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Cindy Pon’s debut novel, Silver Phoenix, is an Asian-inspired YA fantasy published last month by Greenwillow Books. It’s received great reviews from publications like Booklist and Kirkus, as well as from readers (including me).
Cindy is also an artist. Besides writing the sequel to Silver Phoenix, she is also working on a picture book. You can see several of her Chinese brush paintings here in this interview, and be sure to visit her website to see more. (I especially love the panda.) A few lucky readers will win a bookmark featuring the “enchanted dragonfly” painting shown below. All you have to do is leave a comment for a chance to win.
And now, on to the interview.
You immigrated to the United States as a child. How did/does this influence you as a reader and writer? What are some of your (other) major influences?
i came over to california when i was six years old from taiwan.
i think my esl (english as a second language) background really
influenced me as a person. i still very clearly remember not understanding anything
that anyone said when i went to first grade. my teacher wrote my name
on the blackboard, as i didn’t even know the alphabet, much less spell
my name. i spent many afternoons at home while my mom taught me
how to spell swing and yellow and slide. (i still remember this.) and i’d
look longingly outside at the neighborhood kids playing and riding their bikes.
at some point, my language skills surpassed my mom’s. and i discovered
a whole new magical world in books. i remember reading voraciously in
third grade. (wow, what a difference two years made?) i read nearly the
entire shoes series by noel streatfield, dancing and ballet shoes being
my favorite. a little princess by burnett and island of the blue dolphins
by o’dell remain two of my favorite books.
i think my experiences influence me as a writer on a very subconscious
level. everything i write is based on everything i am, my experiences
and how i percieve the world. i think my upbringing and culture also
filtered into SILVER PHOENIX. as well as my own love for chinese brush
painting and…food. ha!
"enchanted dragonfly" by Cindy Pon
In addition to writing, you are also a painter. You say on your website that you began writing as a child; what drew you to Chinese brush painting as an adult?
it’s funny as i never ever considered myself an artist.
i wasn’t gifted as a child. i didn’t pursue or learn about art.
i began writing in elementary school, and new “labels” for ourselves
are hard to take on and integrate. even now, it’s sort of hard
to say, hey, i’m an artist! because i feel so new to it all.
i began painting because i was simply inspired. i found myself
very much interested in learning more about my own culture, and
i had a friend and coworker, who had painted for years. i saw her
paintings and really connected with them, was utterly entranced.
so i began taking lessons.
it’s also the same reason i wrote an asian based fantasy. i really
wanted to combine my two loves : fantasy and chinese culture.
Do you see any similarities in how you express yourself creatively
with paint (ink?) and with words?
i think i’m evolving both as an artist and writer.
my brush painting teacher says i’ve become more fearless
as a painter, that i just plunge in and paint. even if it’s something
new and different. (i just finished my children’s picture book dummy
on my own, which probably contributed to my braver approach to things.)
the chickee is the heroine of Cindy's picture book
art and creative outlets are free therapy for me. i think EVERYONE
should do something creative in their lives. it really taps into another
side of your brain, another side of your soul. i find the entire process
both mystifying but highly satisfying. for me, both painting and writing
require dedication and discipline, but there is much joy in the act of artisttic creation.
and you are always your own worst critic and enemy with progress.
i talk about art in my novel because my heroine is an brush painting
student as well.
What was the inspiration behind Silver Phoenix? Did you intentionally set out to write a YA fantasy set in or based on ancient China?
i was staying at home full time with my bubs and really going
loopy. ha! i needed to have something to call my own, returned
to my first love (writing—as i had stopped writing all through
my 20’s) and began taking some writing classes at the local
uni extensions. then i had the wild idea of writing a novel.
i scribbled a few words into my journal : journey, arranged marriage,
making friends, etc. but didn’t begin to write the novel until
two years later. when i wrote it, i wrote it as straight adult
fantasy—not realizing or being much aware of the YA reading world
until i began querying for an agent.
For people who may not be familiar with it (including me!), how much of the fantasy aspects of Silver Phoenix is based on Chinese
folklore/mythology?
it’s definitely a combination of both—as with many fantasy novels.
when i first began, i got really mired in historical details. then i finally
realized i was NOT writing a historical, i was writing a fantasy. i really
needed to free myself. the snake demon is something that is very
popular in chinese ghost stories. but the corpse monster is something
i created in my own mind. (i won’t say much more—due to spoilers. =)
i also added touches of ritual like breast binding—since i didn’t have
foot binding in the novel. but the act of breast binding fit within the
theme of my book. and the style of hair to indicate status, etc.—they
were all ways to “bind” the girl somehow. to categorize her.
I thought I read somewhere that you also did some artwork for the start of each chapter. How did this come about?
well, thanks for remembering! but yes, my editor started from the
start that i do some chapter decorations for the actual novel.
which was such an honor! each chapter contains my calligraphy
in the final novel. i think the entire layout of the book is beautiful—
of course, i’m not biased. =)
The ending of Silver Phoenix begs for a sequel. You are writing a sequel, yes? 
Can you give us any hints about what occurs?
it does. and i’ve gotten some comments about the ending….
i felt as an author that the story was a complete story in itself.
and when i finished it, i did NOT have a sequel in mind and that
wasn’t my intent. (the ending is the original ending.) but the subconscious
works in strange ways. i found hints of the sequel in the middle of
SILVER PHOENIX. that i had written in and not acknowledged. ha!
so yes, i’m working on the sequel currently. it’s actually a presequel.
a new word by yours truly. =) it will be the story of silver phoenix and
zhong ye (in the past) and chen yong and ai ling (current time). the
two story arcs will meet … somehow. ha! that’s my hope.
And now for a few lighter questions:
What did you have to sacrifice to the cover gods (or is it goddesses?) to get such a stunning book cover?
trisha, seriously, right? i just got really really really lucky.
the final novel is actually in a slightly bigger trim, so it really
stands out. my editor consulted with me every step of the way,
from helping to select the model (whom i think looks exactly like
my heroine—and funny enough, some online friends say look
like ME—i’ll take that as a huge compliment, ha!) to costumes,
hair style, etc.
In addition to admiring your prose, reading Silver Phoenix made me hungry, with all the descriptions of food. Did writing about all the food make you hungry, too? What meal or snack do you recommend a person eats while reading Silver Phoenix?
haha! i was usually eating when writing. ha! just kidding.
but seriously, i wrote a lot in cafes. my critique friends joke
that i need to debut with a companion cook book. =D
anything snacky is goo—preferably asian. if you can hook yourself
up with some dumplings, pot stickers, or a plate of chow mien,
you’ll be a happy reader! don’t forget the tea!
Thanks, Cindy, for stopping by!
Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a bookmark. I’ll randomly select the winners on Monday.
The rest of today’s SBBT interviews are:
Siobhan Vivian at Miss Erin
Alma Alexander at Finding Wonderland
Laurel Snyder at Shaken & Stirred
Thalia Chaltas at Bildungsroman
Rosemary Clement-Moore and I appreciate a lot of the same things: Cary Grant. Word play. The high school years of Buffy Summers. A well-told story, no matter what the form: a novel, a play, a musical, a ballet.
To date, Rosemary has written three novels about Maggie Quinn, a modern-day Nancy Drew who defeats demons while tossing off witty retorts - in other words, a young woman who is quite possibly the offspring of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Veronica Mars. We spoke at length about this series as well as Rosemary's forthcoming stand-alone novel The Splendor Falls.
