Holly Cupala's Blog, page 9
January 12, 2011
Author Q&A: How long does it take to write?
Finally, the Q&A I promised!
iFearlessQuotes inquired, "I was wondering, how long did it take you to write Tell Me a Secret?"
The short answer is, about four years from idea to sale. I wasn't working on it that whole period, though!
The idea came to me in August of 2004, and I wrote notes until November, when I started writing. I had about 50 pages when I applied for the SCBWI Work-In-Progress Grant...then our baby came, so I didn't work on it for about a year. When baby was 10 months old, I hired a sitter for one day a week. It takes a long time to write a novel only one day a week, so I added a second day after I won a grant(!)
The winter after the grant, I almost had a full first draft and went to a NY writing conference, where I met lots of amazing agents and editors interested in seeing the finished product. That was very motivating! My very nice neighbor offered to watch little one for two more afternoons a week, so by fall I was sending email queries to agents. I met my agent at another NY conference, I worked on a revision for a couple of months, and he sold it in just a few weeks.
In the meantime, I had already started a second YA novel, which you will see on the shelf this fall...I joke that the first book took four years and the second took four months (the first draft, anyways), so I'm hoping the third will only take four weeks...
Thank you for your question, iFearlessQuotes!
iFearlessQuotes inquired, "I was wondering, how long did it take you to write Tell Me a Secret?"
The short answer is, about four years from idea to sale. I wasn't working on it that whole period, though!
The idea came to me in August of 2004, and I wrote notes until November, when I started writing. I had about 50 pages when I applied for the SCBWI Work-In-Progress Grant...then our baby came, so I didn't work on it for about a year. When baby was 10 months old, I hired a sitter for one day a week. It takes a long time to write a novel only one day a week, so I added a second day after I won a grant(!)
The winter after the grant, I almost had a full first draft and went to a NY writing conference, where I met lots of amazing agents and editors interested in seeing the finished product. That was very motivating! My very nice neighbor offered to watch little one for two more afternoons a week, so by fall I was sending email queries to agents. I met my agent at another NY conference, I worked on a revision for a couple of months, and he sold it in just a few weeks.
In the meantime, I had already started a second YA novel, which you will see on the shelf this fall...I joke that the first book took four years and the second took four months (the first draft, anyways), so I'm hoping the third will only take four weeks...
Thank you for your question, iFearlessQuotes!
January 11, 2011
Holly has disappeared...
Hi, everyone! You might have noticed I've been a little bit scarce around here, but that's because there are projects brewing...some secret and some not-so-secret.
The TELL ME A SECRET full version audiobook is almost here! Watch for that announcement and links to the store in the next few weeks.
DON'T BREATHE A WORD is coming Fall 2011, which seems right around the corner to me. We're putting together some new things for that, coming soon...
And I'm hard at work on a third novel, a contemporary YA that will be connected to Tell Me a Secret and Don't Breathe a Word in a few surprising ways. (There's a rumor floating around that you will learn more about Delaney's secrets in Don't Breathe a Word: True or False? True!)
On the blog, I'm putting together an author Q&A series. Is there anything you would like to know?
The TELL ME A SECRET full version audiobook is almost here! Watch for that announcement and links to the store in the next few weeks.
DON'T BREATHE A WORD is coming Fall 2011, which seems right around the corner to me. We're putting together some new things for that, coming soon...
And I'm hard at work on a third novel, a contemporary YA that will be connected to Tell Me a Secret and Don't Breathe a Word in a few surprising ways. (There's a rumor floating around that you will learn more about Delaney's secrets in Don't Breathe a Word: True or False? True!)
On the blog, I'm putting together an author Q&A series. Is there anything you would like to know?
January 5, 2011
Story Secrets: BALLADS OF SUBURBIA by Stephanie Kuehnert + giveaway!
How have I not already featured this book, you ask? I was wondering that myself. Stephanie Kuehnert's BALLADS OF SUBURBIA was one of my favorite reads of 2010, so I'm thrilled to get to chat with her about it today.I was so lucky to meet Stephanie in New York at BEA and the Teen Author Carnival (yup, yet another amazing person I met at that fabulous, blogger-created event), and she even very kindly blurbed my upcoming book, Don't Breathe a Word! What an honor that is.
Welcome, Stephanie!
*****
There are so many ballads. Achy breaky country songs. Mournful pop songs. Then there's the rare punk ballad, the ballad of suburbia: louder, faster, angrier . . . till it drowns out the silence.Kara hasn't been back to Oak Park since the end of junior year, when a heroin overdose nearly killed her and sirens heralded her exit. Four years later, she returns to face the music. Her life changed forever back in high school: her family disintegrated, she ran around with a whole new crowd of friends, she partied a little too hard, and she fell in love with gorgeous bad boy Adrian, who left her to die that day in Scoville Park. . . .
Amidst the music, the booze, the drugs, and the drama, her friends filled a notebook with heartbreakingly honest confessions of the moments that defined and shattered their young lives. Now, finally, Kara is ready to write her own.
Put simply, the book is about a group of teenagers who are hurting in the ways teenagers do hurt in real life, but adults like to pretend they don't have to deal with such things. And these teenagers take care of themselves and each other in the only ways they know how. Some of those ways are destructive, but ultimately it's a story of learning how to survive and find your inner strength.
