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Laurie Halse Anderson
BIO
Laurie Halse Anderson is the author of numerous wonderful books for children and teens. Her highly acclaimed novels include SPEAK, which was a National Book Award finalist, Printz Honor Book, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Her novel FEVER 1793 was named one of New York Public Library's 100 Best Books of 2000, was selected as an ABA Pick of the Lists title, and has won more than a dozen state awards. Her most recent novel, TWISTED, was a New York Times bestseller. Laurie lives in Mexico, New York.
INTERVIEW
 August 2005
Carol Fitzgerald and Marisa Emralino interviewed Laurie Halse Anderson, whose acclaimed novel SPEAK has been adapted into a movie that will air simultaneously on cable networks Showtime and Lifetime on Monday, September 5th. Laurie talks about the difficulties of translating books into film, the similarities and differences between the book and movie versions of SPEAK, and the importance of addressing serious issues in young adult fiction.
Teenreads.com: Were you involved in the writing or filming of the movie adaptation of SPEAK?
Laurie Halse Anderson: Not really. The producers gave me the chance to work on the screenplay and I turned it down. I was deep into the writing of CATALYST and did not want to interrupt the story. I was on set for a few days of the filming. That was a blast. (Hint: a certain lunch lady bears a striking resemblance to me.)
TRC: We understand that you provided some special features commentary on the Speak DVD. What can you tell us about this experience? What was it like for you to discuss the film rendition of your story?
LHA: Director Jessica Sharzer and I met at a sound studio in mid-town Manhattan for the taping. They put us in a special room and projected the movie on a screen. Basically we watched the movie and chatted like old friends. (I adore her.) The only thing missing was the popcorn.
TRC: After completing the novel, readers are able to walk away with a very distinct picture of who Melinda is, based on her interior monologues. In the film, the audience has direct access to her thoughts only during a certain few moments. Without those consistent "asides," do you feel the camera's indirect characterization of Melinda is sufficient enough to portray her the way you envisioned as you were writing?
LHA: Film and novels are different genres. There is no way to fully turn a book into a film, or a film into a book. It's one of those apples and oranges things. Because the film cannot capture the running interior monologue of my intensely first person POV novel, film watchers miss out on the funnier elements of Melinda, and I think her growth comes across a bit choppy on screen. But I don't have a problem with it. I think the filmmakers did an excellent job amplifying the themes of my book, and I am honored that they kept so much of the bones of my story as well as dialogue.
TRC: You tackle a number of issues in the novel that hit close to home with many teens -- loneliness, depression, the struggle for a sense of identity, the search for understanding, as well as some much heavier topics that can't be discussed without spoiler space. What was your aim in writing about these subjects?
LHA: Being a teenager usually sucks. It's hard and confusing and few adults have the guts to talk about it honestly. That's my job. I try to write books that show teenagers struggling with all kinds of stuff; from the deadly serious to the lighter, day-to-day pressures. I want to show my readers that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.
TRC: How was it possible for you to portray the mind of someone as troubled and ostracized as Melinda so vividly and accurately?
LHA: Ummm.... because I've had my own troubles.
TRC: Melinda finds solace through visual art during her period of "selective muteness." What activities do you find cathartic? As a writer, have you ever experienced similar situations in which your ability to communicate through language fails you?
LHA: Writing saves me over and over again. Whenever I am overwhelmed by the world, I turn to the page. Writing helps me make sense of things. It is much, much easier for me to write about things than it is to talk about them.
TRC: You utilize a number of images that you deftly intertwine throughout the novel that all represent Melinda's hardships and her struggle to overcome them --- chapped and bitten lips, snow, trees that are both bare and flourishing, sunrises and sunsets, etc. Do you feel the movie was able to successfully capture all of those conceits?
LHA: No, but given the time and budget restraints of the film, I think they did a great job nailing the major image systems.
