Welcome on the blog, Erin! Erin is stopping by in her blog tour on MarjoleinBookBlog for an interview about her book I Now Pronounce You Someone Else (review in the previous blog post!)What inspired you to write I Now Pronounce You Someone Else?
I adore this question because I want to know the same thing about most books I read, and I am very appreciative when people ask it of me, so thank you for asking.
I adore this question because I want to know the same thing about most books I read, and I am very appreciative when people ask it of me, so thank you for asking.
But because I really liked how I wrote my answer the first time I was asked, would you mind if I reprint that answer here, giving myself full permission so as not to violate the copyright I hold?
This book began when three unrelated concepts collided. Well, bumped into each other, anyway.
1. Years ago, I gave myself the alias Phoebe Lilywhite because it sounds English, which I wish I were for the accent, and it sounds like the name of someone, like me, who has never been tan in her life.
2. I have a shameless fascination with weddings. Tacky. Elegant. Shotgun. I don’t care. I love them all.3. I always wanted to write something about my step-dad, who died before I ever told him how much I loved him.
So – Phoebe Lilywhite, weddings, and step-dad percolated and became I Now Pronounce You Someone Else.
2. I have a shameless fascination with weddings. Tacky. Elegant. Shotgun. I don’t care. I love them all.3. I always wanted to write something about my step-dad, who died before I ever told him how much I loved him.
So – Phoebe Lilywhite, weddings, and step-dad percolated and became I Now Pronounce You Someone Else.
What influences and experiences did you bring into the book?
The experiences I brought were all emotional that I applied to a fictional situation. I know what it’s like to feel:
-excited about the future;
-scared about the future;
-certain about what I want;
-confused about what I want;
-different from my family;
-desperate to belong;
-shy about expressing how much I love someone;
-amused and bemused by the people around me;
-heartache from breaking up, and
-hopeful of a new beginning.
When did you know you wanted to write professionally?
Third grade. The teacher – who, by the way, was tiny and pretty and drove a yellow corvette, which we, at 8 or 9 years old, found terribly cool – assigned us a journalism project. We had to read newspaper articles and rewrite them in our own words, and from the beginning I loved it. I could have done that all day. Math – fine. Science – eh! (Crickets in the terrarium. Need I say more?) Art – oh, forget it. But writing? Yea! That was for me.
How much of your writing is based on your own experience as a teenager?
Zero. I was shy – so shy that in 12th grade, the school psychologist called me out of class once to ask if I wanted to talk to her, and, oh, the irony. (Talking to a total stranger about being too shy to talk.)
If you could have dinner with a book character, who would it be and why?
Hester Prynne. I want to know what it’s like being written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, and logistical) in bringing the book to life?
Literary Challenge: Writing upstairs at my desk while my kitchen was being remodeled. Sledgehammers. Power tools. Workmen who needed my input several times a day.
Research Challenge: Finding good sources in Grand Rapids and at Hope College – I live in Columbus, Ohio – who wouldn’t think I was a fruitloop when I said, “I’m writing this novel and need to ask you a few questions about street names and things.” And I did find good sources. Fabulous, sweet, wonderful sources. One – hi, Abbey – via Facebook. And the other – hi, Robin – at a B&B in South Haven, Michigan.
Psychological Challenge: See answer to Literary Challenge. Add tears of frustration over initial rejection letters.
Logistical Challenge: I’m pretty good at the planning and management of any task. Actually, I like the planning and management more often than the task itself, so logistics are never a problem for me.
Could you tell us about your path to publication? Any sprints or stumbles along the way?
The first decade of my writing career is entirely marked by sprints and stumbles. What a great way of putting it, by the way. Can I borrow that in the future?
When I was 26, I wrote my first mainstream women’s fiction novel. Called it The Weaver’s Tale and set it between 1940s Ireland and present-day Pennsylvania. I found an agent who handled the manuscript for 2 years and would call me with updates of how the thing was nearly purchased by any number of different houses. Then he, my agent, left agenting. But by then, he had optioned the manuscript to a movie producer who really got behind it and tried for 3 or 4 years to get the thing produced. He sent it to a number of production companies, including one owned by Don Johnson. (This is my favorite Sprint & Stumble story.) Don Johnson read the book, called the producer handling it and said, “I’m on page 181 and nothing has happened yet.”
So nothing – nothing – came of that book, not least because Don Johnson disliked it. But I don’t hold that against him and continue to sigh wistfully over him as Sonny Crockett.
During this time, I had a lot going on in my life, all the while writing a second book – mainstream women’s – that I put away but have been thinking of revisiting lately. I wrote articles for a couple magazines, began a career as a youth minister, got married and slowly began considering writing for teens. Four short years later . . . poof! . . . I’m an author.
What did you read as a teen?, which authors inspired you the most?