Holly Cupala: Tell us about the story behind the story.
Stephanie Kuehnert: I lived a lot of what is in this book. It's not an autobiography, but it is set in the town where I grew up, Oak Park, Illinois. The main character, Kara, deals with a lot of things that I dealt with, depression, the feeling of not fitting in, self-injury, distant parents who are divorcing, boyfriends that are no good for you, and her friends deal with a lot things that my friends dealt with like heroin addiction and teen pregnancy.
When I was a teenager dealing with this stuff and watching my friends go through it, I kept thinking why are there no books that deal with these topics, no stories for teens about these kinds of things. At that time in the early to mid nineties, there wasn't as much gritty, honest and real YA lit out there. I had Francesca Lia Block and that was about it. I had My So-Called Life, which the cancelled after one season even though at the time I thought it was the most real portrayal of teen life I'd ever seen. (And that is why I quote from it at the beginning of Ballads: "If you made a book of what really happened, it would be a really upsetting book," which the main character Angela Chase said when asked why she was quitting yearbook.) I was the kind of kid who had always been a big reader so I looked to books for answers and it was upsetting when I couldn't find what I needed as a teen. Since I also loved to write, I promised myself that one day I would write the book I'd been searching for.
That's why this book means so much to me, even more than my first book. BALLADS OF SUBURBIA is the book I became a writer to write.
Holly: I definitely felt that as I was reading it, and I love the Angela Chase quote - so true. Tell us about the ballad structure. Did you plan that, or was it a surprise?Stephanie: I kind of screwed around for awhile after high school, but eventually when to college for creative writing when I was twenty one and in my first year there, I wrote an early version of BALLADS that I called THE MORNING AFTER... but it was basically an autobiography then and it was really bitter and just poorly written. So I set it aside, knowing that when I wrote my "dark truth about suburbia" it had to be really really good to live up to what teen me needed. I was working on what would become my first novel, I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE, when I took a class with the amazing teacher and author Joe Meno. One day he brought a boombox into class and played a bunch of Johnny Cash and June Carter songs talking about ballads as an original form of storytelling. I listened to those honest, confessional tales that Johnny told and thought about punk songs I loved like "Story of My Life" by Social Distortion and "The Young Crazed Peeling" by the Distillers where the singer just tells the story of their life (or a fictional character's life, I don't want to assume!), how they messed up, how they survived and I thought this is it! This is what I need to do in my suburbia book. All of the characters need to write their ballad or the story of the moment that profoundly changed them in some way. I'll center the book around the notebook and call it BALLADS OF SUBURBIA! It was my big eureka moment and that's how BALLADS because BALLADS. Though I still finished my first book first because I knew I would learn a lot about writing from doing that and I did and that also helped BALLADS be a stronger book.
Holly: The book goes into some dark places, which must have been challenging to write.
Stephanie: It took me to dark places for sure. The last round of revisions on this book were one of the hardest things I've ever done. My editor told me that I needed to really express Kara's pain and bring it to life for the reader. Especially since Kara cuts herself which is not something everyone does (thank goodness since it's a very unhealthy way to cope) and I needed to show why. I'd stopped cutting myself about six years before that, but I had to go back there (as in access those emotions and motivations, not *actually* cut) to get inside Kara's head. And since she and her friends deal with a lot that I dealt with, I was revisiting a lot of ugly memories and dark emotions. The ulcer that I'd gotten at the end of high school actually flared up again at the end of my revisions process even though it hadn't bothered me in years! But, I think I finally put all of that ugly stuff from my past to rest and I hope that I wrote a very honest book that will help people who are dealing with what the characters are dealing with or help people who haven't lived that kind of life understand and have empathy for those who have.
Holly: Beyond the spark that brought BALLADS to life, what is your biggest inspiration?
Stephanie: Real life. Real people. My own experiences and also what I see others going through and surviving. I'm a huge people watcher and observer and that feeds my writing big time. Also music. Music is so huge for me.
Holly: What do you most hope your readers will take away?Stephanie: If my characters aren't the type of people they are familiar with, I hope they will find understanding and empathy. If they are dealing with some of the situations that my characters are, I hope they will know they aren't alone and that they will find a way to "sing their own ballad," meaning talk to someone or release those difficult emotions through art or writing like I did. You are strong, you are a survivor and you can heal.
Holly: Any secrets you might be willing to share?
Stephanie: I don't have too many secrets. I'm very open about things because I saw the way secrets can hurt growing up, so all my secrets are laid bare through my books and my blog-- the serious secrets that is. As for the silly stuff, I have a couple guilty pleasures that you may not expect from a punk rock chick like me. As Holly knows, my musical guilty pleasure is Matchbox 20. Normally I'm all punk and indie bands, but I just can't help it! And the other big guilty pleasure is that I'm addicted to the soap opera, One Life to Live. I have been since the summer before my freshman year of high school. I watch it every day!
Holly: What's up next?
Stephanie: Right now I'm trying to get a draft of the bartender book into shape for my agent to submit to publishers. That will probably be sold as an adult fiction book, but I also have ideas for another contemporary realistic YA, a post-apocalyptic YA, and an urban fantasy YA and I haven't decided which will be the next project!