TRC: In the film, Melinda's relationship with her parents is portrayed in a slightly different manner than in the novel --- for example, she chooses to open up to her mother about her experience, whereas she confides in her art teacher, Mr. Freeman, in the book's final lines. It's a seemingly minor difference, but it illustrates a shift in family dynamics. What are your thoughts on this creative decision? Does it change your original vision of Melinda's gradual progression and growth after her agonizing year of silence?
LHA: It is not a choice that I would have made, but in a way, I like it. It will definitely create interesting debates among those who read the book and watched the film --- which ending is better? Which ending is more true to the character? Because the film is told from the third person POV, the audience is allowed to see a more rounded and compassionate view of the parents. Clearly they aren't as close to Melinda as they should be, but you see that they love her, and that they are dealing with their own issues. Because of that, I think the ending works well in the film. It would not have worked in the book.
TRC: There's that humorous expression, "Don't judge a book by its movie...." However, there are times when visual aspects of movies or television can portray ideas more successfully than prose. Are there any instances in the film that you feel capture facets of your story better than you did through your writing?
LHA: Kristen Stewart's acting (she plays Melinda) is fantastic. I think her facial expressions speak volumes. I think the film does a better job showing the violence of incident than the book did.
TRC: As with every movie adaptation, certain elements of the novel had to be sacrificed for both creative and time restraints. Are there any scenes from the book that you wish made it on film?
LHA: Ooooh, hard question. I wish there had been more time for some of the transitional scenes, and more of Melinda's attempts to be friends with Heather and the Marthas.
TRC: You've said in past interviews that you were shocked by SPEAK's success. How do you feel as you watch the film knowing that your words were the inspiration for it?
LHA: Deeply grateful, somewhat confused by the magnitude of all this.
TRC: What are you working on now, and when can readers expect to see it?
LHA: I'm working on a couple of things and I'm not sure what will come out first. I suspect it will be a novel with a male main character. Right now it's pretty funny, but it has some dark places and it seems to be getting darker as I go on. I'm not sure if it will be published in 2006 or early 2007.
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PAST INTERVIEW
Intrigued by the cover --- a girl's haunted eyes peering through a tree --- TBB Editorial Manager Dana Schwartz read and fell in love with SPEAK, a first novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. The main character, Melinda Sordino, is a fourteen-year-old high school freshman who is harboring a big secret behind her bitten lips and downcast eyes. In this interview, author Laurie Halse Anderson explores why high school can be so brutal, who you can talk to when you are hurting, and how to stay safe. She also dishes out some killer advice for teens and their parents --- discover Laurie and her wonderful book SPEAK on Teenreads.com.
TBB: Starting your freshman year of high school is hard enough without being ostracized by the entire school. This is what happens to Melinda in your book SPEAK after she calls the cops on a big end-of-the-summer party. But no one, not even her best friends, bother to find out why she called the police. Do you think people find it easier to jump to conclusions rather than digging to find out the truth?
LHA: People grab the fast, easy answer. Especially in a situation like this, where
Melinda's actions got everyone in trouble, her friends aren't going to explore her motives. Then there is that added twist --- by being angry at Melinda (the scapegoat), they don't have to take responsibility for their own actions.
TBB: Melinda seems to have a practically nonexistent relationship with her parents. They both work a lot and don't pay much attention to her or each other. Yet, you would think at least one of them would wonder about the scars on her bitten lips, her silence, her sudden downslide of grades, and severe lack of friends. Do you think parents sometimes ignore what seems to be painfully obvious signs of problems?
LHA: I think all parents of teenagers should strike the word "phase" from their vocabulary. You know, "It's just a phase," "She's going through a phase, that's how teenagers are." That's crap. When parents say things like that, I think it means they don't understand what is going on in their kid's life, and they are too ignorant or scared to find out. I am floored by the behavior that parents will ignore. Why give birth to someone and spend 15 years of your life raising them just to abandon them when they need you the most? This really pisses me off. Obviously.
