Interview: Julie Berry

I am so very excited to host an interview with Julie Berry, talented author of Amaranth Enchantment (a young adult fantasy novel), the upcoming Secondhand Charm (another young adult fantasy novel, click the link for my review), and the Splurch Academy series (juvenile graphic novels).

As the youngest of 7 did you ever feel bullied or overshadowed? Did you ever do anything to get them back?

My siblings weren’t the bullying kind, but they were older enough and smarter enough to always have the upper hand. My constant yearning was to belong to the Big Kids’ Club, something the difference in age between us would always deny me. That didn’t stop them from exploiting my pathetic eagerness. They got a big kick out of asking me to get them snacks and drinks, find their keys, or change the television channel, and, golden retriever that I was, I always did it. Once, though, when my older sister wouldn’t stop tickling me, no matter how I screamed, I dumped her orthodontic retainer in the toilet. She fished it out, hollering mightily, and tried to disinfect it by boiling it. The plastic shrunk and warped, and my parents had to buy a new one, which wasn’t cheap. I got in huge trouble. Revenge, I learned, wasn’t as sweet as it’s made out to be.

What stack of books do you have on your bedside table right now?

The book I’m carrying with me everywhere I go is YOU ARE HERE: A PORTABLE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE by Christopher Potter. It’s a fascinating, concise guided tour through the vastness of the cosmos and the even greater vastness of the atom and its nucleus. It’s also a history of science and philosophy, and I find it as riveting as the best novels I’ve ever read. Possibly more. Also on my bedside table (or actually, piled in untidy heaps on the floor next to my bed, and jammed into bureau drawers) are WICKED by Gregory Maguire, THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE by Douglas Adams, and THE CONFESSIONS of Saint Augustine. My scriptures always live there too. There was a much larger pile there, but I recently cleared it away and put things back on the bookshelves, assuming their time had not yet come.

Splurch Academy books - I haven't read any of those, but are they based on the antics of brothers or sons (those clever ones you've got?)?

The Splurch Academy books aren’t based on anything my kids have ever extent, on how I think they think. Or perhaps I should say, how I think they’re wired. My greatest hope for the series is that other disruptive boys – and girls – will take as much dark delight in Cody Mack’s naughty heroics as I do. In my family we have a great weakness for cute, naughty little things, which means we don’t always train our puppies as firmly as we should. It’s hard being a disciplinarian-mother to clever, naughty boys, for the simple fact that it’s hard to keep a straight face. I’ve learned, though, to be an ornery gargoyle to my kids when I need to. So I wrote the Splurch books to celebrate that naughty, hysterically funny side of young-boy-dom.

What was your inspiration for the plot of Amaranth? What about the plot of Secondhand Charm?

I didn’t start out writing Amaranth with a clear sense of the plot in mind. I only knew a few basic things about how I wanted the story to end. What drew me into the story was Beryl’s world, as I imagined it. I wanted to explore the idea of a paradise, a world without ugliness or guilt or death. I wanted it to have a spiritual reality that transcended, if possible, the inevitable wrinkles such utopias often reveal if examined too closely. It’s hard for me to conceive of a perfect world, but I still wanted to try. From there it was clear that if someone was trapped in exile from such a place, it would create a kind of yearning that can fuel a strong character and a strong story. As I developed Beryl and her world, it became clear to me that I would need someone from this world – Lucinda – to encounter Beryl, and free her. And Lucinda would need powerful yearnings of her own.

The charms themselves were what pulled me into Evie Pomeroy’s world as I wrote Secondhand Charm. I liked the idea of humble, homespun trinkets being a clue to some larger magical secret. And I thought there could be a lot of humor and fun in love charms and good luck charms having far more potency than they ought to. From there, the rest of Evie’s story tumbled out.

Of all the characters you've written, who is your favorite?

Someone asked me, not long after Amaranth came out, who my favorite character was, and I answered “Lucinda,” without hesitation. When I write someone’s story, particularly in first person, they are the one I feel closest to. Their concerns become my own, and in some sense their defeats do as well. So they become the unquestioned favorite. But as the writing recedes in my memory, sometimes the quirky, idiosyncratic supporting characters remain more memorable. Lucinda’s friend Peter ranks high on my list, as does her goat, Dog. In Secondhand Charm, the feisty Widow Moreau is a particular favorite.

If you could take any 3 books with you on a deserted island, which 3 would they be?

Oh, this is a tough one. I have so many favorites that it effectively amounts to no favorites. I suppose I would want to bring books that are long, and dense, and complicated, to give me much pondering pleasure as I sizzle under my coconut tree. (I wouldn’t last long. I’m deathly pale.) In particular, I’d want to take books I haven’t read yet. So, I think I’d vote for something I haven’t yet read by Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and/or Dickens. I could take Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, since I really liked it but never found time to finish it. Or maybe Middlemarch by George Eliot. I’d also be very interested in finding works of philosophy, science, history, or the classics. There’s so much to learn in life, and so little time. This is my great and constant frustration. But all this pre-desert island book shopping begs the question – if I was able to put this much planning into my shipwreck, couldn’t I just avoid getting on the boat in the first place?

Any advice for those budding authors out there?

The advice you always hear is still the best. Read all you can. Write regularly. These are the main things, so if they’re all you can do, do them. If possible, find writer friends who are committed to developing their craft, and work with them. Beyond those three things, I’ll add this. Writers, like most artists, can be riddled with self-questioning and self-doubt. It’s natural, and to the extent that it keeps you humble and working hard, it’s a fine thing. But on some level, you have to decide to believe in your potential if you’re going to give this writing thing a serious crack. You have to believe in the stories you want to tell. Balance that belief with self-critique and hard work and late nights reading and all the study of craft you can cram into your head, and you’ll have done all that anybody can honestly do to give the world a new story. I’m not aware of any author, famous or otherwise, whose process is fundamentally different from that one.

So, hurry and head on over to your library/bookstore, etc. to find a copy of her books and read them! Secondhand Charm is slated for October, 2010, but her other books are all already published. Splurch Academy graphic novels are also illustrated by her sister, Sally Faye Gardner, who sadly doesn't have a website.

Thanks Julie for stopping by! Feel free to leave questions or comments for Julie here and I'll make sure she gets them.