I knew Sara was going to be a lot of fun to work with and promote at our library from the very first time I peeked at her blog and websites after reading Sweethearts. The questions that follow come from book club members, students who wrote in during National Library Week, and library staff -- bet you can't guess which question comes from me. Thank you SO MUCH, Sara -- you've gone above and beyond for our library and our students!
The question you probably hear the most comes first: What inspires you to write?
There's a quote that I think comes from Flannery O'Connor, and it's something like, "The only adequate response to a work of art is another work of art." I'm inspired by great music, books, movies, paintings, dance... Engaging with something artistic gets me itching to create something of my own. In terms of actual story ideas inspiring me enough to do the work, I've found that the best way for my brain to come up with ideas is if it's sort of blank for awhile---the kind of blank you get on a long drive, or staring out a bus window, or sitting on the porch doing nothing.
What's the most challenging part of writing books? Do you find it a challenge in general, or have you found ways of making it easy?
It's never easy. When I finished my first book, I thought it would get easier after that. It doesn't. Every book requires something different and I always feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I think one of the most challenging parts is having the discpline to do what I describe in my answer to #1. It's weird that doing nothing would require discipline, but with so much technology available all the time it actually takes a lot for me to say, okay, now I'm going to stare into space for awhile and not check my email or look at my cell phone or text my husband or see what's on my DVR. I think I've developed ADD over the past 10 years because of all the technology, and now I have to force myself to daydream, which is something that used to come so naturally.
The SPOILER QUESTION: Those of us who read Sweethearts really want to know – why did things have to almost come full circle again for Jenna and Cameron, specifically their separation at the end?
I got a fanmail the other day from a reader who had loved the book, but wondered by Jenna and Cameron had to end up being miserable instead of happy. Here's my answer: I don't see them or their ending as miserable at all. They came back together in high school, and resolved what they could resolve, and were strengthened by their re-connection - strengthened to do what they each needed to do in their individual lives. And this time, even if it's a little delayed, Cameron says goodbye and we're assured that Jenna will always know how to find him. I'm convinced they'll always be important in one another's lives, and will always be there for each other when they need to. I just couldn't see, given who they each are and their histories, any way to make it realistic for them to end up together in the traditional way we think of love. But that's one of the things I wanted to explore in the book---the different kinds of love we can have for people, and the complicated, difficult, important relationships that we start to form as we move into adulthood
How do you find the discipline and patience for the process of writing-and-rewriting? What helps you revise what's already finished?
I wish I knew! Every time I finish a book and all the revising is done, I kind of look at it and go, Wow, how'd I do that? It's a little bit of a miracle every time. My editor is a huge help, of course, because when I'm satisfied with something the way it is she pushes me to do better. She's like a coach who has seen my potential and will never let me come in under the bar. Deadlines help a lot. The fact that I've been paid and I have to get this book done or else give back the money helps. Knowing that even though when I'm on mile 17 of the marathon it's really painful and I want to quit (hey, 17 miles is darn good!), ultimately I'll be happier if I go all the way helps. Before I sold a book, my competitive spirit and desire to be published was what drove me.
You've said before that you had some difficulty with your early efforts to get published. What changes did you make that made the biggest difference between your early efforts and the successes of your two books to follow?
Part of it was just time and patience and practice. When you do something for ten years and seek out advice and criticism and help, you naturally get better. When I wrote the first draft of what became Story of a Girl, I knew that it would be the book I'd never give up on. I'd written three books before that and didn't stick with them the way I did with Story. My passion for that story and those characters helped push me across the divide between unpublished and published. One of the best things I did while writing that book was join a writers group. Everyone in the group was a better writer than me, and I learned a ton and also felt like I had something to prove---that I belonged there. My writing improved by leaps and bounds during that time.
If you weren't a writer, what job would you most love to have?
It would still have to be some form of storytelling, so I'd love to either be a singer/songwriter or a writer/director.
Have you ever considered writing a series? On that note – what are you thinking of writing about next after Sweethearts? (The series idea is only sort of a hint, we swear.)
