www.lynmillerlachmann.com
First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server today…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Thanks for having me.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
Second grade. My mother gave me a typewriter, and I put it to work writing stories, which I talked my teacher into letting me read to the class. Most of the time, the other kids started fidgeting or running around, so I learned early on that you have to grab readers’ attention or they won’t stay with you.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
The first novel I published with Curbstone Press was an eco-thriller written mainly for adult readers, Dirt Cheap (2006). But it took six years from when I started writing until when the book came out. The first time I sent the manuscript to the editor at Curbstone Press, he rejected it and suggested I go back to school to learn how to write fiction. It sounds cold but almost everything I’d published before then was nonfiction, so I really needed to develop my skills. In workshops at the New York State Writers Institute, I found out I had to rewrite Dirt Cheap completely, changing the point of view from first to third person and getting rid of a major character.
The next time I wrote a novel, things went much more smoothly. I must have learned something in writing school.
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?
My next novel, coming out in May, is titled Gringolandia. It’s the story of Daniel Aguilar, an immigrant teenager from Chile in the 1980s, living with his mother and sister in Wisconsin while his father is a political prisoner under the Pinochet dictatorship. His father is suddenly released from prison to rejoin the family in exile, but he’s not the father Daniel remembers. As a result of brutal torture, Daniel’s father is partially paralyzed and haunted by flashbacks and nightmares. Daniel had made a new life for himself in the United States, but he also wants a relationship with his father, and this desire leads him into the democracy struggle of the country he thought he left behind.
Read Gringolandia if you’re looking for a story about how one teenager can make a difference in the world and in the lives of the people he loves.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
They’re based on people I know. For instance, in the 1980s I produced concerts of Chilean musicians trying to bring democracy to their country at great risk to their careers and even their lives. After the 1973 military coup that toppled a democratically-elected government, soldiers arrested the country’s most popular musician, Victor Jara, brought him to a soccer stadium, smashed his fingers, forced him to sing, and machine-gunned him to death in front of the other prisoners. Victor Jara was Chile’s Bruce Springsteen, so imagine what it would be like if something like that happened here. Another musician, whose concerts I produced, was imprisoned, severely tortured, and forced into exile, where he didn’t get to see his children for about a decade. I met his son when they were reunited—his son was 18 then—and that gave me the idea of a story about a father and son, separated in this way, who each change in different directions and have to get to know each other again.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My husband is a professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Albany, and we have two children—Derrick, who’s a college senior, and Maddy, who’s in her senior year in high school.
My kids’ friends have actually shown more enthusiasm for my writing than my kids have. When I first started Dirt Cheap, one of Derrick’s friends would ask me how the book was coming along, and one day he asked me if I could name a character after him. I did—one of the minor characters has his name, Braden.
I think my kids are worried that I’ll use them as characters and depict them in an unflattering way. My husband’s aunt even got me a t-shirt that reads, “Be careful or you’ll end up in my novel!”
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
I have a weakness for potato chips.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Take a shower, eat breakfast, and play with the dog. If I don’t show the dog enough love, he may eat my breakfast.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
Probably the mouse in the basement.
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?
Blue. Like a cloudless sky.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
I’m partial to Brian the talking dog from Family Guy. I wish my dog could take on more responsibilities in the family. Or at least give me advice when I’m stuck in my writing.
Which cartoon character is most like you?
Lisa Simpson. Which is why my son doesn’t want me to get a MySpace or Facebook account. He thinks I’ll embarrass the family.
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?
I’d prefer the unlimited time-space-hopper pass and spend a few months in a lot of places and eras. There are so many places I’d like to see, and if I could live there for a while, it would make it easier to write. I’d know what life was really like and not have to figure it out from whatever records have made it to today. I’d love to be part of the French Revolution, the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, or the first kibbutz in Palestine in 1907, where they were trying to create an entirely different way of life in the desert according to their values. Then if I got into trouble wherever I was—and knowing me, I probably would get into trouble—I could pull out my pass and get beamed somewhere else.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
I have very broad tastes, from rock to hip hop to Latin American roots music. I have to go with an iPod classic because all the other models don’t hold enough songs. I’m also the co-host of a weekly radio show of Latin American and Spanish music and occasionally DJ parties and political events.
I’ve been a fan of Bruce Springsteen since the very beginning. I saw one of his first concerts back in the Greetings from Asbury Park days. My kids have grown up with him. I also like the godmother of punk Patti Smith, U2, Manu Chao, and the Chilean folk-rock group Sol y Lluvia. And about 300 others.
Yes I do listen to music when I’m writing. And I’m always thinking of songs that go with the scenes in my books.
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?
When my kids were younger, we had one show we’d watch as a family—The Simpsons. It was our ritual every Sunday night. Now, my favorite is Weeds, about the mom forced to sell weed to finance her and her family’s lifestyle after her husband’s sudden death.
The movie I watch over and over again is Playing for Change: Peace Through Music, a documentary about street musicians around the world. The music and sound quality are superb, and the musicians have such amazing stories about living in all kinds of places and in the case of South Africa, using their music to end apartheid and now address the HIV/AIDS crisis. And the last movie I saw and really liked is Slumdog Millionaire. I’m waiting for it to come out on DVD, but for now I’ll have to settle for the soundtrack.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Spend some time living in another country.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I’m working on a sequel to Gringolandia, in which Daniel’s younger sister, Tina, now 16, goes to Chile just as the dictatorship is about to give way to a democratic government. Even though she was born there and lived there until she was eight, it’s now a foreign country to her, and she manages to get herself into a lot of trouble. As my mother always warned me, you can get yourself into a lot of trouble in a foreign country if you’re not careful.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