I had a great deal of fun conducting this interview. How often do chupacabras, Annie Sullivan, and Doctor Who all come up within the same conversation? Not often enough, my friends. Not often enough.
What prompted your first YA novel, Prom Dates From Hell? (Oh, I just said "prompted" out loud - PROM-ted - and realized it was an unintentional pun.) Did you have one of your own in high school? I didn't go to prom. I watched Buffy's instead.
You know what Samuel Johnson said: He who would pun would pick a pocket.
This is why the prom features in so many books and movies: It a single event that focuses all the social aspects -- good, bad and hellish -- of the rest of the school year: the social hierarchy, the fashion police, the kids that drink, the boy/girl drama, the money angst, the putting up a front pressure... all those things that are going on all year sort of get distilled to this one night.
PDFH -- all my books in some ways -- are about power. Do you get yours from inside yourself, from the person you are and the things you believe in? Or do you steal your power by putting down or bullying others. The story started with the question: what if this power struggle had supernatural weapons. (In that way, I guess it is very much a Buffy/Joss Whedon sort of story question.)
I love that your books are infused with humor and supernatural elements. Maggie is both an intrepid girl reporter and a demon slayer - in other words, part Nancy Drew, part Buffy Summers. Which parts of Maggie resemble you?
Maggie gets to say the things I thought -- still think! -- but was too polite to say. I was a quiet girl (which surprises people, I'm sure), but in my head I was very droll, with a strong sense of the ridiculous. Not a surprise, she likes the same books and movies I do. Other than that, I'm afraid that Maggie is most like me in her flaws: she's stubborn and awkward and quick tempered. We're both very loyal to our friends and family, though.
How did Maggie get her name?
Maggie was named long before I had a story for her. She sort of developed over time in my head, and when I came up with the premise for PDFH, I knew she'd be the perfect protagonist. Only I had to take the character back in her own timeline a bit. (Which, yes, means that I know Maggie's future, though events of the books may alter it, like Marty McFly going back in time.)
Her FULL name came as a surprise to me. I didn't realize what it was until I typed it in the scene. Or, I didn't realize it consciously until that point. As writers, sometimes our subconscious is smarter than we are.
Whenever I run into people named Maggie it makes me blink. But it's not like it's an unusual name. There's a professor named Maggie Quinn who I'm sure wonders why her google-hits have gone up in recent years. I think it's funny.
The other thing that Google turns up is a lot of "Sliders" fan fiction. Apparently Maggie/Quinn is a popular pairing.
I loved Sliders. I detested Maggie. She ruined the show. Did you ever watch it? The early seasons were much better than later seasons.
Justin, FYI, is named after a rat in "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." Which seems weird unless you've read the book.
So far, you've written three books about Maggie. How many more books do you have up your sleeve? Was this always planned to be a series?
I always saw Maggie's adventures as a series, a sort of 'monster of the week' but with some deeper mystical elements. The demon in PDFH doesn't have a folklore corollary, but Hell Week and Highway to Hell do.
How did you decide upon the series title Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil?
I can't take credit for Girl vs. Evil, but I LOVE it. My editor and I were tossing ideas back and forth, and it was her suggestion. And it was perfect, because that's the whole concept in a nutshell.
Who is the artist behind the eye-catching book covers?
The covers are by an artist in New Zealand named Craig Phillips. I love his concept of Maggie. She looks so much like the image in my head. (But with better behaved hair.) As someone pointed out, she's attractive, but not supermodel gorgeous. And I love that look in her eye on the Highway to Hell cover. (Though the fuzzy dice are my favorite part.)
Check out the website of Craig Phillips. My favorite pieces other than the the covers of the Maggie Quinn books include a modern-day Emily Dickinson, the authorative cat and the clothed mice, and the reading girl - as well as the mermaid that made me think of Kiba. Back to the interview . . .
In the second Maggie book, Hell Week, sorority row was rocked and wrecked by magic. Did you ever rush or pledge? (I rush a lot, but just around, not to be Greek. I could tell you a story about an audition I had, but that's for another time.)
I was in a sorority in college. I loved my sisters, most of them, anyway, and by no means did I mean to paint an "all sororities are evil" picture. If you find a group where you fit, while being yourself, it can be great fun. That said, it was also my experience that the Greek system tends to reinforce a lot of negative gender issues. In a way, Hell Week tweaks the way sexuality is tied up with status in that system. Though usually it's the girls who get the short end of the stick, so to speak, in that deal. (End of my soapbox!)
Maggie and Lisa go on an unforgettable road trip in the third book, Highway to Hell. It was far more amusing than the time I got stranded overnight and only one person knew my location - the person who made me stranded. Have you had any memorable road trips?
My family did road trip vacations all the time. We had one of those pop-up travel trailers that we pulled behind the car. Those were great trips, and i have fantastic memories of camping with my father. He was big on storytelling, and I get that from him.
College days were full of interesting road trips, but I'm afraid I can't describe much without incriminating myself. But yes, one was a trip to South Padre Island that involved a broken down car, a stolen radio, a horrific sunburn, a broken heart, a trip to Juarez, a worm in the bottom of a bottle, and a Mexican hat dance.
In one of the shows in which I'm currently performing, I have a line that Maggie would appreciate: "You always used to draw pictures of hearses and bleeding babies and mausoleums and rotting corpses and autopsies and voodoo chickens..." at which point another character is supposed to cut me off. If she doesn't, I tack on, "...and chupacabras and..."
Hee! Awesome. The chupacabras don't get enough love.
No, no, they don't. I can thank The X-Files for exposing me to the wacky world of the chupacabra.
I hope Highway to Hell starts a new trend. Instead of vampires, books will be filled with sparkly chupacabras.
I'm involved in three productions right now. The bio at your website reveals that you "worked in theatre for years." Therefore, you must now tell me all about your theatrical experiences and career - or, at least, some favorite roles, and if you are still pursuing such endeavors.
This is funny. My favorite roles all seem to be very physical, and in some cases rather violent! Annie Sullivan from The Miracle Worker, Lili/Katherine from Kiss Me Kate, Vera Claythorne from Ten Little Indians. I think I like to get my aggression out on stage.
These starring roles sound very impressive, but this was South Texas, so... you know. A small pond. My biggest role was as the youth director in a community theatre. I taught classes for kids from kindergarden to high school. Great fodder for books. (Some day I may have to write "Stage Mothers From Hell.") We never had much money for royalties, so I wrote most of the plays we did for class and festivals. That was how I developed my ear for youthful dialogue, I think, and stories that the kids could perform, but would still be entertaining for their parents. (Which is my philosophy with my books now: appeal across ages.)
I'm not pursuing acting now. I find that being onstage fills that storytelling need; I lose some of the drive to tell a story on paper. And I like writing books, and not haven't to stay on such a rigorous diet.
Your next book, The Splendor Falls, comes out in September. The first line of the book summary reads: "Sylvie Davis is a ballerina who can't dance." I am immediately intrigued. And on pins and needles. More accurately, on releve. (No, really. I'm a dancer, so I walk on my toes often, and I'm playing a ballerina in two of my current shows.) Tell me more about it.
