Cole: I read on your website that you were constantly writing as a child. You wrote on restaurant menus and on notepads your mother carried in her purse. Can you talk about how your interest in writing began at such an early age?

DeStefano: I’m not sure where it really began. I tend to believe I was just born with a tendency to tell stories. When I was very little, I would make up stories in my head to help myself get to sleep at night, and gradually I began daydreaming new characters and new stories just to amuse myself. If I liked a book or a TV show, when it was over I would imagine new little adventures for the characters to have. It was just how my mind worked, and I thought it strange that nobody around me was the same way. When I got older, I started to write them down purely for fun.

Cole: Can you provide some background information regarding how the idea for this book (and this new trilogy) came about?

DeStefano: I was growing frustrated with another writing project I had in the works, and my agent suggested I try writing something new. In my trove of unrealized story ideas, there was a synopsis I’d written years earlier about a virus that kills its victims young and causes society to resort to polygamy. I started playing around with it, thinking it would be a short story or something along those lines, and that’s how Wither happened. There was more to the idea than I’d expected.

Cole: I understand this is your first young adult novel. Can you talk about your process finding a publisher and getting this book published and what you learned about writing from completing this book?

DeStefano: I was fortunate enough that I was already working with my literary agent before I wrote Wither. We were working on an adult story that had been through the ringer a few times. I wrote Wither as more of a fun side project and was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be the story that sold. You’d have to ask my agent about most of the details of the sale, but I finished writing it at the end of September, my agent had read it and started to go out with it by mid-October, and we accepted an offer from Simon & Schuster before Halloween. I think the main thing I learned from completing this book is that I need to open myself to new things. I had never thought I’d write a young adult novel, or that I’d have so much fun doing it. Now it’s common practice for me to write outside of my usual limitations when I’ve reached a dry spell. I read things that wouldn’t have caught my eye before. I try to expand my way of thinking, which leads to expanding my way of writing.

Cole: Did you initially begin writing the book with a young adult audience in mind?

DeStefano: When I began writing Wither, I intended it to be a short story, and I wasn’t giving too much thought to the audience. I knew that I had a young protagonist, but several of the story’s themes are quite dark, and so I thought it best to see how it all played out. However, I showed an early draft of the first several pages to my agent, and she believed it would be most suited for a YA audience.

Cole: One of the themes seems to be the consequences of tampering with human genetics. Is that correct and can you elaborate?

DeStefano: I think Wither can mean many different things for different readers, and none of those things would be wrong. In Wither, an attempt to save humanity causes its slow demise. It’s a world wherein everything is slowly dying, from flowers to buildings to people. Whether that’s a consequence, a parable, a forewarning or a mere source of entertainment is up to readers to decide.

Cole: Central to the story is the idea of young girls being taken into bondage and forced to marry. How and why did this concept work its way into the novel?

DeStefano: All I knew when I began this story was that my narrator was in a dark place and that she was frightened and wanted to go home. I wasn’t sure, yet, where she was headed. I kept writing to find that out. The things that happened to her, and the personalities of her sister wives, and even the fact that she had sister wives manifested as the story progressed.

Cole: Readers acquire a deeper understanding of Linden’s role in holding the young girls captive, his attitude toward them, and his relationship with his father.  Can you talk about how his personality evolved as you wrote the story?

DeStefano: Initially, I did think Linden would be a sort of villain. But I came to learn that he’s not the one holding the girls captive; he’s bereft and naïve, and he lives in a fantasy world his father has created for him. Rhine, in playing the part of a good wife, recognizes this about him, which created one of my favorite dynamics within this story.

Cole: What was your most challenging aspect of writing the book? And can you identify and elaborate on a major turning point in the development of the novel?

DeStefano: The hardest part for me is always the beginning. I’m not much of an outliner, and I’m always plunging into unfamiliar waters. I’d say there were many major turning points, but the one that stands out the most is when I realized Linden, Rhine’s betrothed, was not so easy for Rhine to hate. Linden surprised me, but so did Rhine’s sister wives. Cecily, the youngest bride, is meddlesome and conniving, but hardly the villain I expected when I wrote her first lines. The oldest wife, Jenna, becomes an ally for Rhine, and the tragedy of her past surprised me. There are friendships where I expected enemies, and there’s love where I expected rivalry.

Cole: You quote from T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” in the opening: “This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.” Can you talk about the connection between Eliot’s line and the story?