Find Stephanie:
http://www.stephaniekuehnert.com/
http://stephaniekuehnert.blogspot.com/
http://www.twitter.com/writerstephanie
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephanie-Kuehnert/8148781156
And check out the BALLADS OF SUBURBIA trailer:
*****
Thank you, Stephanie!
NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY:
Stephanie has kindly offered a copy of BALLADS OF SUBURBIA to one lucky commenter with a US address - all you have to do to enter is leave a meaningful comment below before midnight on Monday! I hope you enjoyed!
January 3, 2011
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Everyone!
2010 was a pretty incredible year for me, after many moons of writing and hoping to see my book on the shelf.
Thank you to all of you who read the book, loved it, even put it on your Best of 2010 Lists! I am honored, grateful, ecstatic, and humbled.
I wonder what 2011 will bring...?
For you, I wish for increased joy, deeper understanding, a wealth of friends, and perfect hope.
Welcome, 2011!
December 20, 2010
It's a Bloggy Holiday
This is just to say Happy Holidays, everyone!
I'm taking a little bloggy holiday for the rest of the year, but I'll be back soon, and you can still win my art over at YA Outside the Lines. May your days be merry and bright!
I'm taking a little bloggy holiday for the rest of the year, but I'll be back soon, and you can still win my art over at YA Outside the Lines. May your days be merry and bright!
December 17, 2010
Story Secrets: FALL FOR ANYTHING by Courtney Summers
First things first, the winner of FIXING DELILAH: Hannah S!!!! (Contact here.) And now...
Have you ever noticed a book popping up over and over in the book blogs you read? Not necessarily the splashy one, but the one everybody keeps saying is So Good.
That's what I kept seeing about Courtney Summers' book, SOME GIRLS ARE. I read it. And it was so good. She has a way of capturing power dynamics and making them an intense, heart-wrenching experience - not to mention a page-turner.
So I'm really looking forward to her latest, FALL FOR ANYTHING, which comes out December 21st! (You can preorder it on IndieBound or Amazon.) And even more, I'm thrilled to welcome Courtney Summers to the blog today to chat about her story secrets...
Welcome, Courtney!
*****
FALL FOR ANYTHING is about a girl who is consumed by the question of why her (ex) famous photographer killed himself. She meets Culler Evans, a former photography student of her father's, and an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler just might hold the key to the mystery surrounding her father's death... but are some questions better left unanswered?
Holly Cupala: We'd love to hear the story behind FALL FOR ANYTHING. How did you come up with the idea?
Courtney: I've always been fascinated with grief and loss, particularly now that I've lost people who I've been extremely close to in my life, so that's pretty much where the idea stemmed from. I wanted to explore the space that kind of loss leaves behind and the lengths we'll go to so we can feel whole again.
Holly: Did writing this book take you anywhere unexpected?
Courtney: It sort took me to expected places, actually. When I was writing my second book, Some Girls Are, my maternal grandfather passed away and I was very close to him. I think I always knew my third book would be about death and grieving, as a response to that.
Holly: What was your writing process like for this book? How long, and how many drafts?
Courtney: The first draft of FALL FOR ANYTHING took a few months to write and then it underwent a major revision. The story evolved A LOT as I revised. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but Eddie and Milo's relationship underwent a big makeover and in the very, very original draft, Eddie' father wasn't a photographer. Both of these elements play a HUGE part in the novel as it is now. So needless to say, some substantial rewriting occurred!
Holly: Has anything in your life inspired your book?
Courtney:
When I was 17--the same age as Eddie is in FALL FOR ANYTHING--my paternal grandfather died of an aggressive form of cancer. It took him quickly, but his quality of life from the time of his diagnosis on was severely diminished. The amount of suffering he endured as he was dying really shook us. When I was 22, my maternal grandfather became very seriously ill and passed away. His death was quite unexpected, so it didn't really hit until later that he was gone, and when it did, it hit hard. The heart of Eddie's story is about her unwillingness to accept what has happened and her determination to find out why it has happened. My personal experiences definitely informed the way I approached writing that.
Holly: Will you tell us a secret?
Courtney: When I was little, I'd take my Grandma's blush and put it all over my cheeks because apparently I thought BRIGHT red cheeks were very grown-up and becoming. When she saw me and asked how my cheeks got so red, I told her I had pressed my face up against the heating vent because... I guess having her think her granddaughter was a bit of a weirdo was preferable to having her discover her granddaughter was playing with her make-up without her permission!
Holly: I love that! So what are you working on now?
Courtney: My fourth book, like my first three, will be published by St. Martin's Press. It's in such early stages of plotting and writing that I don't want to say too much about it. So basically, it's in the works. :)
*****
Thank you, Courtney!
Readers, check out this gorgeous trailer for FALL FOR ANYTHING:
Have you ever noticed a book popping up over and over in the book blogs you read? Not necessarily the splashy one, but the one everybody keeps saying is So Good.That's what I kept seeing about Courtney Summers' book, SOME GIRLS ARE. I read it. And it was so good. She has a way of capturing power dynamics and making them an intense, heart-wrenching experience - not to mention a page-turner.
So I'm really looking forward to her latest, FALL FOR ANYTHING, which comes out December 21st! (You can preorder it on IndieBound or Amazon.) And even more, I'm thrilled to welcome Courtney Summers to the blog today to chat about her story secrets...
