Author Interview: Stephanie Perkins

November is National Novel Writing Month (often shortened to NaNoWriMo), an event that challenges people to write 175 pages (50,000 words) in 30 days. When I heard about it last year I thought, "That's nuts. These people are nuts. I have to sign up." And then I wondered, "Is anyone ever successful?"


The answer to that question is yes! And to celebrate all the possibilities NaNoWriMo brings and get a few NaNoWriMo tips, I decided to interview a successful WriMo writer.

Today I have the pleasure of posting an interview with author Stephanie Perkins, who graciously answered my NaNoWriMo questions via e-mail. Stephanie has two NaNoWriMo novels under her belt and her first book, Anna and the Boy Masterpiece, will be released by Dutton in Fall 2010. ___________________________________________

Do you make detailed plans before plunging into NaNoWriMo?

Oh goodness, no. This is, without a doubt, the biggest and most common mistake among participants. There's often a misconception that NaNo is about writing a book in a month. I mean, National Novel Writing Month. It's there in the title! But that's really not what it's about. It's about creating a first, very very rough draft that you can eventually — with a lot of hard work — turn into a novel. Many participants believe they have one month to write a BOOK. A good one. One that they can sell, that people will want to read. So they do all sorts of outlining and research before beginning, sometimes months in advance! But the problem with this is that the more you know about your story beforehand, the more pressure you put on yourself to write something GOOD. And few people (I'm certainly not one of them) can write a GOOD book in a month. So what happens? The participant starts the novel, realizes that the words coming out aren't nearly as beautiful and perfect as the idea they had in their head and in their notes, and they become frustrated and discouraged. It becomes impossible to move forward. And if you aren't moving forward during NaNo, it's over.

The founder of NaNoWriMo, Chris Baty, recommends only one week of preparation in his fantastic book No Plot? No Problem!. Solid advice. It gets the gears in your brain turning, but it's not nearly enough time to turn your idea into something perfect, and therefore, unattainable.

Was writer’s block a problem for you during NaNoWriMo? If so, how did you overcome it?

Yeah, a little bit. I'm a slow writer, so not having the time to think my story through is both liberating and frustrating. I hit road blocks frequently. This was where Chris Baty's book came in handy again. He talks a lot about how to keep the story moving forward, even when you have no idea what's supposed to happen next. Anything from freewriting (this is what I do most frequently, my NaNo drafts of Anna and Lola have horrifyingly long passages of nonsense), to interviewing your characters, to introducing random llamas into a scene just to see how your characters react or to give them something to talk about.

Again, this has a lot to do with distancing yourself from that notion that NaNo is about creating a capital-N Novel, rather than what NaNo works best at, which is pushing you to create as many ideas as possible within a one month span. Who cares if all of the ideas are good? One or two WILL be, and that's where you begin writing/revising in December, with the ideas that worked.

So . . . just barrel through it. Write anything. Seriously. Anything. Word count is still word count!

Do you have any must-have objects with you while you write?

Ritual was more important for me the first year. I had a green plastic flower ring that a friend had given me, and I wore it whenever I sat down. It was a nice reminder of the support I had behind me. (My family and friends have always been tremendously supportive. I am lucky.) Now that I'm used to sitting for long periods of time and big writing pushes, I only keep around the necessities — laptop, research books, notes, coffee, tea, and gum.

And OF COURSE coffee, tea, and gum are necessities!

Describe your NaNoWriMo experience in three words.

Life-changing month. (Oh man. That sounds so unbelievably corny, but it's true.)

What, in your opinion, is the best reason to participate in NaNoWriMo?

NaNo is fantastic for people like me who have a difficult time writing first drafts. It forces you to spit one out, quick and dirty. And then you get to move on to the better stages — beefing up the story, cleaning and tweaking it, and making the language sparkle! If it weren't for NaNoWriMo, I would not be in the position that I am today. I doubt that I'd even have a complete first draft by now.

Publishing a book involves a lot of revising. Is NaNoWriMo in your plans this year, or will you have your hands full working on Anna and Second Novel?

