Watch Me Disappear by Diane Vanaskie Mulligan

Please welcome Diane Vanaskie Mulligan  author of Watch Me disappear.

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Watch Me Disappear

by Diane Vanaskie Mulligan

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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.

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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.

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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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