As a young teen, I read everything by S.E. Hinton and longed to meet boys named Ponyboy and Soda Pop. All the boys in my class were called Jeremy. All of them. Jeremy or something like Jeremy. No Ponyboys. I also read many books by Judy Blume, because who didn’t, and Agatha Christie. Then in my later teen years, I read a mix of authors – F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, Richard Bach, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ambrose Bierce.
And which are your favorite books and authors now?
Still a mix – Nathaniel Hawthorne, David McCullough, Kurt Vonnegut, Francisco X. Stork and Annie Dillard. I also read a ton of non-fiction, mainly social history from the Early American Era through Reconstruction. And for plain old dish, I love historical true-crime stories.
The experiences I brought were all emotional that I applied to a fictional situation. I know what it’s like to feel:
-excited about the future;
-scared about the future;
-certain about what I want;
-confused about what I want;
-different from my family;
-desperate to belong;
-shy about expressing how much I love someone;
-amused and bemused by the people around me;
-heartache from breaking up, and
-hopeful of a new beginning.
When did you know you wanted to write professionally?
Third grade. The teacher – who, by the way, was tiny and pretty and drove a yellow corvette, which we, at 8 or 9 years old, found terribly cool – assigned us a journalism project. We had to read newspaper articles and rewrite them in our own words, and from the beginning I loved it. I could have done that all day. Math – fine. Science – eh! (Crickets in the terrarium. Need I say more?) Art – oh, forget it. But writing? Yea! That was for me.
How much of your writing is based on your own experience as a teenager?
Zero. I was shy – so shy that in 12th grade, the school psychologist called me out of class once to ask if I wanted to talk to her, and, oh, the irony. (Talking to a total stranger about being too shy to talk.)
If you could have dinner with a book character, who would it be and why?
Hester Prynne. I want to know what it’s like being written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, and logistical) in bringing the book to life?
Literary Challenge: Writing upstairs at my desk while my kitchen was being remodeled. Sledgehammers. Power tools. Workmen who needed my input several times a day.
Research Challenge: Finding good sources in Grand Rapids and at Hope College – I live in Columbus, Ohio – who wouldn’t think I was a fruitloop when I said, “I’m writing this novel and need to ask you a few questions about street names and things.” And I did find good sources. Fabulous, sweet, wonderful sources. One – hi, Abbey – via Facebook. And the other – hi, Robin – at a B&B in South Haven, Michigan.
Psychological Challenge: See answer to Literary Challenge. Add tears of frustration over initial rejection letters.
Logistical Challenge: I’m pretty good at the planning and management of any task. Actually, I like the planning and management more often than the task itself, so logistics are never a problem for me.
Could you tell us about your path to publication? Any sprints or stumbles along the way?
The first decade of my writing career is entirely marked by sprints and stumbles. What a great way of putting it, by the way. Can I borrow that in the future?
When I was 26, I wrote my first mainstream women’s fiction novel. Called it The Weaver’s Tale and set it between 1940s Ireland and present-day Pennsylvania. I found an agent who handled the manuscript for 2 years and would call me with updates of how the thing was nearly purchased by any number of different houses. Then he, my agent, left agenting. But by then, he had optioned the manuscript to a movie producer who really got behind it and tried for 3 or 4 years to get the thing produced. He sent it to a number of production companies, including one owned by Don Johnson. (This is my favorite Sprint & Stumble story.) Don Johnson read the book, called the producer handling it and said, “I’m on page 181 and nothing has happened yet.”
So nothing – nothing – came of that book, not least because Don Johnson disliked it. But I don’t hold that against him and continue to sigh wistfully over him as Sonny Crockett.
During this time, I had a lot going on in my life, all the while writing a second book – mainstream women’s – that I put away but have been thinking of revisiting lately. I wrote articles for a couple magazines, began a career as a youth minister, got married and slowly began considering writing for teens. Four short years later . . . poof! . . . I’m an author.
What did you read as a teen?, which authors inspired you the most?
As a young teen, I read everything by S.E. Hinton and longed to meet boys named Ponyboy and Soda Pop. All the boys in my class were called Jeremy. All of them. Jeremy or something like Jeremy. No Ponyboys. I also read many books by Judy Blume, because who didn’t, and Agatha Christie. Then in my later teen years, I read a mix of authors – F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, Richard Bach, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ambrose Bierce.
And which are your favorite books and authors now?
Still a mix – Nathaniel Hawthorne, David McCullough, Kurt Vonnegut, Francisco X. Stork and Annie Dillard. I also read a ton of non-fiction, mainly social history from the Early American Era through Reconstruction. And for plain old dish, I love historical true-crime stories.
Do you have a dream for the future of your writing, something you love to accomplish?
I’d like to write something Don Johnson likes.
I’d like to write something Don Johnson likes.
MANY THANKS ERIN! The next stop in Erin''s blog tour is at Reading Vacation
