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Photo credit: Michael Chin/The Strand
Last month, Strand Book Store hosted a conversation between authors Liz Maccie (Lessons I Never Learned at Meadowbrook Academy) and Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), and the Manhattan FYA Book Club was lucky enough to be in attendance. Here's #FYANYC's Leah Stecher with the scoop, as edited by fellow #FYANYC-er Danielle K.!
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Last month, FYA’s NYC book club took a trip to The Strand for a talk by Liz Maccie and Stephen Chbosky. We went in with high expectations (Raise your hand if you’re not obsessed with Perks of Being a Wallflower. No one? That’s what we thought.), and this literary power couple did not disappoint. Liz and Stephen were charming, funny, and extraordinarily generous with their time as they read from their respective books and took questions from the audience.
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Photo credit: Michael Chin/The Strand
Stephen and Liz, if you didn’t already know, are married, and have an adorable meet-cute story: Liz was introduced to Stephen though a mutual friend, who thought she might like to pick his brain about young adult writing. On the car ride home, Liz’s friend called to ask her how the meeting had gone and Liz remembers blurting out “I’m going to marry him.” And, like the boss she is, she did. But Stephen assures us that his blurb on the jacket of Lessons I Never Learned at Meadowbrook Academy was written long before they were together!
(Before we go any further, it’s important to note that Stephen was the co-creator of the criminally underrated television program Jericho. This information is not exactly relevant, but to the four people out there whose brains just exploded I KNOW, RIGHT?)
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Photo credits: Michael Chin/The Strand
Stephen kicked things off by reading his favorite passage from Perks—the Secret Santa scene, where Sam first kisses Charlie. If you’re like most people, this scene is equally memorable for the haunting poem that Charlie reads to Patrick as it is for the kiss. That poem, the suicide note poem, is actually Stephen’s favorite poem as well as Charlie’s, and he shared its extraordinary origins with us.
While writing Perks, Stephen kept a copy of the poem pinned to the wall of his New York apartment for inspiration. Stephen found the poem both beautiful and sad, and he wasn’t sure who had written it. Much like Charlie, he thought that perhaps it had been a real suicide note, though he truly hoped that wasn’t the case. The time came to find out when he decided to include the poem in Perks and needed to acquire a license for the poem from its author. So Stephen began some serious (pre-Google) sleuthing, and called his sister, who had first introduced him to the poem. She called the friend who had sent it to her, etc etc all the way back to youth group leaflet in a box in a garage that identified a Dr. Earl Reum of the Chicago Public School System as an editor. Stephen called the school system, but was told that Dr. Reum had retired years ago. He left his number with a helpful receptionist and kept his fingers crossed that somehow his message would get through.
Several days later, the phone rings. It’s Dr. Reum, who not only identified himself as the original author of the poem and gave Stephen permission to use it in his book, but proved to be an extraordinary man and educator who had written the poem as a way to reach out to struggling adolescents. Perks has been published in sixteen countries and thirteen languages, reaching readers across the globe. While Dr. Reum has since passed away, the inclusion of his poem in Perks ensures that his mission continues. And that is, quite frankly, one of the most lovely things we’d heard in a while.
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Photo credit: Michael Chin/The Strand
Liz then read the opening scene of her new novel, Lessons I Never Learned at Meadowbrook Academy. Liz’s (second) favorite movie is The Breakfast Club, because she loves the idea of encapsulating a story in a single day. As she put it, life can change in one day, especially as a teenager. One day can capture that magical and/or traumatizing moment when you go from a child to an adult. In this spirit, Lessons also takes place over the course of one day--Roberta’s first day at her new private school. And, from what Liz read, it sounds like Roberta is having a serious Breakfast Club day. It was engaging and unique and we can’t wait to read the whole thing. 2015 book club selection, perhaps?
Stephen and Liz were happy to discuss the writing process, and they eagerly dispensed advice and encouragement. For any writers out there, we’ve compiled a list of their words of wisdom here:
1) Stephen took over five years to complete Perks, and it took Liz eight to write and publish Lessons. When Liz was first pitching Lessons to agents, the YA world was deep in the thrall of vampires and werewolves and no one was willing to take a chance on the character-driven story of a lost girl named Roberta. But the YA world moves in cycles, and Liz finally found a home for Lessons once the paranormal craze had died down. To all aspiring authors out there: don’t give up! Your time will come.
2) Stephen was in the middle of writing a completely different novel when Perks was born. He was on page 70 of this other manuscript when one of his characters said something like “well, that’s one of the perks of being a wallflower.” Stephen knew immediately that his book wasn’t about this other guy at all--it was about the wallflower. And thus Charlie was born. Writers: don’t worry if your work takes an abrupt left turn every now and then. That thing you think your book is about might actually be the Trojan horse that allows the real story to sneak in.
3) Writers block: Liz struggles with it, Stephen does not. But for both of them, Stephen’s advice rang true: if you’re struggling with writer's block, you’re probably editing too fast, i.e. as you are writing. Just get the words down, no matter how stupid you think they are, and edit later.
4) Liz has been dying to write a story based on her neighbor’s extraordinary life, but every time she sits down to do a draft, it’s like pulling teeth. So her neighbor’s story is shelved...but only for now. Liz believes that you have to write the story that you’re in the correct place to write right now. And someday, she’ll be in the right place to write about her neighbor. It’s okay to put things aside. They aren’t going anywhere.
5) Stuck trying to figure out what you want to write? Stephen says: Write everything down. Every single idea you have, no matter how half-baked. That plotline might fit into another story you have going on months or years later, just waiting to be tied together.
After the event, Stephen and Liz signed copies of their books and, again, were incredibly generous with their time. They were happy to talk to all of the attendees, and were genuinely interested in discussing our film projects or book ideas (or young adult blogs). Amazing people, and amazing authors. Buy their books, y’all!
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Thanks for stopping by, Leah and Danielle! You can find the Manhattan FYA Book Club on Facebook, send them an email, or just show up at their next meeting!
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