Thank you so much to best-selling young adult author Lurlene McDaniel for taking time from her busy schedule to do this interview with the Atlanta Young Adult Literature Examiner:
Atlanta Young Adult Literature Examiner: I understand that you write your novels from the point of view that they inspire, not deflate, the hopes of those who read them, especially young people. And, personally, I think Heart to Heart does just that. However, in researching these situations—and I realize you do extensive research to make sure the situations and facts supporting them are realistic and accurate—do you ever find that, with so much real-life information about unhappy situations, your novels can come to weigh heavily on your own heart?
Lurlene McDaniel: Does research weigh down my heart?
I'm always able to compartmentalize "research" from real life. What really grabs me is when a reader writes to express her personal story and how a book helped her situation, or her acceptance of a situation she can't change. I read some sad cases in my snail and electronic mail. I respond to all I can, affirming that they are the true heroes of life because they are fighting through adversity and surviving.
AYALE: Reading through your FAQs page on your Web site, your readers seem to become intricately involved with your characters, as if they know them personally, even asking for more books featuring characters from your pre-Random House publishing and wanting to know what happened to them “after” a particular book. You, on the other hand, seem to “cut ties” with characters when a book is complete. I’m sure you have an affinity for all of the characters you create, but do you find it necessary to clear your mind of a “completed” character in order to move forward to a new character forming in your mind?
LM: Old characters never die, but I do need to take a break from them in order to create new ones. And you're correct---my readers know some of my characters better than I. The real bump comes when I must return to a character (as in the Dawn Rochelle series) and pick them up again after a long time. The success of Dawn Rochelle happened over time and I had ro return to her after years had passed. It wasn't easy to get to know her again either. In her book life, I followed her from age 13 through 17. I my life, there were three to five years between plot lines, but I had to structure her emotional growth with her chronological growth.
AYALE: It’s interesting, the way you tend to let readers decide the futures of your characters, i.e. think for themselves, instead of dictating or finalizing an ending for a character or situation. Do you think this is something that is missing from our society in general today, trusting young adults to think for themselves?
LM: I absolutely believe that we aren't necessarily training kids to think for themselves. On TV, stories and events are finalized in 30 or 60 minutes, or neatly tied up after a season or two. The best stories are the ones that force us to come to our own conclusions and to explain why we believe in our conclusions. That's why I left BREATHLESS so open-ended. I want readers to decide the responsible person for Travis's death.
AYALE: Before you even open it, Heart to Heart catches the reader’s attention simply because of its size—it immediately reminded me of a pocket-sized dictionary or Bible. Is the size of the book significant, or simply a matter of publication decisions on the part of Random House?
LM: Book size is mostly a function of marketing. Years ago, kids wouldn't be caught with a regular size book---it was mass market size paperback or nothing. Kids had been trained to want "short" reads, less words. The model changed when the trade paper size caught on with teen readers and word count was expanded. The longer, the better. Now electronic readers are catching on and the market for the printed book is shrinking. The publishing industry is scrambling to figure out the new marketplace.
AYALE: When you are writing these books, they are definitely YA, written from the teen’s point of view. However, there is a strong family element involved—it may not be the “fairy tale” family, with a mom, dad, brother, sister, cat and dog, but the family element is prominent. This, I think, makes your books interesting to adult/parent readers, as well. When you begin a new storyline, are you considering the breadth of your audience? Do you intentionally try to address concerns of parents as well as fears and questions of teens? Or do you tend to stay focused on the story and let the chips fall where they may, so to speak?
LM: Years ago, the YA focused only on the teen and their interests and issues, different often from the adult world. But a car accident like in TELLING CHRISTINA GOODBYE, can't happen in a vacuum. Parents suffer, too and I try and help readers feel their anguish of loss. In HEART TO HEART, two families are affected by organ donation. I want readers to see both sides of pain.
I also want my novels to be a "safe" read so that teachers and librarians can recommend them to their students unafraid of swear words and overt sexual scenes. I focus on the drama of a situation and the feelings people experience when confronted by grief. However, a writer must never forget her primary audience, and for me, I structure all stories with teen sensibilities in mind.
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Get your copy of Lurlene McDaniel’s Heart to Heart, Breathless, Telling Christina Goodbye or one of her many other best-selling novels at one of the 700+ bookstores in Georgia.
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