Stephen Elliot

BIO

Stephen Elliott left home at thirteen and, after a year sleeping on the roof of a convenience store on Chicago's Northside he was made a ward of the court and channelled through various large and small group homes and institutional learning facilities. Against all odds, he earned his Bachelors degree at the University of Illinois and went on to obtain a Master of Arts degree from Northwestern University. To support his writing habit, he has since worked as a stripper, a cabdriver, a bartender, and a marketing executive.

INTERVIEW

November 27, 2001

A LIFE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES is a powerful and harrowing novel about a teenage boy adrift on the streets of Chicago. Fourteen-year-old Paul is homeless; his mother is dead, and he ran away from his abusive father. Picked up by the police, Paul is placed in a mental institution where he meets a group of teens who, like him, are rootless and confused. Paul also meets Tanya and senses in her a kindred spirit. The two escape the hospital together and return to a twisted and terrifying life. Paul's stints in foster homes, group homes, and the truly horrifying Robert Taylor Homes housing project are told in a blunt yet lyrical fashion. Readers will find themselves engrossed in his world, even as they are disturbed by the reality that is the American child welfare system. Teenreads.com writer Serena Burns recently had the chance to chat with author Stephen Elliott about his novel, his writing, and his life.
   
TRC: Let's start out with the title. Why did you name your book A LIFE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES?

SE: The title is ironic. Of course there are consequences. There are consequences when a child runs away, for the child and the parent. And there are consequences for a society that allows its children to live on the streets or locks them up in group homes and hides the problem, hoping it will go away.

TRC: You led a really crazy life when you were a young adult. How much of Paul's story is based on your own life? How have people in your family and your friends reacted to this book?

SE: It's true, I had a crazy life. The book is heavily autobiographical. My friends were really excited. My father, who I'm back in touch with, feels a lot of regret, and I try to assure him that I didn't write the book to punish him. I wrote the book because people need to know about these places and because I had to get it off my chest.

TRC: Being an adolescent is always tricky. Paul's life is even harder as he has no family support to fall back on and must deal with a myriad of problems being in the system. Explain a little bit about the child welfare system to those teens who know nothing about it.

SE: The child welfare system is very complicated. What you should know is that there are these places called group homes. The group homes exist below the foster homes, on the lowest rung of the child welfare ladder. The kids in group homes are kids that could not be adopted for some reason or other. Either they have too long of a record, they have some massive behavioral disorder, or they were already in foster care and the foster parents realize they have made a mistake. Other times kids just slide down through the cracks and end up in group homes that way. Group homes are programmed for failure. You have a house full of kids and you have rotating, often minimum wage staff. There are no binding relationships with adults, and the two groups --- children and adults --- stay separate. Some of the homes are the equivalent of gladiator arenas, pure anarchy. They hold you until you're eighteen and then push you onto the street where all of the odds are strongly against you.

TRC: How long did you work on A LIFE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES? Did you have any problem with publishers due to the novel's unflinching honesty?

SE: It took me three years to write it. I had no problem getting it published. It came up rapidly through the slush pile.

TRC: A LIFE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES is pretty bleak. What reaction have you gotten from readers and what would you like readers to come away with?

SE: It's bleak but it's also full of hope. There are children here failing, but also children taking responsibility for themselves and trying to make good. There are some happy endings, even in the most horrible of circumstances. I want people to walk away knowing what a group home is. And I want children to walk away knowing that they can make good decisions, which will affect their life significantly. I want adults to read the book and volunteer at CASA or with Big Brother/Big Sister.

TRC: Do you have any advice for budding young adult writers?

SE: Before I started making a living as a writer, I had written three novels, three novellas, a book of short stories, a book of poetry, and three full length screenplays. My advice is to write. If you keep writing, at some point it will all work itself out. Also, read. Reading a lot is key to any writer. Every writer I know reads at least a book a week.  

TRC: You graduated from high school but only after finagling a deal with your principal. Were there any teachers in your life who encouraged you to learn and write?

SE: Not really. I had a couple of history teachers who got me interested in revolutionary history but by then I was already a senior.

TRC: Your father is an author. He also was abusive and you two didn't have the best of relationships --- to say the least. What influence did his being a writer have over your decision to become one? Are you worried you will end up living a life like he lived?

SE: I didn't want to be a writer because I didn't want to be like my father. But I found that I wrote anyway, compulsively. So, ultimately, I just succumbed to it. But I don't write like my father. My father did it for the money. I've never written for the money. Money is a terrible reason to write.

TRC: If we were to look at your night stand, what books would we find there?

SE: THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM by Nelson Algren, THE LONG HOME by William Gay, several copies of NO MORE PRISONS by William Upski. I have a lot of books, but those come to mind immediately. NO MORE PRISONS should be required reading in every school.

TRC: What are your current projects?

SE: I'm reworking a novel that is being released next year called WHAT IT MEANS TO LOVE YOU. I'm also assistant teaching a class on Jane Austen at Stanford University. On top of my responsibilities as a Fellow at Stanford, publicizing and doing readings from A LIFE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES takes a lot of time. If anybody is interested in going to a book reading/signing for A LIFE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES I keep a current list of upcoming events at http://www.nowhere500.com/alife.html.

© Copyright 2003, Teenreads.com. All rights reserved.

Back to top.