Catherine Egan's Blog - Posts Tagged "haley-andromeda"
Interview with Karen Rivers
Dear Blog,
Have I mentioned my infatuation with Karen Rivers's blog? It affects me in the same way that beloved novels or poems do - in other words, not the way blogs usually do, although I do enjoy a good blog. I giggle and sob my way through it, and having become totally addicted to it and read all the archives, I started in on her novels because, guess what? She writes books too! So I've giggled and sobbed my way through some of her books now too, and she very kindly agreed to do a Q&A with me here on my blog. So voila!
I really enjoyed your xyz series. While there is a supernatural thread running through the books (in each book, one teen protagonist is dealing with a remarkable new power) they felt more like contemporary YA than fantasy. How would you describe these books and can you remember when / how the idea(s) came to you?
My mum is a huge fan of Tiger Woods, always and forever, in spite of everything. When I was growing up, she would often tell me stories about other teens, like me, who (unlike me) were accomplishing Great Things at a terrifying rate. I started thinking one day, when she was telling me about Tiger Woods game on the weekend, that it would really suck if I was a black, male teen because then I'd feel all this pressure to be an excellent golfer. So I told her that, and we laughed, and I thought, "Hey, what if I wrote about a black teenager who happened to be good at golf, who immediately got pigeon-holed into this whole black-kid-good-at-golf-must-be-the-next-Tiger-Woods thing, which I could see happening, in sort of a racist-without-meaning-to-be-racist-way, particularly if the kid in question was being raised in a pretty isolated place where he was already a bit of a novelty. So that's where the character came from. Then I thought, "Hey, what if he could fly?" Thus having a skill that trumped the whole golf thing, but not really knowing how to deal with it. The rest grew from there, as these things do. When the publisher asked me to turn it into a series, I knew I wanted to do that, but I also knew that I couldn't write the same character for three books. His story had already been told. So I what-if'd my way into the next two books, somewhat accidentally.
Each of the xyz books is told from multiple points of view, and how your teen characters see themselves vs. how others see them is very central. The Encyclopedia of Me is told in the first person but self-image and the gap between self-perception and how others perceive us is still important in the story. Umm… discuss? Why is this something you return to?
I didn't know I did that, but if I did, then great! Yay me! I definitely think it is one of the defining qualities of adolescence. We are so hard on ourselves, we never really accurately peg what others think of us. We either way over-estimate our importance to them, or grossly underestimate their feelings for us. It seems nearly impossible, as an adolescent, to get it right. Later, as adults, you'll hear people say, "I always liked you! You were so awesome!" And you'll think, "ME? Really? You must have me confused with someone else, because I don't see it." We get caught up in our own self-loathing, or at least self-criticism.
I was totally charmed by The Encyclopedia Of Me. Your editor for this book was the amazing Cheryl Klein, and somewhere I think you mentioned that she was the one who suggested the book be made up entirely of encyclopedia entries. I can’t even imagine how much revision / rewriting that must have entailed. Can you describe the process of writing this book, from idea to completion?
The book originally was meant to be a series of encyclopedia entries, offset by chapters of narrative. This -- as you can imagine -- was much EASIER than trying to force narrative into encyclopedia entries. Cheryl wondered if it should be one or the other, narrative or entries, but not both, as one voice kind of pulled you out of the other. Because I'm a sucker for punishment (and I sensed it's what she thought would work best), I offered to try the encyclopedia-entries-as-the-whole-book option. It was hard, I'm not going to lie. It was fun, it was challenging, and sometimes it was IMPOSSIBLE. But I think we pulled it off. I hope so, anyway. That book was such a labor of love: It was rejected resoundingly by every single publisher in Canada before I approached Cheryl with it after she posted on Twitter that she was accepting unsolicited books. By then, the manuscript was a couple of years old, and then another couple of years in editing. But I loved (OK, sometimes I didn't LOVE) every minute of it.