I had an idea for a series once, about kids in a high school drama department. But a series is a big commitment. What if you get sick of the characters? Maybe someday. Right now I'm working on my third book for Little, Brown and it's a bit different in style and tone from my first two, but still realistic fiction.
What books meant the most to you as a teenager? What are your favorite books now?
Young adult fiction was sort of in a golden age when I was a teen in the eighties. There wasn't nearly as much of it as there is now, but what was there was new and innovative and really, really good. I loved Robert Cormier and M.E. Kerr, particularly. I still read a ton of YA, and realistic fiction is still my favorite. I also try to read poetry (it helps keep my brain in shape for thinking about language in different ways), and I like adult fiction that is realistic and not too overwrought with useless description. In other words, I like adult fiction that's like YA fiction, but with adult characters! Tom Perrotta or Anne Tyler, for example.
The OTHER SPOILER QUESTION: So much of your first two books are all about teenagers who have new identities they either build or have thrust upon them, and how those images may be only part of the truth. Why do these questions of identity appeal to you as writing topics/as good YA topics of interest?
Identity is the fundamental issue we grapple with our whole lives, I think. We're born into a family and get our identity from that family. Then somewhere along the way---usually in adolescence---we struggle with and against that identity. That continues at least through college, and for me through my twenties and into my early thirties. I might be finally figuring some things out now, but then when I get to my forties will I have a midlife identity crisis? And then beyond that, in my sixties and seventies when I start thinking about the end of life, will I have another identity change? Who we are, who we believe ourselves to be, the way others see us, what we project vs. what we feel inside...all of those things contain so much drama. In adolescence, the drama is really compressed and exacerbated by physical change and all the decisions you have to start making that you never made before, and that's just a simmering cauldron of dramatic potential!
Finally: If you could tell your teenaged self some things about your life as a writer now, what would you say?
Don't be afraid. Not of failure, not of success, not of trying new things. You really can't fail at this---the only failure would be not trying at all. Also: watch less TV and stare into space more.
That's it! Thanks again, so much!
Thank you!
The question you probably hear the most comes first: What inspires you to write?
There's a quote that I think comes from Flannery O'Connor, and it's something like, "The only adequate response to a work of art is another work of art." I'm inspired by great music, books, movies, paintings, dance... Engaging with something artistic gets me itching to create something of my own. In terms of actual story ideas inspiring me enough to do the work, I've found that the best way for my brain to come up with ideas is if it's sort of blank for awhile---the kind of blank you get on a long drive, or staring out a bus window, or sitting on the porch doing nothing.
What's the most challenging part of writing books? Do you find it a challenge in general, or have you found ways of making it easy?
It's never easy. When I finished my first book, I thought it would get easier after that. It doesn't. Every book requires something different and I always feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I think one of the most challenging parts is having the discpline to do what I describe in my answer to #1. It's weird that doing nothing would require discipline, but with so much technology available all the time it actually takes a lot for me to say, okay, now I'm going to stare into space for awhile and not check my email or look at my cell phone or text my husband or see what's on my DVR. I think I've developed ADD over the past 10 years because of all the technology, and now I have to force myself to daydream, which is something that used to come so naturally.
The SPOILER QUESTION: Those of us who read Sweethearts really want to know – why did things have to almost come full circle again for Jenna and Cameron, specifically their separation at the end?
I got a fanmail the other day from a reader who had loved the book, but wondered by Jenna and Cameron had to end up being miserable instead of happy. Here's my answer: I don't see them or their ending as miserable at all. They came back together in high school, and resolved what they could resolve, and were strengthened by their re-connection - strengthened to do what they each needed to do in their individual lives. And this time, even if it's a little delayed, Cameron says goodbye and we're assured that Jenna will always know how to find him. I'm convinced they'll always be important in one another's lives, and will always be there for each other when they need to. I just couldn't see, given who they each are and their histories, any way to make it realistic for them to end up together in the traditional way we think of love. But that's one of the things I wanted to explore in the book---the different kinds of love we can have for people, and the complicated, difficult, important relationships that we start to form as we move into adulthood
How do you find the discipline and patience for the process of writing-and-rewriting? What helps you revise what's already finished?