DeStefano: Wither is what I like to refer to as a “what if” world. What if none of us had natural genes anymore? What if we knew at what age we would die? These sorts of thoughts flit through my head on any given day, and somehow the idea for Wither caught a snag in my brain. In Wither’s opening, several girls are huddled together in darkness, one body indistinguishable from the next, and that was very much the sort of image I had in my head when I first read “The Hollow Men.”

Cole: What can you tell readers about the upcoming books in the trilogy?

DeStefano: Only that the story isn’t over for any of these characters just yet.

Contributed by Dr. Pam Cole, Kennesaw State Univeristy

Interview conducted by Bryan Gillis

S.A. Bodeen is the author of several acclaimed picture books, including Elizabeti’s Doll, winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Raised in Wisconsin, she and her husband were Peace Corps volunteers in Africa and now live in Oregon with their two daughters. Stephanie does school visits as well as workshops for all ages.

Gillis: Your second young adult novel, The Gardener, came out in May of 2010, following your successful debut in YA with The Compound. But before we discuss that, talk a bit about how your writing career began, and specifically your success in the area of children’s literature.

Bodeen: I’d always wanted to be a writer, and I went to college with a major in journalism. But it wasn’t a creative kind of writing, and I didn’t like it at all, so I switched majors, figuring that was the end of me ever being a writer. But when I was thirty and staying home with our two young daughters, we had a picture book author come to town. I decided to give it a shot, so I wrote a story called Elizabeti’s Doll inspired by my experiences in the Peace Corps in Tanzania. Elizabeti’s Doll was acquired by the third publisher I sent it to, and it came out in 1998. It was named an ALA Notable, got starred reviews from School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and Kirkus, won several other awards, and resulted in a series of three books about Elizabeti. I also sold four more picture books in the next several years, almost all of them ending up as award-winning, well-reviewed books.

Gillis: Wow! That’s an impressive resume. So, what made you decide to start writing for young adults?

Bodeen: Actually, I started my first YA back in 1996, the year I sold Elizabeti’ s Doll. Over the next several years I wrote a total of nine novels. This was before I had an agent, and I tried to get an agent with a couple of those novels, to no avail. I finally did get an agent for my picture books in 2003, and he sold one for me. I then sent him three novels, one for grown-ups, one YA, and one for middle grades. And in the fall of 2005, he sent them all back to me, with a blunt (but kind) letter telling me they were nowhere close to being publishable, but he would be there for me when I did have a novel he could sell. So I decided I would never be good enough to write novels, and I quit. That lasted for three months, and then I signed up for the 2005 National Novel Writing Month and wrote a draft that would eventually become The Compound.

Gillis: The Compound and The Gardener both deal with science fiction themes, specifically end-of-the- world, apocalyptic subject matter. What motivated you to delve into this genre?

Bodeen: I grew up in rural Wisconsin in the 70s, and we had only two television channels, three if the weather was right. Beginning when I was in first grade, Star Trek was on after school, and I have been a fan of sci-fi ever since. I always loved apocalyptic books when I could find them. Z for Zachariah comes to mind, and in 7th grade I did an oral report on The Girl Who Owned a City, a story about a virus that kills everyone over the age of fifteen or so, leaving kids to fend for themselves. Along the way I discovered Shirley Jackson, like The Lottery and We Have Always Lived in the Castle. And then when I was fifteen, someone slipped me a copy of The Stand by Stephen King, and that was probably the most profound reading experience of my life. I had no idea books like that existed, and that reading experience became a standard by which all others were measured. As for movies, my favorites have always been sci-fi. It seemed so natural for me to try and write a story in the genre because I have loved it all these years.

Gillis: Mini-spoiler alert: The Gardener deals with the creation of human autotrophs, beings who get their energy through the use of inorganic materials and photosynthesis. Were you big into science in high school, or did you need to do a bit of research for this book?

Bodeen: I was absolutely not into science in school. Ever. But I ended up marrying a biologist and spending a lot of time immersed in environmental projects of his, so I have developed a big interest over the years. So much of the science in The Gardener ended up going in as I wrote it. A professor friend of ours has become a huge name in sustainability. A one-hour conversation with him about peak oil, and the potential fallout, terrified me, which spurred me to research so many things that ended up going into the book because they just fit so well. I love looking at scientific facts and asking, “But what if…?” Such thinking, combined with my imagination, almost always leads to something sinister and unpleasant.