TBB: For much of the book Melinda seems more like an observer to her own life rather than a participant. She holds herself back because it's too painful to engage. She chooses silence as her defense, but her silence causes her more problems. Who would you suggest teens talk to when having problems like Melinda's when they feel they cannot talk to their parents?
LHA: This is why friends are so important. The point of adolescence is to separate (safely) from your parents, so you develop your own "family" of friends. That's cool. But let's face it, even the best friends in the world (which Melinda does not have) are not going to be able to help with everything. All kids need an adult who won't freak out if the kid is honest, and who will really listen when the kid speaks up. It can be a relative, a friend's mom, a teacher, guidance counselor, clergy person, the guy who runs the bagel shop --- whatever. As long as you can trust them.
TBB: Melinda's silence can be very frustrating to the reader at times. You often want her to talk about what happened to her or defend herself when others hurt her. It's as if her speech has been stolen from her. Do you think this often happens after a traumatic event? How can teens regain their voice?
LHA: Yes! Yes! This happens constantly!! We shut ourselves up in big ways and little. We don't tell our parents things, we hold something back from a friend. Do that enough and you stop listening to your real feelings. And now you are depressed and you can't find a way out. And that's just normal stuff. Traumatic events (like death, moving, divorce, abuse, harassment, rape) lead to silence --- it is just so painful to think about, you block it. Only you can't block pain. It's like a river --- block it one place and it floods somewhere else. Try and hide from your pain and it'll hurt you in a different place. You have to talk about things that hurt. This is a sucky fact of life.
TBB: In Melinda's art class, everyone is assigned an object to draw, paint, sculpt, etc., for the school year. Melinda gets "tree" as her object. She must make it come to life and "speak" to the class. This is hard for her considering she doesn't do much actual speaking. Why did you choose a tree as Melinda's object?
LHA: Writing is very strange. I chose that tree because I tried to carve a tree out of a linoleum block for several months in my ninth grade art class. That was the conscious decision. My subconscious (the smart part) probably knew that trees and growth would become a major theme of the book. But I had no clue about this when I picked "tree," honest. And don't let any English teacher tell you I did it on purpose. I will admit that when I was revising, I finally saw the tree and its meaning (duh), and tweaked the manuscript so that the current ran through the story cleanly.
One more thing here...My grandfather was a forest ranger, and my dad took me hiking in the Adirondack Mountains a lot when I was a kid. Trees are awesome. Stand quietly next to one --- there is energy there, life.
TBB: You deal with the delicate subject and the blurry lines of date rape in SPEAK. Sometimes date rape occurs when a woman tries to speak and is ignored or feels she should not speak up and say what she really feels. Why do you think girls and women have a hard time saying what they feel? And why do men sometimes have a hard time hearing them when they do speak?
LHA: Great question! Let me give a clear answer. There is no blurry line of rape. If a girl/woman says no, and the boy/man has intercourse with her, it is rape. This is not rocket science --- if she says "yes," it's not rape, if she says "no," it is. But you have to say it --- SPEAK UP!
So why is this such a huge problem? (Pardon me while I climb up on my soap box here):
1. Sometimes (on a date), the sexual play that precedes rape feels great. I mean, she's with a guy, making out, what's not to like? But then he crosses the line in her head, and she's thinking, "Wait a minute here." And he's all ready to go. Who is going to take control of the situation?
2. When people get drunk or high, they make really stupid decisions. A guy who is a decent person can rape a girl...and hate himself for it. A girl who would never consider having sex finds herself taking her shirt off at a concert, and...Dumb, dumb, dumb.
3. There are a lot of great guys in the world. But there are also plenty of jerks. Jerks rape for the thrill of it, for the violence, to cause pain.
4. Most guys will listen --- make sure you explain your limits loud and clear.
Some guys don't take "no" for an answer because they have always gotten their way.This is more of an issue with spoiled athletes, who have seen stupid adults bend
rules for them, and think they can get what they want.
