|
|
|
This month The Edge of the Forest sat down for a cyber visit with
Lisa Yee to talk books, writing, and blogging. Lisa Yee is the author of the hilarious Millicent Min, Girl Genius
and Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time. So Totally Emily Ebers will be out in the Spring. Yee
also runs a blog, Lisa Yee's Blog, where she
talks about writing, books, life, and lots of funny stuff. Welcome, Lisa!
The Edge of the Forest: Your first novel, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, is the story of a girl whose
mental age far exceeds her emotional age. What inspired this story?
Lisa Yee: Not my life, that's for sure. (Lots of people assume I was a girl genius—ha!)
Actually, it came about from a play on the words "child psychologist." I thought, wouldn't it be funny
to write a book about a child who was a psychologist. Of course, for that to happen, she'd have to be a
genius. And so it began. I first wrote an entire novel about a kid who solved problems for adults. But over
the years (and it did take years) it morphed into a book about a 12-year old genius, and how isolating
that was for her.
The Edge of the Forest: Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, your second book,
paralleled Millicent's story. Was this is the first time you had written from a male perspective?
Lisa Yee: Yes, I had always written from girls' POV. But I was so taken with Stanford's character that I wanted to
know him better. I had to do a lot of eavesdropping to get the dialogue right. But the emotions were
something I just channelled. I think that heartache and fear and love are the same no matter what sex you
are.
The Edge of the Forest: Your former teacher, Mr. Glick, inspired a character of the same name in
Big-Time. How is the real Mr. Glick doing?
Lisa Yee: Mr. Glick just retired this year and there was HUGE banquet in his honor, and kids (now adults) from all
his years of teaching showed up.
When I visited his classes, I did a combination of a booktalk and true confessions. I told the kids what I
thought of him when I was their age, and asked them how they felt about him. Their opinions changed
depending on the time of year I'd speak. If it was near the beginning of the school year, the kids were
terrified of him, towards the end, they loved him, just like when I was in 7th grade.
I also told them that when he was my teacher I thought he was REALLY old. Later, I found out he was 32 when
he taught my class.
The Edge of the Forest: Novel number three, So Totally Emily Ebers, is
slated to hit stores in April 2007. What is on Emily's plate?
Lisa Yee: Emily Ebers is more like (an) every-girl. She's the
person you are, or want to have as your best friend. She's not a genius, she's not a sports star, but she
is that girl who's nice to everyone.
Emily's parents have just gone through a messy divorce. Her father is a rock star on a comeback tour.
Her mom is a famous journalist. And Emily feels neglected by both.
While writing the book I was surprised by the depth of her anguish. When I first met her in Millicent's book,
she was bubbly and seemed carefree. In Stanford's story, she was idealized as the perfect girlfriend
with sparkly eyes. But behind that facade is a girl who was forced to leave behind a life she loved and
start all over again.
My husband just read the ARC and said, "Her emotions are all over the place."
"She's a girl," I explained to him. "And she's 12, and she's learning about loss and love in the same
summer."
The Edge of the Forest: When you were Emily's age, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
Lisa Yee: I wanted to be an author!
The Edge of the Forest: Would you call these books a trilogy? Are you 'totally done' or 'pretty much done...for now'
with their neighborhood?
Lisa Yee: I'm done. Although Millicent Min was supposed to be a
stand-alone, and look what happened to that. That said, right now I have no plans for sequels.
My next book has a new setting and all-new characters. Charm School Dropout features a Goth-type girl whose
mom runs a school for beauty pageant contestants. Some bad stuff happens (ooooh, how's that for description)
and she runs away to Hollywood to find her father who doesn't even know she exists.
The Edge of the Forest: How has the Internet—Lisa Yee's Blog,
MySpace, your website—helped you connect with readers?
Lisa Yee: I LOVE blogging. It keeps me in touch with the world.
The life of an author is so solitary. But blogs put you out there. Plus, you can read all about what
others are up to. It's like you have permission to peek into people's diaries.
As for my website, www.lisayee.com—lots of kids email
me from there. One of the reasons I wrote a book about Emily was because so many kids who wrote to me asked
for it.
The Edge of the Forest: Do you test out early drafts of your books on your family members? Did your kids influence
any parts of your stories?
Lisa Yee: Definitely. I run all sorts of things past my
daughter, who is now in high school. I ask her things like, "Does this sound realistic?" And because she is
a teenager, she likes to correct me. So we both enjoy that back-and-forth.
