I think part of the reason I wrote The Shape of Water was due to the unusual setting of my childhood. I grew up on the edge of a "working" beach on the south shore of Staten Island. There was a clamhouse where people came to purchase fresh seafood, primarily shellfish, dozens of shacks where fishermen lived, and fishing boats that sold to the Fulton Fish Market in New York City. It was New York City; our school books said we were New York City, but that area of Staten Island had nothing in common with Manhattan. It never occurred to me that having a beach as my playground, and a rowboat for extensive marsh exploration was in any way not the usual setting for a New York City childhood - until I got older. I always wanted to write about that place, that beach, and those people, but just to describe them would be dull. I wanted people to experience the place as I had - as the background to a larger story. For me, it was my childhood; for readers, it's Magda's story. I also wrote this novel because I am a frustrated poet. I published poetry, yup, lots of it, but the adages about starving and not getting anywhere (except lots of free coffee and really, really odd editors sending you their sometimes erotic writing) is very, very true. I wanted to write a book with at least a lyrical feel in a genre that had very little lyricism. I looked around, and aside from crime drama, young adult seemed the most lacking in the lyrical department. Oh yes, there are books that are written with poetic touches that are young adult, but on the whole, they are about trips to the mall, and opposite sex conundrums, and freeing yourself from bad childhood/ parent / school troubles. Then I started seeing the image of a girl walking on that beach. I put everything together, the girl began a fire, she mourned her mother, and the fish moved into her head and began speaking. And here's the confession: I had no idea I was writing young adult fiction. I say that now because I wanted to write what I only knew as a "coming of age" story. An agent later told me the genre of the novel. I acted like."Ah yes, but of course, I already knew that." I mean after all, I'm the AUTHOR, right? How bad, exactly, would it look if I didn't know that name of my chosen genre? But I immediately went home and Googled young adult and saw what I had gotten myself into. It was still coming of age, but all polished up and kind of more legitimate somehow once it got shelf space in Barnes and Noble. The lesson? I think authors should always write the story they want to write, and everything else will fall into place.
It never occurred to me that having a beach as my playground, and a rowboat for extensive marsh exploration was in any way not the usual setting for a New York City childhood - until I got older. I always wanted to write about that place, that beach, and those people, but just to describe them would be dull. I wanted people to experience the place as I had - as the background to a larger story. For me, it was my childhood; for readers, it's Magda's story.
I also wrote this novel because I am a frustrated poet. I published poetry, yup, lots of it, but the adages about starving and not getting anywhere (except lots of free coffee and really, really odd editors sending you their sometimes erotic writing) is very, very true. I wanted to write a book with at least a lyrical feel in a genre that had very little lyricism. I looked around, and aside from crime drama, young adult seemed the most lacking in the lyrical department.
Oh yes, there are books that are written with poetic touches that are young adult, but on the whole, they are about trips to the mall, and opposite sex conundrums, and freeing yourself from bad childhood/ parent / school troubles.
Then I started seeing the image of a girl walking on that beach. I put everything together, the girl began a fire, she mourned her mother, and the fish moved into her head and began speaking.
And here's the confession: I had no idea I was writing young adult fiction. I say that now because I wanted to write what I only knew as a "coming of age" story. An agent later told me the genre of the novel.
I acted like."Ah yes, but of course, I already knew that." I mean after all, I'm the AUTHOR, right? How bad, exactly, would it look if I didn't know that name of my chosen genre?
But I immediately went home and Googled young adult and saw what I had gotten myself into. It was still coming of age, but all polished up and kind of more legitimate somehow once it got shelf space in Barnes and Noble.
The lesson? I think authors should always write the story they want to write, and everything else will fall into place.