Gillis: So many YA novels portray parents as either absent or clueless in regards to their kids’ lives. This makes sense to an extent, since the focus of YA literature is the adolescent. However, in both The Compound and The Gardener, you chose to have the parents of the protagonists play very integral roles. Why was this important to you?

Bodeen: Maybe it’s because I am a parent of teenagers and am neither absent nor clueless. While my teenage main character is obviously the focus of the story, I think that pretending the parents have absolutely no part in the life of that teenager isn’t realistic. At least for the stories I try and tell. Plus, making a parent a little unhinged is rather fun. They play a role in the kid’s life, why not make it a pivotal one?

Gillis: Stephanie, thank you so much for your time. Before I let you go, can you tell us what new book projects you are currently working on?

Bodeen: I’m in the midst of editorial revisions on my third YA novel, The Raft, which should be out Winter 2012. Recently the outline was approved for what will be my fourth novel with Feiwel and Friends, so I’m about a third of the way through that. The perfect title is still eluding me. The Raft is about a teenage girl whose plane crashes in the remote Pacific. As for the other, it is still in the stage where it takes me five minutes to sum up what it is about. I will say the main character is a boy in a small town in Iowa, and he is having a hard time with life. Add in a mystery to be solved, and he is in for bumpy ride, so to speak.

An Interview with Helen Hemphill
Author of The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones

by Bryan Gillis
Kennesaw State University 

            Helen Hemphill is the author of three novels, Long Gone Daddy, Runaround, and her latest, The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones. She grew up in Texas and now lives with her family in Nashville, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas.  From a very early age, she had an active visual imagination paired with a sense of drama.

            “It’s almost as if I’m dreaming while wide awake,” she says. I actually see the action of a story in my mind’s eye like a movie running on a projector screen.”  
           
            She also loves hearing stories from her friends and family.

            “I’m a good listener, but I have to admit, some of it is a bit self-serving. Sometimes the material ends up in my writing one way or another. No one is spared!” 

Gillis: Your third novel, The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, just hit the bookshelves. But before we discuss that, talk a bit about how your writing career began, and specifically how you decided on YA literature. 

Hemphill: I came to writing in a rather circuitous way, by working for 20 years in corporate public relations and then through a second career teaching sixth grade language arts.  I really enjoyed my students, and through our classroom writing community, I started thinking more and more of ‘tweens and teens as the audience for my work. Finally, I did an MFA in writing for children and young adults at Vermont College, and that cemented my interest in YA literature.  There is so much diversity today in the writing being done for teen readers, plus the quality of the work is every bit as demanding as the writing being done for adult markets. For me, that offers a freedom to write the stories that interest me, and the challenge to create really good books for the readers that I care about most.

Gillis: Fourteen-year-old Harlan Q. Stank, the main character in your first novel, Long Gone Daddy, is a preacher’s son from a small town in Texas. Sassy Thompkins, the protagonist in Runaround is an 11-year-old living with her father in a small town in Kentucky. Prometheus, the main character in your newest novel, hails from Texas as well. One of the strengths of your storytelling is your ability to create believable and engaging characters. How has being a southern girl yourself influenced the creation and development of your characters?

Hemphill: There is a kind of vernacular in the South that’s more than slang.  It’s the rhythmical feel of the language, including the accents and the predisposition for storytelling.  My mom always told great stories about her family, and as a result, my sisters and I did funny (and sometimes irreverent) imitations of aunts and uncles and cousins.  So I think we listened to those family narratives with an ear for recreating the voices of our relatives, and it was great fun acting out the stories. Several years ago when he was interviewed about Ava’s Man, Rick Bragg noted that there is a sense of drama and a kind of perfect timing in Southern stories, and I agree. Now, as an adult, I do pay attention to the way people talk. I listen to the phrasing and the idioms and the particular way details work out the timing of a story. I think some of that plays naturally into my writing. I also have an undergraduate degree in theater, so I see the world as an ongoing drama. I’m afraid that’s inbred into my Southern sensibility.    

Gillis: Let’s talk about The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones. Both Long Gone Daddy and Runaround took place in the past, and you obviously did a fair amount of research in terms of including details that helped place the reader into specific time periods for those books. Deadwood Jones, however, is historical fiction. Talk about the process and the research involved in creating a post Civil War western.

