Please welcome Diane Vanaskie Mulligan author of Watch Me disappear.
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Watch Me Disappear
by Diane Vanaskie
Mulligan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW:
1.
What or who inspired you to start writing?
I have wanted to be a writer since I was a
little kid, but after college, as I was getting started in my career as a
teacher, I didn’t have much time to write. It was actually my student writing
club that helped me get back to writing. Each week, kids came to write one
afternoon a week. We took turns bringing prompts. Everyone would write for a
half an hour or so and then share their work. I was amazed at the great things
they could write with such little time, so I started writing with them. I
actually wrote the first scene of my novel when Lizzie overhears Maura talking
about her right there with that little group.
2.
How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
The first scene just sort of popped into my
head, a little like magic, to tell the truth. I don’t know where it came from
exactly, other than I was thinking about the way people talk loudly on their
cell phones in public, saying all kinds of personal things as if no one could
hear them. So I wrote a scene where Lizzie overhears Maura talking about her,
and from there I had to figure out who these people were and why Maura would be
talking about Lizzie, and so on. I like starting with a character or two to
explore, so once I had these two girls, I spent a lot time getting to know
them. For Lizzie, I put her in a situation that to me sounds like a nightmare:
Starting over at a new school for senior year of high school. Once I had a
situation, everything grew from there.
3.
What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I’m a high school teacher, so I’m around
teenagers every day. I think that really helped me capture a teenager’s voice.
I would read sections to my student writing group, and they’d call me on things
that didn’t ring true. Some of my readers have said they think Lizzie is too
articulate, as if a teenager might not be so reflective and well spoken, but my
own students are far more eloquent than she is. In fact, considering the colleges
Lizzie wants to go to, I was worried that she didn’t sound smart enough!
4.
What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be
in your bio?
I was a cheerleader for eight years. I say that
because early in the book, I make a little dig at cheerleaders, but I want my
readers to know that I love cheerleaders. When one of the characters tells
Lizzie that cheerleading is social death, that’s her opinion, not mine. There
are a few places in the book where I put in little comments like that as inside
jokes with myself. For example Lizzie disses women’s colleges, saying that it’s
easy to get in when you eliminate half the competition. I really had a laugh
writing that because I went to a women’s college, and I loved every minute of
it.
5.
If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it
be and why?
I would definitely be Missy, because she is so
totally unlike me. Missy is tall, gorgeous, outgoing, and athletic, whereas I
am a short, introverted, word-nerd. It would be fun to experience the world
through her optimistic eyes.
6.
Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or
hinder your writing?
I don’t belong to a critique group, although I
do belong to a writing group. My group meets weekly for write-ins, which are great
ways to keep myself motivated. When I’m ready for critiques, I have a few
trusted readers I turn to. Also, I have attended several weekend workshops and
conferences that involved critiquing that I found incredibly helpful in
revising my novel. I can’t really imagine being part of a regular group that
looked at my novel throughout its entire development. I write with the door
closed. Criticism of works in progress or early drafts can be very hard for me,
because they take me out of the creative, generative moment and require me to
analyze my writing. I can’t do that with something that isn’t finished yet.
7. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding
writing or publishing)
Best advice: If your writing moves you, it will
move others.
Worst advice: The thing that sparks a
story/novel/poem probably shouldn’t be the first thing in the final draft. I’ve
heard this advice over and over in different forms. Personally, I find that
first impulse is often the best impulse. Go with your gut.
8.
Do you outline your books or just start writing?
For the first draft, I just start writing. I
save outlines for revising. I do think have some map or guide is useful, I just
find it easier to make that map after the world I’m creating exists in the form
of a finished first draft.
9.
Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?
Paul is my favorite character in the book
because I’m still not sure if I understand him. He makes some choices that make
me want to hate him, and yet, he’s so charming and so unlike the stereotypical
popular jock, that I’m fascinated by him (by the way, he’s an amalgam of some
real kids I know, so girls, have faith—boys like Paul do exist). I’d love to
know how readers understand Paul. Maybe that would help me!
