

SJ: Did you feel that way about “The Last Song?”

NS: I think people will really, really like that book, I think they will relate to it on any number of levels.

SJ: What about “The Notebook,” when you found it was going to be published?

NS: Oh yeah, that was exciting. It was years ago, a long time ago. I’m still working on the next one. If you dwell too much in the past, I don’t know that that’s healthy. But if you’re always looking, what do I want to do next, life is for living, and I want to write the best novel I’ve ever done, and I do whatever. I go through different patterns until something captures my interest for four or five years. The past four or five years—it’s been track, The Epiphany School, now I have some goals for The Epiphany School, so when I have some free time I’ll focus on that. But something will catch my eye—I don’t know, archery, who knows what it will be. And then I’ll devote some time, so, I live for the present I guess you could say. I live in the present, with an eye toward the future, not the past.

SJ: And how did you feel about the film “Nights in Rodanthe?”

NS: It was great; I thought that film was terrific. I think it was Warner Bros.’ second most profitable film of the year, which is great. It was surprising because I didn’t think it would do that well.  I thought the film was very good, I thought the cast was great, I’m very happy.

SJ: And what about the film “The Last Song?”

NS: I won’t see it until November; it comes out in January. I won’t see it until November. They finished filming, and then the director has … weeks for the director to come up with the director’s cut. Then Adam Shankman, the producer, will have his producer’s cut. Then the studio cuts. And then the movie comes out in January, which is really fast.

SJ: Have you seen any tidbits of it?

NS: Yeah, you can watch some things. Again, I wrote the script, but it was changed. It was changed from the script I wrote because film is a director’s medium, and that’s what people need to understand. Is it going to be exactly like the book? Absolutely not. They change elements. In my draft of the script, I tried to capture as much of the book as I could. But they change it for various reasons, and that’s just the normal process. You have a director, and they’re filming their vision. It’s got to be what they see. They can’t film my vision, otherwise I’d have to be a director, and I have no intention.

SJ: Well I think I’m all out of questions, is there anything you’d like to add? Anything about “The Last Song?”

NS: No, I think that’s it. I hope people enjoy the novel. I hope they think it’s the best one I’ve ever done.

SJ: And are you looking forward to the signing at Waldenbooks?

NS: Yeah, it’s a long day, it’s a lot of books I have to sign. I mean I’m always flattered. Yeah, I mean it’s a tour, are you looking forward to work tomorrow, yes! Let’s go in and do it. I mean it’s always great to see the people, everybody who comes in, everybody’s always really pleasant, very nice, that part I enjoy. I enjoy seeing people, taking pictures with them and hearing what they think about my books. And I don’t mind the signing part, it is a lot of signing, with 25 to 30 hours between the four or five days it takes to do that.

SJ: And are you trying to give your New Bern fans a chance to get all of your collection signed? 

NS: No, I mean you’re an author; you go on a book tour, if you like it. I mean, not every author gets to tour. I’m very fortunate, my publisher allows me to tour.