How did you come up with the original concept for Roswell?
Mel At Pocketbooks, the publisher, one of the VPs came up with the idea of Roswell High. Just basically aliens in High School. Laura was working at a different company then…
Laura After we met each other at Parachute Publishing I had left and gone to a different company. Around the same time Melinda had decided to take the plunge that editors usually take, she was going to go and be a writer full time.
So it was good timing for both of us because I got to this different company and they wanted me to develop this idea, Roswell High, for Pocketbooks. I had come up with the tone of it, using the wackiness of Roswell.
Mel I came up with the name Crashdown and the wacky alien theme.
Laura Basically I came up with the characters and the set-up and rough outlines of plots. Then, because Melinda was going to be a writer and I knew she would be perfect at it, I was able to hire her to write the books.
Mel And then we kind of fleshed it out more together. Laura had the main characters sketched out and the main arc.
Laura Then Melinda made them loveable and wonderful and the television rights sold on the strength of her first manuscript.
Mel That’s how it started on its road to TV. It was completely unexpected. That was really the first thing other than a novelisation of an episode of Goosebumps that I’d written. I never thought the first thing I would write would turn into something like this.