Hemphill: It was a big endeavor.  I started by reading—cowboy diaries and memoirs, slave narratives, old newspaper entries, U.S. army reports from the period, non-fiction accounts of historical events, and huge amounts of cowboy folklore and western fiction. I also read several half-dime adventure novels from the period. During all of this, I paid particular attention to vocabulary. I also looked at maps and photos and reference books, and I actually drove the cattle trail through Nebraska and South Dakota to the Black Hills and Deadwood. I also visited the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian and talked to numerous experts about guns and horses, equipment, and food. It was a lot of fun doing the research, particularly when I found details that worked within the context of my novel.  For example, Edward Wheeler was the author of the Deadwood Dick half-dime adventure novels that were very popular with boys in the late 1800s, but it’s generally believed Wheeler never went farther west than Philadelphia.  In one account I noticed that his whereabouts was unknown just prior to the first Deadwood Dick novel’s publication in 1877.  That allowed me to take a poetic license and write Wheeler into my story as a rather pompous writer gone west to do his homework.  Since Wheeler referred to himself as a “sensational novelist” on his business cards from the 1880s, this seemed like the perfect comic relief to the grit of the cattle drive. The research gave me a fresh realization of the hardships of the boys (most were in their teens or early 20s) who drove the cattle up the trail, and of the Native Americans who were left to deal with the thousands of settlers who came into the Black Hills because of the gold rush.

Gillis: Westerns have made a bit of a comeback in movies, but the YA scene seems to be all about vampires these days. What motivated you to jump into the western genre, especially knowing how much research would be involved?

Hemphill: The western genre is a true American literary form, and I wanted to do something beyond the scope of the current craze for fantasy. There is a wonderful tradition of western writing in America, from Owen Wister to Cormick McCarthy, and it was important to me to write something that boys would find entertaining and of interest specifically for them. The research never dulled my excitement for the project; it enhanced it. The history had to be right, to be sure, but I wanted the story to be reflective of the adventure stories of the period.  Maybe it was Nat Love calling out to me from the universe, but it was a project I loved and a story I had to write.  Maybe cowboys will be the new vampires, who knows?

Gillis: Of course the appeal of any YA book is the connection the reader makes with the characters. So many successful YA novels revolve around high school life and relationships, which makes the introduction of vampires and the like a bit easier. So how did you go about creating the character of Prometheus, who is fascinating and totally engaging, knowing that, instead of a familiar high school setting, you would have to engage your readers with a cattle drive as your backdrop?

Hemphill: I don’t think a writer approaches a character any differently (other than specific research), whether that character is a high school vampire or a 1870s cowboy.  Fictional people must reflect our humanity and our connections to one another, and no matter who the characters are, readers have to care deeply what happens to them. As for Prometheus, I knew early on he would think of himself as lucky or blessed in some way, I knew he would be hesitant to trust other people, and I knew he would have a courageous heart.  As I lived with the events of the book, I imagined how Prometheus would react to the situations in which he found himself, given the things I knew about him. Pretty quickly, he was a very real boy to me because I cared about him.  Hopefully, readers will too.

Gillis: You mentioned driving the cattle trail as a part of the research for this book. Long Gone Daddy was a “road trip” story as well, with Harlan and his father making the journey from Texas to Las Vegas. Is this just a coincidence, or is there something special about this type of story?

Hemphill: It was just a coincidence that the two stories are road trips of sorts, but I do like the framework of the journey.  It offers up endless metaphors so a writer has a good deal of flexibility in plotting a novel.  I also think it’s an easy structure for young readers to understand.  

Gillis: Helen, thank you so much for your time. Before I let you go, please tell the readers what you are working on now, so that we have something to look forward to.

Hemphill: You are so very welcome, Bryan.  I have just finished a poetry book, tentatively titled Willie B & the Tragedy Rap Tour: A Concert in Verse. It combines the themes of Shakespeare’s tragedies with the rhymes and rhythms of contemporary rap music.  It’s been great fun to write. I also have a YA thriller in the drafting stage.  

Can you describe THE LEGEND OF ZOEY for our readers?  
THE LEGEND OF ZOEY is a middle-grade time travel told in a tandem journal entry format between Zoey Saffron Lennon Smith-Jones, a thirteen-year-old girl of the new millennium, and Prudence Charity Keeler, a thirteen-year-old girl in 1811, living in what was, then, the wild western frontier of the country, the Chickasaw lands in West Tennessee. Zoey is thrown back in time to December 1811, during the start of the New Madrid Earthquakes, which went on for months and, eventually, formed Reelfoot Lake in West Tennessee. Zoey has things to learn (and miles to go before she sleeps) while in 1811, and, oh yes, the job of saving not only Pru's family, but her own, eventual, family! No biggie. All in a day's work for today's middle schooler! I have a special affection for Zoey, because she is the young me that thought all the things she has the courage to say.