[wow, stunned you couldn't find a Canadian publisher for it, but anyway, it is doing really well, so yay to a happy home for it at the end of a long bumpy road!] So I have read the xyz series, and The Encyclopedia of Me. What should I read next?
EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER WRITTEN. I'm kidding! Except not really. The Haley Andromeda series is funny YA, if you're looking to laugh, and loosely based on everything that ever happened to me, personally. (I'll tell you which things after you read it.) The Carly series (Waiting to Dive, etc) is possibly my favourite. It's middle-grade, but I just loved her voice.
Congratulations on both a new agent (Jennifer Laughran, yes?) and a new book deal! Can you tell my legions of blog-readers about your next project?
Yes, Jennifer! I am very excited. She is amazing and passionate and so interested in all facets of kid's books. PLUS she took me on, so she must be the best. The next book is a sequel to Encyclopedia of Me, loosely, in that it features Ruth, who was one of Tink's good friends. The premise, loosely SO YOU DON'T STEAL MY IDEA, is that Ruth accidentally discovers -- while looking for pictures of herself that her friend may have posted on the internet -- that she has an identical twin who lives in England. Think "Parent Trap", but not really. It's all told through correspondence between Ruth and Ruby and their friends and parents. (Another challenging form factor, believe it or not. The books that look the easiest to write? Often are NOT.)
[oh, excellent! I loved Ruth! *annoyed at lack of specifics making idea-theft impossible*]Which book of yours was the fastest to write and which took the longest? Why?
I took five years to write my adult book, mostly because I had no reason to believe anyone would ever care if I wrote it or not. The fastest was my first YA, Dream Water, which is not terribly good because I wrote it so fast. I was under the (incredibly uninformed) impression that YA was fast to write, so I indeed wrote it very quickly. (I then had to rewrite it a good number of times.)
What does your writing day look like?
A mess? Mostly I write at night (still) when the kids go to bed, even though they are now both in school full time. I thought I would get so much more done, but as it turns out, that is not always the case. I walk a lot during the day, and clean up the house, and take care of everything that's a nuisance to do with kids around, and then I sometimes write for a couple of hours at best. Once they are asleep and everything is done, that's when the writing comes the most easily to me. If you believe in muses, and that sort of thing. It could just be that I'm a night owl. I don't procrastinate at night, whereas during the day, I find it harder to ignore the siren call of All The Things On Teh Internets.
What have been the high and low points of The Writing Life, for you? You have published 15 books! Any advice for newbs like me?
The high points are always when you sell something, when someone else says, "Hey, this is great!" All that lovely validation. I did have a couple of years when I found it hard to sell anything, I was between agents, and I felt like, "Uh oh, this isn't going to work." Mostly all the years (and books) blur together a bit. I feel lucky. I guess my advice is to keep feeling lucky. Keep writing things down, even if it feels like no one is going to care about it. Just keep going. Follow your heart? Is that cheesy? That's what I think. Do what feels right. If writing stops feeling right, then stop doing it. It still feels right to me. I have four projects on the back burner in various stages of completion. If I ever click around on my desktop and find nothing there, I guess I'll think about getting a real job. Let's hope that doesn't happen.
I blog and think overly about writing and parenting and trying to balance writing and parenting, because that’s pretty much my life: writing and parenting. And I am self-obsessed. What does that balance look like for you?
Pretty much the same. I wish I hadn't sweated so much about it when the kids were littler. The truth is, I always worked best late at night anyway, but I would get so frustrated when they wouldn't nap, which they picked up on, which made them entrench early in the No Nap philosophy of life. And I got so upset about it. I wish I hadn't wasted so much time upset, and just stayed in the moment more. More and more, life is teaching me to stay in the moment, damn it. Stop wishing it away. Stop stressing. The time opens up eventually.
Your blog is beautiful and sometimes excruciating. I stumbled across it first via a Cheryl Klein tweet (love her) and read all the archives, sitting and sobbing and giggling in my chair. It is powerful and thoughtful and often very personal. What is the purpose of blogging for you? Do you have qualms / doubts re. how personal to get on-line?