The Splendor Falls is, at its heart, a Gothic novel in the vein of Mary Stewart, Phyllis A. Whitney, and Barbara Michaels. It's updated for modern sensibilities, but I think still timeless. Sylvie, the heroine, goes to stay with relatives in an old Southern plantation, which is full of mysteries and ghosts, figurative and... Well, the literal part is something she has to figure out. She's grieving for both her career as a dancer and for her father. So when she starts seeing things that aren't there, and feeling this weird connection to a guy she can't possibly have met before, she's worried that depression has sent her over the deep end. There's still humor, and lots of mystery and magic and romance. (And an adorable little dog, too. I think Gigi already has a fan following.)
It sounds as though Splendor is more serious in tone than GvsE. Do you find yourself writing in a certain manner for different characters or stories, or do you feel your writing is stylistically similar from one project to another?
Yes, the tone is different, but the voice is still the same. Sylvie is in a darker place, and her sense of humor reflects that. But she still HAS a sense of humor, and she's still able to pull herself up by her bootstraps and solve her own problems. So you know it's a Rosemary Clement-Moore book. Also the dialogue is there, the quirky characters, the mysteries of the past affecting the present, all those things that are emerging as RCM elements. It's darker, but also more romantic. If it were a movie, it would have a different soundtrack. But you'd still see my hand on it.
Lightning round!
Doctor Who: Favorite Doctor?
Nine. That tortured regret, that rage still bottled up, that beatific smile in "The Doctor Dances," those ears... All of it.
Doctor Who: Favorite Companion?
Rose... not just because of her name. She was fantastic and loyal and brave and foolish. The best and worst of what the Doctor has always loved about humans.
I love the concept of time travel, but I've only seen the recent seasons of Doctor Who, as opposed to the original series and such. I've enjoyed the Ninth and Tenth, favoring the latter. Should be interesting to see what happens with the Eleventh. And yes, go Rose, for all of her fear and bravery and foolishness and daring.
BtVS: Favorite season? Characters?
I don't remember the number, but Buffy's senior year.
Season Three - that's my favorite as well.
The Mayor, Faith, Angel coming back... Though I love pieces of all the seasons. I may be alone in my love of the Glory/Dawn/Key season. Favorite characters. Buffy. Giles. Angel. Faith. Spike, up to the point he and Buffy got together, which neutered him much worse than the chip in his head. Just saying.
Go Faith! I agree that Spike was much better as the bad guy than as the love interest-slash-neutured puppy.
Cary Grant: Amazing or AMAZING? (Clearly, this is rhetorical. I grinned widely when I saw Bringing Up Baby and Arsenic and Old Lace listed as two of your favorite movies. Cary Grant is one of my top three actors of all-time, with Gene Kelly and Barbara Stanwyck.)
LOL! AMAZING! OMG, I'll watch anything with Cary Grant in it.
This made me laugh out loud, happily so, and proclaim: Ditto.
He could do comedy and drama and thrillers... all while looking so dashing.
Yes, yes, and yes. That's why I respect and enjoy his acting so much: because he could perform different styles and types of characters equally well. Some of the earliest examples of breaking the fourth wall I can recall: the book The Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood, and that moment in the movie Arsenic and Old Lace when he just looks directly at the camera. Yes.
Name ten of your all-time favorite books.
Oh, wow. I have many favorites depending on my mood, but these are ones I read over and over. My "feel good" reads when I need a pick me up.
The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle
Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper
Beat to Quarters (My favorite Horatio Hornblower novel, though I think I could put the whole series here), by C.S. Forester
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
Touch Not The Cat, by Mary Stewart
Jack, the Giant Killer, by Charles deLint
Again pulling from your website bio: Your favorite classical authors include Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott. What advice do you think Elizabeth Bennet and Jo March would offer to Maggie Quinn?
Oh, wow. Until I started thinking about this question, I never realized how much of Jo there is in Maggie. I don't think Mags is nearly as hot headed, but they're both stubborn past the point where reasonable people would change their minds. They both have ambitions that may not be where their best destiny lies. Maybe that's what Jo would tell Maggie -- Don't be so focused on your vision of your future that you don't stay open to what you're actually best at.
And Elizabeth? Obviously she'd tell her not to let her preconceived ideas keep her from seeing the truth about a person or a situation. Hmmm... That's very much akin to Jo's advice. I see a theme emerging.
Visit Rosemary's website and blog.
Make sure that you read the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil books in order:
- Prom Dates From Hell
- Hell Week
- Highway to Hell
For similar stories, check out my Funny Fantasy Novels for Kids and Teens Booklist.
Today's SBBT Schedule
Barbara O'Connor at MotherReader
James Kennedy at Fuse #8
Maggie Stiefvater at Writing & Ruminating
Rosemary Clement-Moore at Bildungsroman
Jo Knowles at lectitans
Melissa Wyatt at Chasing Ray
Want to help get books into the hands of teen boys who really need them? Learn more about the GuysLitWire Book Fair for Boys.
I first discovered Jo Knowles when I read her first book, LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL, over a year ago. It's a haunting tale of a friendship between two girls and what happens when there's a breach of trust, of abuse. In some ways--Jo's style--the way she let the characters deal with the emotional aftermath with unflinching detail, the way she was unafraid to write what was true, reminded me of one of my favorite YA authors, and I wanted to know more. Every once in awhile I would lurk on Jo's blog and find her enthusiasm, her cheeriness, to be plain refreshing.
Just last month, I had an opportunity to read the ARC for Jo's second book, JUMPING OFF SWINGS. Jo has honed her style with this book and it is so powerful. This story is told in four different voices, which we all know can be tricky, but it worked so well in this book. I could picture each teen, caught in a trap of their own making, based on one girl's decision, that ultimately changed each of their lives. Jo did a fantastic job keeping each voice, each personality distinct, drawing out the emotion, the conflict, the understanding.
Look at the awards Jo has received for her books (as taken from Jo's website):
Jumping Off Swings (Candlewick, August 2009):
-The 2002 SCBWI Work In Progress Grant for Contemporary FictionLessons From A Dead Girl (Candlewick, 2007):
-The Pen New England Children's Book Disovery Award
-A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
-A YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
-A Gold Star Award for Excellence from TeensReadToo.com
-A Georgia Peach Book Award Nominee for 2009-2010
I know you want to read these books. And here's a chance to win a copy! Candlewick Press has been kind to offer a generous Book Giveaway for Jo's books! (THIS JUST IN!!! Candlewick Press will give away 10 packages that will include a copy of LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL with an ARC of JUMPING OFF SWINGS!!!) Details at the end of the interview. Last month, I had a chance to meet Jo, very briefly, at the NESCBWI conference and for lack of a better word, she's so angelic--so sweet-tempered. Sure it was less than a couple minutes, but still, I'm a good judge of character. *grin* It made me wonder even more, how someone so delightful could write about such angst and I couldn't wait to read her answers to my questions. Wait to you read what she has to say.
Without further ado, I give you...Jo Knowles.----------------
HWM: What made you realize you wanted to write books for teens? How did you get your “break” into getting published?
Jo Knowles: I knew as an undergrad that I wanted to work in the children’s book industry, but I always thought I’d be an editor. I was particularly drawn to YA literature, so when I took a course in writing for children, I just naturally gave writing for teens a try. My instructor was so encouraging, she planted this crazy idea in my head that I could actually be a writer. So, for my master’s thesis I asked if I could write a YA novel instead of a scholarly paper. I was hooked.