Who were your favorite authors growing up? Who are your favorite authors today?
I loved Eleanor Estes, who wrote the Moffats books, about four kids living with their mother. There was no father. My father had been killed overseas, so while I didn't realize it at the time, I think Estes' Moffats books showed me that life can and does go on. I read those books over and over again. Two of my other favorite books were HEIDI by Johanna Spyri, and JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte, and thinking about that, just now I've had an epiphany! There are no visible fathers in either of those two books, although there are fatherly replacements, some better than others. Interesting . . .  I also loved Beverly Cleary books, and the Trixie Belden mysteries.  About the time I was 12, during what was probably the best job of my life, working as the assistant to the librarian at St. Bethlehem School (even for free, it was one of the best jobs ever!), the librarian gave me a Scholastic paperback edition of a Rosamond du Jardin teen romance (that had originally been published in the 1940s) called WAIT FOR MARCY. I immediately embarked on a journey with teen romances by du Jardin, Betty Cavana, Beverly Cleary, and others (what they now call "girls fiction" or "maltshop books"). I also began reading adult novels—those big archaeological/historical doorstopper books by James Michener (that I still enjoy), and gothic novels by Phyllis Whitney and Dorothy Eden. My mother belonged to every book club known to man, so I read a lot of varied stuff. 

These days, wow. As far as books for children and teens, I'd have to say that I am so enjoying the new crop of books out there for young folks—all the work of my peers, from picture books through YA! And I'm also reading a lot of stuff I missed out on when I was a kid. So I'd be hard pressed to name any one author, because I feel like I'm discovering someone new every week! As far as stuff for adults goes, I'll tell you here that I continue to love some of the biggies out there in romance and horror—Eloisa James, Nicole Byrd, Stephen King, John Grisham. And from my literature studies, I still enjoy reading the dead white guys, the medieval and other women writers coming to light now, and the wealth of multicultural writers that are seeing shelf space these days. Oh, oh, and I enjoy reading nonfiction on just about any historical subject.

How do you approach a new story? Some authors plan, some don't. Some outline, some don't…
I tend to jump in when I have that glimmer of an idea or thought about a plot, or when I'm lucky enough to have a character leap into my mind, fully developed, which Zoey did. After I've written through that first exciting wave, I stop and start thinking about my plot. I don't do massive outlines with Roman Numerals (or any other kinds of numerals, and Heaven forbid, decimals), but I do tend to break my plot idea up into that old standby, the Aristotelian three-act structure, which gives me a feeling of parameters and control. 

Is there anything special you like to wear or do while you write? Where is your favorite place to write?
I have this old red sweater that I wear. My first husband bought it for me at an Estate sale in Indianapolis, and I'm certain that sixty years ago, it was a very expensive sweater, because it is still holding up! I've had "The Sweater," as it has come to be known amongst family and friends, since 1983, and for whatever reason, wearing "The Sweater" makes me feel like writing. And in case anyone knocks on the door, I usually wear jeans and a shirt WITH "The Sweater." Summer is hard because, in Nashville, to wear "The Sweater" when it is 95 degrees and 100% humidity, is to take one's life in one's hands. Thank goodness for air conditioning, which I jack WAY down in order to wear "The Sweater." Usually over my swimsuit.

Besides my office, I love to write at my local café/bakery, City Limits (waving to all my peeps there!). It is very busy, and I do see a lot of people I know, but other than saying hello, no one bothers me, the coffee is good and plentiful, and they do a mean panini sandwich. And the folks that work there are genuinely excited about my writing career, which is a plus. It's nice to have an appreciative crowd! I hang out there one to two days a week with my writing buddy, Shirley.  

What are your plans for your next novel? Can you give us a peek?
I have three or four manuscripts stacked up, all different, and a couple of which are out there with my agent. And several in various stages at home. I'm not sure what will happen, but it's fair to say that I'm writing both middle graders and young adult, and I also am working on adult romance as well, both contemporary and historical. And nonfiction. And a picture book. If you really want to pin me down, I'm exploring some war issues, both through my personal experience in Vietnam, and with the Iraq war now. The theme of fatherlessness is one that I'm constantly looking at, even when I don't intend to. I have a YA-in-progress, too, that is neither war- nor fatherlessness-driven. I'm all over the place, really.

