BOOKS

Here at GL, we have an undying love for reading and writing (shocker!). And we want to spread the love to all you girlies. In this new series, we’ll spotlight accomplished writers to find out what inspires them, how they became novelists and the tricks of the trade they have learned along the way.

Who: Robin Wasserman

Robin’s latest project: Wish You Were Here, Liza, part of the Candy Apple Summer Trilogy. We asked Robin about writing her first book (yay!), becoming an author and what it’s like to write for teen girls.

GL: Where did you get the idea for the story, Wish You Were Here, Liza? It’s crazy that this is your first book!

RW: A few years ago, I moved from New York to LA, which meant a very long, very bizarre cross-country road trip. It wasn’t quite the most direct route, but I did manage to hit a museum of barbed wire, dinosaur world, a teepee hotel and several world’s largest _______. (World’s largest ketchup bottle, world’s largest Van Gogh painting, world’s largest bottle collection, a candy store that probably wasn’t the world’s largest, but it sure looked it.)

This book is basically the story of that epic trip, combined with a few thoroughly ridiculous family vacations from when I was a kid—and thanks to that, it’s the first book I’ve ever written that nearly wrote itself!

RW: One of the things I love most about writing Candy Apple books is that I can stuff them full of people and stories from my middle school years. My last Candy Apple, Life, Starring Me is about a Broadway-ready diva forced into the chorus of her middle school musical—and though there was nothing diva-like about me (certainly not my singing voice), I put in plenty of hours in the chorus, killing time while the stars got their time in the spotlight.

Anyone who was there with me would recognize our school, our teachers, and the incredibly annoying habit people had of dumping chocolate milk over the stairwell after lunch.

RW: Fortunately, my parents aren’t nearly as ridiculous or humiliating as Liza’s tend to be. In fact, I’m a little jealous of Liza, because she got to go on vacation with a bunch of other kids. Growing up as an only child, that was like the dream situation. All I ever wanted on a vacation was a friend, no matter how annoying or weird, to hang out with. I figured anything was better than spending a week with my parents.

That said, most of our trips were pretty fabulous, generally involving a beach or an amusement park. (FYI, I still feel those are mandatory vacation elements. Why would you go anywhere else?) But there was one horrible road trip to New England, involving a doll museum, an avalanche, a temper tantrum (not mine) and a horse trying to eat my head. Let’s just say I won’t be going back to Vermont any time soon.

RW: It’s my theory that everyone’s brain freezes at a certain age and—no matter how old your body gets—inside, you’ll basically be that age forever. I froze around 15. Some part of me is always going to be trapped in middle school/high school. (It’s less horrifying than it sounds!) Which is probably why, when I sit down at the computer, those are the stories that come out.

I consider myself pretty lucky (except for the whole permanently trapped in high school thing), because books were a huge part of my life when I was that age. Sometimes, the right book changed my entire world. I love the idea that someday I might write that book for someone else.

RW: At one point, I wanted to be an Olympic gymnast/international spy, but when it seemed like that wasn’t going to pan out (though I did do a mean back walkover), writer was the next obvious choice.

In elementary school, I was one of those kids who read ALL. THE. TIME. In school, in bed, in the bathtub, while I was walking, while I was watching TV, while I was doing my homework. It seemed pretty clear to me that books were the best thing in the entire world—so what else would I do when I grew up but write my own?

RW: Well, now that the sun is shining and it’s milkshake season again, I’m tempted to say that the best thing is I get to stay in my pajamas until 3 pm and then go hang out at the beach for the rest of the day, if that’s what I want to do.

And I’ll admit, that part’s pretty good.

But probably the absolute best thing is getting an e-mail from someone who’s read one of my books. I still can’t believe that anyone not related to me wants to read what I write, and when I get an email saying that my book has improved someone’s life, even just a little, even just for a few hours, it makes my day.

RW: Write. Write as much as you can.

That’s the advice people always gave me when I was growing up, and I found it tough to follow. It’s hard to sit down and force yourself to write something when you don’t have to. And it’s really hard (or at least, it was for me) to think of something to write.

So if any of you are like me, my advice is: Find someone or something that’s going to force you to write. Take a writing class. Sign up for the school paper or literary magazine. Find other writers and swap your work with them. Anything that will give you a deadline—a reason to force yourself to sit down at the computer and type something.

People think writing is about inspiration, talent, art, all those floofy things—and that’s part of it. But writing is also just the act of putting words on the page. One word after another after another. That’s the part that’s hard; it’s the part that’s work. But it’s also the part you can practice. And as you get better at putting words on the page, you’ll find that the words themselves get better, too.

RW: While this story takes place during a family vacation, what it’s really about is Liza’s discovery that there are more important things in life than being normal. Liza has spent her whole life trying to fit in, desperate not to seem weird or different. Until suddenly, she finds herself in this strange place, with these strange people—and she realizes maybe it’s okay that she’s a little strange, too.

That’s what happened to me, the first time I ever went away for the summer. I realized that I’d spent my whole life trying to be the person I thought I was supposed to be. But the summer I turned 14, I finally figured out how to be myself. I found out that myself was a little weirder and a little wilder that I had imagined—and that was a good thing.

Like me, Liza realizes she’d rather be extraordinary than ordinary, and that’s something I hope my readers will agree is true.

RW: Next up, I’m finishing a trilogy for older teen readers (Skinned, Crashed, and Wired). Right now, I’ve got no specific plans to follow Liza on her next adventure, but I’ll admit it would be fun to see what happens when she gets home and introduces her old friends to the new Liza—so who knows?

Dying to dive into this sweet summer story? CLICK HERE to check out all the deets on Wish You Were Here, Liza, part of the Candy Apple Summer Trilogy.

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