An Interview with Children's Author
Pat Lowery Collins
by Debbi Michiko Florence
Pat Lowery Collins is a poet, author of children's books and young adult novels, illustrator, and painter. Pat grew up in Hollywood, California with her parents and two sisters. Today, she lives in Massachusetts with her husband. The two raised five children and they enjoy visits from their six grandsons.
Pat Lowery Collin's newest novel is now on bookshelves! THE FATTENING HUT is a YA novel written in verse about a young girl, Helen, on the verge of maturity. Belonging to a tribe living on an island, Helen is isolated in a fattening hut where the adult women must feed her until she is fat and attractive for her husband. Helen does not want to eat and she doesn't gain weight much to her family's disgrace. What's more, her aunt who has been disowned by the tribe for her English-influenced ways, is hinting that Helen must run. Something worse than being fattened for marriage is to come!
You grew up in Hollywood and you were a child actress. You had much exposure to the creative field as a child. At what point in your life did you decide you wanted to write?
Writing was something that all the women in my family did in one form or another. My grandmother, mother, and oldest sister, Joan, told stories, my mother retold classic tales for a family puppet show and later wrote radio scripts, and we were all encouraged from an early age to keep journals. When I worked in radio I wrote plays for my own amusement because that was something I was familiar with. Poetry was always a means of expressing my feelings. I started writing very short stories in college and didn't think I would ever be able to write anything of any significant length.
How old were you when you wrote your first piece? And what was it?
I was about three or four when I dictated a book on manners to my mother, which I illustrated myself. It contained such sage advice as: "Little girls should not bump into anybody on a bicycle because they might hurt somebody and kill them badly." I usually bring some pages from this "book" to school visits as well as my first poems published in the Cheremoya School Newspaper.
How much do your personal experiences affect the stories you decide to tell?
The first novel I wrote was autobiographical. It's still unpublished, but I've removed whole chapters from that book to tighten it, and other books have sprung from these. Also, many of my poems are based on childhood incidents or experiences. I recently based a picture book (Philomel, 2004) on a poem I wrote for adults that was inspired by a memory from my childhood. Some of my early picture books are based on people or events in the lives of my children.
You started off writing poetry, then picture books. You also have written novels for young adults. How do writing poetry, picture books, and novels compare? How are they different for you? And which genre do you most prefer (if any)?
I'm a poet first. I began writing picture books because they are close to poetry in many ways: careful word choices, clarity, strong imagery, attention to the sound and rhythm of words, and generally a single paramount idea or thread.
The courage to write a novel came as I slowly brought one to fruition with the encouragement of other writers in a writing group. The next one came more easily, and I learned some of the finer points by teaching writing and having a need to be prepared for my students. A habit of reading widely gave me a good base. I firmly believe that the best writers are the best teachers and teach us through their own works.
JUST IMAGINE follows the story of young Mary Francis who has a gift for out-of-body experiences. How did you come up with that idea for the novel?
JUST IMAGINE is one of the books that found its beginnings in a discarded chapter of my autobiographical novel, this one featuring Nora (not her real name), a relative and Spiritualist minister. She entertained us with her tales of out-of-body experiences, and at one point in my young life, I was convinced I had such experiences, too.
The Beverly Hills setting and descriptions of New England weather and mill towns are both from life experiences. I wanted to contrast the excesses of Hollywood at that time with the bleakness of the Great Depression and to use Mary Francis' escapes as metaphors for any behavior that takes us away from reality.
Mary Francis's mother is determined to make younger brother Leland a star (the "next Shirley Temple"). This makes Mary Francis feel less special, and she longs for her mother's attention and approval. I suspect many children feel similarly at one time or another in their lives. Did Mary Francis's character or story come to you first? How did you develop this into what is now JUST IMAGINE?
Because the novel is written in the first person, the voice and character of Mary Francis are of prime importance to the story. I believe it developed as she confronted her choices and predicaments as well as her needs and desires, and was resolved through what she learned about herself along the way.
Which character do you relate to the most in JUST IMAGINE and why?
I relate to different aspects of each child in this particular family. My grandmother lived with us, and it was her suggestion that I learn to play my marimba on roller skates, which sparked the idea for MF playing her accordion on skates. Also, although I didn't work on movie sets as a child but in radio studios, the interaction between movie-mothers and some of the shoptalk when Leland is on the set are the kinds of things I remember.
