I've always been a writer. I've been
writing stories since I learned how to hold a pencil, asking my dad how to
spell words while I worked under the bar stools at our kitchen counter. In the
course of my life, I've worked as a dishwasher, lingerie seller, coffee
barista, cake decorator, ship's steward, video rental clerk, freelance
journalist, travel agent, waitress, contracts manager, bookseller, and
Montessori preschool teacher. But in writing for teens, I've finally found
my calling. And through writing, I am able to encompass all my loves. Becoming
a character made of words. Exploring new worlds. And living history.
Learning how to write! I can remember pestering my dad to
spell words for me when I was in the first grade so I could write stories.
What are your
passions?
What are you reading
right now?
ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME by Julie Berry and THE OLD WAYS
by Robert MacFarlane.
What first sparked
your interest in writing?
Learning how to write! I can remember pestering my dad to
spell words for me when I was in the first grade so I could write stories.
What do you love the
most about writing? The least?
I love the surprises. The scenes where suddenly the
character takes a right-hand turn when I was thinking I’d make her go left. The
unexpected kisses and dialogue that seems to come from somewhere real and not from inside my head. And I
absolutely love playing with words. What I like the least are the days my evil
inner 
editor takes over and squelches all creativity. Those are the days I
clean the bathroom.
editor takes over and squelches all creativity. Those are the days I
clean the bathroom.
Tell us a little
about your writing process.
My process is different for every book. My first book I just wrote, sitting
down every day and asking myself, “What happens next?” For three books, I’ve
tried to outline, getting a sketchy synopsis together and mapping some stuff
out on my story board. And then I ignore all of that and sit down to write
every day and 
asking myself, “What happens next?” - usually coming up with
something vastly different than what I outlined. For four out of the five books I’ve written, I’ve had to throw
out the first fifty pages - it’s like I have to start with the backstory in order
to start the story. And with MANOR OF SECRETS, I had a general outline and
every day sketched the next scene on an index card so I could just get up and
write it the next day. I tend to do a lot of plot work in revision - sometimes
throwing out over half of the book in the process. It’s like I don’t know what
the book is about until I’ve already written a draft. But I get there in the
end.
asking myself, “What happens next?” - usually coming up with
something vastly different than what I outlined. For four out of the five books I’ve written, I’ve had to throw
out the first fifty pages - it’s like I have to start with the backstory in order
to start the story. And with MANOR OF SECRETS, I had a general outline and
every day sketched the next scene on an index card so I could just get up and
write it the next day. I tend to do a lot of plot work in revision - sometimes
throwing out over half of the book in the process. It’s like I don’t know what
the book is about until I’ve already written a draft. But I get there in the
end.What are your
passions?
History, feminism, justice, love, honor, costumes, travel…
What inspires you?
The world around me.
Real people. History. Love, honor, justice…
Why young adult?
A librarian friend once told me that when people come in
wanting to know about life, she sends them to the YA section. All of human life
is here: good and evil, friendship and betrayal, love and joy and hopelessness
and despair. It’s heady stuff. But what I love most is the thrill of all those
firsts - first kiss, first love, first adventure, first grief. There’s
something tangible about it. Visceral. And I love that most YA forever looks forward instead of back. There is always
- even in the darkest moments - a little bit of hope.
Why historical
fiction?
When I decided to start writing fiction, my husband recited
the old adage: write what you know. I
know a lot about Henry VIII. My kids used to play a game with me where they
would ask, “Who was Henry’s mother’s sister’s husband’s daughter?” To which I
can answer, “Mary Howard.” (Not Henry’s niece, but Thomas Howard’s daughter
from a second marriage and the narrator of BRAZEN, actually.)
But more than that, I write historical fiction because I
feel that a good story is timeless. It wouldn’t matter if a story like Anne
Boleyn’s rise and eventual fall was set in 16th Century England or
modern China or a futuristic, post-Apocalyptic dystopia. It would still be an
incredible journey of a girl who started with little and became queen
(literally or figuratively) through the strength of her own personality. Great
stuff.
How were GILT and
TARNISH born?
GILT began with the question, “Why would a teenage girl marry
a bitter, decrepit old man?” After some research, I added the big What if? As in: “What if Catherine
Howard wasn’t the ignorant, promiscuous airhead the historians make her out to
be?”
TARNISH began with similar questions: “What kind of teenager
would become the Anne Boleyn we all know and love?” and: “What if her flaws and
actions were misinterpreted by her contemporaries - and historians?”
What about your
upcoming book MANOR OF SECRETS?
I was asked if I could write a “YA Downton Abbey” and became
immediately obsessed with the two characters - one who lived upstairs,
comfortably and restrained, and the other working downstairs,
Did the books require
a lot of research? How much did you alter history for the story or fill-in-the-blanks?
All of my books have required a lot of research. I enjoy it
- reading recently-published histories and visiting locations and digging into
old manuscripts to find just a hint of something that could give me a clue to
character, setting or story. For my Tudor books, I have been determined to be
as historically accurate as possible. Because history is so rich, however, and
because not all historical details help move the story forward, I have had to
trim here and there (like the character of Henry Mannox, who had an affair with
Catherine Howard before the action begins in GILT) and downplay certain
elements (such as politics and religion, which were very important to the
Tudors, but aren’t what my stories are about).
There are a lot of Tudor
novels in historical fiction. Why did you decide to write some more?
Because there are so few written from a teenager’s
perspective. By the age of sixteen (and sometimes earlier), Tudors were
considered adults and treated as such. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t
go through the same things teenagers do today - self-doubt and the desire to
rebel and all the emotions stirred up by hormones. So many historical novels
set in Tudor times are about how adults
navigated the court. Imagine how much more difficult - and how much more
fraught - it would be if you were a teenager? Like high school, only with the
added threat of decapitation.
Do you have any
advice for aspiring authors?
Keep writing and write what you love. Stories don’t get told if you don’t sit
down to tell them, and books that suck people in are written by people who pour
themselves into the story.
Is there anything
else you would like to tell us about yourself?
I read everything I can get my hands on. Contemporary,
historical, paranormal, science fiction, fantasy. Anything that inspires
someone to tell me, “This book is really good. You’ll like it.” I don’t want my
own writing to be limited by the label of the historical fiction genre, so I
try to break out of it with my reading as much as I can. As I said before, a
good story surpasses genre, and good writing transcends it.