Now playing on my iTunes:  “Africa” by Toto (The Essential Toto)

This week’s interview is with award-winning, NY Times best-selling YA author Nancy Werlin. 

I discovered one of Nancy’s books, IMPOSSIBLE, in a very unusual way.  First, let me say that I never go to Walmart. Never, ever.  I make my husband go because I simply can’t stand the constant traffic whirling through that place.

My mother-in-law badly needed to go to Walmart one day, and my husband was unavailable to take her.  Boo-hoo for me, right?  I have issues, I know.  As I stood in the VERY long checkout line, I told my mother-in-law to stay with the cart so I could peruse the book section.  Guess what I stumbled across?  Nancy Werlin’s IMPOSSIBLE!  

I’m so glad I went to Walmart that day.

K: Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, Nancy!

Do you remember the first time you held a pen/pencil in your hand, looked at a piece of paper, and thought: I want to be an author.

NW: I remember, but it wasn’t about holding a pen or pencil. It was about holding a book. Reading fiction was my favorite thing in the world, and around fourth grade I realized that books didn’t just magically appear. People wrote them. I instantly knew that was the job for me. I hadn’t yet written anything, and I wouldn’t for years, but I loved books.

K: On Amazon, the first sentence of School Library Journal’s description of IMPOSSIBLE says: “Werlin combines magic, romance, and a family curse in this 21st-century fairy tale based on the ballad ‘Scarborough Fair.’”

A beautiful description of a beautifully crafted book, but did you experience any struggles along the way as you were writing it or working to have it published?

NW: Oh, thank you.

Last question first: IMPOSSIBLE is my seventh published book, so there really weren’t publishing struggles. I have been lucky enough to publish everything with the same editor (Lauri Hornik at Dial/Penguin) for my entire career, and to work with the same agent (Ginger Knowlton at Curtis Brown Ltd.) for many years as well. Now, I wasn’t sure at first how happy my editor/publisher would be to see me going off in a new direction; IMPOSSIBLE is fantasy-romance and my other books are variously realistic fiction and suspense thrillers. But she was extremely supportive.

On the creative side, however, there is always struggle. I recently heard Gregory Maguire talk about writing (at the Vermont College for the Fine Arts Special Day on Fantasy). He said: “The ‘why’ of writing is as personal as prayer; and the ‘how’ is different for every book.” Sorting out my own personal ‘why’ for IMPOSSIBLE took time and care, and the ‘how’ was extra rough because the genre was new to me (as a writer; not, of course, new to me as a reader).

There’s more about the making of IMPOSSIBLE on my web site, here.

In general, writing comes hard for me; I prefer “having written” to actually writing. By the way, I have great difficulty not being jealous when another writer (on her blog, for example) will say that she wrote, oh, 10,000 words over the weekend or something like that. Talk about impossible!

K:  LOL, no kidding.  And I know that 10,000-words-a-day blog most certainly isn’t mine! 

Your next book EXTRAORDINARY is due to hit shelves in September.  Tell us about your protagonist.  This story involves the faery realm, so something about her must be very unique to draw feys (fairies) into her life.

NW: It was with a feeling of slight defiance that I decided to make the heroine of EXTRAORDINARY Jewish. Jews are not exactly plentiful in fantasy fiction. To choose anything but a default, vaguely defined Christianity for the protagonist of a modern fantasy novel can take a surprising amount of imagination, as well as a bit of courage.

But as I planned a novel about two teenage girls, one human, one fey, and of their friendship gone dangerously wrong because of some secret from the past (what secret? I’d figure that out later), I thought: “Why can’t my human girl be Jewish?” Then my defiance (and fear) kicked into reckless high gear: “I’ll not only make her Jewish, I’ll make her a Rothschild! I’ll make her a member of the most storied Jewish family in modern history!”

K:  Does her religious/ethnic background affect the story in any way?  Oh!  And what’s her name (for those readers who haven’t yet visited your website to read more about EXTRAORDINARY)?

NW:  I had already decided that my heroine, Phoebe, would be largely secular in her outlook, and so I didn’t think her Jewish heritage would affect her characterization much, let alone affect my plot or themes. Truly, all I was thinking about was making some room at the table for girls who, like me as a teenager, loved reading fantasy but sometimes wondered wistfully why there was never anyone like them in it.