I wish I knew! Every time I finish a book and all the revising is done, I kind of look at it and go, Wow, how'd I do that? It's a little bit of a miracle every time. My editor is a huge help, of course, because when I'm satisfied with something the way it is she pushes me to do better. She's like a coach who has seen my potential and will never let me come in under the bar. Deadlines help a lot. The fact that I've been paid and I have to get this book done or else give back the money helps. Knowing that even though when I'm on mile 17 of the marathon it's really painful and I want to quit (hey, 17 miles is darn good!), ultimately I'll be happier if I go all the way helps. Before I sold a book, my competitive spirit and desire to be published was what drove me.
You've said before that you had some difficulty with your early efforts to get published. What changes did you make that made the biggest difference between your early efforts and the successes of your two books to follow?
Part of it was just time and patience and practice. When you do something for ten years and seek out advice and criticism and help, you naturally get better. When I wrote the first draft of what became Story of a Girl, I knew that it would be the book I'd never give up on. I'd written three books before that and didn't stick with them the way I did with Story. My passion for that story and those characters helped push me across the divide between unpublished and published. One of the best things I did while writing that book was join a writers group. Everyone in the group was a better writer than me, and I learned a ton and also felt like I had something to prove---that I belonged there. My writing improved by leaps and bounds during that time.
If you weren't a writer, what job would you most love to have?
It would still have to be some form of storytelling, so I'd love to either be a singer/songwriter or a writer/director.
Have you ever considered writing a series? On that note – what are you thinking of writing about next after Sweethearts? (The series idea is only sort of a hint, we swear.)
I had an idea for a series once, about kids in a high school drama department. But a series is a big commitment. What if you get sick of the characters? Maybe someday. Right now I'm working on my third book for Little, Brown and it's a bit different in style and tone from my first two, but still realistic fiction.
What books meant the most to you as a teenager? What are your favorite books now?
Young adult fiction was sort of in a golden age when I was a teen in the eighties. There wasn't nearly as much of it as there is now, but what was there was new and innovative and really, really good. I loved Robert Cormier and M.E. Kerr, particularly. I still read a ton of YA, and realistic fiction is still my favorite. I also try to read poetry (it helps keep my brain in shape for thinking about language in different ways), and I like adult fiction that is realistic and not too overwrought with useless description. In other words, I like adult fiction that's like YA fiction, but with adult characters! Tom Perrotta or Anne Tyler, for example.
The OTHER SPOILER QUESTION: So much of your first two books are all about teenagers who have new identities they either build or have thrust upon them, and how those images may be only part of the truth. Why do these questions of identity appeal to you as writing topics/as good YA topics of interest?
Identity is the fundamental issue we grapple with our whole lives, I think. We're born into a family and get our identity from that family. Then somewhere along the way---usually in adolescence---we struggle with and against that identity. That continues at least through college, and for me through my twenties and into my early thirties. I might be finally figuring some things out now, but then when I get to my forties will I have a midlife identity crisis? And then beyond that, in my sixties and seventies when I start thinking about the end of life, will I have another identity change? Who we are, who we believe ourselves to be, the way others see us, what we project vs. what we feel inside...all of those things contain so much drama. In adolescence, the drama is really compressed and exacerbated by physical change and all the decisions you have to start making that you never made before, and that's just a simmering cauldron of dramatic potential!
Finally: If you could tell your teenaged self some things about your life as a writer now, what would you say?
Don't be afraid. Not of failure, not of success, not of trying new things. You really can't fail at this---the only failure would be not trying at all. Also: watch less TV and stare into space more.
That's it! Thanks again, so much!
Thank you!
1 comment:
That was nice of her. taking the time to answer questions from us. I hope to read Sweethearts i like the story of a girl.
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