As for breaks, my first big one came when I won an SCBWI Work In Progress Grant, which helped me land my agent. The second when I won the PEN New England Discovery Award, which connected me with my editor at Candlewick.
HWM: I've read that you were inspired to write LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL after you read an article about kids abusing kids. As a parent, it must have been very difficult to write. How did you keep focused so you stayed true to Laine and Leah, to your story?
Jo Knowles: After reading that article, I think Laine was just born inside my head. She came to me sitting on that bed, scared stiff and confused, and I was right there with her. We never let go of each other until I finished the story. I wrote the early draft before I became a parent, so it wasn’t really an issue. I try not to think about the reader when I’m writing those early drafts because it’s just too distracting. Don’t get me wrong, I care deeply about my readers and want to write responsibly. But I think that means writing “the truth.” When writing about difficult topics, it’s hard not to take the easy way out. But in order for the story to feel real, to be true, sometimes you’ve to go to the hard places.
HWM: What did you like about writing LESSONS?
Jo Knowles: I loved writing the first draft. The story came to me in such a strong and visceral way, that I couldn’t wait to get home from work each night to get back to Laine. It was as if she was waiting for me to help her find her way.
HWM: Your new book, JUMPING OFF SWINGS, is due to be released in August. Talk about powerful. Why did you decide to tell this story from four different viewpoints and what were your challenges?
Jo Knowles: I really wanted to explore the idea that no story is just one person’s story. We’re all affected by each other and each others’ actions. Sometimes, deeply so. I also wanted to explore how there’s always more to a person than we think. We’re all so good at compartmentalizing and then dismissing, you know? We take our first impression of someone, decide they are a certain “type” and then move on. But we’re all complex. There’s always more behind the face. Usually way more than we assumed.
HWM: This must have been another tough story to write. Why do you choose to write about such difficult topics?
Jo Knowles: Ooh, good question. I don’t think I set out to write about tough topics, but so far that’s just how it’s worked out. The stories/characters came to me and I had to write what they needed me to.
HWM: Who was the easiest character? The hardest?
Jo Knowles: In Jumping Off Swings? Hmm, I’m not sure! I think they all had their challenges. I guess my favorite character was Josh, because he kept surprising me with his big, troubled heart. I wrote the Ellie chapter first, and I really wanted to hate him, but as soon as I started writing in his voice it was clear to me there was a lot more to him than met the eye.
HWM: What type of research did you have to do for these books?
Jo Knowles: For LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL, I was actually researching something else when I came across the article that sparked the idea for the story (about kids abusing kids). For JUMPING OFF SWINGS, I had to check abortion laws and adoption practices in various states to make sure the plot would be plausible.
HWM: When did you know you had the right ending for your books?
Jo Knowles: When I could walk away from my computer screen and not feel like there was an invisible arm trying to pull me back. Or in the case of Jumping Off Swings, four invisible arms. :-)
HWM: What other projects are you working on?Jo Knowles: I recently sold my third book, PEARL, To Henry Holt. It’s about a girl who lives with her mom and grandfather, and what happens when her grandfather dies and family secrets are unleashed.
HWM: What do you like writing the most: the beginning, middle or the end of the story?
Jo Knowles: Definitely the beginning!
HWM: What is your writing process?
Jo Knowles: I really should have one by now, but it changes with every project. I’ve plunged, I’ve plotted, I’ve revised as I went. I think at this point, I know I don’t like plotting/outlining the first draft, but often in revision I’ll go back and do just that.
HWM: Describe a favorite fan moment.
Jo Knowles: Every time I hear from readers I’ve never met telling me my book helped them or changed them or made them think. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. And definitely I’ll never get tired of it.
HWM: What has been the biggest surprise of your writing career?
Jo Knowles: See my previous answer. Honestly I just wasn’t prepared for that feeling. It’s amazing.
HWM: If you could share any unique writing tip to aspiring writers, what would it be?
Jo Knowles: Keep writing. Oh wait. Unique. Hmm. That’s hard! OK, well, I think you should write what calls to you, not what you think will be the next bestseller. I know that’s not very unique advice, either. But it’s worth repeating. :-)
HWM: What was the best writing advice anyone ever gave you?
Jo Knowles: To ask myself at the end of every draft, “Is it true?” Jennifer Richard Jacobson gave me that one and it has made a world of difference.
HWM: What question do you wish other people would ask you and how would you answer it?
Jo Knowles:
Question: Can I treat you to a nice dinner?
Answer: Yes please!
HWM: If you found a way to go back to your teen years as one of your characters, who would it be and why?
Jo Knowles: I think I’m going to have to write a new book for that one because I definitely wouldn’t want to go through what any of my characters have so far. :-)
HWM: If you were a superhero, what powers would you want and why?
Jo Knowles: Superpowers scare me. But I guess if I had to choose, I would want the power to painlessly knock sense into the leaders of the world so we could stop these useless wars, get everyone on board to clean up our planet, take care of our poor, and make this world a better place for EVERYONE.
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OTHER PLACES TO FIND JO:
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Now for the FANTASTIC Book Giveaway (THIS JUST IN!!! There are 10 packages that will include a copy of LESSONS FROM A DEAD GIRL and an ARC of JUMPING OFF SWINGS), courtesy of Candlewick Press... RULES:
1. Leave a comment on a time when you felt most carefree.
2. Only one comment per person.
3. U.S. destinations only.
4. Deadline for this Book Giveaway will be next Friday, May 29th.
5. Please spread the word!
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Other SBBT interviews:
Maya Ganesan at
Miss ErinAmber Bensonat
lectitansCarolyn Hennesy at
BildungsromanJo Knowles at
HipWriterMamaSherri Winston at
Finding Wonderland
By: Vivian,
on 5/18/2009
Blog:
HipWriterMama
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Once upon a time, I introduced you to author Christopher Golden, and the rest is history. When collaborating with Chris, how do you split up the writing duties?
I like to say that I went to Christopher Golden University and got my degree in creative writing. Literally, all that I know about writing prose, I learned from Chris. When we were working on the Ghosts of Albion book, we would get on the phone and sort of break the story by going back and forth, throwing out ideas, saying yes to some, no to others. Once we'd kind of hammered down the basic storyline and the scene breakdown then one of us would write the first pass at the outline and then that would go back and forth via email until it was to everyone's liking. Finally, we would break the outline down into chapters for each of us to do. For example, I'd do Chapter one and two, send 'em to Chris and he'd do a pass on them then do Chapters three and four. He would send everything back to me, I'd do a pass on three and four and then write five and six. It would go like that until the whole book was done.
Your newest book, Death's Daughter, is your first solo novel. You've said that the main character, Calliope, popped into your brain fully-formed and ready to go. Did she tell you her plans for all three books in the series at once, or did the story arc unfold as you wrote the first book?
I had originally planned one book for Callie. It was actually Ginjer who read the outline and the first ten chapters and said that there was a whole lot more Callie to write about, so we'd better do a trilogy. I was a bit scared by the enormity of writing three books, but I loved the idea. In the end, I decided that it would be kind of cool to model the trilogy on Dante's "Divine Comedy" - not that what I'm writing is literature, per se. It's really more of a fun, fast read. So, the first book takes place in Hell, the second in Purgatory and the third in Heaven.