I think I blog mostly to understand what I'm feeling, like today when the kids and I were almost struck by lightning. I had two choices. I could sit here and hate myself for the way I reacted and feel sick and terrible. Or I could write it down and figure out what I really mostly feel, which is lucky. I don't really have qualms about how personal it is, because it's personal in a vague way. Most people don't know the players in my life, and the people who do already know all my feeling-y feelings about everything. I try not to say anything that hurts anyone. Mostly it's like therapy, but much cheaper. It's also a great writing exercise. Writing personal things is the best way to unblock whatever might be blocking you, because it's often the personal things that get in the way of what you are meant to be doing. Also, it's amazingly unifying. No matter how perfect other people's lives look, you just never know. I've had a lot of people say, "I really appreciate that you wrote that, I'm going through the same thing." And I'd never have guessed to look at them. It makes me feel a bit more like the member of a tribe, rather than, say, a lonely old salmon swimming upstream. I feel less afraid, less sad, and more loved, when people read what I'm feeling. Maybe I'm an exhibitionist, but on an emotional level. It's liberating.
[I definitely appreciate the honesty of it - so often blogs sound so peppy or hold you at arm's length and it can feel like everybody out there is more productive and intelligent and pulled together and confident... it's very refreshing to see the messiness of life written about in a way that doesn't glamorize it but still somehow makes it seem sort of beautiful, maybe just because the writing is beautiful. The lightning story is totally terrifying. Read it here. I mean really, go read it. We'll be here when you get back.]
Your first book was a novel for adults. How did you come to write YA? Do you imagine writing fiction for adults in the future? (Not that your books are not for adults – I like to think I am an adult! – but you know what I mean).
I love writing YA because the characters are so immediate with their thinking, and everything is so big and meaningful when it happens to you at a certain age. Plus, it deals with firsts, which are always fun to write. I'll probably write adult fiction again one day, but I don't know when. The market reality is that YA is the better call and right now, it's also what feels right for me to write. I have lots of YA (and middle grade) humming along in my head. Maybe dealing with grown up stuff right now is not what I feel up to doing. One day, sure. I have nothing against it, I just have nothing to say right now in that area.
What is a writer’s job?
To entertain and to distract and to provide a window into a different life. That's about all there is to it, isn't it? To tell the story as well and as honestly as possible, maybe.
Can you share some of your favorite authors / books?
Eleanor and Park was one of my favourites of this year. I love Rainbow Rowell. I just read her other book on the weekend (and loved it). I'm a huge fan of Jaclyn Moriarty (and her sister Liane, for that matter). I read everything. I'm not that particular. I go through phases of reading only memoir or only YA or only chick lit or ... whatever. Wild was one of my favourite memoirs. (I always stumble on this question because the only books I can think of are the ones I read most recently.) Graffiti Moon was terrific. Marcelo in the Real World is one that I buy for everyone because I loved it so much. It took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to love it and then I did. Francisco Stork can do no wrong. I love Kate Atkinson. There are certain people I get excited about when they have a new book out but I'd have to see a list to tell you who they are. Is that terrible? I feel like I have a sloppy enthusiasm for everything everyone writes. I just put The Interestings and Love is a Canoe on the Kindle. The last book I read was Me Before You, which I also loved. I'm looking forward to reading Owen King's book. The King family are crazy talented. I can't read the scary ones though. I'm not good with scary. I loved Justin Cronin's The Passage, for example, but the sequel, The Twelve, is scaring me so badly that I have to read it in small bursts, during the day, in a crowded room. It's taking a while, because I'm sort of a hermit.
[Jaclyn Moriarty is one of my big favorites as well! Rainbow Rowell coming up on my list since I keep hearing raves]. Any questions I didn’t ask but should have? Pretend I did, and answer them!
I have no idea! Pretend I answered them very wisely, with a touch of humour and irony.
Thank you for visiting my humble blog!
