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Re: Welcome Julie Halpern! And a Couple of Questions
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From: Julie Halpern <juliehalpern114_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 07:28:27 -0700 (PDT)
Thank you for having me!
I have to admit, it feels a little funny to think so deeply about my writing. I see myself as a "method author," meaning I become the character as I write and write from their brains. Therefore, I can't always say I planned for things to happen or I completely understand what that motivations are for certain things-- I just go where the character leads me. (That sounds rather flaky as I write it, but it's true. It's why I enjoy writing so much; I never quite know what is going to come out!)
To answer the first question about Alex's lack of emotions: I wanted to explore what it was like to be a person who wasn't fully aware of their feelings and didn't know how to project them. I know many people like that, but I am certainly not one of them. I am amazed at those who can hold back tears, stifle or control their feelings. I didn't see it as Alex's grief making her that way; I assumed she was always a little cold or off in her emotions and reactions to things, as well as her readings of other people's emotions.
"In addition to wanting to write a novel that shows a teenager getting pleasure out of sex, to what extent did you approach the book with the idea that this would explore--or at least be a portrait of--grief/grieving?" That's an interesting question. When I think about the book, I completely forget about the grief aspect of the story. But there is quite a lot of grieving in the book. For me, as the writer, I didn't want to sit with a horrifically sad book every day for hours a day. I began to write the sex scenes early on almost as a way to burn off steam or to have a laugh. It was much too difficult to always be in the cancer/death frame of mind, so the sex scenes took me away from that, just as they did with the characters and their grieving.
Julie
www.juliehalpern.com
________________________________
From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu> To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 8:59 AM Subject: [ccbc-net] Welcome Julie Halpern! And a Couple of Questions
Thank you to Julie Halpern for jumping into the conversation on her book "The F-It List." I want to formally welcome her to our discussion.
Julie, picking up on a couple of things that came up yesterday, I'm wondering if you can talk a bit about how you thought about Alex's character regarding her (in)ability to show emotion/empathy at times. I'm aware that readers interpretations are of course informed by our on experiences. I'm wondering to what extent you envisioned Alex as a young woman who doesn't do well in this arena, and to what extent it's a manifestation of her grief.
And, again, with the portrayal of grieving, through Leo and Alex you capture two characters at different points. Alex's loss isn't quite as new and raw as Leo's (but still recent). Even Becca must be going through a grieving process in a way as she adjusts to being sick even as she is working to get well. She is having to rethink the certainty of her future. In addition to wanting to write a novel that shows a teenager getting pleasure out of sex, to what extent did you approach the book with the idea that this would explore--or at least be a portait of--grief/grieving?
Megan
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 07:28:27 -0700 (PDT)
Thank you for having me!
I have to admit, it feels a little funny to think so deeply about my writing. I see myself as a "method author," meaning I become the character as I write and write from their brains. Therefore, I can't always say I planned for things to happen or I completely understand what that motivations are for certain things-- I just go where the character leads me. (That sounds rather flaky as I write it, but it's true. It's why I enjoy writing so much; I never quite know what is going to come out!)
To answer the first question about Alex's lack of emotions: I wanted to explore what it was like to be a person who wasn't fully aware of their feelings and didn't know how to project them. I know many people like that, but I am certainly not one of them. I am amazed at those who can hold back tears, stifle or control their feelings. I didn't see it as Alex's grief making her that way; I assumed she was always a little cold or off in her emotions and reactions to things, as well as her readings of other people's emotions.
"In addition to wanting to write a novel that shows a teenager getting pleasure out of sex, to what extent did you approach the book with the idea that this would explore--or at least be a portrait of--grief/grieving?" That's an interesting question. When I think about the book, I completely forget about the grief aspect of the story. But there is quite a lot of grieving in the book. For me, as the writer, I didn't want to sit with a horrifically sad book every day for hours a day. I began to write the sex scenes early on almost as a way to burn off steam or to have a laugh. It was much too difficult to always be in the cancer/death frame of mind, so the sex scenes took me away from that, just as they did with the characters and their grieving.
Julie
www.juliehalpern.com
________________________________
From: Megan Schliesman <schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu> To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 8:59 AM Subject: [ccbc-net] Welcome Julie Halpern! And a Couple of Questions
Thank you to Julie Halpern for jumping into the conversation on her book "The F-It List." I want to formally welcome her to our discussion.
Julie, picking up on a couple of things that came up yesterday, I'm wondering if you can talk a bit about how you thought about Alex's character regarding her (in)ability to show emotion/empathy at times. I'm aware that readers interpretations are of course informed by our on experiences. I'm wondering to what extent you envisioned Alex as a young woman who doesn't do well in this arena, and to what extent it's a manifestation of her grief.
And, again, with the portrayal of grieving, through Leo and Alex you capture two characters at different points. Alex's loss isn't quite as new and raw as Leo's (but still recent). Even Becca must be going through a grieving process in a way as she adjusts to being sick even as she is working to get well. She is having to rethink the certainty of her future. In addition to wanting to write a novel that shows a teenager getting pleasure out of sex, to what extent did you approach the book with the idea that this would explore--or at least be a portait of--grief/grieving?
Megan
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706 608-262-9503 608-262-4933 (fax) schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ ==== CCBC-Net Use ==== You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: juliehalpern114_at_yahoo.com. To post to the list, send message to... ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To receive messages in digest format, send a blank message to... digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To unsubscribe, send a blank message to... leave-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu ==== CCBC-Net Archives ==== The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at... http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp To access the archives, go to... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net ...and enter the following when prompted... username: ccbc-net password: Look4Posts ==== CCBC-Net Use ==== You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu. To post to the list, send message to... ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To receive messages in digest format, send a blank message to... digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To unsubscribe, send a blank message to... leave-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu ==== CCBC-Net Archives ==== The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at... http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp To access the archives, go to... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net ...and enter the following when prompted... username: ccbc-net password: Look4PostsReceived on Thu 27 Mar 2014 09:28:54 AM CDT