5. There are some twisted souls who think raping a girl makes them men. It doesn't. It makes them scum. A real man honors women, listens to them, and knows how to keep his pants zipped. Don't accept anything less than the best!
TBB: Midway through the book you make your first reference to the high school senior who torments Melinda --- she calls him "IT." Without giving too much away, why is the resolution with "IT" so vague at the end of your book?
LHA: Because this stuff is rarely clear-cut in real life. Rich, educated white guys (and their sons) rarely get arrested, prosecuted, or jailed for the crimes they commit. This will change when women have the courage to speak up as loud and long as it takes.
TBB: In SPEAK you list the many groups that exist in high school, the Jocks, Country Clubbers, Idiot Savants, Cheerleaders, Human Waste, Eurotrash, Big Hair Chix, the Marthas, Suffering Artists, Goths, Shredders, among others. Do you find there are always some people who don't seem to fit into any of the categories? What group were you in?
LHA: Oooo...another good question. I think the most interesting people are those who can cross from one group to the next, or who float above the groups, with friends all over. The saddest people are those with no connections at all.
I started 9th grade as a "dirt bag." We moved to a new school district, and the dirt bags/wastecases were the people willing to forgive my unfashionable clothes and relative poverty. Some of them were nice, some were really confused.
In 10th & 11th grade I shifted over to a Jock/Eurotrash clan. I was on the swim and track teams. I really, really wish I had played basketball, but the girls on that team wouldn't even look at me, even though I was one of the tallest girls in school. In 12th grade, I escaped. I went to Denmark as a foreign exchange student.
Starting in 10th grade, I had a couple of really good friends, and I dated the best guy in the world (he went to a different school). That's how I survived. And now you know my secrets.
TBB: Melinda's ex-bestfriend Rachel/Rachelle is going through an identity crisis --- she has ditched her former best friend and has allied herself with the group of foreign exchange students. Do you think it's hard for people to remain friends with their middle schools pals when they go to high school?
LHA: Of course. Everyone is going through a million changes as they try on new personalities and lifestyles. Some people remain friends, but I think that's rare. I think it's sad when ex-bestfriends do creepy things like talk behind each other's backs, or get all bitchy.
TBB: Since most of the book is in Melinda's head, you really get to know her character. Although reading her thoughts is often painful, her sarcasm and wit can be bitingly funny. At the end of the book you find yourself missing her. Will you write any more books about Melinda?
LHA: It's so weird you say that! When my editor called me to say she wanted to publish the book, I was really bummed because I wanted to call Melinda and tell her, she was so real to me! Writing this book was a bizarre experience --- I feel like Melinda dictated it to me. I would love to write another book with her so I could have her hanging out in my head again. But it's up to her. If I try to resurrect her just to hammer out a sequel, it will be awful. You have to respect your characters as much as you do your friends.
TBB: In one of the bathroom stalls, Melinda starts a list of Guys To Stay Away From. She puts "IT" in the number one slot. I think this is a great way for high school girls to look out for each other, but what other active ways can they protect themselves from boys who are known to be dangerous?
LHA: All right, print this up and keep in your locker.
1. Stay sober and straight. (May be boring. Boring is better than rape, pregnancy, blah, blah, blah.)
2. Have your escape lines ready. The best one is "No." or "NO!" You can also try "What the hell is wrong with you?", "Stop," "Are you crazy?" Always follow this strong statement with a quick zipping of pants and buckling of bra. If your mouth says "no," but your hands say "yes," I guarantee he'll listen to the hands. I am not a fan of fake excuses, but if you need one, use it. Tell him you're having your period. Say your father will shoot him. Say your mother is psychic and she will hunt him down. Say whatever you have to say. If he keeps dogging you, then GET OUT!
2a. What if you are in a dangerous place? You make sure you don't go to dangerous places!
3. Stay strong, Take self-defense. If he isn't listening to you, say "NO," then nail him in the nuts and leave.
4, If you have sex and you didn't want to, then tell someone, I'm begging you.
