Questions & Answers

WELCOME to the FAQ -- frequently asked questions.
Last updated May 2007.

Below, you'll find:
FIRST, my answers to a number of funny and oddball questions posed by various writers whose blogs I've visited on "virtual book tour" -- lots of trivia, beauty info, favorites, etc.
THEN, links to more serious interviews, on YA book websites, literature websites, and the like.
THEN, a relatively traditional FAQ that will answer all the usual things people want to know.

Note: Are you doing a school report? I get a lot of emails asking for biographical information or insights on my books for school projects. While I'm always glad to hear from my readers, the stuff on this page constitutes everything I'm prepared to share with the public. I won't be able to tell you any more via email than is right here on the website. I recommend you
read the Q&A below,
glance at the "About" page (that's also where you'll find a photo),
read some reviews of my books,
and click on all the links!
xo E

FUN Q&As:

•Lara Zeises, author of Anyone But You and Contents Under Pressure, got me to invent NEW SLANG.
•Laurie Stolarz, author of the Blue is for Nightmares series, had me confess all my guilty pleasures. Though none of them do I feel guilty about. But I did tell her where I most want to go on vacation, what I splurge on, my favorite chick flick, and more.
•Natalie Collins, author of Wives & Sisters, sent me her "Trapped" questionnaire, and I told her three famous people I'd want to be trapped with, five books I'd choose to be trapped with, and the celebrity I'd most hope NEVER to be trapped with.
•Shanna Swendson, author of Enchanted Inc., asked me a string of fun questions and then confessed where SHE wanted to be a fly on the wall.
•Michelle Richmond, author of Dream of the Blue Room, got my literary soundtrack for Fly on the Wall and waxed nostalgic over the Violent Femmes.
•Nichelle Tramble, who wrote The Dying Ground and The Last King, asked me some really hard questions.
• Laura Bowers, who wrote Beauty Shop for Rent, quizzed me on my beauty routines and writing processes.
• K.L Going, who wrote Saint Iggy and Fat Kid Rules the World, had me on her forums. She and her readers asked a lot of good questions. Topics range from my hobbies to the subject of my dissertation.
•In May, 2006, BookBurger interviewed me and asked some ridiculous questions.
• In October, 2007, I did a chat on the Readergirlz myspace group. It's three hours worth of Q&A, mostly about Dramarama-related stuff.

MORE SERIOUS INFORMATION:

•Have a look at the Random House Author Spotlight for a description of a working day and a bit about my character.
• In March 2005, I did this YA Books Central interview about The Boyfriend List.
• In March 2005 I did a dialog with novelist Megan Crane on the Beatrice weblog. We discuss our very similar educations, and the paths we took from academia to writing fiction.
•In November, 2005, I did two interviews with Cynthia Leitich Smith for her children's literature weblog. Here's the one about The Boyfriend List, and here's the one about Fly on the Wall.
•In March, 2006, I did a Not Your Mother's Book Club interview about Fly.
• In April, 2007, Little Willow interviewed me for Dramarama -- all about musical theater and the future of the Ruby Oliver books.
• In May 2007, I did this blog interview on Dramarama's origins and the Ruby books.
• In June 2007 I did a web chat with Sugar Magazine and answered questions for an hour. Go read the chat. There's a lot of stuff in there! Particularly about writing and publishing.
• In July, 2007, I was interviewed at Chicklish -- talking about Dramarama and The Boy Book.
• In October, 2007 I did this interview about Dramarama on Cynthia Leitich Smith's site.

AND NOW, the FAQ.

• Where were you born?
New York City.

• Where did you grow up and go to school?
I grew up in Cambridge, MA and Seattle, WA. I went to college at Vassar and grad school at Columbia. I have a doctorate in English literature.

• How old are you?
I'd rather not say. You can make an educated guess if you look at the Key Albums of my Semi-Wasted Youth, in the right-hand margin.

• Where do you live?
In the New York City area.

