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" You love author Lisi Harrison&amp;#039;s addictive book series The Clique - and now she&amp;#039;s taking her love of high school drama a step further by bringing the freaky characters of Mattel&amp;#039;s Monster High to life! Based on the popular brand, Monster High is where the kids of the world&amp;#039;s most famous monsters go to school. Now you can read all about their adventures in Lisi&amp;#039;s Monster High novel. Lisi chatted exclusively with Teen Mag to fill us in on why the Monster High student body isn&amp;#039;t that much different from your own and where she gets the inspiration to write all of her must-read books! Teen Mag: How did you take the Monster High characters and create a book about them? Lisi Harrison: Mattel had already created the dolls for the characters so I drew a lot of inspiration from them. Have you seen those things? They&amp;#039;re incredible. So sassy and full of attitude. I would stare at them and wonder what their personalities would be like. What they would do when they were nervous, happy, embarrassed, in love... Knowing that they were the teenaged kids of famous monsters really got the wheels turning. I loved using their monster traits as a metaphor for adolescence. For example Clawdeen the werewolf is super-hairy and is embarrassed about that. I completely remember the horror I felt when my pits started getting hairy. I would walk with my arms pressed against my sides. Frankie, the granddaughter of Frankenstein, sparks when she&amp;#039;s nervous. I was an insane blusher. Lala won&amp;#039;t smile because she&amp;#039;s hiding her fangs. I had braces for four years. And the list goes on and on... So in a sense I relate to all of the characters. Anyone who went through puberty or is going through it will be able to identify with these characters.  TM: Are there any similarities between The Clique and Monster High? LH: Mostly the tone, sense of humor, and pop culture references. I like writing about the issues we all bump up against as we get older but I try to present them in a fun way. Cliques can be horrible. The awkwardness and alienation the monsters face in Monster High is horrible. My goal is to teach readers how to treat and respect themselves and each other in an entertaining way. I do that in all of my books. TM: What were you like in high school? LH: I was what you would call a &amp;quot;floater&amp;quot;. I had my besties but I was friends all kinds. I had a lot of guy friends because things were always simple and fun with the guys. I liked the less &amp;quot;popular&amp;quot; kids because they were always more interesting to me. I loved style but hated fashion. I tried to start my own trends. Some stuck. Some I&amp;#039;m still trying to live down (two different boots). I know what it feels like to be on every wrung of the social ladder. High up and low down. Which makes it easy to describe the emotions of my different characters. TM: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? LH:I always wanted to be a writer. It was the only thing I truly loved doing. And the only thing I could do. I was a terrible athlete and a pretty bad student. I couldn&amp;#039;t focus. My imagination was always racing. My mom was always my biggest supporter. She is very creative and always took me to plays. We wrote plays and stories together and she always made me feel like anything was possible. She still does.  TM: Do you keep a journal? LH: I was a massive journaler (word?) my entire life. MASSIVE. I was very dramatic and sensitive. And always felt misunderstood (I know, who doesn&amp;#039;t). But journaling gave me a way to talk to myself and work out my problems without being known as &amp;#039;the girl who talks to herself.&amp;#039; I wrote them up until I started writing novels in 2003. Now I work out my demons in public. I do keep a notebook on me at all times. I use it to write down anything that happens in my day to day life that could be useful in a book. Names, expressions, outfits, funny conversations, story ideas...I always review it before I start a new book. It&amp;#039;s amazing how much inspiration you can get from walking into a 7-11 or riding the subway. Strangers provide an endless supply of great material.  TM: What is your advice to aspiring writers? LH:1) Keep a journal with you and start making notes of the life that goes on around you. Details are what brings books to life. 2) Read the books you love to read. Not the books you think you should read. Chances are you will write in the genre you like to read. So learn how other people are doing it. Then find your own voice. 3) Don&amp;#039;t ever to try copy someone else&amp;#039;s style or voice. Develop your own. And you do that by writing all the time. 4) Don&amp;#039;t show people what you are working on. Yes, writing is lonely and you want feedback. I get it. But when you ask for feedback people will give it to you. And that can be discouraging. Don&amp;#039;t show people your work until you&amp;#039;re certain their criticism won&amp;#039;t make you give up. 5) Don&amp;#039;t eat rice over a keyboard. It&amp;#039;s impossible to get it out.  TM: What was your favorite book growing up? LH:I loved Harriet The Spy. It made me want to become a writer. Do you want to be a writer? Tell us what you want to write about in the comments section below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/a12277/lisi-harrison-monster-high/>