10. Anything else you
might want to add?
A little piece of advice for fellow writers
about dealing with rejection or negative feedback: Don’t wait for others to
present opportunities to you. Make your own opportunities. You don’t need
anyone else’s stamp of approval. Develop your craft, find readers you can trust
to provide meaningful feedback, and write what you love.
BLURB:
Lizzie knows it isn’t right to eavesdrop, but
is it really eavesdropping if her neighbor Maura makes all of her phone calls
on her parents’ pool deck in easy earshot of Lizzie’s backyard? And of course
it’s wrong to go snooping around on someone else’s computer, but is it Lizzie’s
fault that Maura keeps her computer turned on (and logged in to Facebook) all
the time?
Lizzie
Richard’s father has moved the family around every few years to advance his
career, so she has never had a chance to develop the kind of “BFF”
relationships she thinks most kids have. She’s bracing herself for another
lonely year at her third high school when her new neighbor Maura gets sick of
watching her little brother when she could be partying. Thanks to Maura’s
plotting, Lizzie becomes everyone’s new favorite babysitter. Seeing her
opportunity, Lizzie breaks her strict parents’ rules and uses Maura’s computer
to create a secret Email address and Facebook account. She is quickly friended
by Missy, a fellow transfer student as eager for a friend as she is. Things are
looking up for Lizzie until Maura’s ex-boyfriend Paul sets his eye on Missy.
Caught between her new best friend and the neighbor whose friendship promises
instant popularity, Lizzie doesn’t know what to do—because she’s fallen for
Paul, too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
I
like the makeup better when I put it on myself. I apply it more lightly than
they had, so it looks more natural. Try as I might, I’m not very handy at
hairstyling, though. I can’t seem to tease the roots as Katherine instructed,
and I have no luck with the up-dos they showed me. In the end, Katherine
produces a small set of scissors and, while I hold my breath, trims some fringy
bangs and layers, which we iron flat into a funky style. When we’re done, I
don’t look like me, but I look sort of good. And good thing, too, because all
the little pieces she cut are never going to fit into a ponytail.
“See,”
Maura says. “That wasn’t so hard.”
“Maybe
we should come raid your closet and see what we can do with that,” Katherine
says, laughing smugly. She has gotten a little friendlier as the day has gone
on. When I let her cut my hair, I think that sealed the deal. She is willing to
at least consider extending friendship to me.
“You
won’t find much interesting in my closet,” I say.
“What,
no secrets?” Maura asks, suddenly turning our conversation away from the safe
realm of appearances. My heart pounds. I’m not ready for this kind of
conversation. Is this where they turn on me?
“No,”
I say. “No cute clothes or skeletons.”
“How
disappointing,” Maura says. “I thought there was a wild child in you that we
had yet to uncover.”
“You’ve
met my parents. They don’t allow much for wildness.”
“Exactly.
Kids with strict parents are usually the ones who let it all out when they step
outside their parents’ grasp.”
“I
guess I’m still pretty much within their grasp,” I say.
Maura
makes a tsk sound. “I thought for sure there was more to you, Lizzie,” she
says.
I
shrug. I wish there was more to me, too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Diane Vanaskie Mulligan
began writing Watch Me Disappear during an after-school writing club she
moderates for high school students. This is her first novel. She holds a BA in
American Studies from Mount Holyoke College and a Master’s degree in teaching
from Simmons College. When she isn’t teaching or writing, she’s the managing editor
at The Worcester Review and the director of The Betty Curtis Worcester County
Young Writers’ Conference. You can also
find her occasionally strumming her guitar and singing at various bars in
central Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband.
Connect with Diane:
Website: www.dvmulligan.com
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/dmvanask
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/DianeVMulligan
Goodreads:
www.goodreads.com/dmvanask
Linkedin:
www.linkedin.com/pub/diane-mulligan/53/839/124
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