Welcome, Courtney!
*****
FALL FOR ANYTHING is about a girl who is consumed by the question of why her (ex) famous photographer killed himself. She meets Culler Evans, a former photography student of her father's, and an instant and dangerous attraction begins. Culler just might hold the key to the mystery surrounding her father's death... but are some questions better left unanswered? Holly Cupala: We'd love to hear the story behind FALL FOR ANYTHING. How did you come up with the idea?
Courtney: I've always been fascinated with grief and loss, particularly now that I've lost people who I've been extremely close to in my life, so that's pretty much where the idea stemmed from. I wanted to explore the space that kind of loss leaves behind and the lengths we'll go to so we can feel whole again.
Holly: Did writing this book take you anywhere unexpected?
Courtney: It sort took me to expected places, actually. When I was writing my second book, Some Girls Are, my maternal grandfather passed away and I was very close to him. I think I always knew my third book would be about death and grieving, as a response to that.
Holly: What was your writing process like for this book? How long, and how many drafts?
Courtney: The first draft of FALL FOR ANYTHING took a few months to write and then it underwent a major revision. The story evolved A LOT as I revised. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but Eddie and Milo's relationship underwent a big makeover and in the very, very original draft, Eddie' father wasn't a photographer. Both of these elements play a HUGE part in the novel as it is now. So needless to say, some substantial rewriting occurred!
Holly: Has anything in your life inspired your book?
Courtney:
When I was 17--the same age as Eddie is in FALL FOR ANYTHING--my paternal grandfather died of an aggressive form of cancer. It took him quickly, but his quality of life from the time of his diagnosis on was severely diminished. The amount of suffering he endured as he was dying really shook us. When I was 22, my maternal grandfather became very seriously ill and passed away. His death was quite unexpected, so it didn't really hit until later that he was gone, and when it did, it hit hard. The heart of Eddie's story is about her unwillingness to accept what has happened and her determination to find out why it has happened. My personal experiences definitely informed the way I approached writing that.Holly: Will you tell us a secret?
Courtney: When I was little, I'd take my Grandma's blush and put it all over my cheeks because apparently I thought BRIGHT red cheeks were very grown-up and becoming. When she saw me and asked how my cheeks got so red, I told her I had pressed my face up against the heating vent because... I guess having her think her granddaughter was a bit of a weirdo was preferable to having her discover her granddaughter was playing with her make-up without her permission!
Holly: I love that! So what are you working on now?
Courtney: My fourth book, like my first three, will be published by St. Martin's Press. It's in such early stages of plotting and writing that I don't want to say too much about it. So basically, it's in the works. :)
*****
Thank you, Courtney!
Readers, check out this gorgeous trailer for FALL FOR ANYTHING:
December 16, 2010
Story Secrets: FIXING DELILAH by Sarah Ockler + giveaway!
Listen up, Story Secrets readers: Today's guest Sarah Ockler is generously giving away one copy of FIXING DELILAH
with this interview, but you have TODAY ONLY to enter to win.
I'm announcing the winner tomorrow at the
very special final Story Secrets interview with Courtney Summers!!!
And now, without further ado, I introduce you to the lovely, talented Sarah Ockler, author of TWENTY BOY SUMMER and her latest, FIXING DELILAH, and who I was lucky enough to meet at the 2010 Teen Author Carnival...
Welcome, Sarah!
*****
At its core, FIXING DELILAH is about the complex, tumultuous relationships between mothers and daughters, and what happens when long-buried family secrets are forced into the light. Add in the death of an estranged grandmother, an unexpected romance with the adorable boy next door, a tarot-card reading aunt, new friendships, a whole summer of estate sale duty, and an economy-sized mayonnaise jar full of cremated St. Bernard, and you get an idea where this story's going. :-)
Holly Cupala: Tell us how the idea for FIXING DELILAH came about!
Sarah Ockler: When I first began writing for young adults, I thought a lot about myself as a teen, reflecting on all of the ups and downs Mom and I endured and trying to decide how much of that to incorporate into my novels. Around the time I was exploring some of the mother-daughter themes on paper, I lost my aunts Marcy and Sharon to cancer. We were all so close, but as we looked through old photos for their memorial services, I saw glimpses of people I never actually knew -- my aunts as teenagers and even as little girls. I realized then that as close as I thought my family was, as much as I thought we all knew about one another, there was so much unsaid and unasked, so many stories untold.
I'd never get the chance to talk to my aunt Marcy about that trip she took to Colorado as a teen. I'd never know what made my aunt Sharon laugh so much in that birthday picture. They were gone, and we all take our secrets and memories with us when we die. It was so hard to accept, so I did the next best thing -- I started writing about it.
When I officially began work on Fixing Delilah some time later, I had a bunch of disconnected threads in my head: bits and pieces of inspiration from the women in my family, young and old. A troubled, sixteen-year-old Delilah, feeling extremely distanced from her mother.
Secrets. An old yellow house on the lake. Sisters and aunts who'd kept things hidden out of love, shame, and fear. A mother who loved her daughter but was too focused on her work to see her slipping away.
