I always resented books that tried to teach a lesson, where the characters are too good: They don't swear, they tell their mothers everything.

When I was 16, 17, 18 years old, I felt like I had seen it all and done it all, and I was really kind of negative about everything.

Back in my days as a children's book editor, my superiors caught on to the fact that teenagers were using the Internet to gossip about each other, and thought it might be nifty to develop a series of books about an anonymous high-school blogger who gossips about her classmates. The concept was passed on to me.

My biggest fear in writing 'Gossip Girl' was that the characters would sound like stereotypical rich, air-headed heiresses. These were my friends. They were smart and multifaceted. They had interests and passions. They wanted to become lawyers and doctors and writers and filmmakers.

Face it, you have to be sort of an egomaniac to write something down and think that anyone is going to want to read it.

I usually wouldn't be this close to you without a tetnus shot.

I tend to stare at people and memorize what they're saying and how they say it.