Thank you for taking the time to talk with me! I noticed on your blog that your 77th book (WOW!), Blood Wounds is coming out in September. Where do you get the bulk of your ideas?
Ideas for my books come from all over; the real trick is to be open to the idea when it pops up in my brain. For example, Life As We Knew It is the direct result of my watching a movie called Meteor on TV one day. It got me thinking about what it would be like to be a teenager living through a world wide catastrophe. The next thing I knew, I was working out who the characters were and what the catastrophe was.
Tell us about Blood Wounds:
I don't remember a single moment of creation with Blood Wounds, but most likely I was aware of one of those news stories cable TV makes a big fuss over- father runs off with child, leaving behind other murdered relatives. Blood Wounds is about one such family. Its main character, Willa, lives in a happy blended family, when she learns that her biological father has killed his second family and may be on his way to her and her mother. This personal disaster shakes up her family and forces all of them to confront truths about themselves they have chosen to ignore to maintain the illusion of happiness.
In which genre have you written the most and why?
I love to write about families and most of my books, regardless of the age of their intended audience, are about families. Some writers write about school, others about friendship, others romance. I focus on families. Even the three Last Survivors books - Life As We Knew It, The Dead And The Gone, and This World We Live In, are about family dynamics.
Writing has been a life-long career for you. Tell us about your first book and about how things may have changed along the way.
I wrote my first book, Just Morgan, my last semester at NYU. I was 20 when I wrote it, 21 when it was accepted for publication and 22 when it was published, so I've been a professional writer my entire adult life. It's the career I've always wanted and although there have certainly been down times, I can't imagine a job I'm better suited for or one that would give me nearly as much satisfaction. Oddly enough, I don't think the obstacles have changed all that much. Right now, I have money in the bank, which sometimes is true and sometimes isn't (and it's always better when it is true), but I still have to wait for publishing houses to make up their mind about possible books. I still have to wait to hear from my agent about other projects. I still have to face the possibility of bad reviews or lower than anticipated sales. The negatives don't go away.
And the positives remain mostly unchanged as well. The biggest difference is the internet. For most of my career, I wrote in isolation. Now I hear from people who like my books daily, when they take the time to email me. I get comments from people who read my blog. And I don't have to wait for my agent or my editor to call me back. They both respond to emails quite promptly.
Often writers are rejected multiple times before getting their first book published, but you were successful immediately. Tell us about that experience:
It took me almost no time at all to get my first book published. It was accepted by the first publishing house that read it, although they did request I cut 40 pages and one particular character before they would reread it. I did exactly as they told me, and they then accepted the manuscript. The process was hastened by a letter of introduction one of my professors sent to that particular house, although, of course, if they hadn't thought the book had promise, they would have rejected it outright.
It took 2 years and a lot of writing before my second book was accepted. First books are easier because you're writing on instinct. But instinct can only take you so far, and then you have to actually know what you're doing.
Briefly describe your writing process and tell us your favorite part about it.
I pretty much write to entertain myself. I love making up stories and if the price I pay for that game is putting things down on paper (or computer screen) and rewriting them to make them as good as possible, well, I'm willing to do that. Generally, my process includes a lot of pre-writing, which is my favorite part of the process, so that works out well. Once I'm comfortable with the beginning of the book, most of the middle, and with where the characters will be emotionally at the end of the book, I begin the actual writing. I write very fast, and the more pre-writing I do, the less rewriting I have to do.
Then, of course, the editor lets me know what she thinks doesn't work. I can always use someone else's objective eye, although if I disagree strongly about something, I either make it clearer why I think it's essential, or I simply don't make the changes. But I've been very fortunate to work with a great many excellent editors and I know my books are better for it, and I'm a better writer for it as well.
Do you have any favorite Young Adult books or authors?
I don't read YA's. Actually, I don't read that much fiction unless I'm doing a lot of traveling, and then the fiction I read is pretty much of the junk food variety. When I was growing up, I read enormous amounts of YA fiction, and generally regarded it as tripe. One author stood out to me as someone who I could aspire to, and that was Mary Stolz. Years later, I wrote her to ask if I could dedicate a book to her, and she graciously agreed.
There are countless writers out there. At some point, a few decide "It's time to pursue publishing and turn this hobby into a career." What advice would you give these people?
The most important part of writing to me is enjoying the process. If it isn't fun, don't do it. But if you do want to make the leap from hobby to career, I guess it's important to know how strong your stomach is, because there's going to be a lot of failure and rejection. Some of it will be justifiable, and some will be pure nonsense, but it's going to happen. If you don't want to get rejections or bad reviews or bad sales, then don't put your work out there. Privacy never stopped Emily Dickinson from being a great writer.
Is there anything else you'd like to share with readers or writers?
Have fun!
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