• What awards have you won, if any?
No awards, but these recognitions:
The Boyfriend List: Junior Library Guild selection. BBYA nomination. Quick Picks list 2006. Richie's Picks, Best of 2005. NYPL Best Books for the Teenage. Trashionista's list of top 10 YA novels for 2006 (Britain): #1. South Dakota Library Association's YARP list, 2007. YALSA list of Gossip-Girl readalikes.
Fly on the Wall: Junior Library Guild Selection. NYPL Best Books for the Teenage.
The Boy Book: Junior Library Guild selection.
Dramarama: Booklist "Top Ten in the Arts" list. Kirkus Editor's Choice.

• Are you married? Do you have kids? Tell me all about your family.
I'm sorry. I don't share any information about my family.

• Which do I read first, The Boyfriend List or The Boy Book?
The Boyfriend List. Then The Boy Book.

•What are all your books in order of first US publication?
The Boyfriend List (2005)
Fly on the Wall (2006)
The Boy Book (2006)
Dramarama (2007)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (2008)
How To Be Bad (2008)

•What do you do when you have Writer's Block?
Often I jump ahead to a later scene in the book. If I'm thinking, oh no, I can't write this scene, I don't know what should happen, or how or where -- I write something that seems managable instead. For example, the other day when I got stuck I wrote the description of Roo's college counselor. I had an idea for him in my head, but he hadn't shown up in the story yet. So I'll put that description in later when it's needed, and at least I wrote something!
I also go for walks or go to the gym. I find that continuous movement often gets my ideas flowing, although not if I bring along an audiobook. Only if I do it in silence.

•How did you meet John Green and your other writer friends?
About two years ago, author and editor David Levithan started up a "teen author drinks night" once a month in NYC. Sarah Mlynowski was helping him get people interested, and I think she'd read an advance copy of The Boyfriend List, so although she didn't know me, she emailed and invited me. I met most of my writer friends there over the past couple years, including John (though he no longer lives in NY). Some others I've met at conferences. Writers often go to conferences and conventions of booksellers, librarians and English teachers. We speak on panels, sign books, have meals with influential and/or interesting people, etc. And go to parties! I love the YA books community.

•You have a doctorate in literature, and spent your time in graduate school reading the classics. How did your time in graduate school affect you as a writer?
I read a tremendous number of books -- and read widely outside my comfort zone. Challenging books, boring books, books I loved but would never have known about. A lot of 20th-century South African writers, for example. And 18th-century French novels. Love them!
Doing all that reading gave me a fluidity with language and an understanding of narrative structure that I think has served me well.
I also had to write a lot of papers -- and a book-length dissertation. Once I had done that, I knew I could write a book.

•Where in the canon of English literature would you locate your books and the "chicklet" genre as a whole?
Popular literature and entertainment often become canonized over time. Hitchcock films are now shown in cinema history class. Shakespeare plays are taught in school. Dickens novels, likewise. All of these were light entertainment in their day. So to my eye, the line between highbrow and lowbrow entertainment is always a potentially fluid one. Not to say that all mass-market crap is as good as classic literature. Just to say that some popular entertainments like those I write may be viewed differently as time progresses.
I'm thrilled to be part of a huge surge in literature for young adults. This category of fiction -- YA -- didn't even exist until the 1950s, and the recent boom of books only began in the early 2000's. Teenagers have more to read now than they have ever had before -- more books written about the teenage experience and with a teenage audience in mind. The YA novel is changing and developing before our eyes, and I think this time period will be an important one for later historians to look at.

•What's your opinion on the new wave of schools swaying from the "canon" of books for English class?

With the caveat that I was trained to educate Ivy League college students, not to consider the issues involved in teaching high schoolers, not to consider literacy problems, not to teach to tests, etc. etc -- here's my opinion.

I do believe in teaching the literary canon. Because I think one of the many benefits of education is that we come out of our educations with a shared culture and sense of history. If we've read the same books and authors as other people, it gives us common ground and a jumping-off point for serious discussion and deeper understanding.

That said, I think the literary canon is and should be an evolving thing. More books by women, more books from cultures other than Western, more books by people of color -- these are beginning to be included, and should be included more. And I also think the canon can be taught badly and taught too early.

