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YA novelist Janet Lee Carey talks about what she learned from her fifth-grade teacher, why rewrite requests from editors are good, and how she approaches revisions.
Janet Lee Carey, award-winning young adult author, lives in Seattle, WA. She is married, has three sons and a typically demanding kitty, Uke. According to Carey, she could have been spotted as a writer-to-be by anyone in her youth who was aware of three “warning signs:” (1) An overactive imagination, (2) Frequent library fines and (3) An excessive amount of time spent staring out the window.Mechele R. Dillard: Your fifth grade teacher once told your mother you were “definitely different,” but that you “might turn out all right;” it seems that you have turned out better than all right! Not only did this teacher share your love of books and understand the hold they had over you, but she also introduced you to The Hobbit. Have you ever had an opportunity to reminisce with this teacher? Janet Lee Carey: Oh, I wish I had but I moved away from Mill Valley where Mrs. Tether taught elementary school. She really understood the power of reading aloud to kids, not just little kids, but older kids. We’ve kept that tradition alive in our family. My son has had a lot of surgeries and the typical distractions of TV and video games don’t always work. A few years ago we read The Fellowship of the Ring aloud to him while he was recovering at Children’s Hospital. He’d read the series before, but that didn’t matter. We cracked open the book and were pulled into the adventure. The hospital walls melted away as we tramped through mountains, forests and dells. Tolkien gave us all a magical doorway out of the hospital room. He gave my son good company to travel with, and a world wide enough to wander in. We continue the tradition that wonderful fifth grade teacher passed on. Thanks Mrs. Tether! MRD: Professional writing may more accurately be called “rewriting,” a fact to which you allude on your Web site (your rewrite estimate on projects is “between 5 times and a bazillion”). Obviously, as a seasoned professional, you are now comfortable with the way the process works, but was being asked for rewrites by editors something you found difficult to deal with when you originally began submitting your work? How would you counsel the novice who has had her ego bruised by a massive rewrite request? JLC: The first thing I’d say to a novice writer who just received a massive rewrite letter is -- Hooray! No editor is going to take the time to write a long revision letter unless he or she is very interested in the book. I wrote several requested editorial revisions on my first novel, Molly’s Fire, before Atheneum acquired it. At the time there was no guarantee they’d buy the piece, but I knew the editor wanted to see how flexible and reliable I was. She must have been pleased, because she passed Molly’s Fire on to another editor who bought it. Yeah! So what do I do with a long editorial letter? First I wait a few days before I open it (I’m always a bit nervous about what it will say!) Then I mull over all the editorial points. If I strongly disagree with something (like suggestions to cut certain characters) I wait a while and let the ideas simmer. Revising a novel is a long complicated process, so I keep daily notes. If I didn’t do that I’d go completely bonkers! Okay so what about the editorial suggestion I was absolutely SURE I didn’t want to do? I take a deep breath, make another copy of the manuscript (in case I screw up) and simply try it out. Let’s see what happens if I cut these characters from the book? Hum . . . Funny thing is, it usually works out just fine. MRD: You’ve said, “It’s not so much a matter of making the stories up as learning how to sit very still, and listen.” Do you typically begin a novel with an ending in mind? Or do you follow the lead of the characters? Do your characters ever surprise you as the story develops? JLC: The story comes from a subconscious place. So sitting very still and listening helps the story speak. It works best if I focus, breathe, and get out of the way. This doesn’t mean I go into a novel blind. I always have a strong sense of the main character and a compelling dramatic question in mind. I also have a vision of how I’d “like” the story to end. That said, I know the ending has to happen organically out of the character’s unique response to the plot. Do my characters ever surprise me as the story develops? All the time. That’s half the fun of writing! MRD: You obviously live and breathe writing, but what about teaching? You seem to truly enjoy sharing what you’ve learned over the years with others, teaching at Bellevue Community College, at professional seminars, workshops for both adults and children, even hosting writing retreats. How important is it to you to share what you have learned with others? Do you feel being involved with Readergirlz will allow you to reach out to a segment of the community to which you have not had access previously? JLC: I do love teaching. I give writing workshops and present at conferences, but my new work schedule (writing longer and longer fantasy books) makes it difficult to teach a weekly class these days. Jane Yolen is fond of saying, if a teacher ever says, “there’s one way to write and this is how you do it,” run away! I agree with her. Writing is a mysterious process. All we can do is to share helpful road signs. Even though I’m no longer teaching full time, I’m staying connected through my critique group, SCBWI, and readergirlz. You’re right that being involved with readergirlz allows me to reach out to a segment of the community to which I have not accessed previously. It’s a wonderful way to keep in touch with readers across the country on any given writing day. I’m not there to “teach writing” but to respond to readers about the feature book of the month, or the topics these books inspire. Some pretty fine conversations go on in the group site so it’s a lot of fun. The other divas, Justina Chen Headley, Dia Calhoun, and Lorie Ann Grover, are all working on novels too, so the myspace group forum is a great place to check in and chat with readers, librarians, and anyone who wants to talk books without leaving my writing chair. MRD: “Things are never what they seem. Find the lost inside the dream.”—The Beast of Noor Do you think people tend to be too quick to give up on their dreams? Are they too easily discouraged by what they don’t see happening? Or, are people simply too inflexible to the possibilities of things they’ve never even contemplated? JLC: Dreams die when they’re not nurtured. A good dream or goal needs light and air, breathing and growing space. It’s hard (maybe impossible) to achieve a dream alone. That’s where good friends come in. I belong to an arts group called Artemis. We’re made up of writers, photographers, painters, collage artists, sculptors and musicians. We’ve been meeting for years. In Artemis we don’t critique on another’s work (we have critique groups for that) instead we talk openly about the ups and downs of the art process. We share our dreams, goals, doubts, failures and successes. Each person gets uninterrupted sharing time to just spill what’s on her mind while the others listen. Artemis supported my dream to write novels long before I put pen to paper. They believed in my stories before they were published. So did my critique group, by the way, but that’s not often the case. So if you feel like giving up on a dream, be brave enough to share the dream with a close friend or a few close friends – people you know you can count on. Support their dreams too. It’s amazing how strong a well-nourished dream can grow. How far you can go with your friends at your side. MRD: Being another human who often—okay, continuously—finds herself at the mercy of her cat, I must ask you this one last question: Have you found a way to convince your cat, Uke, not to position herself between you and the keyboard as you work? (Jaimie helped me write these questions, by the way!) JLC: Well, uh . . . no. And when Uke walks across the keys, her tail tickles my nose. But she doesn’t do it constantly. Her other trick is to leap onto my chair when I get up for a water break. A gentle battle ensues when I return. There are deep claw marks in my writing chair, but hey, I usually win and if I’m lucky, she’ll curl up on my lap and purr while I write. Total Bliss! **************************************************************************************************************************Award-winning novelist Janet Lee Carey is the author of Molly’s Fire (Atheneum, 2000); Wenny Has Wings (Atheneum, 2002); The Double Life of Zoe Flynn (Atheneum, 2004); and The Beast of Noor (Atheneum, 2006), all of which are available online or at a bookstore near you. Also, her brand new Harcourt release, DRAGON'S KEEP, includes a princess with a dragon’s claw, an obsessed queen mother, and a jealous dragon plotting revenge. Fantasy lovers, what more could you want???
The copyright of the article Janet Lee Carey in Teen Fiction is owned by Mechele R. Dillard. Permission to republish Janet Lee Carey in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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