They were all so rich and alive in my mind, but I just couldn't seem to get them together on the page. One night, totally overwhelmed with doubt that I'd ever get this story right, certain my publisher would rip up my contract and call me a fraud, I flipped on the radio in search of a distraction. A song I'd never heard poured from the speakers: Brandi Carlile's "The Story." I didn't know if she was singing about a romantic relationship, about family, or about something else entirely, but it touched me. Inspired me. That night, I heard Delilah and her family in those lyrics, and their story finally made sense. I knew what I had to say.
Even though I was inspired to write Delilah's story in part by the women in my family, I didn't expect the story would bring me back to my own childhood so often and so intensely. I don't fictionalize my life in my YA novels, so the story of FIXING DELILAH is not based on real events. But by the time I finished the manuscript, there was so much of my family on the page. Not in the same way that Delilah's family appears, but bits of stories and memories cobbled together with imagined characters and places and relationships stirred into this big, thick soup. It really made me think about my own family relationships, all the love, all the pain, all the history.
Holly: What is your biggest inspiration?
Sarah: I'm one of those people who finds inspiration everywhere I look -- the woods, the mountains, babies laughing, reading other wonderful YA books -- so this is a tough question! But the hands down number one inspiring force in my life is my husband, Alex. Not only is he super patient with all of my writerly neuroses (of which there are many, trust me), but he knows exactly when to challenge me on my self-indulgent bull and exactly when I just need a silent hug. Every time I want to quit, or I doubt myself, or I just start freaking out for no reason, he reminds me of everything I love about writing, and that no matter what, I can't give up, even if I really wanted to (which of course I never do). If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be a published author because I wouldn't have ever believed that I could do it.
The coolest thing about it is that I always find away to include Alex in my work, so it's like a project from both of our hearts. For FIXING DELILAH, there's a song called "Sigh" that Patrick sings to Delilah in the coffee shop. Alex wrote the music and lyrics for the song. Now I just have to convince him to record it so I can put it online for everyone! :-)
Holly: How long did it take you to write, and did you have to go through a lot of drafts? How did the story evolve as you revised?
Sarah: I wrote FIXING DELILAH in just under two years (including revision). Although I got feedback from my agent and editor on certain chapters and the overall concept, I probably only went through one complete start-to-finish rewrite after I got the complete editorial notes from my editor. This sounds kind of crazy, I know, but I have a hard time with first drafts. By hard time, I mean, I agonize over every word and sentence like it's childbirth or something (with just as much crying and sleep deprivation). I'm still trying to get comfortable with the whole "let yourself write garbage" thing -- I edit on the sentence level, as the words go on the page. It means that by the time the draft is complete, it's pretty polished, but it's not a very efficient way to work. And I usually end up cutting about 15,000-20,000 words in revision.
In terms of the evolution of the story itself, FIXING DELILAH initially focused more about a troubled teen in need of fixing, but the more I explored Delilah's family all of the secrets and layers of family history, and the more I thought about my own family, the more I realized this story was about an entire family of women struggling under the weight of generations of secrets and love and turmoil, not just about one girl going down the wrong path. The family was always part of the story, but they moved more to the forefront as the story grew -- especially after I had that mid-nervous-breakdown-epiphany during the Brandi Carlile song!
Holly: I'm all about digging deeper to find truth – how have your life experiences helped you get to the heart of your story?
Sarah: All about digging deeper, huh? Then you'll love Delilah. She's so focused on digging things up, she forgets that some things might be better left buried! But on to your question... though Delilah's story doesn't parallel my personal history exactly, it does draw from some of the feelings and emotional ups and downs I experienced with my mom.
To get to the truth of Delilah's story, I had to take myself back to some difficult places from my own teen years. Like a lot of girls, I had such a challenging relationship with my mom back then. One minute I truly admired her, the next I was packing my bags, certain I'd rather take my chances on the street than live with her another day. I always loved her, but just as Delilah feels about her own mom, I didn't always like her. It wasn't until I was much older and out of the house that I started to view her as a real person rather than *just* my mother. She had a whole life before me, filled with secrets and hopes and disappointments, human just like me, but I didn't see that back then. It was hard for me to go back and explore that territory, to really remember and examine the mistakes and hurt on both sides. There were times during the writing that I wanted to side totally with Delilah, because siding against her -- exposing her flaws as a character -- that would mean I'd have to accept my own flaws as a daughter, then and now. But I wanted the story to resonate authentically with readers -- both teen girls and their mothers -- and to do that, I had to dig for the tough, honest, raw stuff. It wasn't easy, but it was extremely rewarding.
Holly: What do you most hope your readers will take away?
Sarah: I hope that readers -- moms and daughters alike -- close the last page of Fixing Delilah with an understanding that no matter how close we are to someone, no matter how much we love each other, we don't always *know* each other. Inside each of us is an entire world -- our past experiences, our dreams and hopes, heartache, fears, secrets, goals, love. What we see in another person is often just the surface. Like Delilah says as she begins to uncover some of the painful truths about her family, "I wonder how much we don't see. How much of our lives we witness and accept as truth when the rest of the iceberg -- the heaviest, bulkiest part -- is buried and invisible." I hope that readers appreciate and remember that, especially when it comes to difficult family relationships in their own lives.
Holly: Any secrets you might be willing to share?
