Deb Caletti with Wendy Hinman
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Wendy Hinman's
Interview with Deb Caletti
Deb Caletti is the award-winning and critically acclaimed author of over seventeen books for adults and young adults, including HONEY, BABY, SWEETHEART, a finalist for the National Book Award; A HEART IN A BODY IN THE WORLD, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book; and GIRL, UNFRAMED, which received seven starred reviews. Her books have also won the Josette Frank Award for Fiction, the Washington State Book Award, and numerous other awards and honors, and she was a finalist for the PEN USA Award.
Deb and I have had the chance to cross paths through the dynamic community of writers in the local area.
Deb, Thanks so much for agreeing to an interview.
Please tell us a little about your earliest writing days. What inspired you and what were your earliest influences?
I’m one of those writers who’s been writing since childhood, so my earliest writing days began when I was about seven. I fell in love, hard, with books, and with the way they helped me both escape and explain the world I lived in. I eventually found that writing could do those same things. Ramona the Pest and Charlotte’s Web and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and, really, every book I read (or someone read to me), was an influence, I’m sure. That deep need to understand still inspires me to write.
What did you find to be most helpful for honing your writing skills?
For me, for better or worse, writing has always been a private and intuitive process, and that privacy was most helpful for honing my writing skills. I took only one creative writing class in college, and never had a writing group. I really needed a protected space to shelter my dream and my early attempts at learning my craft. That space between me and the page was where the power and the drive to write could safely exist, perhaps because of my personal situation, but maybe also because this sheltered and quietly thrilling place mimicked the experience of reading. A voracious reading habit was also most helpful. Books, other authors, were my teachers and my inspiration. I still don’t show my work, or even talk about it all that much, until I’m finished. I still find that if I do, some energy around it leaves. And reading the work of writers I love continues to help me hone my writing skills, and fuels the burning to write.
Can you tell us about how you went from aspiring author to published author?
Since I was a child, I always knew I wanted to be a writer. For me, writing was a way of being in the world, same as reading. I knew the intimidating odds of publishing, though, and it wasn’t until I was a young mom with two little babies that I decided to make it happen. I made a vow. Over my desk, I taped the Nietzsche quote, “Become who you are.” I had a feeling that my own, true life was waiting for me. I was in an abusive marriage at the time, and my ex-husband did not want me to pursue writing. He pressured me to quit, and told me it was a hobby that would never amount to anything, pressure that worsened after I got an agent. I stopped talking about my dream of becoming a writer, and pretty much wrote in secret. And wrote, and wrote, and wrote - five unpublished books, countless rejections, during a brutal time. Thirty days after my divorce was final, I got an offer on The Queen of Everything, my first published YA novel, as well as for a second book, which became Honey, Baby, Sweetheart, a finalist for the National Book Award. Fate seemed to have its own plan in terms of my becoming published, and my own life was definitely waiting.
What do you wish you’d known earlier in your writing career? What have been your biggest obstacles?
I wish I’d known that writing and publishing would, in many ways, always be an uphill battle. There isn’t a point of arrival; of, whew, I’m here, and I can rest now. There is no tenure in publishing, even in a career of twenty-plus years. I’ve said it a million times, but getting published is relatively easy compared to staying published. The biggest obstacles are that you are in a high-stakes business where you must continually perform at a very high level and where there are no logical guarantees of outcomes. No one really knows what will work (and if we did, every book would succeed!). You have to bring your absolute best every single time, and even when you do, that best of yours might disappear. These are tough things to hear and to say, but I think it would have helped me if I understood that, realistically, this was just part of the deal, for most everyone, most all the time. There’s good here, too, though. The pressure has kept me striving and pushing, and I think I’ve become a better and better writer over time. It’s the nature of the beast, a beast who we just keep on loving anyway.
Have you suffered from Writers Block? How have you dealt with discouragement?
I’m a working writer, and since writing books is my job, “writer’s block” always sounds sort of appealing, to be honest. It’s a concept I don’t have a lot of time for, with a book-a-year deadline, and all of the other requirements of publishing. Like any job, there are times when writing is harder, when I don’t particularly want to do it, when I feel flat, or uninspired, or stuck. There are times when I don’t do it all that well (thank goodness for editing!). I usually have to press through those feelings, though, because… job. When I’m discouraged, it’s frequently more about the publishing business than the writing itself, so it helps to remember and deeply reconnect with that pure, magical space that’s me and the page. By now, I know that feeling discouraged, and elated, and confused, and, and, and is just part of the long journey of writing every book. And I try to deal with publishing discouragement by keeping focused on the only thing I have control over, my work, and by keeping my expectations realistic.
Can you describe your writing process? Do you have any specific writing routines? Has it changed over the years? How do you typically go about the process of writing from idea to finished book?
I spend the first six or so months of a book just getting it down. I don’t outline. I go start to finish, having a general sense of where I’m headed, but making some discoveries along the way, much like reading a book. After I’m finished with that draft, I spend a good three months or more editing, which is my favorite part. After that draft seems solid, I edit again, fine tuning the smaller stuff. The big nerve-wracking reveal comes next. I like to give it to a loving and supportive reader first, my husband, before sending it to my agent and editor. Then, I start the in-house editing process, working on any suggestions my editor gives in her editorial letter (second favorite part!), before the manuscript moves on to copyediting. I used to do more editing as I wrote my initial draft, but this has changed. I learned that, for me, the speed of the first draft helps with pacing. Writing routines: very strong coffee and a shortbread cookie. I usually write in the morning when I wake up, and save the other jobs of publishing for later in the afternoon.
You have written both Young Adult and Adult Fiction. What would you say are the main differences between writing for young adults versus adults?
Since my YA books are definitely crossover novels, and since I have many adult readers, there actually aren’t that many differences. I don’t pull punches with my teen readers, and I trust their ability to handle more demanding material, both thematically and style-wise. The main difference is the age of the protagonist, and, therefore, what is relevant to that protagonist’s life. I do feel the ability to take more time in adult novels – to stretch out when it comes to pacing or exploring certain ideas.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
I always suggest that aspiring writers leave a lot of the noise behind – all the “you have to” and “you must” pieces of writing advice they’re pummeled with - and remember instead that their own honest voice is their true power.
Can you tell us about what you are working on next?
I just released my newest YA novel, One Great Lie, a story about a young writer who learns about the long history of powerful men and the determination of creative girls during a summer in Venice. I’ve also just turned in my next novel for young adults, The Epic Story of Every Living Thing, scheduled for Fall of 2022. It’s about a young woman who is sure that image is everything until she discovers that she has 42 half-siblings who look exactly like her. On the heels of a crushing breakup and battling chronic anxiety in the aftermath of 2020, she joins three of her newfound siblings on a quest to a Hawaiian island to find the mystery man who gave them life. I hope you’ll check them out!
Thank you so much, Deb for sharing your wisdom and experience with our readers We wish you all the best. For more information about Deb Caletti, please visit: https://www.debcaletti.com/