TBB: I love how the school principal and his cronies keep on naming and then renaming the school mascot --- some of my favorites were the "Trojans, "The Wombats" and of course the inevitably punned Horny "Hornets." Do you think adults spend too much time wasting time on the small details and not enough on the big picture?
LHA: I'd like to hope this is getting better. Do you think it is? When it comes down to it, the significant changes that (I think) would improve high school: smaller classes, human-sized buildings, developing an atmosphere of understanding --- they all cost money. Much easier to fuss about the name of the school mascot than try and get a community (most of whom do not have school-aged kids) to pay more taxes.
TBB: Your realistic portraits of horrible and fantastic high school teachers are dead on. What is the difference between a wonderful and a horrible teacher?
LHA: Passion. Teachers that care will change your life (Thank you Mr. Procopio, Ms.
Marshall, Ms. Flood, and Mrs. Sheedy-Shea!). Teachers that are burned out, hate kids, or just warming a chair to get paid should not be allowed around kids.
TBB: Did you also attend high school in Syracuse, New York as Melinda does? Like Melinda's private getaway room, did you have a space in your school where you could hide away?
LHA: Yep. I went to Fayetteville-Manlius High School, just outside Syracuse. I didn't have a closet. I hid in books.
TBB: You have two daughters, do parts of them ever inspire any of your characters?
LHA: Hmmm. I steal some of the things they say for dialogue. I don't think I could
base a character on them. For one thing, it would be very invasive of their privacy. For another, they wouldn't let me. I am always concerned about accidentally taking something from their lives that they don't want the world to know about, so I make sure they read everything I write. They have veto power.
TBB: What do you think is the worst thing about high school?
LHA: Don't get me started. OK --- the one worst thing...a culture that allows a kid to feel alone.
TBB: You have just been nominated for the 1999 National Book Award for Young People's Literature --- congratulations! How do you feel about this other than absolutely elated?
LHA: Stunned, honored, shocked, grateful, giddy, bewildered, amazed, thrilled. And happy. very happy. Remember --- they aren't honoring me. They are honoring my book. As an author, that is the highest reward; to know you have written a good story.
TBB: Who are your favorite Young Adult writers?
LHA: Chris Crutcher, Francesca Lia Block, Karen Hesse, Karen Cushman, Robert Cormier, and Judy Blume.
TBB: When you were a teenager, what was your favorite book?
LHA: THE HOBBIT, by J. R. R. Tolkien. I was a big sci-fi and fantasy fan.
TBB: What are you reading now?
LHA: I tend to read many books at the same time. Right now I'm reading the other
National Book Award finalists: THE BIRCHBARK HOUSE by Louise Erdrich, THE TROLLS by Polly Horvath, WHEN ZACHARY BEAVER CAME TO TOWN by Kimberly Willis Holt, and MONSTER by Walter Dean Myers. I'm also reading the new biography of J. D. Salinger. I just finished KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara.
TBB: Do you have plans yet for your next project? If so, can you give us a sneak preview?
LHA: Right now I'm working on a middle grade series that I contracted to write earlier this year. I am desperate to write another YA, but I promised these guys, and I have to honor that obligation. I can give you a hint about the next YA --- it might have something to do with anger and religion. But it might be fun to write about sex, too. Who knows? The characters will show up and we'll dance.
TBB: What advice would you give to young writers?
LHA: Read everything you can get your hands on. Be kind to your English teachers --- they know more than you realize (the good ones). Please don't be one of those people who just talk about being a writer... BE a writer.
Write something! And never give up --- never, never, never, never.
TBB: What are your thoughts on the millennium?
LHA: What millennium? It's an arbitrary date imposed by the Christian calendar,
which probably got the year wrong in the first place. But I guess it's a good excuse for a party. Mostly I'm worried about how many checks I'll have to tear up because I'll write the wrong century on the date line.
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