Sarah: Ah, thanks to the advent of Twitter and blogs, I doubt I have any secrets left! But I did put a lot of personal family history into the story of the Hannafords -- particularly the weird stuff that you just can't make up. That part where Delilah's grandmother requests that she be cremated together with her St. Bernard? That was totally my grandma. She loved that dog so much, she couldn't bare to be parted from him even in death. The two got sick at the same time -- I guess they just had that special connection. So when she died, we actually had to have to dog put to sleep as well. We were able to follow part of her wishes -- she wanted them to be cremated together, but apparently there's a health code preventing that. So just like in the story of Fixing Delilah, our funeral director secretly agreed to mix the ashes. Now, my grandmother's headstone contains a secret note about the dog that only family and friends can decipher. :-) Oh, grandma also totally had that sweater made out of dog hair. A few other family treasures that made it into the story: the box of tears, the Stephen King novels, the china dolls, and the expensive blue delft cow that none of us is ever allowed to touch. Moooo!
Holly: What's up next for you?
Sarah: I'm currently working on a new young adult contemporary called ICING. I'm not ready to share too much just yet (see, you saw that coming after my "under the hood" comments, right? ;-)), but I will say that it's set in the dead of winter for a change, and it features such yummy things as cupcakes, ice skates, and very cute hockey boys. And thanks to the cupcakes, I'm really looking forward to promoting this one. That's right, I'm not afraid to gain 20 pounds for the sake of my work! It's all research, right? ;-) ***** Thank you for sharing your secrets, Sarah! Read an excerpt of FIXING DELILAH here. NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY: Readers, you have until midnight tonight to leave a meaningful comment about Sarah, FIXING DELILAH, family, or secrets. Winner announced tomorrow!
with this interview, but you have TODAY ONLY to enter to win.
I'm announcing the winner tomorrow at the
very special final Story Secrets interview with Courtney Summers!!!
And now, without further ado, I introduce you to the lovely, talented Sarah Ockler, author of TWENTY BOY SUMMER and her latest, FIXING DELILAH, and who I was lucky enough to meet at the 2010 Teen Author Carnival...Welcome, Sarah!
*****
At its core, FIXING DELILAH is about the complex, tumultuous relationships between mothers and daughters, and what happens when long-buried family secrets are forced into the light. Add in the death of an estranged grandmother, an unexpected romance with the adorable boy next door, a tarot-card reading aunt, new friendships, a whole summer of estate sale duty, and an economy-sized mayonnaise jar full of cremated St. Bernard, and you get an idea where this story's going. :-)Holly Cupala: Tell us how the idea for FIXING DELILAH came about!
Sarah Ockler: When I first began writing for young adults, I thought a lot about myself as a teen, reflecting on all of the ups and downs Mom and I endured and trying to decide how much of that to incorporate into my novels. Around the time I was exploring some of the mother-daughter themes on paper, I lost my aunts Marcy and Sharon to cancer. We were all so close, but as we looked through old photos for their memorial services, I saw glimpses of people I never actually knew -- my aunts as teenagers and even as little girls. I realized then that as close as I thought my family was, as much as I thought we all knew about one another, there was so much unsaid and unasked, so many stories untold.
I'd never get the chance to talk to my aunt Marcy about that trip she took to Colorado as a teen. I'd never know what made my aunt Sharon laugh so much in that birthday picture. They were gone, and we all take our secrets and memories with us when we die. It was so hard to accept, so I did the next best thing -- I started writing about it.
When I officially began work on Fixing Delilah some time later, I had a bunch of disconnected threads in my head: bits and pieces of inspiration from the women in my family, young and old. A troubled, sixteen-year-old Delilah, feeling extremely distanced from her mother.
Secrets. An old yellow house on the lake. Sisters and aunts who'd kept things hidden out of love, shame, and fear. A mother who loved her daughter but was too focused on her work to see her slipping away.
They were all so rich and alive in my mind, but I just couldn't seem to get them together on the page. One night, totally overwhelmed with doubt that I'd ever get this story right, certain my publisher would rip up my contract and call me a fraud, I flipped on the radio in search of a distraction. A song I'd never heard poured from the speakers: Brandi Carlile's "The Story." I didn't know if she was singing about a romantic relationship, about family, or about something else entirely, but it touched me. Inspired me. That night, I heard Delilah and her family in those lyrics, and their story finally made sense. I knew what I had to say.
Even though I was inspired to write Delilah's story in part by the women in my family, I didn't expect the story would bring me back to my own childhood so often and so intensely. I don't fictionalize my life in my YA novels, so the story of FIXING DELILAH is not based on real events. But by the time I finished the manuscript, there was so much of my family on the page. Not in the same way that Delilah's family appears, but bits of stories and memories cobbled together with imagined characters and places and relationships stirred into this big, thick soup. It really made me think about my own family relationships, all the love, all the pain, all the history.
Holly: What is your biggest inspiration?
Sarah: I'm one of those people who finds inspiration everywhere I look -- the woods, the mountains, babies laughing, reading other wonderful YA books -- so this is a tough question! But the hands down number one inspiring force in my life is my husband, Alex. Not only is he super patient with all of my writerly neuroses (of which there are many, trust me), but he knows exactly when to challenge me on my self-indulgent bull and exactly when I just need a silent hug. Every time I want to quit, or I doubt myself, or I just start freaking out for no reason, he reminds me of everything I love about writing, and that no matter what, I can't give up, even if I really wanted to (which of course I never do). If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be a published author because I wouldn't have ever believed that I could do it.