Though the Calliope books are for adults and your next book, The New Newbridge Academy, is for kids, they loosely tie together: Calliope went to that school! Is this a stand-alone book or a series? Will this be for a YA audience or for the younger crowd, ages 8-12?
Yes, The New Newbridge Academy is loosely connected to the Calliope Reaper-Jones novels. The series takes place where Callie attended boarding school, but the story in this book actually centers around her best friend, Noh, and her first summer at the school. It's a middle grade book, so it definitely skews a lot younger than "Death's Daughter", but I think it's just as fun of a read. At the moment, we're just doing the one book, but there is definitely hope for more, so keep your fingers crossed.
Tell me more about Drones, the movie you co-directed with Adam Busch. (...and tell Adam that I said hi!)
"Drones" is an indie feature that I co-directed with Adam Busch in Baton Rouge, LA, written by our friends, Ben Acker and Ben Blacker and starring Jonathan Woodward and Samm Levine. I think the best way to describe it is that it's an ensemble office comedy with supernatural undertones - and a lot of very witty dialogue. Now that we're in post-production, I have to say that I am getting mighty proud of how it's all turning out.
You've written screenplays, stage plays, novels, comics, and more. Do you approach each medium differently? Which, if any, do you find the easiest - or the hardest?
I think I approach each medium in pretty much the same way: I just jump in feet first. I come up with a story and then I do a beat breakdown . When I'm working on a screenplay or a comicbook, I have to allow for stage directions and panel info/actions, but otherwise the writing process is very similar. I think that writing screenplays and comicbooks comes the most easily to me. Prose is definitely the hardest and most time intensive medium that I work in.
What are you currently working on?
I am finishing up the post-production on Drones with Adam, writing the third Calliope Reaper Jones novel and finishing up my last pass on The New Newbridge Academy.
How do you balance all of your acting, writing, and directing projects with some semblance of a normal life?
I guess I work in two different ways. Sometimes I'm just inspired to write a story and I'll sit down and not leave my computer until it's done. When I'm writing something that I was contracted to write, I treat the writing more like a job. I make myself sit down and write for a few hours each day, usually until I've gotten about 1500 to 2000 words on the page.
What keeps you grounded?
Reading is definitely the thing that keeps me sane. As far as staying grounded, I guess I'm just one of those people who is happiest when I'm busy. I don't do well with time on my hands. I always say that I need a vacation, but frankly, I'd probably be bored.
How has your acting informed your writing, and vice-versa?
I think that being an actor makes a writer more sensitive to dialogue - at least, I hope it does! :)
Which books or writers have most influenced your own writing style?
I think Neil Gaiman, Charlaine Harris and Christopher Moore are definitely writers whose work inspires me and informs my own writing.
What are your ten favorite books of all time?
1. The Idiot
2. The Secret History
3. The Wasp Factory
4. Pride and Prejudice
5. The Master and Margarita
6. The Westing Game
7. The Harry Potter Books
8. The Alienest
9. Only Forward
10. The Journey To The East
Learn more about Amber Benson at The Essence of Amber website
Visit Calliope Reaper-Jones at http://www.deathsdaughter.com
Read my 2005 interview with Amber Benson and Christopher Golden.
Today's SBBT Schedule
Andrew Mueller at Chasing Ray
Kekla Magoon at Fuse #8
Carrie Jones at Writing & Ruminating
Amber Benson at Bildungsroman
Greg van Eekhout at Shaken & Stirred
Learn more about the GuysLitWire Book Fair for Boys.
I have to do a ridiculously abridged post because I need to be at work shortly, and yet cannot shirk my posting responsibility entirely. So...
From my Facebook update, I can let you know that I survived the camping trip. No rain the first evening and night. One thunderstorm the second afternoon, then rain the second evening and overnight. So, I’m seeing the rain gauge as half full.
From the Summer Blog Blast Tour, I can tell you that it starts today with many great author at many great blogs that I don’t have the time to list and code for you. In the meantime, I’ll point you to the master of ceremonies, Chasing Ray with the full schedule.
From the 48 Hour Book Challenge, sign-ups are going great and will continue up to the last minute... because “Last Minute” is my middle name. (Which makes filling out official forms a real bitch.)
And last minute is exactly how I’m leaving for work now.
The Summer Blog Blast Tour 2009 starts tomorrow, May 18th! I'm so excited. I have two special guests: Jo Knowles on Tuesday and Kristin Cashore on Friday. You must come and read about their writing process, books, writing advice and MORE!!
Below is the interview schedule for the tour.
Colleen Mondor did a fantastic job organizing this event. We have wonderful authors and I know you'll all learn something new. See you on the tour!
Monday, May 18thAndrew Mueller at Chasing Ray
Kekla Magoon at Fuse Number 8
Carrie Jones at Writing & Ruminating
Amber Benson at Little Willow
Greg van Eekhout at Shaken & Stirred
Tuesday, May 19thMaya Ganesan at Miss Erin
Sherri Winston at Finding Wonderland
Amber Benson at lectitans
Carolyn Hennesy at Little Willow
Jo Knowles at HipWriterMamaWednesday, May 20thBarbara O'Conner at Mother Reader
James Kennedy at Fuse Number 8
Maggie Stiefvater at Writing & Ruminating
Rosemary Clement-Moore at Little Willow
Jo Knowles at lectitans
Melissa Wyatt at Chasing Ray
Thursday, May 21stSiobhan Vivian at Miss Erin
Alma Alexander at Finding Wonderland
Laurel Snyder at Shaken & Stirred
Cindy Pon at The Ya Ya Yas
Thalia Chaltas at Little Willow
Friday May 22ndJenny Davidson at Chasing Ray
Rebecca Stead at Fuse Number 8
Ryan Mecum at Writing and Ruminating
Lauren Myracle at Little Willow
Kristin Cashore at HipWriterMama
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In case you're looking for a way to help out to different causes, here are two great ones. Spread the word or donate--either way helps a great deal. Thank you!
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Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I suspect that many of you out there have not heard of Mary Hooper. I'm not holding it against you...but I do think that you ought to pay some attention to her latest title, Newes from the Dead. Especially if you are in front of teens searching for good historical fiction. Or any teens, really, this one is a cinch to book talk. Just TRY and keep them from tearing it out of your hands after a good book talk. And not to say that MY booktalk is that good, but here's what I said in my review:
"Anne Green wakes up in the dark. She can't move. She can't see and she can't cry out. Her last memory is that of being hanged for a crime she did not commit. As she relives the events that led to her execution, there are people gathering around her motionless body. These people aren't her loving family assembled for her funeral, but doctors and students preparing to dissect her for science...The best part? It's based on true events from 1650."
Well, at least it worked on Erin and Sarah Miller (damn. linked to her again. I must stop.).
So, peaked by interest and my life-long love of historical fiction, I was lucky to interview her:
1. Is this the first time your main character has been based on a real person? How is writing historically based people different than characters you create? I imagine that it’s more constraining.
I love using real people (Nell Gwyn, Dr Dee, the wicked Earl of Rochester, Aphra Benn and so on) because then you can think: these people actually existed, it could really and truly have happened like this. And I quite enjoy being constrained, or otherwise the choices for the ways people can act can become too great and you (the writer, I mean) can get bewildered.
