Interview With Jeannine Garsee

Interview with Jeannine Garsee

by debbi michiko florence

Jeannine Garsee grew up in Cleveland, Ohio which is also the setting for her novels: Say the Word, released in March 2009, and Before, After, and Somebody in Between (2007) which was named a Borders Original Voice for August 2007, a School Library Journal Remarkable Read, and 2008 New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.

As the author of three “practice” novels before she was out of high school, Jeannine never wanted to be anything but a writer—but fell under a strange, insidious spell and found herself in the nursing profession instead. Now a psychiatric nurse in an inner city hospital, she’s currently working on a third novel for teens.

Congratulations on the release of your second YA novel, Say the Word! Before we talk about your newest, can you tell us about your journey to published author? When did you know you wanted to write for teens?

Thank you for the congrats, Deb! Truthfully, I didn’t know I wanted to write for teens until I’d already written Before, After, and Somebody in Between. I’d originally written it more as a coming-of-age story geared toward teens and adults alike, but I kept getting rejections letters from agents that said: “I don’t rep YA.” At a writers’ conference, I discussed this with guest agent Andrea Brown who offered this advice: if the story is about a young adult, make it a young adult story.

So I rewrote the entire novel. In the meantime I’d also begun to read a lot more YA and realized how much I really love it, and how the writing style comes much more naturally for me. I also realized how little I knew about the publishing business, so I had to get out there and learn all I could. I began submitting the novel again, this time as a YA, with much better luck and Tina Wexler of ICM agreed to represent me. This entire process took nearly roughly three years.

Your debut novel, Before, After, and Somebody In BetweeN was released in 2007. What was it like, having your first novel published?

The first time I walked into a book store and saw rows of the book on a special display, I pretty much flipped out. I’d known I wanted to be a writer since the age of nine, so it was “A Moment Like This” kind of experience. I couldn’t believe that was my name on the cover—let alone that someone spelled it right for the first time in my life.

Say the Word is a story about Shawna Gallagher who struggles to live up to her father’s expectations, but when her estranged mother dies, she comes face to face with all of life’s imperfections. It’s a story about secrets and unwelcome discoveries. Shawna’s pain is palpable. How did this story come about?

It came about in several ways. About a year before my first novel came out, I knew I needed to begin working on a second. Based on an experience I had when I was teen, I wanted to write a story about a girl who has to deal with a close friend who’s gay. At first it was just going to be Shawna and LeeLee’s story—but at the time there was a lot of new controversy going on about gay marriage, so Shawna’s story evolved into something more complicated. I’d also, several years earlier, written a paper for a sociology class about the children of gay couples, and what happens to them when the relationships dissolve. I try to incorporate all of this into Say the Word.

One of the things I love about your books is that the stories are unpredictable. What I mean is that I get so caught up in the characters’ lives that I truly have no clue what might happen next. When you draft your stories for the first time, do you outline or plunge in? How do you get to the heart of your stories? How many drafts did you write before you were satisfied?

I’m definitely a plunger. I do a rough “power draft” first, which I consider my outline, and if you could see what it looks like, you’d probably run screaming. I’ll have half-finished conversations, fragmented scenes, minimal description, no chapters (it’s one big long file) and no fully defined characters. I will, however, have lots pointless blather, and serious time warps, plus nasty notes written to myself, like: “ARE YOU NUTS? THIS SUCKS!” My rough draft to Say the Word and my current project were extremely long because I write whatever falls first out of my brain (the first draft Say the Word was 125,000 words; the finished product is under 80,000)).

Only when I start on the first revision do I really get into the souls of the characters. After that I’ll do maybe another revision before I let other people read and critique it. Usually I’ll do another one or two revisions, based on feedback from my readers, before I feel it’s ready to go out in the world.

Shawna’s father is controlling and manipulative, selfish and vengeful, yet as a reader, I could see where all of that might have been coming from. The love he feels for Shawna is believable despite the way he treats her. Developing characters as “villains” is a challenge for sure, so that they don’t come off as caricatures. What do you do to get to know your characters, particularly, Shawna’s dad?