The coolest thing about it is that I always find away to include Alex in my work, so it's like a project from both of our hearts. For FIXING DELILAH, there's a song called "Sigh" that Patrick sings to Delilah in the coffee shop. Alex wrote the music and lyrics for the song. Now I just have to convince him to record it so I can put it online for everyone! :-)
Holly: How long did it take you to write, and did you have to go through a lot of drafts? How did the story evolve as you revised?
Sarah: I wrote FIXING DELILAH in just under two years (including revision). Although I got feedback from my agent and editor on certain chapters and the overall concept, I probably only went through one complete start-to-finish rewrite after I got the complete editorial notes from my editor. This sounds kind of crazy, I know, but I have a hard time with first drafts. By hard time, I mean, I agonize over every word and sentence like it's childbirth or something (with just as much crying and sleep deprivation). I'm still trying to get comfortable with the whole "let yourself write garbage" thing -- I edit on the sentence level, as the words go on the page. It means that by the time the draft is complete, it's pretty polished, but it's not a very efficient way to work. And I usually end up cutting about 15,000-20,000 words in revision.
In terms of the evolution of the story itself, FIXING DELILAH initially focused more about a troubled teen in need of fixing, but the more I explored Delilah's family all of the secrets and layers of family history, and the more I thought about my own family, the more I realized this story was about an entire family of women struggling under the weight of generations of secrets and love and turmoil, not just about one girl going down the wrong path. The family was always part of the story, but they moved more to the forefront as the story grew -- especially after I had that mid-nervous-breakdown-epiphany during the Brandi Carlile song!
Holly: I'm all about digging deeper to find truth – how have your life experiences helped you get to the heart of your story?
Sarah: All about digging deeper, huh? Then you'll love Delilah. She's so focused on digging things up, she forgets that some things might be better left buried! But on to your question... though Delilah's story doesn't parallel my personal history exactly, it does draw from some of the feelings and emotional ups and downs I experienced with my mom.
To get to the truth of Delilah's story, I had to take myself back to some difficult places from my own teen years. Like a lot of girls, I had such a challenging relationship with my mom back then. One minute I truly admired her, the next I was packing my bags, certain I'd rather take my chances on the street than live with her another day. I always loved her, but just as Delilah feels about her own mom, I didn't always like her. It wasn't until I was much older and out of the house that I started to view her as a real person rather than *just* my mother. She had a whole life before me, filled with secrets and hopes and disappointments, human just like me, but I didn't see that back then. It was hard for me to go back and explore that territory, to really remember and examine the mistakes and hurt on both sides. There were times during the writing that I wanted to side totally with Delilah, because siding against her -- exposing her flaws as a character -- that would mean I'd have to accept my own flaws as a daughter, then and now. But I wanted the story to resonate authentically with readers -- both teen girls and their mothers -- and to do that, I had to dig for the tough, honest, raw stuff. It wasn't easy, but it was extremely rewarding.
Holly: What do you most hope your readers will take away?
Sarah: I hope that readers -- moms and daughters alike -- close the last page of Fixing Delilah with an understanding that no matter how close we are to someone, no matter how much we love each other, we don't always *know* each other. Inside each of us is an entire world -- our past experiences, our dreams and hopes, heartache, fears, secrets, goals, love. What we see in another person is often just the surface. Like Delilah says as she begins to uncover some of the painful truths about her family, "I wonder how much we don't see. How much of our lives we witness and accept as truth when the rest of the iceberg -- the heaviest, bulkiest part -- is buried and invisible." I hope that readers appreciate and remember that, especially when it comes to difficult family relationships in their own lives.
Holly: Any secrets you might be willing to share?
Sarah: Ah, thanks to the advent of Twitter and blogs, I doubt I have any secrets left! But I did put a lot of personal family history into the story of the Hannafords -- particularly the weird stuff that you just can't make up. That part where Delilah's grandmother requests that she be cremated together with her St. Bernard? That was totally my grandma. She loved that dog so much, she couldn't bare to be parted from him even in death. The two got sick at the same time -- I guess they just had that special connection. So when she died, we actually had to have to dog put to sleep as well. We were able to follow part of her wishes -- she wanted them to be cremated together, but apparently there's a health code preventing that. So just like in the story of Fixing Delilah, our funeral director secretly agreed to mix the ashes. Now, my grandmother's headstone contains a secret note about the dog that only family and friends can decipher. :-) Oh, grandma also totally had that sweater made out of dog hair. A few other family treasures that made it into the story: the box of tears, the Stephen King novels, the china dolls, and the expensive blue delft cow that none of us is ever allowed to touch. Moooo!
Holly: What's up next for you?
Sarah: I'm currently working on a new young adult contemporary called ICING. I'm not ready to share too much just yet (see, you saw that coming after my "under the hood" comments, right? ;-)), but I will say that it's set in the dead of winter for a change, and it features such yummy things as cupcakes, ice skates, and very cute hockey boys. And thanks to the cupcakes, I'm really looking forward to promoting this one. That's right, I'm not afraid to gain 20 pounds for the sake of my work! It's all research, right? ;-) ***** Thank you for sharing your secrets, Sarah! Read an excerpt of FIXING DELILAH here. NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY: Readers, you have until midnight tonight to leave a meaningful comment about Sarah, FIXING DELILAH, family, or secrets. Winner announced tomorrow!