(Jac says: Way to be ignorant, Jac. Nice.)
2. You’ve written books set around this time period before. I know you researched Anne Green’s life, but was there a new approach that you needed to take to set the piece in the world that concerned Anne?
This was the first time I’d based an entire book on a real-life incident, so I wanted it to be as accurate as possible. As, however, there were (at least) three different pamphlets about Anne printed in 1650, I decided to take the most interesting and amazing bits from each, rather than use a pamphlet in its entirety. I knew next to nothing about life under Cromwell, so there was this aspect to investigate, too.
3. READER: WARNING, DO NOT EAT WHILE READING THIS NEXT BIT:
“…a crone wearing heavy leg irons who’d been hunched into a far corner was found to be dead – and to have been dead for some days, too, for when they went to move her, it was discovered that her legs had quite rotted away from her body” p 147.
EW. SERIOUSLY. EW. I’m assuming that really happened. Did you find an account of it? It is the single sentence that most convinces the reader (ok, me) of how ghastly conditions were at that time. In my opinion it’s the single most horrifying sentence in the book - and there were some grisly events. What else can you tell us about prisons, and that lovely piece of imagery, that might not have made it into the novel?
I found an account of such a thing when I was researching Clink Prison (in Southwark, London) for The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose. It was too ghastly for Eliza, which is for a slightly younger readership, so I saved it up! I think the most fantastical thing about prisons at that time is that, if you were rich enough, you could live the life of Riley and come and go from your furnished private prison apartment as you liked. If you were poor, however, you’d be lucky to survive a hot summer what with dysentery, gaol fever, lice and worms. (Is that grisly enough for you?)
(Jac says: Yep. Plenty. Readers, how about you? Ghastly enough?)
4. I’d be interested in a novel that focused on Robert, or at least featured him. Any chance of that happening? I felt his story wasn’t finished.
Um…I have not attempted a whole book from a man’s point of view. Something else would have to happen to Robert to enable him to star in his own book.
5. Anne was repeatedly struck in the chest both while hanging and while on the dissection table (from the original pamphlet appended: “…a lusty fellow that stood by, he [thinking to do an act of charity in ridding her out of the small reliques of a painful life] stamped several times on her breast and stomach with all the force he could” p 2 of the appendix.) did you find any evidence or conjecture that suggested that they may have inadvertently kept her heart going by those actions?
Good thinking! This hadn’t occurred to me and I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere before now. Maybe it’s possible that this did happen.
(Jac says: I'm fascinated with archaic medicine. Go leeches!)
6. Anne was a victim of a grossly unjust law that targeted poor women – at what point did that law change? And how?
Although the law didn’t actually change until 1803, I get the feeling that once the Monarchy was restored in 1660, the world gradually became more enlightened and this patently unjust law was not applied so rigorously. (I have absolutely no proof of this so feel free to correct me if I‘m wrong).
(Jac says: Makes sense to me.)
7. You’ve written about the same number of historical novels for teens as you have contemporary. Besides the added burden of research, what makes writing the two genres different? Which is harder for you?
Oh, it’s not a burden at all! It’s the best bit. The planning, plotting, agonising and actual writing are the burdens, but research is the bit where you discover all the wonderful things that are going to bring your story to life. This is where I discovered that Christopher Wren was present at the “dissection” and that Charles I chose Sir Thomas Reade’s house to say goodbye to his queen in.
What makes them different? Modern YA novels, to make them authentic, should include stuff about Blackberries, ipods, text messaging and mobile phones. Yawn.
(Jac says: Yawn, indeed.)
Historical novels, meanwhile, can have dashing highwaymen, glamorous mistresses of kings, quack doctors, quaint customs, crystallised rose petals and frost fairs. No contest! I now find it much more difficult to make a modern novel compelling, and intend to stick to historicals.
(Jac says: Now that's more like it!)
8. I’ve noticed that most of your historical novels are primarily set in the 1600s. What is it about that era that appeals to you most? Are there other time periods that interest you?
I particularly like the Restoration period, when the monarch regained the throne and everyone went a bit mad with relief. Of course, two major incidents happened during this time on consecutive years: the Great Plague in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666, so they are a bit of a gift to an historical writer. I intend to write a Victorian Gothic novel next, so that period is about to interest and enthral me.
(Jac says: Victorian Gothic?! Fantastic!)
9. Are there any British writers for teens that you think Americans should pay attention to?
Anne Cassidy (Looking for JJ) writes great, gritty crime novels.
(Jac says: That pic comes from the British stage adaptation!)
10. What would you recommend to teen fans that liked Newes from the Dead?
My other historicals, for a start! And Celia Rees’s Witch Child if you haven’t already read it.
Thank You Mary Hooper!
The Rest of your Friday SBBT:
Varian Johnson at Finding Wonderland
Jincy Willett at Shaken & Stirred
John Grandits at Writing & Ruminating
Meg Burden at Bookshelves of Doom
Gary D. Schmidt at Miss Erin
Javaka Steptoe at Seven Impossible Things
Ask me what my three favorite books of 2008 are so far, and I'll tell you, in no particular order, they are Paper Towns by John Green, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart, and The Adoration of Jenna Fox by today's SBBT interviewee, the awesome Mary Pearson.
Carlie: Your latest book, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, is a big departure from your previous work, A ROOM ON LORELEI STREET. What inspired you to create Jenna
and her futuristic world?
Mary: I think all of my books are a departure from the previous ones, but this one did actually make a time jump to about fifty years in the future so I guess that does make it a bit unique from all the others. A couple of questions were the motivating sparks for this story: How far will medicine advance fifty years from now, and also, how far would a parent go to save their child?
I asked myself both of these questions several years ago when my own daughter was diagnosed with cancer. After I got over the initial shock of her diagnosis, I quickly became grateful that there was such good treatment available for the type of cancer she had because just fifty years earlier she probably would have died from it. And that led me to wonder what treatments might be available in another fifty years. And then while she underwent treatment at the hospital I saw a lot of children who were going through even more intense and longer treatments, and not just what these kids were going through but what their parents were going through too. Again, it made me wonder how much a parent would be willing to put their child through in order to save their life. How far would I be willing to go?
These were just wonderings--not ideas for a book--but I think the questions that niggle at our hearts have a way of surfacing in our work. And a few years later exploring these questions through another family and a different situation gave me the safe distance that I needed. Of course, Jenna's family and situation were unique and the story took on a life of its own with new
questions and themes emerging as the story unfolded. I think many of these questions are timeless ones that we all revisit throughout our lives. What makes us human? What makes me, me? How am I different? Do I fit in? Am I enough? The particulars of this story also gave me a lot of opportunity to explore the gray areas of science and ethics, spirituality, morality, and choices. I think we all imagine what choices we would make in an impossible situation,
but until we are actually facing it, I am not sure we can ever really be sure of the paths we will take.
Carlie: Wow, that was incredibly informative! Thank you for sharing that with us. What are your plans for future books?
Mary: I have a finished manuscript that I recently sent off to my editor that I will probably begin revisions on in June for publication in Fall '09. It's a larger than life type of story about four teens who take off on an unauthorized road trip. It's fun and outrageous, and again, a departure from my other books. After the intensity of my last two I think I needed something like that.
Carlie: Now for some fun: Finish this sentence: People might be surprised if they knew I was good at...