I should have known from previous experience that a decision like this wouldn’t end up being small; that it would affect the entire book . . . as it did.

K: Do you plan on doing any touring for EXTRAORDINARY? Book signings? Blog tours?

NW: I’ll be doing a book release signing at a wonderful independent bookstore near me, The Blue Bunny in Dedham, MA. I’ll be at the Decatur Book Festival in Atlanta, Georgia on Labor Day weekend in September, and the Austin Teen Book Festival in Austin, TX on the first weekend of October. I will also be available to do some blogging and interviews online (like this one! Thank you. Oh, and I’m on Facebook, have a website at www.nancywerlin.com, and my husband Jim McCoy runs a small blog for me.

Finally, my publisher, Penguin, will be putting up a dedicated book website for EXTRAORDINARY with a book trailer and extras.

So that feels like a lot. And yet, as EXTRAORDINARY comes out, I’m aware that the best thing for me to focus on is the book I’m writing now, which is called UNBREAKABLE.

K:  Ooh, sounds exciting!  Can’t wait to find out more about UNBREAKABLE!

What single piece of advice would you give aspiring authors whose goal is to get a project published?

NW: Don’t submit for publication too soon: focus instead on writing, rewriting, getting and absorbing critiques, and learning to revise. Wait until you have a wonderful, complete manuscript that’s truly ready for submission to agents and editors.

K: What would you strongly advise aspiring authors to avoid in their goal of getting published?

NW: Try not to be distracted or disheartened by watching other people who you feel are leapfrogging ahead of you (even though, at the same time, it’s really important to read, read, read what’s being published and praised now). Everybody has their own path. Trust that you’ll find yours.

K:  Terrific advice, thanks Nancy!  Okay, time for my 3 fun questions.

You wake up one morning to find yourself trapped in your own story IMPOSSIBLE. You come face-to-face with the Elfin Knight, and you only have enough time to tell him one thing before he casts a spell to silence you. What would you say?

NW: “Oh. You. Well, I guess I always knew my imagination was going to create problems.”

K:  Ha!  Yes, running into the Elfin Knight could be a problem. 

Tell us your ideal setting for writing. Here’s the catch (there’s always one, right?): You have to use all five senses in your explanation of this ideal setting. Sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.

NW: No imagination necessary. These days, I write in a coffee shop. There are lots of people around to watch. Their clatter is all around (white noise helps me work). I’m touching my laptop, smelling lunch, and tasting my coffee. Ideal!

K: Of all the books in the world, who are your top 3 favorite characters of all time and why?

NW: Oh, easy!

1. Francis Crawford of Lymond, in Dorothy Dunnett’s six-book historical fiction series that begins with GAME OF KINGS. Lymond is complicated, tortured, unpredictable, and fascinating. I am intensely jealous of anybody who hasn’t read these books yet. They are demanding, but worth every effort.
2. Miles Vorkosigan, in Lois McMaster Bujold’s science fiction series that begins with THE WARRIOR’S APPRENTICE. Miles is the most intelligent, fun, and unlikely romantic hero ever written about.
3. Jane Eyre, from the Charlotte Bronte novel. My favorite book, my favorite heroine. Every time I reread this book (which I do often), I find something new in it. I can’t pick it up and read just a little without needing to read the whole thing again.

K:  Easy?  I thought of the question, and even I can’t decide on an answer!  I’m gonna have to devise some tougher questions for these sharp writerly folks. 

Thanks-times-a million, Nancy, for stopping by my blog!

NW: Thank you so much for having me!

Side Note from K:  I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak at EXTRAORDINARY.  It really is extraordinary, no kidding — full of tension, beautiful prose, terrific story-telling.  If you enjoy YA with a fantasy twist, anything fairy-related, or if you’re simply looking for a good book involving friendship and/or a bit of romance, I highly suggest pre-ordering EXTRAORDINARY.  Nancy is the one who got me hooked on fantasy YA with IMPOSSIBLE – and she has not let me down (far, far from it) with EXTRAORDINARY.

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