I've written several short stories that I test on my son, who is in elementary school.
However, my husband is only allowed to read ARCs. That's because I once gave him an early draft of a
manuscript and he fell asleep. Never again.
The Edge of the Forest: Tell us about Magic Pencil Studios
Lisa Yee: Both my husband and I worked for Disney in Florida for a long time. When our first child was born, we were
sleep deprived and said, "Hey, let's quit our jobs and start a company." For ten years we offered creative
services to companies like Disney, Universal, Red Lobster. I was the creative director and head
copywriter. My husband ran the business side and was the senior art director.
Then one day I got a contract from Arthur Levine to write a book. I told my husband, "I need to do this
because I may never get this chance again." I gave myself two years, and said that if it didn't work out,
I'd go out and get a job. So far it's worked out! My husband was so inspired by my quitting, he did that
same and we shut down the company. He now runs the local Chamber of Commerce, although we still do
marketing and creative consulting work as Magic Pencil Studios from time to time.
The Edge of the Forest: You are also part of some phenomenal groups, including
AS IF! (Authors Supporting Intellectual
Freedom) and the LAYAs (Los Angeles Young Adult Authors). How did you come to be involved with each group?
Lisa Yee: Cecil Castellucci actually came up with the LAYAs in response to the New York YA authors always bragging
about their drink nights. The LAYAs pretend to bowl and have dinners and create mayhem, all in the name of
literature. It's great fun!
As for AS IF!, I belong to a listserv of published authors. More and more our topics started turning
toward the fight against censorship. So some of us decided to create a separate group for this, and AS
IF! was born.
The Edge of the Forest: I read about your massive collection of
Winnie-the-Pooh memorabilia. What inspired your
collection?
Lisa Yee: I had nooooo idea that Big Pooh (what I named my first
Pooh bear that Santa gave me at age 7) would create an obsession that would last a lifetime. Most of the
Poohs now reside in the White River, Canada Winnie-the-Pooh Museum. I had so many, they sent a
truck to retrieve them and we filled it up with about 80 boxes. I was really sad, but happy that I would
finally be able to share my collection with other Pooh lovers.
The Edge of the Forest: Your blog (Lisa Yee's Blog), like your books, is lighthearted and
funny. Do you post at the speed of thought?
Lisa Yee:When I blog, it's stream-of-consciousness and
unedited. I try to be disciplined when I am working on a book, so blogs are a great source of frivolity and writing amuck for me. However, I do write about the
writing life. And about Peeps and blowing up bottles of Diet Coke, which I contend IS part of the writing
life. At least for this writer. After all, it's all material, right?
The Edge of the Forest: Speaking of which, what is your favorite flavor or
kind of Peeps? (I can't stand marshmallows, so feel free to eat my share.)
Lisa Yee: The yellow Peeps
The Edge of the Forest: What are your favorite hobbies?
Lisa Yee: I like to make things from found objects. Like stuff I
find at the bottom of the washing machine—gum wrappers, rocks, odd pieces of metal, toys, etc.
Right now I am collecting things that my dog has chewed up. I plan to make a sculpture or something
from those. And one time I gathered a month's worth of cereal samples from our cupboard and mounted them on
wood and framed it. It hangs in the kitchen and it's pretty clear what family member ate which cereal by
the colors and types. (BTW, the Kashi was mine.)
The Edge of the Forest: What are your ten favorite books of all time?
Lisa Yee: Ooooh, unfair question! Deep breath. Let's see (although I JUST KNOW I will leave something out)...
To Kill a Mockingbird
Look Homeward, Angel
All-of-a-Kind Family series
Walk Two Moons
Bird by Bird
Stargirl
The Secret Garden
Zippy
The Winnie-the-Pooh books
And authors...
ALL ANNE TYLER
ALL BEVERLY CLEARY
ALL JAMES WILCOX
Lisa Yee's Books for Young Readers
Millicent Min, Girl Genius. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2004. ISBN: 0-4394-2520-4.
(Paperback edition: Scholastic, 2006. ISBN: 0-4397-7131-5.)
Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2005. ISBN: 0-4396-2247-6.
(Paperback edition forthcoming: Scholastic, 2007 (April). ISBN: 0-4396-2248-4.)
So Totally Emily Ebers. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007 (April). ISBN: 0-4398-3847-9.
|
| |
|
|