Yes, I'm participating! It's true my hands are full — I'm still shaping Lola and the Boy Next Door (formerly known as Second Novel) into a working draft, and Anna and the Boy Masterpiece will probably hit the line editing stage smack in the middle of November — but absolutely, I'm doing it. NaNo changed my life. It brought me Anna (and her delicious boy), and I will be eternally grateful for that. I'm positively giddy to star this year's project. Something NEW. What a relief!

Any tips, tricks, or words of NaNo wisdom that you’d like to share?

I learned two important things last year. First of all, I did the Bad Thing — worked on a project that I had a lot of preconceived ideas and notions about — and it was dreadful. Seriously, do NOT do this to yourself. I spent the entire month agonizing at how awful it was, whereas my first year (when I had no idea what my story was), I was just happy for the high word count! So this year, I'm starting with a significantly blanker slate.

The second important thing I learned was to nail down the tense early on. I never picked one last November. Never. I wrote some of Lola in first, some in third, some in present, some in past. (I told you my NaNo drafts are terrible!) I didn't think it would be a big deal in revisions, but it turned into a HUGE ordeal. I had more salvageable ideas in that draft than I realized, so when I moved them into my REAL novel, it required several weeks of painstaking revisions to get them all into the same voice. I won't make that mistake again! So bite the bullet and pick a tense within the first few days. Even if you decide on a different tense for your next draft, it'll still make the transition easier.

Not that you would be as silly as me and not pick a tense. I mean, really. What was I thinking?

Thanks for the fab interview! . . . . GOOD LUCK! And if you or any of your blog readers are looking for a NaNoWriMo cheering squad, I love having writing buddies. You can add me here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/230633

— Steph
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Actually *looking down at my shoes* choosing a tense was a problem for me last year. Thanks for the awesome advice, Steph!

You can read more about Stephanie's NaNoWriMo experience HERE, and I strongly recommend visiting her enormously entertaining blog HERE.

NaNo-ly yours,

Are you BookSexy? 2009 BBAW Interview Swap

In order to celebrate Book Blogger Appreciation Week I participated in an interview swap. I was introduced to tolmsted of BookSexy, a blog built around the motto "Who you are is what you read" and dedicated to helping readers find books that make for great conversation long after they've been read. I was intrigued by the ideas behind BookSexy, and it was a pleasure talking with tolmsted. Here's the interview:
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I really like the idea behind your blog, BookSexy. Could you explain it again here?

BookSexy started out based on a hypothetical situation – if you were spotted reading a book in public (for example: on the subway or in a coffee shop) what book would it be? What would it say about you? What kind of people would it attract and who would it repel? When I notice someone reading, especially strangers, I'm always trying to see the title of the book. A book is a kind of billboard to the world about who you are.

BookSexy is meant to direct readers to books that provide something to talk about after they're done reading. It’s not about the bestseller list – though those books might end up being reviewed on the blog. It’s not about Literature with a capital ‘L’. I just feel it’s important that people read good books; just like you should eat healthy food, wear clothes that look good on you, and get a great haircut. The blog motto is “Who you are is what you read”.

As I'm saying all this, I don't want to be misunderstood. I'm not trying to set myself up as the arbitrator of what people should read. Booksexy is about letting people know what books are out there and what is important (or not so important) about them.

How long have you been blogging? What inspired you to start?

BookSexy started as another blog entirely. I set it up to consolidate the reviews of books I thought my friends would be interested in reading. Up until that point I’d been sending out mass emails to people I knew which I figured had to be getting pretty annoying. The expanded version of the old blog and those emails became BookSexy. Once I realized I wanted to reach a wider audience I felt like I needed to focus my message. Because I read all over the map - so it wasn't going to be a cookbook blog, or a fiction blog or a history blog. I asked myself why I felt certain books are more important than others. I looked at the kinds of books I was recommending and who I was recommending them to. It really came back to my friends. They’re a really interesting, successful group of people. They’re great at parties and in social situations. I feel that has a lot to do with the fact that they’re all readers… whether its non-fiction, fiction, newspapers, etc. They’re interested in the world around them. Which is where I got the name, BookSexy. It’s been around since 2008.

Are you persistent when reading books you don’t enjoy rather than putting the book down and walking away? Why or why not?

