Follow-up Interview with
Vivian Vande Velde (2005)
by Debbi Michiko Florence
In Now You See It..., Vivian Vande Velde's most recent novel, Wendy hates wearing her glasses, and avoids doing so as much as possible. Until she comes across a pair of sunglasses, tossed on her lawn, that give her the strangest vision. When she wears them, she sees ghosts, mischievous blue men, and, instead of popular beautiful girl Tiffanie, sees a wrinkled crone. And what of that guy at the back of the classroom, Julian? He has pointed ears!
As a child who hated wearing glasses, did you ever wish for a pair of magic glasses? What kind?
Actually, no, I didn't wish for magic glasses--I was too busy wishing I didn't have to wear glasses at all.
What was the inspiration for this story and Wendy?
Partly, I wanted to write about someone who needs glasses. (Traditionally, you don't see too many glasses-wearers in fiction. And as someone who'd been wearing them since I was about 2 1/2, I thought it was time I spoke out for those people.)
The other part is that my mother died five years ago, and after she did, I suddenly saw her differently. We had lots of photos of her as a young woman, but when I'd see those pictures, I'd think, "There's my mother." It was only after she was gone that her being my mother didn't get in the way of my seeing her as a young woman. I wanted to explore those feelings.
At a recent CLC gathering, we had a discussion about writers who are plotters vs plungers. Which one are you?
Definitely a plunger. I started the story knowing that somehow or other Wendy would meet her grandmother-as-a-teen and come to appreciate her, but I had no idea how or what adventure they would have together. Some of the minor characters who nearly run away with the story (Tiffanie the witch who is also a cheerleader, Larry the obnoxious chipmunk-sized spreenie, and Brave Heart the dog who spends part of the story as a sheep and part as a wolf) each developed from what was originally conceived as tiny bit roles. (Larry, especially, kept trying to tell me this was HIS story.)
What have you been working on since we last chatted?
My web site is finally up and running: www.VivianVandeVelde.com
I've just finished a short novel manuscript called "Three Good Deeds," about a boy who gets turned into a goose. The witch who put the spell on him won't turn him back into a boy until he's done three good deeds. As he likes to keep pointing out to her, it's tough to do good deeds when you have wings instead of hands, and everything you say comes out as honks that only other geese—and the witch—can understand.
What's the best thing that's happened in the last year?
HEIR APPARENT has been nominated for a whole bunch of state reading awards, and that's exciting. Also, I've had a novel accepted that's been rattling around for almost 20 years. I kept dusting it off and periodically sending it out again. It had been everywhere, so I pretty much had to wait for previous editors to retire and new ones to come in.
The funniest?
I went to the Tennessee Library Association Conference to accept the Volunteer State Book Award for SMART DOG. This was the first time in the history of the award that there was a tie. My book about a dog smart enough to talk was tied with Laurie Halse Anderson's SPEAK, about a girl who finds the courage to tell about being assaulted.
Any disappointments?
I am truly disappointed that the state of the world has not improved. But there is nothing to complain about in my own life, or in my writing career.
Do you work on one project at a time? Or many at once?
Mostly one at a time. The exception is that I will stop work on a novel to write a short story. One of my short stories is in GOTHIC! TEN ORIGINAL DARK TALES, edited by Deborah Noyes (due out from Candlewick Press, September 2004).
Do you have a ritual you follow before you're able to settle down to work for the day? What is it?
No, I'm pretty undisciplined. I go out to Curves for Women to do my exercising in the morning because I am very slow to wake up and the only way I can get through exercise is to be half asleep during it. When I get home, my intention is always to try to write at least a little bit every day—but I have to admit I get distracted easily. Maybe I *need* a ritual.
What books have you recently published, or will be released soon?
Coming out next will be NOW YOU SEE IT... (Harcourt, January 2005) about a girl who finds a pair of glasses that lets her see things nobody else can see. After that is a novel that may or may not be called IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT (Marshall Cavendish, fall 2005) about a girl who uses her ability to see other people's dreams to try to solve the murder of her parents. The novel that's... hmmm, let's not say "been rejected countless times over the past 20 years"... let's say, "been fine-tuned over a period of time" is, at least for the moment, called THE BOOK OF MORDRED, and Houghton Mifflin will be publishing that in the fall of 2005.
Follow-up Interview © March, 2005, by Debbi Michiko Florence.
See also my initial interview with VVV, in 2004, and another update, in 2006.
what's new?
You can read more about VVV at her web site.
See also my initial interview with Vivian Vande Velde, in 2004, and a follow-up, in 2006.
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