In my earliest drafts, I have a tendency to overwrite my unlikeable characters, like Shawna’s dad, and Wayne, Martha’s nemesis in Before/After. During each revision I’ll attempt to make them more sympathetic; for me, it’s better to start off over-the-top because I find it easier to tone them down later. I like to have someone, usually my daughter, read out the manuscript out loud because I can “hear” the characters. Also, putting myself in a character’s head and reading the dialogue out loud to myself is a great way for me to “feel” whether or not they ring true. Even when you’re writing about an especially nasty person, there’s usually something you can insert to make them seem more human—an expression, a gesture, a memory of them from another character, a small scene that shows they’re not completely evil. There has to be a reason for their behavior and the reason needs to be explained, even if in a very small way, so you can show their human side, or else it’s as you said—your character becomes a caricature, and much less believable.

Any significant differences between writing the two novels?

Oh, yeah. Before/After took me much longer (8 years!) to write—not only because I had small children, plus I was working and going to school full time, but because I hadn’t yet figured out that first drafts don’t have to be perfect. It was nothing for me to spend weeks on a single chapter, tweaking, rewriting, deleting, and starting over. Then I’d berate myself because I hadn’t accomplished a thing. With Say the Word (which began as a NaNo project) I simply wrote the story down without agonizing over every word. I wrote the first draft in less than four months, and had it revised, edited, and whittled down to a reasonable length in six. The most significant difference is that I considered Before/After my “baby”—a big mistake for any writer, because it makes the necessary editing nearly impossible. Say the Word, on the other hand, was a “product” from beginning to end.

Tell us a little about your writing schedule. Do you write at home? At a library? Do you have a set schedule/goals each day? How do you juggle your writing career and the other parts of your life?

My writing schedule is erratic. Because I work as a nurse 4 evenings week, and I honestly can’t work on anything on the days I have to go in (I’ve been known to be late for work or forget to go in altogether because I get so involved) I reserved my writing for my days off. Because I prefer to write in the morning, I’ll usually take my lap top up to a coffee shop and stay there anywhere from four to ten hours. Writing at home is too distracting. If I have things to get in the morning, then I’ll go up in the afternoon and stay till they throw me out. As for juggling family, job, and writing, I admit that I do very little around the house; I don’t have the kind of family that hates a messy house, or demands my undivided attention, or resents my being away for hours on end. They’re very supportive and understanding. Either that, or they’re glad to be rid of me for a while.

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Hearing people tell you they loved your book. The letters I receive from kids, teachers, parents, librarians, and simply people who really liked the book still give me the biggest thrill imaginable. You know, I used to think, “You must have the biggest ego in the world! What makes you think you can write something people will pay good money to read?” Also, when you look at the odds of actually being published, it seems even more remarkable that I’ve gotten this far. Another cool thing is connecting with other writers. There are people I now consider my closest friends who I didn’t know till I started writing seriously.

What’s the most challenging thing about being a writer?

For me, with my job, it’s time management. It’s incredibly hard to write regularly, and hope to be successful, when you’re not able to devote yourself to it 100%. Cramming my writing into two or three days a week is frustrating because those are the days I’d normally reserve for other things, too. It’s impossible to do everything, so I miss out on a lot. Also, a writer also has to have infinite patience because the whole process—from the conception of an idea, to writing it down and polishing it to perfect, to finding an agent and a publisher, to the finished product—seems endless at the times.

What do you like to do to relax?

Though I usually don’t read when I’m writing, reading has always been my favorite way to relax. I also love to veg out and watch movies, and, of course, play on the internet. I can watch “Roseanne” reruns for hours on end.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on the first revision of a YA paranormal which I hope to have finished by the end of the year.

How can fans contact you?

I can be e-mailed through my website or at jjgarsee@aol.com, or they can message me via Facebook or MySpace. E-mail is the best, though be sure to put something pertinent in the subject heading (the title of a book, for instance) so your e-mail doesn’t die in my spam folder.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Nope, just a big “THANK YOU” to you, Debbi.