Q: Why do you write?
A: I just always figured I’d be a writer.
Q: Who are your favorite writers?
A: In no particular order: Iris Murdoch, Willa Cather, VS Naipaul, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vladimir Nabokov, Karen Russell, Junot Diaz, Charles Portis…I could go on.
Q: What inspired you to write All the Major Constellations?
A: Andrew, the main character, has been with me a long time. I wrote the earliest version of him, and the earliest draft of ATMC, almost twenty years ago. I pictured him consumed with an unrequited passion for an unattainable girl. Then I set the two further apart by making her deeply religious. More characters started appearing. The characters really made the story.
Q: There’s a lot about religion and faith in ATMC. Are you religious?
A: I am Buddhist.
Q: A Christian youth group is depicted in your novel. Did you have any experiences with Christian (or any religions) youth group?
A: Not really, certainly not the kind of experience that Andrew has! I mostly just used my imagination to figure out what it might be like to be part of a fervently religious youth group. I’ve been told by some that it’s quite accurate. Let me know if you think differently.
Q: There’s a lot of stuff about sexuality in your book. Do you really think that’s appropriate for a religiously themed book aimed at a younger audience?
A: Sure do!
Q: What advice do you have for young writers?
A: Read a lot. Become a total book nerd. Frequent bookstores and libraries. Read some poetry too. Read Shakespeare right before you go to sleep.
Q: I don’t understand Shakespeare.
A: That’s okay. I didn’t either at first. I had to see it performed or it didn’t make sense to me, I would kind of glaze over when I tried to read it. A teacher told me to read one of his plays while simultaneously listening to an audiotape (yes, I’m old) of actors performing the play. The actors, if they’re good, are not only entertaining but they can convey all the double/triple meanings of the lines by how they inflect their voices. But you can’t just listen, you have to read along too. Try it!
Q: What are you working on now?
A: A novel about a bi-racial girl growing up in Vermont and falling in love with the wayward son of a farmer. Don’t hold me to that, it will be completely different by the time I finish.
A: I just always figured I’d be a writer.
Q: Who are your favorite writers?
A: In no particular order: Iris Murdoch, Willa Cather, VS Naipaul, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vladimir Nabokov, Karen Russell, Junot Diaz, Charles Portis…I could go on.
Q: What inspired you to write All the Major Constellations?
A: Andrew, the main character, has been with me a long time. I wrote the earliest version of him, and the earliest draft of ATMC, almost twenty years ago. I pictured him consumed with an unrequited passion for an unattainable girl. Then I set the two further apart by making her deeply religious. More characters started appearing. The characters really made the story.
Q: There’s a lot about religion and faith in ATMC. Are you religious?
A: I am Buddhist.
Q: A Christian youth group is depicted in your novel. Did you have any experiences with Christian (or any religions) youth group?
A: Not really, certainly not the kind of experience that Andrew has! I mostly just used my imagination to figure out what it might be like to be part of a fervently religious youth group. I’ve been told by some that it’s quite accurate. Let me know if you think differently.
Q: There’s a lot of stuff about sexuality in your book. Do you really think that’s appropriate for a religiously themed book aimed at a younger audience?
A: Sure do!
Q: What advice do you have for young writers?
A: Read a lot. Become a total book nerd. Frequent bookstores and libraries. Read some poetry too. Read Shakespeare right before you go to sleep.
Q: I don’t understand Shakespeare.
A: That’s okay. I didn’t either at first. I had to see it performed or it didn’t make sense to me, I would kind of glaze over when I tried to read it. A teacher told me to read one of his plays while simultaneously listening to an audiotape (yes, I’m old) of actors performing the play. The actors, if they’re good, are not only entertaining but they can convey all the double/triple meanings of the lines by how they inflect their voices. But you can’t just listen, you have to read along too. Try it!
Q: What are you working on now?
A: A novel about a bi-racial girl growing up in Vermont and falling in love with the wayward son of a farmer. Don’t hold me to that, it will be completely different by the time I finish.
