Follow-up Interview with Children's Author
Coleen Murtagh Paratore (2005)
by Debbi Michiko Florence
You’ve written and had published pictures books (HOW PRUDENCE PROOVIT PROVED THE TRUTH ABOUT FAIRY TALES and 26 BIG THINGS SMALL HANDS DO). This is your first novel. How was writing a novel [The Wedding Planner's Daughter] different from writing picture books? Do you have a preference?
Writing a novel was different from writing a picture book probably in the same way that birthing an elephant is different from birthing an eel. A novel is one big fat baby.
Much about the process was exactly the same. Every day, I showed up on the page. I wrote. I revised. I wrote. I revised. Out running in the morning, or out driving somewhere later — occasionally fireflies would flicker in — bits of dialogue, plot turns, words that painted better pictures… and I’d try to catch them quick. I absolutely loved writing this book. It was a heavy load to carry in my mind and heart, but I cried when it was over. I was going to miss that baby girl. It was hard saying goodbye to Willa.
Tell us how THE WEDDING PLANNER’S DAUGHTER came to be.
THE WEDDING PLANNER’S DAUGHTER “came to be” because my fairy-godmother of a fabulous editor, Alyssa Eisner at Simon & Schuster, kept encouraging me to write a novel. I kept saying no, I can’t. Actually, the whole idea of it terrified me — novels are so big. Then, finally, one evening over drinks after an SCBWI conference, Alyssa said “okay, I’m just going to throw a title out at you: The Wedding Planner’s Daughter.” That’s all she said, just the title. I remember thinking that sounds like that movie I never saw, too chicklitty commercial for me, I planned one wedding (my own) and that was more than enough, blah, blah, blah… And then the next day as I was driving home from Philadelphia, I felt the presence of Miss Havisham from Dickens’ GREAT EXPECTATIONS in the backseat of my car, wedding dress and all, her cold bony hand on my shoulder and I thought, ooh, wow, where did you come from? This is exciting. Miss Havisham and Estelle, interesting. What if the Wedding Planner’s own wedding ended in a tragedy and so she froze up like Miss Havisham and refused to love again, but what if her daughter desperately longed for a father and what if and what if and what if…. I filled two yellow tablets with notes on the steering wheel, ended up in Delaware by mistake…..e-mailed Alyssa the next day to say “Okay, I get it. I’m writing a novel.”
Willa, the main character in THE WEDDING PLANNER’S DAUGHTER, is searching for love for her mother, and also for herself. The search for love is a strong theme in your novel. What made you decide to explore this theme?
To me there is no stronger theme than love. It is the core need, the core truth. I know I’ll be exploring it in some fashion or another in every book I write.
The characters in THE WEDDING PLANNER’S DAUGHTER are fabulous! Are any of them based on people you know? How do you develop your characters when you write?
Thanks, Debbi. I had great fun with these characters and now that I have a contract on a sequel (COMPATiBLY CUPID, Fall ’06) I’m back in Bramble hanging out with them some more. How lucky is that! As to who the characters are based on…. they are figments of my imagination infused with the spirits of people I’ve known. I don’t set out to create characters… I listen for fireflies and write every day and wait to see who shows up for the party. If they are interesting, I let them stay, especially if they’re funny.
Do you have a favorite character in THE WEDDING PLANNER’S DAUGHTER? Who? And why?
I love Willa Havisham. There’s a chunk of my heart and my history in that girl.
I laughed out loud in several places in your novel (and shed a few tears, too). Humor seems to come naturally to you. Are there books/authors from your childhood that stand out in your memory that share this type of humor?
I read so many books as a child… they filled me like an ocean. Now they all sort of swirl around in my memory with few standing out on the shore. Except for ANNE OF GREEN GABLES and LITTLE WOMEN. As to humorists, I’m a huge fan of Twain, Shakespeare, and Dr. Seuss. Dickens gets my vote for characters. Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou are my heart heroes. Those voices resonate.
You have great working relationships with both your editor and agent. Do you have advice for writers working with editors/agents for the first time?
Listen to your editor and your agent. They really do know best.
What other projects are you working on right now?
In addition to COMPATIBLY CUPID, I’m working on two new picture books and a new novel, and I’m revising a funny middle grade book for boys which I am very excited about. I have three sons, for gosh sakes, where are my boy books? I’ll soon be putting the final tinkering touches on my picture book, CATCHING THE SUN, due out from Houghton Mifflin in Fall ’06. Peter Catalanotto is doing the illustrations.
How can fans contact you? Are you planning book signings?
I’ll be doing a ton of school visits this spring and I’m looking forward to sharing the joy of writing with children. We are currently setting up my book-signing schedule for THE WEDDING PLANNER’S DAUGHTER. And, after much head banging and gnawing of teeth, I am finally getting a website: www.coleenparatore.com, but don’t expect any fancy bells and whistles. I’m a writer, not a webmaster, small steps.
What is the best advice you were ever given on writing? And by whom?
The best advice I ever got about writing was not given in the form of words. You know what they say about actions speaking louder? I have powerful memories of watching my mother write. Pen in hand, intensely engaged, feelings pouring across the page. I saw how mysterious and emotional and joyful the act of writing was for her. I wanted that too. And so I write. If you want to be a writer, write.
Follow-up Interview © February, 2005, by Debbi Michiko Florence.
See also my previous interview with Coleen
about her first picture book for kids, in 2004.
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