If you are a teacher with a room full of struggling 10th graders who hate to read, force-feeding them Virginia Woolf is not going to provide them a better education than selecting a thoughtful, well-written and literary book that is FUN and not obscenely challenging for readers whose skill levels are not ideal. Such a book can engage them quickly and powerfully. I am sure many smart and excellent classroom discussions have been had over MT Anderson's Feed, Coe Booth's Tyrell, or Patricia McCormick's Sold. Interspersing such books with canonical works seems like a wise strategy to me.

Also, even very high achieving students in today's hyper-competetive environment are losing track of pleasure in reading. I think teachers educating those students should by all means teach the canon, but they should also briefly booktalk leisure reading possibilities for their classes. Just make them aware of what's out there that they might like. Give them a fun-read booklist. Or an extra credit assignment to read something purely for the love of it. Because too many of the high school students I know (and this high achieving kind is the kind I largely know)-- they have lost track of the joy in books. Books are just assignments to slog through so you can write the papers so you can get the As so you can apply to Yale. And that is sad.

•I'm in a transition. Right now, there are moments where teen books are wonderful, but moments where I feel I'm slowly outgrowing some of the aspects of teen literature I used to like. I don't ever intend to stop reading them, but I'm in between genres.
What type of books would you reccommend that aren't too adult-oriented (like too much sex or raunchy scenes) but aren't too teen-oriented (predictable love story and coming-of-age)?

I'm guessing from your question that you read largely realistic fiction rather than fantasy or science fiction or mystery. Though those three genres might be places to explore, reading-wise, if you're looking for alternative narrative structures.

As for what to read next if you like comic and realistic teen literature but want to move beyond it without delving completely into adult territory, here are some books I've loved that fit the bill. All of them are FUN CITY, but in different ways.

John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany
Iris Murdoch, The Good Apprentice
Jane Smiley, Moo
Michael Chabon, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep
Jeff Eugenedies, The Virgin Suicides
Adriana Trigiani, Lucia Lucia
Christopher Moore, A Dirty Job

•What does E stand for? What's your real name? And why do you go by E?
E. stands for Emily, and I use it on my teen books because I write other kinds of books using my whole, legal name. My dad calls me E., and I always liked it.

• Will there be another Ruby Oliver novel, after The Boy Book?
Yes, there will -- two more books. The first one (book three in the series) will be published in Fall 2009. My working title is A Treasure Map of Boys.

• What did you read as a teenager?
Everything – until I started having boyfriends. I remember reading Go Ask Alice (diary of a drug-addicted teen), A Spell for Chameleon (comic fantasy by Piers Anthony) and Little Women (the classic, by Louisa May Alcott), all the same year.
After boys came on the scene, I went through a reading hiatus that lasted until summer after high school, when I discovered Charlotte Bronte.

•Where did you go to summer drama school?
I went to Northwestern and CTC in Minneapolis. The CTC summer program no longer exists as I knew it. Neither of them were as focused on musical theater as the imaginary Wildewood is -- and neither ran the same way. I interviewed people who had been to other camps when I was writing Dramarama.

• What gave you the idea for The Boyfriend List?
I was sorting through a box of old high school yearbooks (I had a perm), and school papers (I wrote the humor column) and the senior class poll (I administered it – and was voted worst driver) – and I thought, "where's that little notebook where I wrote down every boy I ever kissed?" And boom – I had a book idea.

I also wanted to depict what was, for me, the single most painful social situation of high school and college: seeing my ex-boyfriends with someone new. Every single school day, salt in the wound.

So many books end with love. And don't get me wrong, I love me a good romance. But in high school, especially, the glow is pretty much always short-lived. People behave shockingly. They're young and thoughtless. So I wanted to write about that particular horror, which I hadn't really seen in teen fiction.

• Do you spend a lot of time with teens -- are you a teacher? Or what?
No -- I am a full-time writer. It's all in my brain. My probably immature brain.