You can find Karen in the following places on-line:
http://www.karenrivers.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-...
https://twitter.com/karenrivers
Yours, fannishly,
Catherine
Have I mentioned my infatuation with Karen Rivers's blog? It affects me in the same way that beloved novels or poems do - in other words, not the way blogs usually do, although I do enjoy a good blog. I giggle and sob my way through it, and having become totally addicted to it and read all the archives, I started in on her novels because, guess what? She writes books too! So I've giggled and sobbed my way through some of her books now too, and she very kindly agreed to do a Q&A with me here on my blog. So voila!
I really enjoyed your xyz series. While there is a supernatural thread running through the books (in each book, one teen protagonist is dealing with a remarkable new power) they felt more like contemporary YA than fantasy. How would you describe these books and can you remember when / how the idea(s) came to you?
My mum is a huge fan of Tiger Woods, always and forever, in spite of everything. When I was growing up, she would often tell me stories about other teens, like me, who (unlike me) were accomplishing Great Things at a terrifying rate. I started thinking one day, when she was telling me about Tiger Woods game on the weekend, that it would really suck if I was a black, male teen because then I'd feel all this pressure to be an excellent golfer. So I told her that, and we laughed, and I thought, "Hey, what if I wrote about a black teenager who happened to be good at golf, who immediately got pigeon-holed into this whole black-kid-good-at-golf-must-be-the-next-Tiger-Woods thing, which I could see happening, in sort of a racist-without-meaning-to-be-racist-way, particularly if the kid in question was being raised in a pretty isolated place where he was already a bit of a novelty. So that's where the character came from. Then I thought, "Hey, what if he could fly?" Thus having a skill that trumped the whole golf thing, but not really knowing how to deal with it. The rest grew from there, as these things do. When the publisher asked me to turn it into a series, I knew I wanted to do that, but I also knew that I couldn't write the same character for three books. His story had already been told. So I what-if'd my way into the next two books, somewhat accidentally.
Each of the xyz books is told from multiple points of view, and how your teen characters see themselves vs. how others see them is very central. The Encyclopedia of Me is told in the first person but self-image and the gap between self-perception and how others perceive us is still important in the story. Umm… discuss? Why is this something you return to?
I didn't know I did that, but if I did, then great! Yay me! I definitely think it is one of the defining qualities of adolescence. We are so hard on ourselves, we never really accurately peg what others think of us. We either way over-estimate our importance to them, or grossly underestimate their feelings for us. It seems nearly impossible, as an adolescent, to get it right. Later, as adults, you'll hear people say, "I always liked you! You were so awesome!" And you'll think, "ME? Really? You must have me confused with someone else, because I don't see it." We get caught up in our own self-loathing, or at least self-criticism.
I was totally charmed by The Encyclopedia Of Me. Your editor for this book was the amazing Cheryl Klein, and somewhere I think you mentioned that she was the one who suggested the book be made up entirely of encyclopedia entries. I can’t even imagine how much revision / rewriting that must have entailed. Can you describe the process of writing this book, from idea to completion?
The book originally was meant to be a series of encyclopedia entries, offset by chapters of narrative. This -- as you can imagine -- was much EASIER than trying to force narrative into encyclopedia entries. Cheryl wondered if it should be one or the other, narrative or entries, but not both, as one voice kind of pulled you out of the other. Because I'm a sucker for punishment (and I sensed it's what she thought would work best), I offered to try the encyclopedia-entries-as-the-whole-book option. It was hard, I'm not going to lie. It was fun, it was challenging, and sometimes it was IMPOSSIBLE. But I think we pulled it off. I hope so, anyway. That book was such a labor of love: It was rejected resoundingly by every single publisher in Canada before I approached Cheryl with it after she posted on Twitter that she was accepting unsolicited books. By then, the manuscript was a couple of years old, and then another couple of years in editing. But I loved (OK, sometimes I didn't LOVE) every minute of it.
[wow, stunned you couldn't find a Canadian publisher for it, but anyway, it is doing really well, so yay to a happy home for it at the end of a long bumpy road!] So I have read the xyz series, and The Encyclopedia of Me. What should I read next?
EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER WRITTEN. I'm kidding! Except not really. The Haley Andromeda series is funny YA, if you're looking to laugh, and loosely based on everything that ever happened to me, personally. (I'll tell you which things after you read it.) The Carly series (Waiting to Dive, etc) is possibly my favourite. It's middle-grade, but I just loved her voice.
Congratulations on both a new agent (Jennifer Laughran, yes?) and a new book deal! Can you tell my legions of blog-readers about your next project?
Yes, Jennifer! I am very excited. She is amazing and passionate and so interested in all facets of kid's books. PLUS she took me on, so she must be the best. The next book is a sequel to Encyclopedia of Me, loosely, in that it features Ruth, who was one of Tink's good friends. The premise, loosely SO YOU DON'T STEAL MY IDEA, is that Ruth accidentally discovers -- while looking for pictures of herself that her friend may have posted on the internet -- that she has an identical twin who lives in England. Think "Parent Trap", but not really. It's all told through correspondence between Ruth and Ruby and their friends and parents. (Another challenging form factor, believe it or not. The books that look the easiest to write? Often are NOT.)
[oh, excellent! I loved Ruth! *annoyed at lack of specifics making idea-theft impossible*]Which book of yours was the fastest to write and which took the longest? Why?
I took five years to write my adult book, mostly because I had no reason to believe anyone would ever care if I wrote it or not. The fastest was my first YA, Dream Water, which is not terribly good because I wrote it so fast. I was under the (incredibly uninformed) impression that YA was fast to write, so I indeed wrote it very quickly. (I then had to rewrite it a good number of times.)
What does your writing day look like?
A mess? Mostly I write at night (still) when the kids go to bed, even though they are now both in school full time. I thought I would get so much more done, but as it turns out, that is not always the case. I walk a lot during the day, and clean up the house, and take care of everything that's a nuisance to do with kids around, and then I sometimes write for a couple of hours at best. Once they are asleep and everything is done, that's when the writing comes the most easily to me. If you believe in muses, and that sort of thing. It could just be that I'm a night owl. I don't procrastinate at night, whereas during the day, I find it harder to ignore the siren call of All The Things On Teh Internets.
What have been the high and low points of The Writing Life, for you? You have published 15 books! Any advice for newbs like me?
The high points are always when you sell something, when someone else says, "Hey, this is great!" All that lovely validation. I did have a couple of years when I found it hard to sell anything, I was between agents, and I felt like, "Uh oh, this isn't going to work." Mostly all the years (and books) blur together a bit. I feel lucky. I guess my advice is to keep feeling lucky. Keep writing things down, even if it feels like no one is going to care about it. Just keep going. Follow your heart? Is that cheesy? That's what I think. Do what feels right. If writing stops feeling right, then stop doing it. It still feels right to me. I have four projects on the back burner in various stages of completion. If I ever click around on my desktop and find nothing there, I guess I'll think about getting a real job. Let's hope that doesn't happen.
I blog and think overly about writing and parenting and trying to balance writing and parenting, because that’s pretty much my life: writing and parenting. And I am self-obsessed. What does that balance look like for you?
Pretty much the same. I wish I hadn't sweated so much about it when the kids were littler. The truth is, I always worked best late at night anyway, but I would get so frustrated when they wouldn't nap, which they picked up on, which made them entrench early in the No Nap philosophy of life. And I got so upset about it. I wish I hadn't wasted so much time upset, and just stayed in the moment more. More and more, life is teaching me to stay in the moment, damn it. Stop wishing it away. Stop stressing. The time opens up eventually.
Your blog is beautiful and sometimes excruciating. I stumbled across it first via a Cheryl Klein tweet (love her) and read all the archives, sitting and sobbing and giggling in my chair. It is powerful and thoughtful and often very personal. What is the purpose of blogging for you? Do you have qualms / doubts re. how personal to get on-line?
