Classical Jazz 2005: Home

Interview with Debut YA Author
Robin MacCready

by Debbi Michiko Florence

Robin MacCready lives in midcoast Maine with her husband and two sons. She's taught reading and writing for twenty-five years and holds workshops for adults and children. When she's not reading, writing, or teaching, she spends her free time with family and friends.

Your debut YA novel BURIED will hit shelves this month (September, 2006). What an exciting time for you! Can you tell us about BURIED’s journey to publication?

I began writing BURIED when I was writing another novel, which I'm pretty sure will never see the light of day! I sent BURIED off to Dutton after I found the SCBWI notes from the NYC winter conference. At that time they were looking for edgy YA novels. That described BURIED so I gave it a final look and sent it off.

I got a call soon after and began an off-contract relationshiship with an editor. It wasn't an easy journey. BURIED now isn't the BURIED I started with. The final draft is Claudine's story rather than the plot driven manuscript I sent to her. From the beginning she wanted to know my main character better. She asked me to go deeper and deeper until finally Dutton bought it. Interestingly, the day they called I had given up hope. Actually, minutes before, because I was waiting for a call back from Dutton and they were sooooo slow. My husband witnessed an ugly meltdown at the kitchen table and in an email to a friend that day I said, "I'm having a major meltdon and reconsidering my imaginary talent, my career path, and I'm wondering who the hell I think I am. And all I can do is eat Dove Promises." When I stopped crying the phone rang. It was Dutton. Spooky.

When and why did you decide to pursue a career in writing novels for teens?

I started writing seriously ten years ago and the first story came out in the voice of a teen girl. I'll admit to being a little dismayed. I thought I was being timid, and avoiding my adult voice, but the stories and characters pulled at me and frankly, I think some of the best writing comes from YA writers.

In BURIED, the main character, Claudine, has an alcoholic mother. The roles are pretty much reversed as Claudine is the caretaker and the "responsible one." How did Claudine come to you (as a character) and what did you do to develop her for the story?

Claudine came to me one night when my sister and I were playing around with our writing. We were at a bookstore cafe hanging out and we were passing a laptop back and forth, trying to come up with good first lines . There's a line in the book when Claudine asks herself a question that sums the whole story up. I can't say which it is because it gives away the plot. But the game we played was light and easy and it was just that, a game. I think a lot of the best material is from the subconscious. Sometimes we writers try so hard we don't listen to our deepest and best material. I think that’s because it's scary.

Claudine must cope with her mother's disappearance, and though this has happened before, Claudine seems to be losing control of her world. I ached for her. How hard was it for you to place your main character in such emotionally perilous territory?

That's how she came to me and I HAD to get her out of her situation. I couldn't let her go on in such pain. Although Claudine's experience was not my experience, the feelings I had to explore were mine.

How much research did you do for your story?

I didn't do any research until I had a draft (or two or three!) and I needed to make sure I wasn't way off the mark. So I conferenced with a child psychologist. I was mostly going in the right direction.

I was honored to be one of your readers for an earlier draft of BURIED. I'm impressed with this final version — your story was good before, but now it's great! Tell us a little about the revision process and working with an editor.

Thank you, Debbi! Being able to share drafts with a trusted friend, one that gave me honest feedback, was important during the prosess of writing it.

First of all, there's no better feeling than when someone you don't know reads your work and gets it. When my editor read my draft she was moved by Claudine. The second thing is getting comments that ring true to the story. My editor "got" Claudine, so our work together was more of a conversation about what my main character was going through. My editor never let me get away with skimming over the tough stuff. She made me explore, and dig deeper than I thought I could. I think a good editor asks hard questions.

You are a language arts teacher and a wife and mother. Any advice to others on how to juggle multiple roles and write successfully?

If I said I had it all figured out I'd be lying. It's hard for many reasons, but there's something to be said for only having a certain window of time. I write when I can and I write when I have to, like when there's a copyediting deadline, but usually I write when I can sneak time. Without question, work, sick kids, and family take priority. There are good ideas about how and when to write, but none have worked for me. Everyone has to figure it out themselves.

Did your job as a teacher help you as a writer?

I get to read a lot of great books to my students, but now I'm often a critical reader and I find myself thinking about the author's writing instead of enjoying the story. That's good and bad. My students learn about what's good writing and what's bad writing, but sometimes I miss out on the story!

Will you be doing school visits? How can fans and teachers contact you?

I would love to do more school visits. Because I teach it's hard to squeeze them in, but I feel strongly that connecting authors and readers is an important piece of a language arts education. There are nontraditional ways to work with classroms and I’m always willing to talk about it with teachers. Write to me: robin@robinmerrowmaccready.com

What are some of your hobbies? What do you like to do when you’re not working?

I'm glad you asked because I don't think about it much. Let's see... When I'm not teaching or writing I'm hanging around with my kids, watching movies, reading, doing things with friends, outdoor activities like kayaking, playing tennis, skiing, sledding, going to the beach.

What is the best thing about being a writer?

Being inside a character. Being so into writng a story that I lose track of time. When I'm not lost in a story it's like beating my fist against a bolted door. But all at once I'm there and I'm cruising along with the character as she discovers something, or finds herself in an unwanted position. It's exhilirating!

What is the most challenging thing about being a writer?

Before publication the challenge was about getting BURIED published. The process was longer and harder than I thought. (I'm glad I didn't believe people when they said it probably wouldn't happen.) Sometimes I felt confident, other times I asked myself if I was a crazy woman. Friends reminded me that so much about getting published is out of a writer's control. There are still those same challenges, and the issue of having time for writing is huge. Plus marketing. That's another chunk of time. If writing provided a good income I wouldn't work and there would be whole days devoted to the world of writing. As it is, marketing is new and the learning curve is steep and it takes time. . .

What are you working on now? What can fans expect next?

I'm working on a book about two friends. That’s all I can say. It’s new.

Interview © September, 2006, by Debbi Michiko Florence.
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what's new?

You can read more about Robin at her web site.

The latest: 

April, 2007 – BURIED won the Edgar Award (given by The Mystery Writers of America) for YA fiction!