December 15, 2010
A few last secrets...
Wonderful blogger Solvang Sherrie has very kindly invited me to divulge secrets of the free Tell Me a Secret audio podcast (which you can listen to right here!).
And the lovely bloggers Precious and Kai of Fragments of Life and Amaterasu Reads have invited me to participate in their spectacular event,
Christmas Countdown
tomorrow, December 16th!Both interviews are giving away copies of Tell Me a Secret...so if you're looking for a last-minute gift for a reading kind of young adult in your life, check them out. And enjoy the free podcast while it lasts!
Speaking of podcasts, the awesome Teen Advisory Group at Seattle Public Library Northeast branch put together a podcast interview of yours truly. I was very honored to participate and loved getting to know the TAG teens!
Thanks to all of you, and Happy Holidays!
December 14, 2010
Winners, Winners, Winners!
Hooray, we have a bunch of winners today! If you see your name, please contact me here with your info. (I'll hold prizes and swag for 2 weeks.)
First we have the WHAT YA BLOGGERS WANT Grand Prize...Four books of the winner's choice from my stash of prizes (see vid below)
plus a bracelet handmade by Hannah Splus a signed copy of Tell Me a Secretand various TMAS-related giftiesgoes to... KALIA SAGE!!!!!
Here is the video of prizes to choose from (Note: Before I Fall, Heist Society, Skin Deep, I Am Number Four, and Lips Touch are no longer available):
And here are more Story Secrets winners (sorry I got so behind on these!):
Deborah Reber's LANGUAGE OF LOVE:Jecca (Jessica B)
Courtney Sheinmel's POSITIVELY:Harmony
Sarah Beth Durst's ENCHANTED IVY: Jessi E. (The Elliot Review)
Daisy Whitney's THE MOCKINGBIRDS:Bwyatt
Conrad Wesselhoeft's ADIOS, NIRVANA: CuppaJolie
Ok, winners, don't forget to contact me here to give me your info, and let me know your internet name and what you won so I can get you the right prize!
Hope you enjoy!
First we have the WHAT YA BLOGGERS WANT Grand Prize...Four books of the winner's choice from my stash of prizes (see vid below)
plus a bracelet handmade by Hannah Splus a signed copy of Tell Me a Secretand various TMAS-related giftiesgoes to... KALIA SAGE!!!!!
Here is the video of prizes to choose from (Note: Before I Fall, Heist Society, Skin Deep, I Am Number Four, and Lips Touch are no longer available):
And here are more Story Secrets winners (sorry I got so behind on these!):
Deborah Reber's LANGUAGE OF LOVE:Jecca (Jessica B)
Courtney Sheinmel's POSITIVELY:Harmony
Sarah Beth Durst's ENCHANTED IVY: Jessi E. (The Elliot Review)
Daisy Whitney's THE MOCKINGBIRDS:Bwyatt
Conrad Wesselhoeft's ADIOS, NIRVANA: CuppaJolie
Ok, winners, don't forget to contact me here to give me your info, and let me know your internet name and what you won so I can get you the right prize!
Hope you enjoy!
December 10, 2010
How to win stuff
Looking for the perfect gift for someone? Already read TMAS and want to win something I made to go with it? Here's a roundup of all of the giveaways!
Win a copy of TELL ME A SECRET at:
Late Bloomer Online (ends 12/14)
A Good Addiction (signed, ends 12/15)
Books Complete Me (ends 12/15)
I Am A Reader, Not A Writer (ends 12/16)
Win an autographed print of my original TMAS collage at:
Confessions of a Bookaholic (ends 12/15)
There's a Book (ends 12/15)
Pirate Penguin's Reads (ends 12/16)
YA Outside the Lines (ends 1/6/11)
Win my nifty handmade TMAS magnet set at:
DeRaps Reads (ends 12/13)
I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read (ends 12/15)
Blkosiner's Book Blog (ends 12/17)
Win other cool books:
Deborah Reber's LANGUAGE OF LOVE (ends Monday)
Stephanie Kuehnert's BALLADS OF SUBURBIA at YAOTL
And I'm hoping to catch up on Story Secrets and What YA Bloggers Want winners next week!
Win a copy of TELL ME A SECRET at:
Late Bloomer Online (ends 12/14)
A Good Addiction (signed, ends 12/15)
Books Complete Me (ends 12/15)
I Am A Reader, Not A Writer (ends 12/16)
Win an autographed print of my original TMAS collage at:Confessions of a Bookaholic (ends 12/15)
There's a Book (ends 12/15)
Pirate Penguin's Reads (ends 12/16)
YA Outside the Lines (ends 1/6/11)
Win my nifty handmade TMAS magnet set at:
DeRaps Reads (ends 12/13)
I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read (ends 12/15)
Blkosiner's Book Blog (ends 12/17)
Win other cool books:
Deborah Reber's LANGUAGE OF LOVE (ends Monday)
Stephanie Kuehnert's BALLADS OF SUBURBIA at YAOTL
And I'm hoping to catch up on Story Secrets and What YA Bloggers Want winners next week!