Are you interested in visiting libraries or schools? If so, how can interested teachers and librarians contact you?  
Absolutely! I've already done a few school visits, and I had a load of fun. I've visited book clubs where the kids (and septuagenarians, in one case) have read my book, and we discuss. That's always a trip, because kids ask the best questions! Also, I've done several writing workshops with kids of various ages, from fifth grade to high schoolers, and I really enjoy that, too. We laugh. A lot! I have several "programs" I've worked up that apply to the various age levels, and my inner thirteen-year-old is always ready to make an appearance! Folks can e-mail me at CandieMoonshower at AOL dot com, and find my "Speaker's Page," with information on how to contact me, on my Web site at www.CandieMoonshower.com. Or contact me through my blog at http://c_moonshower.livejournal.com. And I'm in the book.

 What is a question you wish interviewers would ask—but never do?
 "Where did you get that fabulous SWEATER?" Or, better yet, "Can I give you a pot of money for that magical SWEATER?" Or, perhaps best would be: "Oprah called, and she wants you to come on the show—and bring 'The Sweater.' And your book, too!"

Can you describe Samurai Shortstop for our readers?
Samurai Shortstop is a historical young adult novel about a sixteen-year-old boy in 1890s Tokyo who learns to blend bushido–the way of the warrior–with his baseball practices in an effort to prove to his father that their family's samurai traditions still have a place in a new and changing Japan.

Who were your favorite authors growing up? Who are your favorite authors today?My favorite childhood book had to be Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth. I loved the wordplay and the puns. I was also fascinated by adventures like Robinson Crusoe and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I still have a mind to tackle a remake of 20,000 Leagues with a true YA angle

My favorite authors today have to be Michael Chabon, Raymond Chandler, and Rex Stout. Among YA authors I love the works of Garth Nix and Philip Reeve.

How do you approach a new story?
I used to start with a general idea of a beginning, middle, and end, then stare at my blank computer screen until pearls fell from my fingertips to the keyboard. That rarely happened. Then, when I got the idea to write a historical novel (Samurai Shortstop) and was suddenly juggling hundreds of pages of notes, I realized I needed to give proper outlining a try. What I discovered, to my delight, was that hashing out a detailed chapter outline in advance effectively killed my writer's block. I understand now that, at least for me, story development and sentence and paragraph construction are two separate processes. Creating a super-detailed outline before I ever typed the first word of the first sentence meant that when I finally was ready to write, I was able to focus on how I was writing, not what I was writing. It was a breakthrough that led to my first novel sale, and now I'm an outlining zealot!

Is there anything special you like to wear or do while you write? Where is your favorite place to write?
It only matters that I dress comfortably when I write. I don't often listen to music when I write, and especially not music that has intelligible words that I can sing along to. I prefer to write in total isolation, but the practicality of working in a small, open-floor plan loft with a wife who also works from home and a four-year-old daughter who attends half-day Montessori makes that a near impossibility. I got the need for total silence out of my system when I worked as the in-house commercial writer for a group of six radio stations though; sometimes the clients would even be standing over my shoulder, waiting for me to "be creative." That experience taught me to tune out distractions, but also to appreciate all the more those times when there are none.

What are your plans for your next novel? Can you give us a peek?
The next thing I'll have published is already finished. It's called Something Rotten. It's a retelling of Hamlet set at a paper plant in fictional Denmark, Tennessee, with the minor character of Horatio recast as a wry, sarcastic, seventeen-year-old detective who tries to help his friend Hamilton Prince figure out who murdered his dad. In Hollywood parlance, it's Raymond Chandler meets William Shakespeare. I'm very excited about the book. I was laughing out loud as I reread it to edit it, which I hope is a good sign. Something Rotten comes out in hardback from Penguin in October of 2007, and there's talk of making it into a series, with Something Wicked–based of course on Macbeth–as the next installment.

I'm also under contract for a book that isn't even finished yet. The working title is The Brooklyn Nine, and it's a middle grade novel that follows nine generations–or innings–of an immigrant family through their constant connections to baseball. I'm enjoying the writing of this book, but I wonder what exactly I was smoking when I pitched an idea that would require me to do nine different rounds of historical research. I just got back from a day at the Emory library researching the Dead Ball Era of the early 1900s. Again, fun, but slow-going!

