When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
I started writing and illustrating my first series at seven and wrote lots of short stories, just for fun, when I was a teenager. I think it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to get more serious about writing eventually but I wanted to do some living first so after university I went and hung out in Ireland for most of the 90’s (barely wrote a thing while I was there). I guess I thought writing would be waiting for me when I was ready, which was 1999, when I finally started writing my first young adult novel.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I’ve been a big reader all my life but when I started writing in earnest I really had no idea what I was doing and it took three or four years of constant reading and writing to get the hang of it. Shortly after that I landed my first agent and thought I had it made – that it was only a matter of time before my first novel would sell. Well, what actually happened was that I lost my NY agent because they weren’t fond of the second book I’d sent them (while they were still shopping the first) and wanted me to make changes I didn’t believe in. So I went from thinking I was on the road to publication to searching for a new agent, back at square one. By the time I found an agent who believed in my second book so strongly that she recruited a U.S. agent to sell it stateside when UK publishers turned it down, I had another two novels finished. Happily Random House, about a year after buying I Know It’s Over, also purchased those other two novels, One Lonely Degree and The Lighter Side of Life and Death.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
I think the story is from a point of view we still haven’t heard very much – a guy still in love with his ex who on Christmas Eve finds out she’s pregnant with his kid. It was interesting to read Nick Hornby’s Slam because it covers similar territory but is very different in tone. If you’re looking for a light book, I Know It’s Over won’t be your type of thing. It’s realistic and pretty intense, I think. A reviewer at the ilikebooks community on LiveJournal said it was one of the heaviest YA novels she’d ever read and not to pick it up if you're not prepared to be totally heartbroken. That seems like a fair assessment to me.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
This is such a hard question because everything’s an inspiration: a newspaper article, something you overheard someone say on the subway, memories of your best friend when you were ten, song lyrics. But on a deeper level, I really hate the cynicism, indifference and cruelty which seem very prevalent in our culture now (in music, movies, television and popular culture in general) so I’d say the opposite – empathy and hope – are a big inspiration. The idea that people, and your relationships with them, are what matters.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My husband, parents and brother are all big readers and they’re all incredibly excited about the upcoming release of I Know It’s Over, as are my family in Ireland. My husband has an agent who is submitting his own easy reader series to publishers in the UK. He’s the first reader for all my books and has been totally amazing during the long struggle to get published. My brother was a big help when it came to the hockey stuff in I Know It’s Over.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
An ice cold Coke with a pack of potato chips (pretty much any flavor except ketchup).
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Brush my teeth, drink a glass of orange juice and read yesterday’s Toronto Star (I’m always a day behind).
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
I went and looked in my closet, hoping that would help me answer this question. It’s a total mess, which probably isn’t surprising! Umm…I still have tons of my childhood stuffed animals down in our storage locker. I wish I still had my Merlin game too but I haven’t seen it in years.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Aquamarine because it’s calm and soothing and reminds me of Tropical oceans. It’s a color I never get sick of. I think being aquamarine would be very Zen and minty fresh too.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Intrepid boy reporter Tintin. I devoured his adventures again and again when I was a kid. Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon were especially amazing.
Which cartoon character is most like you?
Probably Daria but without the boots and glasses.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?
Wow. That’s a really cool question and there’d be so many places and times I’d like to see but if I had to choose just one I think I’d like to do some more hanging out in Ireland and meet a few of my pagan ancestors. I grew up in Canada but from the first time I landed on Irish soil a big part of me felt like I was home. I don’t know if that’s some kind of genetic recognition or what but it would be amazing to witness the building of Newgrange and discover what Ireland was really like back then, firsthand.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
I can’t listen to music while I’m writing because it messes with my concentration but I often listen to music before and after. Topping the list of favorites would be British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, who I’ve been a huge fan of for over twenty years and who writes equally well about politics and matters of the heart. I met him for the second time in June and gave him an advance reader copy of I Know It’s Over, which was a totally surreal moment. I like lots of Canadian bands – Blue Rodeo, Our Lady Peace, Sam Roberts, The Tragically Hip, Tegan and Sara. I’m also a big Frames, Bloc Party and Paddy Casey fan.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?
I hardly watch movies over these days; I’d much rather watch something I haven’t seen yet but there are a few I come back to every few years and I think the movies Once and Children of Men will prove to be two of these – again, they’re the opposite of cynical. As far as TV goes I watch Lost, The Office, Doctor Who, Trailer Park Boys and lately I’m hooked on Ghost Hunters. I think the last thing I saw at the theater was The X-Files movie.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
I’d borrow some lyrics from Billy Bragg: “If no one out there understands/Start your own revolution and cut out the middle man.”
And a quote from Winston Churchill: “Never, never, never give up.”
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
My next book, One Lonely Degree is out in May and is about a fifteen year old girl named Finn who considers herself an outsider in a world full of pack animals. When something bad happens to her at a party, that feeling intensifies. Her best friend is the only one who knows about the incident and the two of them do their best to deal with it on their own, which sort of works until a childhood friend of Finn’s reappears. She has feelings for him but isn’t ready to deal with them. Eventually he starts going out with Finn’s best friend, which sort of works too because then at least Finn can be friends with him.
But then her best friend goes away for the summer, leaving Finn to watch her parents’ marriage crumble and struggle to deal with unresolved feelings about what happened at the party. The one Finn automatically turns to is her old friend, which makes things still more complicated.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at http://www.teensreadtoo.com/!
Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you!
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