What made you decide to be an author, and at what stage in your life were you when you made that decision?

I wanted to be a dancer when I was younger, but I couldn’t major in that in college. I always liked reading, so I thought of English – you get to read a lot of books! This brought me into some writing classes, and at that point I got bitten by the bug. I started out with poetry, since you didn’t have to fill up the page with poetry. I then moved to writing plays because it is mostly dialogue driven and is very, very natural. Then I ended up with young adult novels. That was my progression.

You indicated that reading played a role in your becoming a writer, what role did reading play in your youth?

I think it was just someone to relate to. I liked characters that were very different from me, that lived in different parts of the country, that went on different adventures; it broke a lot of barriers for me. I was a middle child, and you’re always looking to be heard and to be understood. Reading was very appealing to me for that reason, plus I lived two blocks from the library, so I went through a lot of books as a young person, pretty effortlessly.

As a Young Writer (1:44)

How much of your own life experience presents itself in your writing? I noticed that many of your settings are in Philadelphia, your native town.

I fought writing about Philadelphia for a long time. I used to think you had to write about a galaxy far, far away, something really exotic. By grounding it more in where I grew up, it allowed me to go other places with the characters, and I think it really worked out. Little bits and pieces of my family and friends are in my work, but I have yet to do anything autobiographical. I think a lot of people think that Sweet Thang is autobiographical, but it’s not.

Both of your novels have a theme that addresses the importance of role models in our life that we can turn to when things seem to turn against us in life. Is this a theme you intended, or did it just evolve with the work?

I’ve taught for a number of years, and I’ve found that not every teacher is going to appeal to every student and vice versa, but when there’s a connection that’s made, it’s priceless. It’s an interesting type of relationship to explore, but I think that throughout our lives we find people who help us, and those we will help, and you never know where it’s going to come from.

Philadelphia and Role Models (1:34)

Were the poems that you chose to include in Life is Fine, including the poem by Langston Hughes that became your book title, chosen because of some way that they spoke to you, or were they something chosen to help advance the plot or theme?

When I first thought of including poetry in the book, I was a little hesitant. I’ve seen a lot of poetry in books, and I think it does seem forced sometimes, like when you’re watching a movie and the classroom only five minutes long and they’re always at the most important part [while the camera is rolling]. So when it came to the poems that I chose, I really wanted to get a range. “Life is fine,” I picked first, and then worked backwards. I liked “Life is Fine,” because I think it’s a little unusual for Langston Hughes. I don’t think people usually think of him writing something like that. “To His Coy Mistress,” on the other hand, is something we usually think of as poetry. It’s very erudite, but it also has a very contemporary type of situation. The bridge between those two poems, for me, came in Emily Dickinson, the poet who kept writing and writing – not necessarily publishing – but writing and writing and offering self expression.

I was drawn to a line used in Life is Fine from Langston Hughes that says poetry should be direct, comprehensible, and the epitome of simplicity. Is this a belief that you hold with regards to your writing? Is there a particular style that you would classify yourself as having as a writer?

I think that when it comes to style some people over-think it. I like it when someone has a really natural style; it seems like everything they’re doing is very organic. That’s what I try to do when I’m writing. Sort of like method acting; I put myself in the moment and then move on from there. I never want it to seem like I’m using a $20,000 word here or waxing on about something just for the sake of doing it. I really want to make it seem like everything is flowing with the story.

Langston Hughes and Style (2:25)

How do you develop your ideas for your writing?

I take a lot of notes, and then once I get to about 50 pages worth of notes it’s total chaos, and then I say that I have to iron this out into something. Then I begin putting in and taking out and putting in and taking out, and it’s so far away from what I originally thought it was going to be by the end. I think the notes that I take, even though I only use a fraction of them, it’s still good because it still gives me a certain mood and all of this background, so now I have to get the story into some kind of sequence.

Is the process different between writing novels and plays?

No, it’s the same thing: notes and lines. Saying, “Oh that’s a good line,” and asking, what would go around that line? How do I write to that line? How do I start with that line and where am I going? If you want to be a good writer, you have to come up with good lines, and it’s very, very hit or miss. Not everything is golden. People say, “Be your own editor.” It’s very true. You have to go over your work and say, “Is that the freshest way I can express that…What is it that I’m really trying to say?”

Having said that, how important is the revision process as a writer, and what does revision involve for you as a writer?

Making sense of the chaos of all my notes, and trying to remember what I meant when I first wrote something down two weeks ago. Trying to see if there’s too much or too little. Is it too sketchy? Life is Fine is clipped in its style; it’s very pared down, very distilled. I wanted it to read more like a poem. Sweet Thang rolls a little more, but even that doesn’t go off into the hinterlands. It’s trying to keep in mind what you want to stay and staying with that. You can’t say everything. You want to hold people in this world you have created. If you start grabbing a lot of different things, it can get out of hand.

Writing and Revision (2:28)

What is it you enjoy most about writing?

I like having written it, the accomplishment. The day by day grind of it…I guess it’s sort of like exercising. You don’t always enjoy doing it, but you like the results. It’s fun at the beginning because it’s loose, but as it gets tighter and tighter, and the stakes go higher and higher, you have to decide whether to bail or to finish it. It’s nice to communicate. That’s a huge plus to writing.

What advice, as a writer, would you give to young writers to help them?

Just be yourself. Nobody else can write exactly like you and tell your story. Study, learn the craft and read as much as you can, and from that I’m sure your voice will emerge. I think a lot of people want things to happen quickly, and writing is not quick. I tell my students that the difference between an A paper and less than an A paper is time. The more time you take with it, the better it will be. That time definitely pays off.

Writing Advice (1:31)

Additional Allison Whittenberg Resources:

Allison Whittenberg Site

Washington Post Review of Sweet Thang

iSEEK Education Allison Whittenberg Resources

Interview Date: July 28, 2008

Interviewer: Drew Sterner

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 11:15 am and is filed under Because Writing Matters, Because Writing Matters... At Home, Author Series: Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.