• Why do you write about high school?
High school is a microcosm of trapped individuals. They legally have to show up at this place, no matter how rotten it is. The other inhabitants are young, and stupid, and thoughtlessly cruel. It doesn't matter if your heart is bleeding, or if someone's going to beat you up, or you're getting harassed, or you're failing. You have to go. The emotions generated by this situation are extremely intense – great fun to write about and mine for comedy.

• How much (if anything) do you have in common with your heroine? (meaning Roo)
I only WISH I were the boy-magnet that Ruby unwittingly is. As a teenager, I had Ruby's thrift-store chic taste in clothes, her passivity with boys, her tight clique, and her scholarship-kid status at a wealthy private school. As an adult, I have her tendency to feel wronged and her urge to analyze conversations as they're happening.

• Did the stuff that happens to Roo in The Boyfriend List really happen to you?
No. I made it up, based on my memories of how horrendous people sometimes are to each other in high school, how much fun and also how evil gossip can be -- and how much first love can hurt.

But the story about Roo getting a half-carnation from Jackson on flower day really did happen to me, my senior year. (You can read that section of the book here, if you haven't already).

And a few details are borrowed from life: the pink panty twirl that Meghan does when a boy pulls down her shorts in gym class was a famous story that circulated at my high school; a lovely boyfriend I had wrote me funny notes very much like the ones Jackson writes to Ruby; a girl I knew really said "my boyfriend loves me" in response to a teacher's question about existential knowledge; and I really did name a stuffed bunny Cox when I was four years old. Stuff like that.

In addition, the following horror stories were kindly donated to me by my friends, when I quizzed them about bad stuff that happened in high school and junior high:
The "joke's long over, loser" note was really sent to someone I know.
The church youth group leader's banana bread example really happened.
Someone I know actually wrote the name of the boy she liked on her shoe, and he found out about it.
A friend of mine bribed another girl to protect her from being selected when playing Spin the Bottle.

But no -- I never lived on a houseboat; my parents are nothing like that; I didn't see a therapist as a teenager; I never became a leper or a famous slut.

•Did you ever lose a friend over a boy?
Yes. More than once.

All the events of The Boyfriend List are imaginary and escalated to extremes for comic effect. But I was writing about emotions and situations that I'm sad to say I continued to feel all the way through my twenties. The problem of friends dating ex-boyfriends, or boyfriends flirting with friends, or ex-girlfriends calling up my boyfriends and wanting to go to coffee. All that painful weirdness.

• Are the people based on real people?
No.

•What is your creative process?
I put my document in a tiny tiny font, enlarge it up to 150% so it looks big, and make myself write at least a page single-space a day, because I have figured out that my particular brain feels capable of writing a page -- whether that's 250 words, or 1000. My brain doesn't know the difference, so I trick it. (I know that sounds insane).

• Do you have any writing habits or rituals?
Morning. Coffee. Silence.

• Were there books or writers that influenced you when writing The Boyfriend List?
Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity for its awesome use of lists; David Foster Wallace’s essays in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again for their wonderful use of footnotes; and novels by Louise Rennison,Helen Fielding, and Megan McCafferty , for their excellent jokes.

• Will there be a sequel to Dramarama?
I don't have one planned. But that book was tremendous fun to write, so I'll never say never.

• What you said about boys in Fly on the Wall is weird/yucky/crazy/not nice.
Gretchen forms strong opinions in that book, and also learns a lot about the opposite sex. Her opinions are not necessarily my own. Her objectification of boys -- it's something she thinks about and analyzes even as she's doing it. I think that's a natural thing to do in looking at people to whom we are attracted -- and I also think it's important to question ourselves as we're doing it. Just because it's natural, doesn't mean it's right.

Or, maybe you're referring to the homosexuality in the book. And the homophobia. I wanted to portray the population of the locker room honestly, and to be true to the feelings boys would be having in there.

•What are your hobbies?
I do yoga. I'm a good cook -- all vegetarian; I have people over for dinner at least once a week. I keep photo albums. I make home movies. I am a big reader.