The anguish I always feel when she's in pain wells up in my chest and threatens to register on my face.

I had two sisters, and we would love to get dressed up and pretend that we were chic, sophisticated ladies. And I think that was a great sort of preparation, in a way.

Was that part of faith, the willingness to step into the unknown and simply believe that God would be there with us? Would I be called on to do that for Mila? Or for Anna? Would I be able to take that step into thin air and believe that God will be with me no matter what?

Because, sometimes, things happen to people and they're not equipped to deal with them.

There's a basis for the war, historically, in the 'Hunger Games,' which would be the third servile war, which was Spartacus' war, where you have a man who is a slave who is then turned into a gladiator who broke out of the gladiator school and led a rebellion and then became the face of the war.

All the writing elements are the same. You need to tell a good story... You've got good characters... People think there's some dramatic difference between writing 'Little Bear' and the 'Hunger Games,' and as a writer, for me, there isn't.