An Interview with Children's Author
Vivian Vande Velde
by Debbi Michiko Florence
Magic spells, witches, dragons and more inhabit the fantastical worlds created by Edgar Award winning author, Vivian Vande Velde. She is the author of over 19 books and lives with her family in Rochester, NY.
You have written eighteen fantastic novels for the young adult audience and won an Edgar award. Did you always want to be a writer? When did you decide to make writing your career?
I can't remember when I didn't want to be a writer. I would read a story, or I would see a story on TV or the movies, and I would say to myself, "That was good. But they should have ended it this way..." Or: "Why did she do that? Why didn't she try...?" Or I might think up (in my head only--just for my own amusement) the further adventures of the characters. Those times that I loved a story (as with T.H. White's THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING, which I read in 8th grade), I would think how incredible it was that the author had me so totally in the story that I would forget everything else, and I thought, "That's what I want to do. I want to make other people feel like that."
All but one of your novels are fantasy. ALISON WHO WENT AWAY is your one contemporary piece. Why did you decide to write this book? How was it different from writing fantasy?
Some writers have whole drawersful of story ideas. I'm not like that. So when I get an idea, I have to run with it. ALISON WHO WENT AWAY came from a bunch of mini ideas that were rattling around in my brain all at the same time, including:
- (1) How, when something bad happens, often people talk around it, saying things like 'He passed away' (or, worse yet: 'He crossed over') rather than 'He died.' I started speculating about this fictional family dealing with a teenager who has run away and probably been killed, yet they keep waiting for her to come back, even though they know in their hearts that she won't;
- (2) How, on TV, the crime is almost always solved in that one hour (minus commercials, of course) time slot. Yet there are murders for which no one is ever convicted, missing people who are never found. What is it like, I wondered, for people who live through something like that happening in their family and they never have any closure--for those who may suspect what happened, but never know for sure?
- (3) (on the totally frivolous side) some of my own experiences with things such as bad hair and being involved in school plays.
All of this could have been done in the context of fantasy, but that's just not the way it developed. Will I ever write another non-fantasy novel? Who knows?
I have a difficult time choosing my favorite of your novels, but your newest, HEIR APPARENT, is definitely one of them. In this novel, Giannine ends up getting stuck in an immersion role playing game. You mentioned in an interview with Julie Durango that this is a sequel to USER UNFRIENDLY. Why did you decide to write HEIR APPARENT?
Thanks so much for your sweet comments. I've written quite a few books that have caused people to write to me to ask when I'm going to do a sequel. (Which is nice. Which I know is a compliment.) But absolutely nobody ever asked for a sequel to USER UNFRIENDLY. (It was like being a mother, and seeing one child never get asked out on a date.) Perhaps it comes from being a product of the '60's, but that was why USER UNFRIENDLY was the one story I was most inclined to write a sequel to. (Besides, when I mentioned this to my editor, he didn't say anything but he gave me such a well-have-you-ever-wondered-WHY-no-one-has-asked-for-a-sequel-to-USER-UNFRIENDLY? look that I pretty much *had* to do one.)
Throughout the story, Giannine dies and must start her quest over each time. You did an outstanding job of keeping each scene fresh. Was this a challenge for you?
I have had reviewers speculate that I must have misspent a lot of time playing computer games, but I refuse to comment on this.
I was amused by the demonstrators in the novel. CPOC — Citizens to Protect Our Children — seemed to go overboard in wanting to keep children safe. Giannines comments about their list of appropriate books being limited to a couple of alphabet books was hilarious (and sad). How do you feel about certain groups trying to censor books for children?
I believe children should be protected. I just don't believe they need to be protected by censoring books—especially a whole class of books such as fantasy, or gritty young adult novels, or historical novels where characters behave in ways that offend our modern sensibilities. Reading the same book your kids are reading gives you a wonderful opportunity to discuss things with them: How do you feel about the way that character acted? What do you think happens after death? Has society changed for the better or worse since those times—or, for a futuristic story, do you think society is really headed in that direction?
The worst thing a parent can do is to declare certain topics or issues unmentionable. Talk about making something irresistible.
One of the troubles is: Once you start banning books, where do you stop? Today people are complaining about (among many other things) books that include references to witches and ghosts. What about these potentially dangerous topics:
- (1) Books where the kid really wants a dog, the parents say no, but the kid eventually convinces them. (So when a real-life kid's parents continue to say no to the pet, doesn't that make that kid feel unloved?)
- (2) Books where an unlikely kid tries very hard and eventually makes the team or succeeds in what had previously seemed an impossible task. (Couldn't I complain that the author is making my kid--who was cut from the team--feel inadequate? )
- (3) Books where the kid is able to save the life or the marriage of the parents. (Doesn't that make kids whose parents have died or divorced feel guilty?)
So should we start banning those books, too?
But there is good news. When people hear that a book has been banned, it's natural if their first impression is to assume that the book must be bad—like when a product is recalled for being defective or dangerous. So it's no surprise to learn that many people think that books that have been banned or challenged must be somehow dangerous and that kids need to be protected from them—not realizing that anyone can challenge a book, and that many famous and award-winning books have been challenged by those who have their own agenda. Enter J.K Rowling. People trying to get fantasy books taken out of school and public libraries is nothing new. What's different about the Harry Potter books being challenged is that in this case, millions of readers are familiar with the books being questioned. They can see for themselves that the books are not evil, that they do not promote hate or Satanism or violence. People can see that here are some perfectly innocent stories that are riling the anti-fantasy groups, and people are saying to themselves, "What's the big deal against this book?" And, "If this book is being challenged and it shouldn't, maybe some of the other books that are being challenged are OK, too."
OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.
When starting to write HEIR APPARENT, did you know how Giannines quest would end? Did you know which of the characters would end up helping her or betraying her?
Well, I knew I wouldn't really let her brain get fried. I don't work from an outline, so for me writing is full of surprises. As I'm filling in details, writing dialogue, having the characters move through the story, things develop that I would never have been able to plan for in a theoretical outline. One quick example: the magic ring. (There's always a magic ring in fantasy quests). I knew from the start that Giannine was supposed to pick it up almost at the very beginning of her quest (because that was more ironic), but that—because of her feelings toward her own, real father—she wouldn't hang around to talk to her game personna's foster father. Once I'd written up to the point where Giannine realizes her mistake (several deaths in), I had to determine for myself where that ring had been. Obviously her foster parents weren't likely to have a magical ring rattling around the home Giannine's game character was supposed to have grown up in, so I decided that Giannine's nurse still had it. OK, then, where was the nurse? I decided to make her a hermit at a shrine. Hmmm, well then, I guess I need a shrine. A name came to me, simply because it was a silly name: Saint Bruce the Warrior Poet. I didn't know any of this until I got to that point in the story.
I know this is not the most efficient way to write, but I am not good at planning. It's only by seeing my characters in action, hearing their words, listening in on their thoughts, that I can figure out what should happen next.
Another of my favorites is NEVER TRUST A DEAD MAN, where the main character must team up with a dead man to clear his name of murder. How do you come up with story ideas?
This particular story came from watching TV. I was watching the Orson Welles version of Othello. The movie starts at the end before backflashing to show how we came to end at this sad state of affairs: Othello is dead and his men are carrying him away for burial. They are also carrying away the villainous Iago, the cause of all the heartache. As I watched, I thought the guards' intent was to throw Iago into the grave with Othello, and I thought 'Yuck!' But I also thought, 'Cool!' It turned out that wasn't what the men planned (they ended up locking Iago in a cage they hung from the battlements); but that image stayed with me: the murderer and the victim buried together.
Who could have guessed that would be the start of a comedy?
The worlds you create in your novels feel very real. What do you do to create these worlds?
If the worlds feel real, that's because the characters are acting believably. I try not to have characters do something just because it would make things simpler for me. I also try to avoid using coincidence to get my characters out of trouble. (I'm much more inclined to use coincidence to get my characters *into* trouble.)
What book are you reading now?
UNDER THE SAME SKY, by Cynthia DeFelice. It's about a sort of spoiled, kind of oblivious, but basically good kid whose dad puts him to work on the family farm, along with the migrant workers. Well written, and lots of thought-provoking ideas.
What do you do when you are not reading/writing?
Obviously misspending my time playing computer games. Also, I knit, crochet, do needlepoint. Reading *does* exert a very strong pull on me. I love to be lured into someone else's world.
What’s the best thing about being a writer?
The feeling of accomplishment—seeing the story take shape, revising, improving something that was OK to begin with but making it better.
What’s the hardest thing about being a writer?
It's frustrating that there's absolutely no relationship between how hard you work and how successful you are. (And by "successful," I'm not referring solely to becoming financially successful.) A writer can spend a whole day writing, and the next day decide that the scene is irrelevant and needs to be tossed out. Some of my stories have come fast and easily; others I've really sweated over. I can't predict which will get accepted for publication, which will get the good reviews, which will be picked for state reading lists, which will get kids writing to me saying, "That's me you were writing about--how did you know?"
What inspires you?
When I read a good book, I want to be part of that book-creating culture.
What can fans expect next from you?
Just out in April is WIZARD AT WORK, a collection of adventures in the summer of one young wizard. WITCH'S WISHES is a Halloween story due out from Holiday House in October. It's about a witch who tries to repay a little girl's kindness by granting that all her wishes will come true for that night. Unfortunately, she fails to tell the girl, so things go more and more awry.
What advice do you have for beginning childrens authors?
Two pieces of advice:
- (1) Read a lot. And, in reading, notice what works for you and what doesn't. Ask yourself questions like: Why did I like this character, while that one was annoying, or (worse yet) bored me? What kept me reading? (Or: Why did I set that book down and forget all about it for a week?) What do I enjoy most: fully developed characters, intricate plot, mood/ambiance, beautiful language? (There is no right answer.) If there was a passage you thought was boring, try to figure out why the author put it in; then decide what would be a different way to include the necessary information from that passage. If the ending seems to come out of nowhere, think how you would have set things up so that the ending would have been believable--but still unexpected. What would this story be like if told from the perspective of a different character?
- (2) Don't lose heart. A lot of famous writers got rejected: J.K. Rowling, Ursula LeGuin, Dr, Seuss, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe. Where would we be if *they* had given up?
Interview © 2004 by Debbi Michiko Florence.
See also my follow-up interview with VVV, in 2005.
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