INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR LINDA COLLISON
Readers of nautical fiction will be familiar with Linda Collison from your engaging Patricia MacPherson series, published by Fireship Press. Tell us what inspired you to branch out into the Young Adult realm.
Having been a teenager, having raised teenagers (or, more appropriately, sheltered and fed them as they morphed into adult beings), I have a soft spot in my heart for these awkwardly beautiful, self-absorbed, often tormented creatures.
Ever since I was about twelve years old, I’ve liked coming-of-age stories. Like, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Member of the Wedding, Catcher in the Rye, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, etc. Novels about children or teenagers on the cusp of adulthood. It’s not so much the plot as the character I care about. What goes on inside their mind and heart.
My first novel, Star-Crossed, was published by Knopf as young adult historical fiction – even though I didn’t set out to write a YA novel. So I guess I write for teens even when I don’t intend to!
Tell us about your new novel, Looking for Redfeather. What do you think is its biggest appeal to a Young Adult audience and perhaps to an even wider audience?
Three runaway teens on a road trip, meet up by chance and go on the road together in a stolen (actually, “borrowed without permission”) Cadillac. Each kid is a misfit in a way, and each is running for a different reason. Ramie’s search for his estranged father, an Apache musician named Redfeather, becomes a shared quest. I hope young adult readers will relate to the characters, their fears and frustrations. I think older readers will see the humor and the pathos in it, maybe more than teen readers.
Music plays a big part in the novel, as it should on any road trip. As it does in my life. I’ve included songs as touchstones for our times, this troubled twenty-first century. And now I’m working on the stage play adaptation, which I hope will appeal to young and old adults alike.
With this novel, you have branched out into the bold new world of self-publishing. Tell us what brought you to this decision.
I’ll be honest: Because my agent wasn’t able to place this novel with a big publisher. I looked around me and saw how many authors were doing it, were publishing their own books. And I said, let’s do this thing. Let’s become a publisher as well as an author. Fortunately, my husband agreed and has been very supportive. I love this story – Looking for Redfeather –it’s been a part of me for six years. I wasn’t willing to have it lay forgotten in some file on my computer. I wanted these kids, my characters, to live. I would do anything – even become a publisher myself –to give them life. (I’m smiling and winking, here.)
How different was your writing process between your nautical series and Looking For Redfeather?
Looking for Redfeather was much easier. Oh, sure, I researched the Apache and I had to check bands, facts, highway routes, dates, etc. but compared to the research that goes into historical fiction, it was a lark. Still, it has taken me six years to write, rewrite, and publish the book! Which, ironically, is how long it took me to write Star-Crossed…
Is there a follow-up in the works for Looking for Redfeather or is the novel meant as a stand-alone?
There aren’t any follow-ups in the works – some novels are meant to stand alone and I think this is one. But I never say never.
How much did you draw upon your own youth or perhaps the lives of your own children for this story?
It’s a mish-mash and a composite, for sure. Snippets of my kids’ lives, and their friends, my nephew’s voice, my granddaughter’s genetic syndrome -- it’s all in there. Even some of my own longings, desires, and insecurities as a teenager. But mostly, it’s all made up. What is absolutely real is the three quests the kids are on. And the places in the book, they’re all real. And the historical figures – Geronimo, Cochise, Victorio and Lozen.
What is next in the prolific writing life of Linda Collison? Will the third book in your Patricia MacPherson series be coming out soon?
Good Lord, I hope so! I ran aground last year and abandoned it for a while but now I’m back on course and planning for publication in 2014. The title is By a Yankee Moon. Patricia goes to the dark side – that is, she becomes an American colonist. A Rhode Islander. Or, as they were often called, Rogue Islanders.
Is there any advice you might give to other writers (myself included) who are trying to make a decision about whether to start with/or stick to traditional publishing versus going the route of self-publication?
I’m no expert on self-publishing! This is my first venture, after publishing five books traditionally, through Pruett Publishing, Alfred A. Knopf, and Fireship Press. What I like about running my own publishing company is that I can control both quality and retail price. What I don’t like about running my own publishing company is that it’s a black hole for my time –and there’s an upfront investment which I may never earn back. I have to learn how to be a publisher when all I really want to be is a writer. But I believe in my book enough to give it life. I’ll take that risk.
Susan, thanks for the opportunity to talk about Looking for Redfeather, my contemporary YA road trip novel. It’s always an honor when an author whose work you admire takes an interest in your work!