Are you interested in visiting libraries or schools? If so, how can interested teachers and librarians contact you?Absolutely! In 2006 I visited fifteen schools and libraries, talking to students grades 6-12. I used to teach eighth grade English, and I love being up in front of a class. Anyone who's interested in having me to their school can check out my offerings by going to my web site, www.alangratz.com, and clicking on "For Educators."

Is there a question you wish interviewers would ask but they never do?
No one ever asks if I played baseball, which I always find surprising. Maybe after my middle grade baseball book comes out and people begin to see a pattern I'll get asked the question more. The reason I wish people would ask me about my baseball history is not because I was a great baseball player; I was the opposite. I was terrible. When no one asks, I never get to tell my favorite story about playing baseball:

My greatest Little League moment: I misplayed a long drive to left field, then absolutely launched the ball, trying to throw a runner out at the plate. The ball sailed up the first base line, over the fence, and into the bleachers, where it hit my little brother in the arm. All the runners scored. After the inning was over, the coach told me I had a good arm. He also told me not to come back.

{mosimage}Can you describe A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL (Wendy Lamb Books, 2006) for our readers?

 A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL is about three very different girls who all encounter the same bad boy throughout the course of a year. Each has an unpleasant experience with him, and each grows from it, learning more about who they are–and who they want to be–through the choices they make. It is a fairly intimate look at the time of life when girls head into their first serious intimate relationships–both emotionally and physically.

 Who were your favorite authors growing up? Who are your favorite authors today?

 When I was little, I wanted to be Pippi Longstocking, so I admired Astrid Lindgren, and I adored Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, too. As I got a bit older, Madeline L'Engle and Ursula LeGuin made a big impression on me, as well as Norton Juster's PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH. My Mom was an elementary school librarian, though, so choosing just a few books was difficult. I was one of those kids staggering under a stack of books on my way out the library door.

Now I read a combination of children's and adult. My son turned me on to Kenneth Oppel this past year. I love Jane Austen, Flannery O'Connor, Marge Piercy, and I've had a thing for Vladimir Nabokov since college. I've been reading a lot of poetry and nonfiction lately–specifically, poetry by Billy Collins and Mary Roach's books STIFF and SPOOK, as well as Daniel Mendelsohn's THE LOST, which I'm reading right now.

 How do you approach a new story? Some authors plan, some don't. Some outline, some don't…

 My natural instinct is to plunge right in and be driven by the voice of the main character. When I am truly lost in a manuscript, that is what is happening. For me, it feels very similar to the process of becoming a character you are portraying in a play. I grew up going to theater camps, as well as performing arts high school, and writing is very reminiscent of those times for me. I have tried to outline plots before, but the problem I run into is that once I know what is going to happen I am not as caught up in the process of discovery as when I am listening to the character and going where she takes me.

Is there anything special you like to wear or do while you write? Where is your favorite place to write?

I am a working Mom, so mornings are off to a bustling start–making breakfasts, packing lunches, searching for articles of clothing, etc.. Once they are on the bus, I tend to sit right down and get started. Which usually means I am in my pajamas until I decide to take a break! I now have a wonderful room with windows on all sides, a desk, an armchair, and my laptop. It's a room designated for reading and writing and it has become my favorite place to write, most definitely.

 What are your plans for your next novel? Can you give us a peek?

It's too nascent at the moment, but I can give you a peek at a book I'm ensconsed in and finding really exciting. It is called ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: The Story of the Mercury 13 Women, and is the real-life drama of the ladies who began astronaut training in 1961 until NASA pulled the plug on them. My editor on this project is Marc Aronson, for Candlewick, and I'm loving every minute of it. 

Are you interested in visiting libraries or schools? If so, how can interested teachers and librarians contact you?

 Oh yes, I love doing visits. I find kids very rejuvenating. Interested teachers and librarians can either email me directly at tanyastone [at] tanyastone [dot] com or email my booking agent, Sharron McElmeel at mcelmeel [at] mcelmeel [dot] com

 What is a question you wish interviewers would ask-but never do?

 Where should I send the chocolate?