Mary: Roof repairs. Actually, I'm the handy person around the house. I grew up with a dad who could fix anything and never met a tool he didn't like, so taking my dad's lead I will attempt almost anything. I remember when a tree branch fell through our roof and when I went to Home Depot for supplies the sales guy took one look at me and said, "you'll never be able to fix it." Ha!
That was the wrong thing to say to me. After that I think I would have fixed it myself if I had to cut each shingle with my teeth.
Thank you for your wonderful answers, Mary! We'll all be looking forward to your next book.
Ok, that last part isn't entirely true. But first, your schedule:
Thursday
Elisha Cooper at Chasing Ray
Dar Williams at Fuse Number 8
Jennifer Bradbury at Bildungsroman
E. Lockhart at The YA YA YAs
Mary Hooper at Miss Erin
Charles R. Smith at Writing and Ruminating
Mary Pearson at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Friday
Varian Johnson at Finding Wonderland
Jincy Willett at Shaken & Stirred
John Grandits at Writing & Ruminating
Meg Burden at Bookshelves of Doom
Gary D. Schmidt at Miss Erin
Javaka Steptoe at Seven Impossible Things
Mary Hooper at Interactive Reader
Right, and now on to the meme. Sarah Miller. I really need to stop linking to her so much. Sarah: stop being funny. There. That should help. But really, can I help it if she tags me with these things?
Everyone seems to have done this whilst (don't you love that word?) I lived under that rock. It was a cozy rock. Softer than you think. Surprisingly clean. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Okaaay. Now that the crazy has past...on to the official blah-de-blahs before we get to the meme part.
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read the player's blog. (this, will probably not be met by Jackie. Because she's lazy.)
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer (Sarah? Are you paying attention? 'Cause I might forget this step.).
What were you doing five years ago?
Er. May 2003. Waiting for my acceptance into Library School. Working 2 jobs and an internship. Not sleeping much.
What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
1. Be on time for work.
2. Get the post in to ForeWord.
3. Worry incesently that the ForeWord post will be no good.
4. Call kids who've filled out the volunteer apps and convince them they should be on my Teen Advisory Board.
5. Not kill the patrons.
What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Anything chickpea/garbanzo bean related.
2. Bread
3. Cheese
4. Chocolate
5. ice cream
What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?
1. Start a foundation specifically for teen services in libraries; especially the creation of teen spaces in them and collection expansion.
2. Travel the world.
3. Pay for friends and family to travel with me. It's more fun that way.
4. Take a good long sabbatical from a paycheck-driven life just to see what would happen.
5. Save for retirement, 'cause we SO can't count on social security.
What are five of your bad habits?
1. procrastination
2. being late
3. laying in bed too long in the morning (are we sensing a theme?)
4. Driving Kyle crazy with my need for cleanliness bordering on sterility
5. Not being a productive as I think I should be.
What are five places where you have lived?
1. Muskegon, MI
2. Grand Rapids, MI
3. Allendale, MI
4. Spokane, WA
5. Seattle, WA
What are five jobs you've had?
1. Outdoor Ice Rink/pond Monitor
2. Receptionist
3. Optician
4. Adult Librarian
5. Teen Librarian
The good, the unlucky, the tagged:
Let's get out of the kidlitosphere. Shane. Kyle. Dan. Angie. Kip.
E. Lockhart is a favorite of both teens and teen fiction reading adults. In just a couple of years, she’s written a number of fabulous books, books that are sometimes funny, sometimes painful, but always smart. With two books published this year, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks and How to Be Bad (with Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski), and the How to Be Bad book tour going on right now, we’re grateful that she took the time to answer our questions.
Can you describe your writing process? Where do you get the ideas for your characters and plots?
I can describe it, but I fear I will describe it badly. I write most weekday mornings for several hours, and in the swing of a project aim for 1500 words a day. I revise as I go. I revise a lot. I make outlines but fail to follow them.
I don’t really know where my ideas come from. I suddenly think of something as I’m typing.
I do read a lot, and the reading influences my work. Recently I was influenced by a Betty Crocker book on cake decoration. For The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by books on college pranks and urban exploration.
The Publishers Weekly review of How to Be Bad says that Vicks “is less aloof than the author’s usual protagonist, and more congenial.” Do you consider your protagonists aloof? If so, do you consciously make them aloof? If not, how would you describe them?
I think most of my characters are spilling their guts out. Roo in The Boyfriend List etc. with her panic attacks and neurotic trains of thought. Sadye in Dramarama with her devastated ego and her unwanted opinions. But true, Frankie in Disreputable History is indeed aloof, because she’s keeping so many secrets. And Gretchen Kaufman Yee in Fly on the Wall is aloof with boys because she hasn’t figured out how to break through and connect with them — that’s her journey in the book.
Vicks in How to Be Bad is a gut-spiller — but she’s also less privileged than my usual protagonists. She works the griddle at Waffle House. She’s a 6th child with 5 older brothers. Her parents are electricians. Maybe the relative privilege of my other characters (such as Frankie Landau-Banks and Ruby Oliver, both of whom go to elite prep schools) makes them seem aloof to some readers?
Your characters seem to be trying to fit in or trying to figure out how to fit in. Do you think we ever learn how to fit in or that we just get old and stop caring about fitting in?
Really?
Really, really?
I suppose that’s true of Roo, but I don’t think of it as true for Frankie or Gretchen or Sadye or Demi or Vicks. I think of all of those characters as in serious conflict with authority over what constitutes good art, fair treatment, acceptable sexual behavior — and so on.
Myself, I’ve given up caring about fitting in. Most of the time.
You wrote How to Be Bad with Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski. Is this the first time you’ve co-written a book? What was the experience like? Intimidating? Liberating?
I actually co-wrote my first book, about 1000 years ago. But usually I am a lone ranger.
Writing How to Be Bad was pretty much sheer fun. Lauren and Sarah were adorable and funny and we never harshed on each other’s work until several drafts in — we started with praise, praise and more praise.
I also liked it because other people wrote a lot of my book for me. It would go away for two weeks and come back longer! Awesome.
Copies of The Boy Book have been stolen from each of our libraries. What makes this book so appealing that teens love to steal it?
It has lessons on the care and maintenance of boobs, what to wear when you’re going to be making out with someone, and things to say to men who shout cat-calls at you! People need to use that thing for some serious reference!
That said, I hope readers realize that the advice entries in The Boy Book are supposed to be written by inexperienced and possibly mentally unstable teenagers, not by any authoritative grown-up who knows about these things for real.
Jolene loved Fly on the Wall and thinks it would make a great teen movie. Are there plans to turn any of your books into a movie?
Thanks, Jolene. How would they do the fly so that we could all relate to it? This is my big question. Also, how to show gherkins without showing gherkins? A conundrum much more easily solved in print than in film, eh?
No film plans yet.
Trisha says that she wishes Fly on the Wall was around when she was a teen, and that she would have been smart enough to read it. What book do you wish you had read as a teen, whether or not it had actually been published back then? What kind of reader were you as a teen?
Thank you! I read all the YA classics as a younger teen — Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton, Paul Zindel, M.E. Kerr — and I’m very grateful for them. Later I read Piers Anthony and Tom Robbins and Douglas Adams. I think the book that would have helped me most as a teen, had it existed and had I been smart enough to read it, would be The Beauty Myth, by Naomi Wolfe.
