Follow-uo Interview with Brent Hartinger (2004)
by Debbie Michiko Florence
What have you been working on since we last chatted?
Let's see. I wrote the sequel to GEOGRAPHY CLUB, called THE ORDER OF THE POISON OAK, about Russel and his friends going to work as counselors at a summer camp; it'll be out in February, 2005. I wrote another YA novel, called GRAND & HUMBLE, a thriller about a popular kid and an unpopular one, and how their lives mysteriously intersect at the corner of Grand & Humble; it'll be out in February, 2006. I adapted GEOGRAPHY CLUB for the stage; it premiered this year in Seattle. I wrote a proposal for a middle grade mystery series, and I completely re-wrote another middle grade fantasy book, both of which will hopefully sell soon. Oh, and I did a 20-city author's tour, 15 local speaking engagements, and a ton of radio and newspaper interviews.
Yikes! I know I was busy this year, but I didn't realize how busy until I spelled it all out for you!
What’s the best thing that’s happened in the last year?
It has to be all the email I receive. I'd heard other authors talk about fan letters, but I didn't realize how truly great they would be. I wake up every morning to people telling me how my books have somehow moved or inspired them. It's absolutely humbling. A good fan letter will leave me feeling giddy all day.
I also discovered that while I am definitely still an introvert, I actually like doing readings and speaking before a crowd. When people like a book, it means a lot to them like to actually meet the author. And it's so flattering to have them want to meet me, and have their picture taken with me. Hey, it's the closest I'll ever come to being a rock star! Just last week, I signed my first body-part (a shoulder)!
The funniest?
I was scheduled speak to two different classes at this school. Before getting started, I was told that the first class would be a really tough audience, but that the second class would be fine—very attentive. I went in that first class expecting the worst, but they turned out to be riveted by my talk. I absolutely hit it out of the ballpark. I ended the class convinced that I was an absolutely AMAZING public speaker, able to tame the wildest of audience-beasts. But then the second class started—supposedly the well-behaved one!—and from the first moment, they were out-of-control. No matter what I did, I couldn't get them to listen to me. It was a nice little lesson in humility. Sometimes audience reaction has almost nothing to do with the speaker.
Any disappointments?
Professionally, this has been the best year of my life BY FAR. I'm not kidding myself that I wrote the World's Greatest Novel. But what I did write was a book that has sold (and IS selling!) very very well--way beyond the expectations of everyone except my editor and my agent. Even I didn't think the book would sell as well as it has! And when your book sells well, the world is suddenly your oyster. Doors have opened for me that I didn't even know existed. For the first time in my life, opportunities come to me, not the other way around. Sure, not everything has gone my way. But so many things have that I'd be an idiot to complain.
Do you work on one project at a time? Or many at once?
Um, see the answer to my first question. I WISH I could work on one project at a time!
Do you have a ritual you follow before you’re able to settle down to work for the day? What is it?
I make a cup of tea, read and answer my email, read my blogs, then read the online newspapers. Hmm, can you tell I'm kinda addicted to the internet?
What’s the best advice you were ever given, and by whom?
"To write a good story, imagine the most interesting person you can think of on the most interesting day or week or year of his or her life." Unfortunately, I can't remember who told me that!
The mistake a lot of writers make is thinking that what is interesting to them will necessarily be interesting to everyone else. You have to MAKE it interesting! The job of a writer is to take the specific events and details of the characters' lives, and make them fascinating and wonderfully specific and yet also somehow universal. In short, a good book is life without the boring parts!
What books have you recently published, or will be released soon?
My latest book is called THE LAST CHANCE TEXACO, about a 15 year-old girl in foster care who is given one last chance to turn her life around before she's shipped off to juvenile detention. Before long, she finds that her latest group home is the home she never had, but in order to keep the house from being closed down, she must solve the mystery of a series of neighborhood car-fires.
The book is loosely based on my experiences working in a group home, and maybe a little inspired by my favorite YA book of all time, THE OUTSIDERS. Most of my fans are pretty eagerly awaiting the sequel to GEOGRAPHY CLUB, but I'm hoping they'll give TEXACO a chance, because in many ways, the two stories are very similar, at least in sensibility. Hey, who doesn't love the story of an underdog?
How was writing THE LAST CHANCE TEXACO different from writing GEOGRAPHY CLUB (both the process and getting it published)?
The writing process was pretty similar to GEOGRAPHY CLUB. Like GEOGRAPHY CLUB, THE LAST CHANCE TEXACO is a story I'd been thinking about for a long time—ever since I worked in a group home back in 1989. I knew from the first day I walked into that group home that the story of a group home kid would make a great book.
The thing that was really different from GEOGRAPHY CLUB was the getting-published part. I sold THE LAST CHANCE TEXACO as an idea a few months after I turned in my final manuscript for GEOGRAPHY CLUB (in 2001). My editor, Steve Fraser at HarperCollins, had liked GEOGRAPHY CLUB a lot, and already wanted to buy a follow-up. So we talked a lot about creating a book that was similar (edgy, fast-paced, about an outsider-type character), but that was different too (about a girl, not "gay"). My editor was convinced that my second book should establish my versatility as a writer, and have a little more mainstream appeal. He was convinced that if I could pull it off, it would really kick my career into high-gear. I think it was great advice, because so far, things have worked out just like he said!
Any other news you’d like to share?
Well, first of all, GEOGRAPHY CLUB is now out in paperback. And only $6.99! Who doesn't have that?
Also, after I finished THE ORDER OF THE POISON OAK (my GEOGRAPHY CLUB sequel), my editor liked it so much that he floated the idea of turning the GEOGRAPHY CLUB books into a series, with the sequel coming out in 2005, and a third book coming out in 2007. Writing that first sequel, I was reminded how much I love Russel, my main character, and how much I had missed him. So who was I to say no to my editor?
Finally, I'm very excited about my stage version of GEOGRAPHY CLUB, a reading of which recently premiered in Seattle. Because YA books require a tight plot and are shorter than most "adult" novels, I've found they adapt really well for the stage. Or at least GEOGRAPHY CLUB did! I've loved seeing the characters come to life in the form of real-life actors, and I can't wait until other theaters hopefully decide to do productions of their own.
For more news (and writer-tips!), visit my web-site at www.brenthartinger.com.
Interview Update © 2004, by Debbi Michiko Florence.
See also my earlier interview with Brent, in 2003.
what's new?
For more about Brent, see his fantastic website and read his blog,
Voices in my Head
See also my original interview with Brent Hartinger, in 2003.
Contents © 2001-2008 by Debbi Michiko Florence. All rights reserved.
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