I think I blog mostly to understand what I'm feeling, like today when the kids and I were almost struck by lightning. I had two choices. I could sit here and hate myself for the way I reacted and feel sick and terrible. Or I could write it down and figure out what I really mostly feel, which is lucky. I don't really have qualms about how personal it is, because it's personal in a vague way. Most people don't know the players in my life, and the people who do already know all my feeling-y feelings about everything. I try not to say anything that hurts anyone. Mostly it's like therapy, but much cheaper. It's also a great writing exercise. Writing personal things is the best way to unblock whatever might be blocking you, because it's often the personal things that get in the way of what you are meant to be doing. Also, it's amazingly unifying. No matter how perfect other people's lives look, you just never know. I've had a lot of people say, "I really appreciate that you wrote that, I'm going through the same thing." And I'd never have guessed to look at them. It makes me feel a bit more like the member of a tribe, rather than, say, a lonely old salmon swimming upstream. I feel less afraid, less sad, and more loved, when people read what I'm feeling. Maybe I'm an exhibitionist, but on an emotional level. It's liberating.
[I definitely appreciate the honesty of it - so often blogs sound so peppy or hold you at arm's length and it can feel like everybody out there is more productive and intelligent and pulled together and confident... it's very refreshing to see the messiness of life written about in a way that doesn't glamorize it but still somehow makes it seem sort of beautiful, maybe just because the writing is beautiful. The lightning story is totally terrifying. Read it here. I mean really, go read it. We'll be here when you get back.]
Your first book was a novel for adults. How did you come to write YA? Do you imagine writing fiction for adults in the future? (Not that your books are not for adults – I like to think I am an adult! – but you know what I mean).
I love writing YA because the characters are so immediate with their thinking, and everything is so big and meaningful when it happens to you at a certain age. Plus, it deals with firsts, which are always fun to write. I'll probably write adult fiction again one day, but I don't know when. The market reality is that YA is the better call and right now, it's also what feels right for me to write. I have lots of YA (and middle grade) humming along in my head. Maybe dealing with grown up stuff right now is not what I feel up to doing. One day, sure. I have nothing against it, I just have nothing to say right now in that area.
What is a writer’s job?
To entertain and to distract and to provide a window into a different life. That's about all there is to it, isn't it? To tell the story as well and as honestly as possible, maybe.
Can you share some of your favorite authors / books?
Eleanor and Park was one of my favourites of this year. I love Rainbow Rowell. I just read her other book on the weekend (and loved it). I'm a huge fan of Jaclyn Moriarty (and her sister Liane, for that matter). I read everything. I'm not that particular. I go through phases of reading only memoir or only YA or only chick lit or ... whatever. Wild was one of my favourite memoirs. (I always stumble on this question because the only books I can think of are the ones I read most recently.) Graffiti Moon was terrific. Marcelo in the Real World is one that I buy for everyone because I loved it so much. It took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to love it and then I did. Francisco Stork can do no wrong. I love Kate Atkinson. There are certain people I get excited about when they have a new book out but I'd have to see a list to tell you who they are. Is that terrible? I feel like I have a sloppy enthusiasm for everything everyone writes. I just put The Interestings and Love is a Canoe on the Kindle. The last book I read was Me Before You, which I also loved. I'm looking forward to reading Owen King's book. The King family are crazy talented. I can't read the scary ones though. I'm not good with scary. I loved Justin Cronin's The Passage, for example, but the sequel, The Twelve, is scaring me so badly that I have to read it in small bursts, during the day, in a crowded room. It's taking a while, because I'm sort of a hermit.
[Jaclyn Moriarty is one of my big favorites as well! Rainbow Rowell coming up on my list since I keep hearing raves]. Any questions I didn’t ask but should have? Pretend I did, and answer them!
I have no idea! Pretend I answered them very wisely, with a touch of humour and irony.
Thank you for visiting my humble blog!
You can find Karen in the following places on-line:
http://www.karenrivers.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-...
https://twitter.com/karenrivers
Yours, fannishly,
Catherine