In The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, Frankie infiltrates The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. Are you or were you ever in a secret club? And if you had to make up a secret club, what would it be like?
Like I’m going to post the answer to that first question on the internet!
To be honest, I’m not a joiner. If there are going to be group meetings of any kind, I don’t want to go. This is probably one of my weaknesses as a human, but there you are. So I wouldn’t have a club. I think probably the people in secret clubs aren’t novelists. They are presidents of things, maybe?
The panopticon is an important concept in The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. How did you first learn about the panopticon and is it something you always intended to explore in a novel?
I have a doctorate in English literature and I learned about it in grad school, reading Foucault. I never ever thought I would use it. I just put it into Disreputable History one day, without planning to do so — and it fit, and there it was, and then it became an important part of the book.
What is your favorite neglected positive?
Petuous. Meaning careful. Neglected positive of impetuous.
What projects are you working on now?
The third book about Ruby Oliver, follow-up to The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book. It’ll come out in Fall 09! Tentative title: The Treasure Map of Boys. I can tell you this much: There are pygmy goats. There are a lot of baked goods. Jackson is still up to stuff. There’s a lot of Noel. Birkenstocks figure seriously in the plot. Beyond that, my lips are sealed.
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions!
Thank you so much for having me!
And the rest of today’s SBBT interviews are:
Elisha Cooper at Chasing Ray
Dar Williams at A Fuse #8 Production
Jennifer Bradbury at Bildungsroman
Mary Hooper at Miss Erin
Charles R. Smith at Writing and Ruminating
Mary Pearson at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Mary Hooper at Interactive Reader
Tuesday & Wednesday's SBBT:
Tuesday
Ben Towle at Chasing Ray
Sean Qualls at Fuse Number 8
Susane Colasanti at Bildungsroman
Robin Brande at Hip Writer Mama
Susan Beth Pfeffer at The YA YA YAs
Debby Garfinkle at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Jennifer Lynn Barnes at Writing and Ruminating
Wednesday
Delia Sherman at Chasing Ray
Ingrid Law at Fuse Number 8
Polly Dunbar at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Tera Lynn Childs at Bildungsroman
Siena Cherson Siegel at Miss Erin
Barry Lyga at At Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Also, if you could be so kind as to check out this plea from Cybils Queen Anne. She's having some difficulty getting prizes to a handful of winners, and would love some help.
Last year, Colleen from Chasing Ray organized a series of author interviews which were posted at various blogs over the course of a week. It was dubbed the Summer Blog Blast Tour, or SBBT for short, and it definitely was a blast. The SBBT led to the Winter Blog Blast Tour, which was also successful.
Now it's time for the second SBBT. Here at Bildungsroman, I'll be posting all-new interviews with Susane Colasanti, Tera Lynn Childs, and Jennifer Bradbury in turn on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
SBBT 2008 Schedule
(schedule created by Colleen; links gathered and coded by Kelly F.)
Monday, May 19th
Adam Rex at Fuse #8
David Almond at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
R.L. Lafevers at Finding Wonderland
Dave Schwartz at Shaken & Stirred
Elizabeth Scott at Bookshelves of Doom
Laurie Halse Anderson at Writing & Ruminating
Susan Beth Pfeffer at Interactive Reader
Tuesday, May 20th
Ben Towle at Chasing Ray
Sean Qualls at Fuse #8
Susane Colasanti at Bildungsroman
Robin Brande at HipWriterMama
Susan Beth Pfeffer at The YA YA YAs
Debby Garfinkle at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Wednesday, May 21st
Delia Sherman at Chasing Ray
Ingrid Law at Fuse #8
Polly Dunbar at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Tera Lynn Childs at Bildungsroman
Siena Cherson Siegel at Miss Erin
Barry Lyga at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Thursday, May 22nd
Elisha Cooper at Chasing Ray
Dar Williams at Fuse #8
Jennifer Bradbury at Bildungsroman
E. Lockhart at The YA YA YAs
Mary Hooper at Miss Erin
Friday, May 23rd
Varian Johnson at Finding Wonderland
Jincy Willet at Shaken & Stirred
John Grandits at Writing & Ruminating
Meg Burden at Bookshelves of Doom
Gary D. Schmidt at Miss Erin
Many thanks to all of the authors and bloggers involved in the SBBT, with special kudos to Colleen.
Or, at least, the Summer Blog Blast Tour of 08?
Organized once again by Chasing Ray, here is the schedule:
Monday
Adam Rex at Fuse Number 8
David Almond at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast
R.L. Lafevers at Finding Wonderland
Dave Schwartz at Shaken & Stirred
Elizabeth Scott at Bookshelves of Doom
Laurie Halse Anderson at Writing & Ruminating
Susan Beth Pfeffer at Interactive Reader
Tuesday
Ben Towle at Chasing Ray
Sean Qualls at Fuse Number 8
Susane Colasanti at Bildungsroman
Robin Brande at Hip Writer Mama
Susan Beth Pfeffer at The YA YA YAs
Debby Garfinkle at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Jennifer Lynn Barnes at Writing and Ruminating
Wednesday
Delia Sherman at Chasing Ray
Ingrid Law at Fuse Number 8
Polly Dunbar at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Tera Lynn Childs at Bildungsroman
Siena Cherson Siegel at Miss Erin
Barry Lyga at At Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
Thursday
Elisha Cooper at Chasing Ray
Dar Williams at Fuse Number 8
Jennifer Bradbury at Bildungsroman
E. Lockhart at The YA YA YAs
Mary Hooper at Miss Erin
Charles R. Smith at Writing and Ruminating
Friday
Varian Johnson at Finding Wonderland
Jincy Willet at Shaken & Stirred
John Grandits at Writing & Ruminating
Meg Burden at Bookshelves of Doom
Gary D. Schmidt at Miss Erin
Javaka Steptoe at Seven Impossible Things
I thought you might like to see the latest completed picture from Lucia's potty challenge. For each day that Lucia goes without wetting her trousers, she gets a picture of her choice in one of the windows. The windows in the two turrets are reserved for night-time challenges.
Here is a partial list of the people she's requested for her windows. Can you spot them?
A robber (inspired by Audrey
Some of you may remember my attempts to potty-train Lucia during Mother Reader's 48 Hour Book Challenge and my search for a patron saint of potty-training. My daughter now uses the potty consistently. The next challenge is getting her to go consistently to the bathroom before it becomes an emergency.
Bede and I were inspired by the Advent calendar as an incentive for Lucia to use the potty even
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Thanks for the great interview–I’m really looking forward to reading this.
I was happy to find this already on order at my library–can’t wait to see more of the beautiful art, and read a very intriguing-sounding book!
I have heard SO MUCH about this book, and can’t wait to get my hands on it. I’m always excited when fantasy uses mythologies other than Eurocentric ones, so yay!
Thanks for a great interview! Silver Phoenix looks great and I can’t wait to read it.
thanks, everyone!
do comment for freebies featuring
my chinese brush art. yay!
ah amm cahmmenting wif muh mouf full… great read. Definitely makes you hungry for more.
Awesome! I’m glad to know about this book – it sounds great. And the cover is truly stunning.
High on my pile of to-reads for the summer. Congratulations, Cindy! Great interview.