You seamlessly integrate vivid descriptions and lyrical details into this Depression-era story. How much research do you do for a historical fiction novel? How do you decide when you've done enough research?
I hate to admit this, but I didn't have to do much research for this book, because I was born near the end of the Depression and remember such things as the names of radio shows, the kinds of furniture and cars, how vagrants came to the door at lunchtime, etc. etc. If I had any doubts about something I checked it out with older members of my family. I looked up train schedules and train names on the Internet. The language of the time came back to me as I wrote, which was an amazing experience.
I do have an idea for another historical novel that will require a good deal of research. I expect to do all of it first, keep notes, and only approach the story when I'm grounded in the time and place I have in mind.
When you start a new story, do you use an outline? What is your creative process?
Unless it's a nonfiction book (and I haven't done a typical one of these), I don't use an outline. I'm one of those writers who starts with a general idea, knows who the characters will be and lets them dictate what happens next. I don't believe in waiting to be inspired or that the story will come out of nowhere. I do rely heavily on my subconscious and all that's stored in there waiting to surprise me.
What inspires you?
Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
What is the best part about being a writer?
The best part of being a writer is permitting yourself to live all these imaginary lives and feeling justified in calling this indulgence or process or whatever a job.
What is the hardest thing about being a writer?
The hardest part is convincing yourself that the fictitious things you keep putting down on paper will ever really matter to anyone.
How does your typical work day go?
I start my workday by writing or rewriting either poetry and/or whatever book I'm working on. I usually write for a few hours each morning and grab writing time in the afternoon and evening when I can. If I'm really on a roll, I'll keep at it all day. Some days I paint most of the day, and often I work back and forth between painting and writing. I try to take a long walk at some time in the afternoon. Such non-pressure times are when I get my best ideas or solve work-related problems.
What book are you reading right now?
I just finished reading A STEP FROM HEAVEN by An Na and SMALL WONDERS, a book of essays by Barbara Kingsolver. I am presently rereading THE OPTIMISTS DAUGHTER by Eudora Welty. I'm also reading two books of poetry NINE HORSES, by Billy Collins and THE RAIN IN THE TREES by W.S. Merwin.
What can fans expect from you next?
My next book is a fantasy that deals with a very real and disturbing world problem. It's called THE FATTENING HUT and is a young adult novel written as a long poem. There are also a couple of picture books in the works, and I'm presently finishing a middle grade novel in which the protagonist is a boy.
What advice do you have for aspiring children's writers?
Read widely and well. Choose books by fine writers of every genre who are diverse in their outlook, approach and style. Allow your own voice to emerge and trust it when it does. Don't wait for the perfect space, the new computer etc. etc. to begin to take writing seriously. Many fine novels have been written on what one of my children used to call "striped paper". Some of my writer/friends write the first draft in longhand and transpose it to the computer. A very popular author/illustrator recently told me that she still works at the kitchen table. That doesn't mean that I think you don't need a space of your own. I definitely do. But while you're waiting and planning for it, allow your life as a writer to begin.
If you want to write for children you should familiarize yourself with all areas of that market, with particular focus on books for the age or audience you most want to reach. You should also try to get a feel for the kinds of books published by each publishing house. To do this, spend time on a regular basis in the children's book sections of bookstores and libraries.
Another important piece of advice is to always put your writing first. Don't, in other words, clean up the house, make phone calls, do your errands and then hope to get to your writing. When I began to consider writing as a career, I decided to treat it as I would a new baby (we'd had five of these). I always gave prime time to the new addition, and he or she was attended to first. I also found that just as I had been able to get up super early for the new baby, I could rise at 4:00 a.m. and have a good two or more hours to myself before the family stirred and interrupted me. Now that my children are grown and I don't have to go to such extremes, writing is still the first thing that I do each day. It's when my mind and imagination have had a much-needed rest and are ready and eager to tackle the chapter, the poem or the picture book.
Interview © Copyright 2002, by Debbi Michiko Florence.
See also my follow-up interview with Pat, in 2004.
This interview appeared in the spring 2003 issue of Book Friendly,
a local Friends of the Library newsletter.
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