Find out more about Linda Collison and her writing by visiting her website: LindaCollison.com
Having been a teenager, having raised teenagers (or, more appropriately, sheltered and fed them as they morphed into adult beings), I have a soft spot in my heart for these awkwardly beautiful, self-absorbed, often tormented creatures.
Ever since I was about twelve years old, I’ve liked coming-of-age stories. Like, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Member of the Wedding, Catcher in the Rye, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, etc. Novels about children or teenagers on the cusp of adulthood. It’s not so much the plot as the character I care about. What goes on inside their mind and heart.
My first novel, Star-Crossed, was published by Knopf as young adult historical fiction – even though I didn’t set out to write a YA novel. So I guess I write for teens even when I don’t intend to!
Tell us about your new novel, Looking for Redfeather. What do you think is its biggest appeal to a Young Adult audience and perhaps to an even wider audience?
Three runaway teens on a road trip, meet up by chance and go on the road together in a stolen (actually, “borrowed without permission”) Cadillac. Each kid is a misfit in a way, and each is running for a different reason. Ramie’s search for his estranged father, an Apache musician named Redfeather, becomes a shared quest. I hope young adult readers will relate to the characters, their fears and frustrations. I think older readers will see the humor and the pathos in it, maybe more than teen readers.
Music plays a big part in the novel, as it should on any road trip. As it does in my life. I’ve included songs as touchstones for our times, this troubled twenty-first century. And now I’m working on the stage play adaptation, which I hope will appeal to young and old adults alike.
With this novel, you have branched out into the bold new world of self-publishing. Tell us what brought you to this decision.
I’ll be honest: Because my agent wasn’t able to place this novel with a big publisher. I looked around me and saw how many authors were doing it, were publishing their own books. And I said, let’s do this thing. Let’s become a publisher as well as an author. Fortunately, my husband agreed and has been very supportive. I love this story – Looking for Redfeather –it’s been a part of me for six years. I wasn’t willing to have it lay forgotten in some file on my computer. I wanted these kids, my characters, to live. I would do anything – even become a publisher myself –to give them life. (I’m smiling and winking, here.)
How different was your writing process between your nautical series and Looking For Redfeather?
Looking for Redfeather was much easier. Oh, sure, I researched the Apache and I had to check bands, facts, highway routes, dates, etc. but compared to the research that goes into historical fiction, it was a lark. Still, it has taken me six years to write, rewrite, and publish the book! Which, ironically, is how long it took me to write Star-Crossed…
Is there a follow-up in the works for Looking for Redfeather or is the novel meant as a stand-alone?
There aren’t any follow-ups in the works – some novels are meant to stand alone and I think this is one. But I never say never.
How much did you draw upon your own youth or perhaps the lives of your own children for this story?
It’s a mish-mash and a composite, for sure. Snippets of my kids’ lives, and their friends, my nephew’s voice, my granddaughter’s genetic syndrome -- it’s all in there. Even some of my own longings, desires, and insecurities as a teenager. But mostly, it’s all made up. What is absolutely real is the three quests the kids are on. And the places in the book, they’re all real. And the historical figures – Geronimo, Cochise, Victorio and Lozen.
What is next in the prolific writing life of Linda Collison? Will the third book in your Patricia MacPherson series be coming out soon?
Good Lord, I hope so! I ran aground last year and abandoned it for a while but now I’m back on course and planning for publication in 2014. The title is By a Yankee Moon. Patricia goes to the dark side – that is, she becomes an American colonist. A Rhode Islander. Or, as they were often called, Rogue Islanders.
Is there any advice you might give to other writers (myself included) who are trying to make a decision about whether to start with/or stick to traditional publishing versus going the route of self-publication?
I’m no expert on self-publishing! This is my first venture, after publishing five books traditionally, through Pruett Publishing, Alfred A. Knopf, and Fireship Press. What I like about running my own publishing company is that I can control both quality and retail price. What I don’t like about running my own publishing company is that it’s a black hole for my time –and there’s an upfront investment which I may never earn back. I have to learn how to be a publisher when all I really want to be is a writer. But I believe in my book enough to give it life. I’ll take that risk.
Susan, thanks for the opportunity to talk about Looking for Redfeather, my contemporary YA road trip novel. It’s always an honor when an author whose work you admire takes an interest in your work!
Find out more about Linda Collison and her writing by visiting her website: LindaCollison.com
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Oct 09, 2013 08:21AM
Looking for Redfeather
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