Can you describe WUTHERING HIGH for our readers?
Wuthering High is the story of a haunted boarding school called Bard Academy. The ghosts are no ordinary ghosts, and while I don't want to spoil the ending, I will say that the lives of the students start to reflect classic books, like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

Who were your favorite authors growing up? Who are your favorite authors today? I loved to read everything and anything I could get my hands on both when I was younger and now. I loved Judy Blume, of course, and Madeleine L'Engle (author of A Wrinkle in Time). But I also started reading adult books at a fairly young age, and by middle school, my favorite author was Jane Austen. Today, I have so many favorites. I admire the work of Toni Morrison, Charles Frazier and Anita Shreve, but I also love humor writers like David Sedaris, Christopher Moore, Laurie Notaro and Merrill Markoe. There are also so many talented YA writers like Sarah Dressen and Megan McCafferty. It's very hard to pick a favorite!

{mosimage}How do you approach a new story? Some authors alan, some don't. Some outline, some don't…
I'm one of those authors who likes to improvise first. I like to play around with voice and tone before I figure out where the story is headed. So, typically, I'll write a chapter or two, and then go back and write an outline. I don't always stick to the outline, but I try!

Is there anything special you like to wear or do while you write? Where is your favorite place to write? I don't have any lucky sweaters, and I've been known to write just about anywhere (coffee shops, airports, airplanes, or snuggled up in bed). But I probably spend most of my time writing in my little office at my house. I've got a nice comfy office chair there and easy access to the kitchen and the fridge.

What are your plans for your next novel? Can you give us a peek? Yes! My next novel is a sequel to Wuthering High, and it's called The Scarlet Letterman. Miranda is back in book two, as well as love interests Ryan Kent and Heathcliff, who are still both trying to win her affection.

Are you interested in visiting libraries or schools? If so, how can interested teachers and librarians contact you? I'd be happy to visit libraries or schools. Teachers and librarians can contact me by email, cara [at] caralockwood [dot] com. I really do read all my email!

What is a question you wish interviewers would ask-but never do? That's a tough one. I'd say you've done a pretty good job here already with your questions. I can't think of another I'd ask!

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Debra Garfinkle

It’s just like Bridget Jones’ Diary, if Bridget were a fourteen-year-old Jewish boy in San Diego with more depth. Here is a nice summary from the Horn Book Guide: “Michael, a gangly high schooler who is better at getting grades than girls, keeps a witty journal during his hormone-drenched freshman year. The breezy entries winningly chronicle his stabs at romance as well as his dismay over his single mother’s pregnancy and his unraveling relationship with his irresponsible father.”

I wanted to make teens laugh so much while they were reading that they wouldn’t mind learning a lesson about loving yourself no matter how others treat you.

Who were your favorite authors growing up? Who are your favorite authors today?

 Like some serial killers, I’m a Salinger nut. I’ve read Catcher in the Rye at least ten times and even used Holden for my son’s middle name. Paul Zindel also was a huge influence on me, and reading The Happy Hooker at age ten cemented my love of books.

My favorite adult authors are Nick Hornby, Anne Lamott, Anne Tyler, and Leo Tolstoy. Yes, Tolstoy. Some of my favorite contemporary YA authors are Sarah Dessen, Gordon Korman, Carolyn Mackler, and Mary Pearson.

How do you approach a new story? Some authors plan, some don’t. Some outline, some don’t…

I usually start with a character I love, give him some conflicts, envision a theme I care about and a happy ending, and write. When I begin, I always think I’m producing the most brilliant novel in the history of the world. By about page 30, I think it’s the worst thing in the universe and curse myself for not outlining because I have no idea what to write next. By the time I get to the ending, I’m thrilled to be finishing the damn thing. Then I revise it a zillion times. Writing is such a joy for me.

What are your plans for your next novel? Can you give us a peek?

 Stuck in the Seventies should be out with Putnam in Spring 2007. It’s a humorous, romantic time travel novel about a wild teenage girl from the present who finds herself naked in the bathtub of a teenage boy honor student in 1978. Yes, it’s for older teens.

Is there anything special you like to wear or do while you write? Where is your favorite place to write?

 I have three young children, so I write whenever I can find the time. Usually that’s early in the morning in the den in my pajamas, always with a giant mug of coffee. I used to write at the kitchen table, but I used some of the Storky advance money (okay, most of it) to build a desk in our guest room.

Are you interested in visiting libraries or schools? If so, how can interested teachers and librarians contact you?

 I love talking about my three favorite subjects: moi, moi, and moi. I also talk about reading, writing, and humor. I have done lots of school and library visits, and also speak to adults. My website http://www.dlgarfinkle.com/ has information on speaking engagements.

What is a question you wish interviewers would ask—but never do?