Interview With Mary Pearson

by debbi michiko florence

Mary E. Pearson is the author of several books for teens, including A Room on Lorelei Street and her latest novel, The Adoration of Jenna Fox. She writes from her home in California where she lives with her family. Her books have received many honors including the Golden Kite Award, the JHunt Award for Young Adult Fiction, and The South Carolina Young Adult Book Award. You can learn more about her and her books at www.marypearson.com

Note to readers: Possible spoilers below (although nothing is stated out right).

You are the author of four wonderful YA novels (I’ve loved them all). Can you tell us a little about your path to publication?

I began writing full time about twelve years ago. I submitted my first manuscript after studying editors and publishers and what they wanted--and then of course, I began racking up rejections like everyone does. My first manuscript, The Bird Lady of Batiquitos was a long rambling historical that received a lot of nice personal rejections but no cigar. I listened carefully to the comments I received and worked to address those points in my next manuscript. My biggest problem it seemed, was that I was great at creating character but nothing happened! So I worked to understand plot and pacing and made sure that every word counted in my next manuscript. That one, David v. God, sold relatively quickly. Four novels later, publication has had some highs and lows since then, but the important thing I have learned is to just keep writing.

THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX, your newest novel, is already being well received. Congratulations!

I know many authors don’t love the question “Where did you get this idea?” but I have to ask. Where did Jenna and her story come from? And how long did it take to go from idea to the time you actually started writing?

The first sparks for this story came in January of 2000 when my teenage daughter was diagnosed with cancer. On first hearing the diagnosis I was terrified, but very quickly learned how lucky we were that there was very good treatment for her type of cancer. Just fifty years earlier she probably would have died of this disease. It naturally made me wonder, how far will medicine advance in another fifty years? And then as she went through treatment and I saw small babies who were being treated for much worse cancers and had much longer treatments, I wondered again, how far would a parent go to save their child? How much would they be willing to put them through? As a parent, how far would I be willing to go?

These were only wonderings of mine at the time. I never thought that one day they would spark a story. It was about four years later that I began exploring these questions further and writing the manuscript that would become The Adoration of Jenna Fox.

I understand that each novel an author writes is a different process. How was writing THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX different from your other novels?

I am usually a very linear writer. I go from start to finish and see where the character will take me. But with this story, while from the start I had a vague vision of a girl looking out at water who was recovering from an accident, the heart of the story came when I pretty much got the whole climactic scene that came in the middle of the book. I wrote it down—shared it with my editor—and then began exploring how the main character got to that point and wrote my way there. Then when I was almost done with the book and I thought I knew how it would end, another whole chapter—the real ending—swooped down on me almost word for word. I wrote it down and set it aside in another file because I wasn’t sure it would really work once I got to the end, but it did. So my subconscious I suppose, was working behind the scenes in this book in unexpected ways, making the orderly me learn some new tricks. Writing is never dull, that’s for sure.

One of the things I love about this story, other than it being a wonderfully written and gripping story, are the characters. Every single character stood out for me. How do you get to know your characters so well? Were any of them more difficult to get to know?

Jenna! In fact, I was banging my head against my keyboard at first. One thing I hadn’t planned on was how hard it would be to get to know a character who doesn’t even know herself! Our entire world perspective is based on prior experience—but Jenna, who had no memory, had no prior experience. I couldn’t flesh her out in the usual ways. I had to get to know Jenna in the same way she was discovering herself. And sometimes I felt her impatience as my own. It was a very interesting process. Ultimately with all of my characters, I try to listen and be true to their voice. It is obvious to me when I am shoving my words into their mouths instead of their own. That’s why I may write and delete 3000 or more words just to arrive at the 250 words that I call “keepers” at the end of the day.

I cared about Jenna from the get-go, and totally felt for her throughout her story. Even though her specific situation might be foreign to readers, her feelings are not. We all go through the “who am I?” stages. Even as adults!

I agree. I think the teen years are just the beginning of the “who am I” years. As adults we continue to reinvent ourselves over and over again as we go through life—jobs, relationships, life events—all these continue to remold us and we have to find new answers to the question of who we are and how we fill those roles. In the story, it wasn’t only Jenna who was navigating a new identity, but her mother and grandmother as well.

What is your writing routine? Do you have a set writing time? An office? Any rituals to get you started?

I write every day from about 9 am to 9pm in an office at my house. When I begin a project, I open a file, give it a working title, and from that point on the file is open on my computer. And then from morning, until I go to bed, I write--not continuously of course! In the morning I sit down, reread what I wrote the day before, rewrite a bit to warm up, and then try to make progress with new territory. But throughout the day I may do a lot of other things—answer mail, do odds and ends around the house, errands, etc. But I have daily goals, so round about 3:00 if I am not making progress, I apply more BIC (butt in chair) so that hopefully I will meet those goals. Even though I have more than my share of procrastination techniques (a clean house is a bad sign) very often in the process of procrastinating, a piece of dialogue or a transition or something else I was searching for, will come to me. That’s when I rush upstairs to my office to write it down. So sometimes even procrastination is a necessary part of the process. (At least that’s what I like to tell myself!)

What is the best thing about being a writer?

So many things . . . those little moments of serendipity when the disconnected threads of your story that were hopelessly tangled just a few chapters earlier seem to come together magically all on their own . . . typing the last words to a draft that you feared you would never finish—what joy! . . . letting a book go and watching your words belong to readers and seeing how it is a different book for each of them because all the life experiences and perspectives they bring to the story are different. I always say, I write the words, I don’t own them, and that is never more apparent for me than when my book is published and a reader shares their own unique perspective of it.

What is the most challenging thing about being a writer?

Definitely the first draft. Since I don’t outline or ever know for sure how a story will play out, it becomes very much a trusting process with lots of doubt sprinkled in along the way. I’ve learned to always keep going, no matter what, but that doesn’t make it any easier to trudge through unknown territory. Once I am done with the first draft I am elated. I know a lot of revision still lies ahead, but revising is so much easier than facing a blank page.

Do you do school group visits or workshops? How can teachers/librarians and fans get in touch with you or learn more?

Yes, as my schedule allows. Writing always comes first, but as often as I can I like to visit schools, libraries, or talk to various groups about books and writing. I have information on my website about author visits.

What can fans expect next?

I recently finished the first draft of my next book and sent it off to my editor. It’s a story about four teens at a boarding school who embark on an “unauthorized” road trip. The story explores how chance and coincidence weaves in and out of our lives. The title is still up in the air. My editor and I are letting our title choice simmer for a while, though we have a clear favorite. It will be out in Fall of 09 so we can’t simmer too long.