This is a great question, and its one I’ve been thinking about. I’ve been promising a review of A.S. Byatt’s The Children’s Book on my blog for about 3 months now! Reading it has been like pushing a boulder uphill. I just can’t wrap my head around it. Normally, I might give up and put it aside – but this is a book that I think it's important to finish. Because it was nominated for the Booker Prize, because A.S. Byatt wrote Possession, and because it’s a difficult book (you follow the lives of about 20 characters throughout the story). People who’ve read it seem to have strong opinions. It's a book people can talk about.

There have been other books I’ve started reading and feel no guilt putting aside unfinished. Usually because the writing was terrible, the plot unoriginal or the author lacked the ability to edit him or herself. This may sound harsh - but life is short and there are a lot of books out there. Unless the book is important in some way I’m not going to waste time reading it if I don't want to.

What genre do you lean towards?

I'm pretty much all over the map - I just grab things that look interesting to me. But unfortunately I have a lot of interests!

When a book is adapted into a movie, the book becomes more widely read. How do you view the social activity of reading in connection with movies and other extensions of books?

This is entirely my opinion, so take it as that. I’m not so sure that a movie gets people to go out and buy books. For example – did people rush out to buy Cormac McCarthy novels after No Country for Old Men came out? A lot of people bought the first Harry Potter book before the film version - and then complained about the film leaving bits out. I’m sure it sold more books later and helped to sell the subsequent novels, but it was already a literary sensation on its own. The same with Twilight and The DaVinci Code. These books were bestsellers separate from the film versions.

In my experience, I’ve always found that going from a movie to the book or a book to the movie was a disappointment. More often than not they aren’t the same story (Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mohicans for example. Loved the movie, but found the original book frustrating because it wasn’t the story I expected). Maybe they provide a middle ground for the reader and the film watcher to meet. Still, I feel that they’re two unique and separate experiences that while they might share things in common, are not the same.

What bothers you the most about the books you don’t like?

Well first, I think there needs to be a definition of what you mean by "like". There are a lot of books and authors I don’t like. I still recognize that they are good books and strong writers. Tom Robbins is one of those...I can’t stand him but he is like a trapeze artist with words. It’s really amazing what he puts on paper. I hate his books – his characters do nothing for me. In fact, they kind of turn me off.

But if you’re asking me about what makes a bad book – well for me it comes down to the writing. I hate gimmicky stuff, like a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter. Or authors that never edit, so that a story that could have been told in 150 pages takes 495. Or over-used plot devices. (Actually, Julian Barnes in Flaubert’s Parrot had a very funny list of types of novels that should be banned - I'd recommend picking up that book and skipping to that part).

Do you feel that lack of editing is a common problem in books?

Oh definitely. I've read books that went on for literally 495 pages (I wasn't making that up) where they could have easily gotten away with half as many. One of my favorite authors, Kazuo Ishiguro, writes these incredible books - and they're always slim. I think some writers mistake quantity for quality. A good example is Faulkner's novel Sartoris. It was originally called Flags in the Dust. His editor gutted it,and it's a better book because of it.

I don't write, I can only speak from the point of view of the reader. But don't you find that the best books leave you some room to fill in the blanks. They let you connect the dots, rather than inundating you with every little detail in case you might miss something?

What’s your favorite book of 2009 so far?

That’s tough. I suppose I’d have to go with Brother Gardener’s: Botany, Empire & the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf. It’s a non-fiction book about how Britain became a nation obsessed with gardening and agriculture. It was very well written and it explained a lot about how we’ve come to be where we are today environmentally. The individual stories are interesting and entertaining. At the end you’re left with a big picture view of the whole thing, of how the men she discussed, without any formal coordination, changed gardening & agriculture around the globe.

I enjoyed a lot of the books I've read this year, but I haven't really found my favorite book for the year yet. I've high hopes for Margaret Atwood's Year of the Flood. It's set in the same world as Oryx & Crake, a book I absolutely love!
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Thanks for a great interview, tolmsted! If you haven't checked out BookSexy yet, what are you waiting for? It's full of great reviews and interesting (Good interesting, to be clear) reading selections.

If you'd like to see the full story, go here to see my answers to tolmsted's questions: Duck...Duck...Duck...BOOKDUCK! (Best. Title. Ever.)

Hoping your Tuesday has been terrific,